Here's the vision: anything from a phone to a wall to a desk can be fitted with a small stethoscope sensor, which is able to register distinctive scratch vibrations that the human ear usually can't pick up, and read them as commands. Quick test: run your fingernail across your desk, and listen to the sound. Now, put your ear on your desk, and do the same. Not only is the sound louder the second time around—it's completely different, and much higher-pitched. This distinction is at the core of scratch input.

So different and unique are the sounds that the research team thinks they could design a system that could recognize gestures and shapes—like the letter "S", for example—allowing for relatively complex interaction with applications or devices. Think declining a call or pausing your music by scratching your thigh, or opening Expose by drawing two fingers across your desk. Below, a glimpse into our scratch-controlled future, which bears no small resemblance to footage from a containment cell in a mental health facility. [Wired]

And yes, it has a baby. Called Bebe. Cute overload, for sure. Unlike Prime-8, it's not strictly remote-controlled—it responds to touch and voice and...the baby, which is the closest thing it has to a remote control, since it'll summon Penbo and interact and play games with it. Penbo responds differently to different color babies—there are 4 colors, each with around 21 features.

But really, the best feature is the Penbo dance, which you can see in the video above: Put two together and they waddlewaddlewaddle. Which is how I guess they make more babies.

Penbo will hit QVC with Prime-8 on July 25, then Amazon later on, for $80.

BOSSA NOVA ROBOTICS,
A SPINOFF FROM CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY'S ROBOTICS INSTITUTE,
RETURNS TO CAMPUS TO UNVEIL ITS FIRST LINE OF PERSONAL ENTERTAINMENT ROBOTS

Affordable Robots Feature Revolutionary 'Ani-Motion' Technology And Encourage Interactive Play

PITTSBURGH - July 9, 2009 - After four years of development, Bossa Nova Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based, robotics company and spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) Robotics Institute, today unveiled its first line of personal entertainment robots. Combining the magic of agile robots with a rich play experience, Bossa Nova presented two interactive and enriching biped robots modeled after the way kids play: Prime-8, a fast-paced gorilla robot, and Penbo, an adorable penguin with baby robot.
Bossa Nova's launch comes on the heels of the opening of Carnegie Science Center's roboworld™, the world's largest permanent robotics exhibition, and further establishes Pittsburgh's position as the nation's hub for robotics education, research and development. Penbo and Prime-8 will be used in roboworld's innovative Robot Workshop to help visitors understand the many uses of robotic technology beyond familiar industrial environments and experience the many ways robots are already in their homes.
Bossa Nova's robots evolved from RHex, a fast-moving, agile, hexapod robot which was developed from 1999 to 2004 as a collaboration between the CMU Robotics Institute and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). RHex provided the platform for Bossa Nova's 'Ani-Motion' robotic technology - a revolutionary lifelike robotic mechanism loosely based on animalistic locomotion. With a vision to bring personal robots to every home, Bossa Nova spent four years further developing the RHex technology to make it affordable and capable of age-appropriate, robot-human interactivity.
Underlining Bossa Nova's research and product development is the Japan Robotics Association's forecast that the market for personal and lifestyle robots will grow to $15 billion by 2015. According to United States ABI Research, approximately 75% of the market is attributed to entertainment robotics with the majority of sales driven by children's robots.
"The technology behind Prime-8 and Penbo has only previously been seen in multi-million dollar research projects," said Sarjoun Skaff, CEO, Bossa Nova, Ph.D Robotics, CMU. "To make this kind of technology available to children is unprecedented and what we've seen in all of our focus groups is that both kids and adults are impressed by Penbo and Prime-8's technology and lifelike movements."
Continued Skaff, "Children's robotics is just the start, in the future we envisage creating Bossa Nova robots that will change the way we work, play, learn and stay safe."
Not your primitive primate, Prime-8 mimics the way boys play. Prime-8's intense interactivity is powered by a battery of sensors that allow him to respond to people and his environment. Outbound sight and sound sensors help Prime-8 maneuver around obstacles, respond to questions with grunts and growls, and express himself. A fast-paced, powerful and fun gorilla robot with a strong personality, his personality radically transforms from a friendly, funny gorilla with warm blue eyes to a ‘Gone Bananas!' robot, beating the floor and roaring from the top of his lungs, with circuits crackling and furious red eyes.
On the other end of the robot spectrum is Penbo, an adorable interactive and waddling penguin robot who surprises little girls when she lays an egg. When the egg is opened, out comes Bebe - a tiny baby penguin that will chirp and communicate with its mother. Penbo is aware of her surroundings, loves to dance, plays games and talks with Baby in Penguish, her own language; she responds to touch with blinking eyes, flapping wings, and cooing sounds and is a perfect robot companion for little girls to nurture.
Prime-8 will be available to consumers for the first time on QVC on July 25. Penbo will make her consumer debut on QVC in mid-August. Both products will be available online on August 1st and on shelves at retailers nationwide for the holiday season.

