Carnegie Mellon
”CardioArm Surgical Snake Will Worm its Way Into Your Heart
Just last year, we showed you the concept i-Snake medical robot, and now a different team actually has a similar device for real: the CardioArm. This little robo-tentacle is being developed partly at Carnegie Mellon University, and is apparently the most flexible endoscope ever that follows its own camera-head in a snake-like way through your innards. Since it enters the body through a single incision, it's much less traumatic for the patient: minimally invasive surgery is clearly the way ahead.
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driving
Driving While Calling is the Same as Driving Drunk?
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University just confirmed two older research studies, one in 2006 and one in 2003, that says driving while talking is as bad as driving while drunk. How did they reach this conclusion? Brain imaging. Volunteers drove a simulator inside an MRI brain scanner and were asked to determine whether a sentence was true or false. We've got two problems with this study. More »Robot Snakes Scare the Indy Out of Me
Unlike Indiana Jones, I generally don't hate snakes. But seeing these modular mechanical snakes wriggling up some dude's leg gave me shivers. The video gets scarier still when they start climbing walls and shimmying up the inside of pipes. According to the Carnegie Mellon-based developers, the elaborate "gaits" that let these robot snakes maneuver on land and sea are achieved using low-cost hobby-grade servos. So before you kick sand in the face of some pasty Carnegie Mellon nerd at the Jersey Shore this summer, remember he may have a backpack full of cheap, wriggly killing machines. [CM on YouTube via Make]
Maglev Haptic Control Technology Could be Used for Microsurgery, Robot Control
Gadget Lab got a hands-on demo with a prototype magnetic levitation haptic control unit at Carnegie Mellon University, where they experienced the artifical feel (via magnets) of 3d rabbits, hard surfaces and vinyl records. In addition to simulating the general shapes of objects, the technology can accurately reproduce qualities like texture and elasticity using an interesting dual joystick set up.
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Researchers Begin Work on Building Real Life (Microscopic) Transformers
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have begun work on creating tiny groups of robots that utilize electromagnetic forces to alter their shape and function. Ultimately, the team hopes to build a large number of microscopic robots that are able to metamorphose into any conceivable shape. This would be done by applying a charge to the nanobots, which would form different structures based on how, or where, that charge is applied. The concept is not too dissimilar to the material that was shown to be used for Batman's cape in Batman Begins. That similarity makes this research instantly awesome. More »
spamalot
Spambots Can Now Fool Yahoo CAPTCHA Tests: Yes, Worry
You know those anti-spam tests that make you enter funny characters to prove you're a human? Well, non-humans can finally fake their way into systems using the "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" too—even Yahoo's pretty secure system, according to new reports. More »Dancing Keepon Robot Teaches Author How To Love
Remember cute Keepon, the little robot that's part Muppet, part dancing dynamo? He's back, teaching Daniel H. Wilson, author of How To Build a Robot Army, how to stop worrying and embrace cybernetics. Now that Wilson and Keepon are friends, we're imagining the undefeatable army of Keepons that will result: every opponent would compulsively drop his weapon and start to disco gently on the spot. At least, that's what we'd do. [Keepon at Carnegie Mellon]
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