About Bossa Nova Robotics
Bossa Nova Robotics has been redefining the robotics industry since 2005. A spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotic Institute, Bossa Nova creates enriching entertainment experiences by combining the magic of agile robots with the power of play. Based in the nation's robotics capital, Pittsburgh, PA, the Company designs and manufactures personal robots for consumer use. Bossa Nova was created based on a dream that kids everywhere would one day have an opportunity to interact with a new generation of toy robots. Unlike anything on the market, Bossa Nova's robots showcase a new relationship between technology and toys. Kids love Bossa Nova's robots because they're exciting and funny; parents love them because they have a family-friendly play pattern. In the coming years, Bossa Nova will apply its robotics expertise to security, health, education and home care markets. For more information about Bossa Nova Robotics, please visit www.bnconcepts.com.

Prime-8 and Penbo (shown here) are the launch products for Bossa Nova Robotics, a spinoff of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute with a really simple goal: To take awesome robotics tech out of the lab and put it in the hands of real people.

Here, the primary technology repackaging is its form of locomotion, inspired by the biomechanics of a cockroach, whose pliant legs allow it to quickly scurry over rough, broken terrain without thinking about it. These make a complete revolution (unlike the roach's legs), but the mechanics of them are similar—neither RHex nor Prime-8 need sensors to move and balance. To see some of the relation between Prime-8 and RHex, RHex climbing some stairs:

Prime-8 does more than run circles around other robots, though—it intelligently re-balances itself automatically, plays games, can run amok autonomously, shoot rockets and synchronize with other Prime-8s. It's controlled via an infrared remote that's shaped like a generic videogame controller. It's designed for kids around 8 years old. (I hope they haven't played too many videogames before picking Prime-8's controller, actually, since there's a lack of precision in the controls that someone used to precise responses from inputs might be frustrated with.)

That said, it's a lot of fun to play with, and pretty easy to pick up and start slamming into stuff. I'd love to run it around on some rougher terrain, as well, since it's designed to be tough—supposedly, it can hold up after falling off of a table. There's definitely a more visceral joy playing with Prime-8 than with some of the other robots I've play with—the speed, the form (not a generic robot shape), the kinetic-ness of it.

Both Prime-8 and Penbo launch on QVC on July 25 for $100 and $80, respectively, before hitting Amazon a little bit later, and possibly online stores for Walmart and Target for the holidays.

Bossa Nova is planning on using the same movement tech in future robots as well, so they all move in roughly the same manner—Penbo, a penguin, uses the same movement system, just slightly tweaked so it waddles.

PITTSBURGH-BASED BOSSA NOVA ROBOTICS,
A SPINOFF FROM CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY'S ROBOTICS INSTITUTE,
RETURNS TO CAMPUS TO UNVEIL ITS FIRST LINE OF PERSONAL ENTERTAINMENT ROBOTS

Affordable Robots Feature Revolutionary 'Ani-Motion' Technology And Encourage Interactive Play

PITTSBURGH - July 9, 2009 - After four years of development, Bossa Nova Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based, robotics company and spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) Robotics Institute, today unveiled its first line of personal entertainment robots. Combining the magic of agile robots with a rich play experience, Bossa Nova presented two interactive and enriching biped robots modeled after the way kids play: Prime-8, a fast-paced gorilla robot, and Penbo, an adorable penguin with baby robot.
Bossa Nova's launch comes on the heels of the opening of Carnegie Science Center's roboworld™, the world's largest permanent robotics exhibition, and further establishes Pittsburgh's position as the nation's hub for robotics education, research and development. Penbo and Prime-8 will be used in roboworld's innovative Robot Workshop to help visitors understand the many uses of robotic technology beyond familiar industrial environments and experience the many ways robots are already in their homes.
Bossa Nova's robots evolved from RHex, a fast-moving, agile, hexapod robot which was developed from 1999 to 2004 as a collaboration between the CMU Robotics Institute and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). RHex provided the platform for Bossa Nova's 'Ani-Motion' robotic technology - a revolutionary lifelike robotic mechanism loosely based on animalistic locomotion. With a vision to bring personal robots to every home, Bossa Nova spent four years further developing the RHex technology to make it affordable and capable of age-appropriate, robot-human interactivity.
Underlining Bossa Nova's research and product development is the Japan Robotics Association's forecast that the market for personal and lifestyle robots will grow to $15 billion by 2015. According to United States ABI Research, approximately 75% of the market is attributed to entertainment robotics with the majority of sales driven by children's robots.
"The technology behind Prime-8 and Penbo has only previously been seen in multi-million dollar research projects," said Sarjoun Skaff, CEO, Bossa Nova, Ph.D Robotics, CMU. "To make this kind of technology available to children is unprecedented and what we've seen in all of our focus groups is that both kids and adults are impressed by Penbo and Prime-8's technology and lifelike movements."
Continued Skaff, "Children's robotics is just the start, in the future we envisage creating Bossa Nova robots that will change the way we work, play, learn and stay safe."
Not your primitive primate, Prime-8 mimics the way boys play. Prime-8's intense interactivity is powered by a battery of sensors that allow him to respond to people and his environment. Outbound sight and sound sensors help Prime-8 maneuver around obstacles, respond to questions with grunts and growls, and express himself. A fast-paced, powerful and fun gorilla robot with a strong personality, his personality radically transforms from a friendly, funny gorilla with warm blue eyes to a ‘Gone Bananas!' robot, beating the floor and roaring from the top of his lungs, with circuits crackling and furious red eyes.
On the other end of the robot spectrum is Penbo, an adorable interactive and waddling penguin robot who surprises little girls when she lays an egg. When the egg is opened, out comes Bebe - a tiny baby penguin that will chirp and communicate with its mother. Penbo is aware of her surroundings, loves to dance, plays games and talks with Baby in Penguish, her own language; she responds to touch with blinking eyes, flapping wings, and cooing sounds and is a perfect robot companion for little girls to nurture.
Prime-8 will be available to consumers for the first time on QVC on July 25. Penbo will make her consumer debut on QVC in mid-August. Both products will be available online on August 1st and on shelves at retailers nationwide for the holiday season.

About Bossa Nova Robotics
Bossa Nova Robotics has been redefining the robotics industry since 2005. A spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotic Institute, Bossa Nova creates enriching entertainment experiences by combining the magic of agile robots with the power of play. Based in the nation's robotics capital, Pittsburgh, PA, the Company designs and manufactures personal robots for consumer use. Bossa Nova was created based on a dream that kids everywhere would one day have an opportunity to interact with a new generation of toy robots. Unlike anything on the market, Bossa Nova's robots showcase a new relationship between technology and toys. Kids love Bossa Nova's robots because they're exciting and funny; parents love them because they have a family-friendly play pattern. In the coming years, Bossa Nova will apply its robotics expertise to security, health, education and home care markets. For more information about Bossa Nova Robotics, please visit www.bnconcepts.com.

Their method varies in accuracy from state to state, but the basics of it is that they use your birth date and the area you were born to come up with a likely match for the first few digits of your SSN.

Since the late 1980s, the government has promoted an initiative termed "Enumeration at Birth" that seeks to ensure that SSNs are assigned shortly after birth, which should limit the circumstances under which individuals apply for them later in life (and hence, make fraudulent applications easier to detect).

The last few digits are harder to guess correctly. If the algorithm narrows down your details to just the last few and attack it with a brute force method—say online, on a site that lets you try multiple times—this could mean that people could forge your identity by using details you have on Facebook, coupled with a botnet of a couple thousand machines. [Ars Technica]

The video below explains the concept in depth, but here's the gist: A hard acrylic chamber, perforated with fixed button shapes, is surrounded by latex on both sides. A pneumatic pump pressurizes or depressurizes the central chamber, either depressing or lifting the areas above the button holes. Display duties are carried out through rear projection, and (multi!)touch tracking is dealt with via finger-tracking cameras.

The effect is seamless. It's still in experimental stages, but no single part of this technology is especially novel or expensive, so it's semi-plausible that we could see something like this make it to market in the near future. Unfortunately, the bulky nature of this particular system precludes use in portable products, but it would work just fine in larger ones, like the in-dash computer seen in the video.

Size will inevitably come down, power needs will be addressed, and such a screen's uses will widen. This generation may one day be asked, "Dad, was there really a time when touchscreens and buttons didn't peacefully coexist? Really?" They'll have to reluctantly answer, "Yes, son," eyes turned toward the ground, "but would that we forget..." [Tech Review]

Howie Choset, an associate professor at CMU, engineered the robotic arm with various sensors so it can monitor and assess a soldier's condition. The are detectors on it can determine if a person is breathing. Eventually Choset hopes to attach an ultrasound that would allow the arm to detect internal bleeding. An oxygen mask can also be attached the robotic arm. Controlled wirelessly though a joystick, the arm has multiple joints allowing it to flex, retract and twist, allowing it the flexibility to do different tasks.

The team is collaborating with the U.S. Army's Life Support for Trauma and Transport system (LSTAT), a stretcher that is a basically a portable intensive-care unit that is being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem with the LSTAT is that it's sensors need to be moved by hand, and assisting medics on the battlefield would be easy targets, something that the snake bot could help solve. Still the uses of the snake bot aren't limited to just biotechnology: Choset hopes to apply it to search and rescues, surgical procedures, bridge inspections, bomb disarming and more. [CMU via Technology Review]

The trucks are completely driver-less, and will be used as part of an autonomous mining haulage system Caterpillar's developing with minerals giant BHP Billiton. The Carnegie Mellon folks will be responsible for adapting their auto-drive software, originally developed for DARPA, to the hulking machines. [CMU via Wired]

Its snake/tentacle body is designed to perform cardiac surgery without damaging other tissue on the way in to its destination. Currently their smallest prototype is 12 inches long and just 0.47 across, with 102 degrees of freedom and is joystick-steered by a surgeon. Successful cardiovascular operations have been carried out using CardioArm on cadavers and pigs, and more extensive human trials are upcoming.

It's a technology suited to many different surgeries, but not until it's a tad smaller: ultimately the team plan to miniaturize it to the point that it can get in via a vein. That's sending the biggest shivers down my spine, I can tell you. [TechnologyReview via MedGadget]

One, since when does your wife ask you to determine whether somethings is true or false, repeatedly, while having a conversation? It's usually just talking about picking up milk or the crazy broad at work—a decidedly easier activity.

Two, did these volunteers actually get drunk and take the same test? Or were the researchers just saying that the errors made while on the phone were similar to the ones made theoretically while drunk. Because their study report doesn't seem like the subjects liquored up and did some driving. It's pretty difficult to come to the conclusion that talking on the phone is as dangerous as driving, but you can conclude that it's more dangerous than just driving normally. [Consumer Affairs via Textually]

Rothman points out that Mythbusters did their own test in Episode 33 (he's a big fan) and actually did get drunk and drove around. Any MB lovers see that one?

The maglev haptic control consists of two bowl shape objects, powered by electromagnets. Inside these bowls, a joystick floats around with a tracking sensor that relays its position back to a Linux Fedora-powered computer. The technology is precise to 2 microns and produces 40 newtons of force. One specific demo was the "physics playpen," where a variety of 3d shapes were displayed on screen and users could interact with them using the joysticks; moving the shapes back and forth between each hand, getting feedback of the collision, and a feel for the volume and weight of the objects.

Ultimately, the goal for this maglev haptic technology would be to have it implemented in a medical setting (microsurgery), military use (drone control), or even data visualzation (minority report, perhaps?). Just don't expect it anytime soon, as the electromagnets that power this thing cost tens of thousands of dollars alone. More pics are available over at [Gadget Lab].

A Russian security researcher known only as "John Wane" (sic) says that his team has developed a system that correctly identifies the images from Yahoo's CAPTCHA system 35% of the time. According to one analyst, the irony is that the image recognition used to fight off the current generation of image-embedded spam will now be used to create the next wave of spam itself.

Yahoo apparently confirmed that this was the case:

We are aware of attempts being made toward automated solutions for CAPTCHA images and continue to work on improvements as well as other defenses.

The winner navigated the 60-mile course of simulated city streets and parking lots in about six hours, avoiding its challenging robot vehicles as well as other cars driven by stunt drivers. While there was a slight collision between the cars from Cornell and MIT, and Terramax, the 12-ton truck from Team Oshkosh almost ran into a building, the contestants apparently got all the dramatic crashes out of the way in the qualifying rounds last week.

Taking home the $1 million second-place prize was Stanford University's robot named Junior, and third was Odin, the car from Virginia Tech, winning the $500,000 prize. Our fave, that Lotus Elise from N.C. State University didn't win, but there's always next year. [Technology Review and Robot Central]