Future of Engineering

"It is about imitating the marvellous process of photosynthesis and, in a similar way to how a plant does it, causes a reaction based on sunlight that eliminates harmful substances," Horst Kisch, professor of chemistry and head of the inorganic chemistry team at Germany's University of Erlangen, told Tierramérica.

Some love it, while others don't. The smell of freshly painted rooms evokes such a response. But everyone's going to love this innovative paint that isn't just interested in making a decorative statement, it also wants to purify the air in the room.

Titanium dioxide is a pigment used in this paint that acts as a photocatalyst, triggering certain chemical reactions stimulated by light. The pigment absorbs energy from UV rays and makes the surface active. In the presence of air it produces oxygen links that breaks down toxic molecules into completely harmless particles.

The paint breaks down compounds like carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, dichloroethylene, benzene and nitrogen oxides without producing contaminants.

It is being marketed under the name StoClimasan (for interiors) and StoPhotosan (for exteriors). Initial tests reveal that there is an 80 percent reduction in the concentration of harmful substances in a room. The only disadvantage with this product is the price. You've got to shell out an amount that's five times higher than that of conventional paints.

Kisch and his team has been able to achieve this remarkable feat within five years. Their invention was honoured with the latest Innovation Prize, sponsored by the German Ministry of Economy.

Apply this paint and say goodbye to foul odor and cigarette smoke. Let your homes be filled with fresh air forever.

Source - Ipsnews
Image Credit - Valspar

Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Industrial-Engineering

This resource page @ the Future of Engineering Blog provides web resources that discuss the future of automation.

The Future of Industrial Automation - Because of the relatively small production volumes and huge varieties of applications, industrial automation typically utilizes new technologies developed in other markets. Automation companies tend to customize products for specific applications and requirements. So the innovation comes from targeted applications, rather than any hot, new technology.

The Future of Automation - Advances in computer and automated systems technology have impacted the entire manufacturing enterprise. CASA/SME developed and uses the Manufacturing Enterprise Wheel as a framework for understanding the different elements and relationships of the manufacturing enterprise. Examples of automation technology can easily be found that impact each area of the wheel, including Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Workflow Management, and Knowledge-Based Design, to name a few.

Avoid Disasters for Automation's Future: Could this Happen to You? - Past analysis has attributed so many aircraft accidents to human error. Yet at a closer look, we could trace quite a few back to design issues. The Airbus philosophy was to give the computer final authority when there was a discrepancy with the pilot. Although there could be a good reason for this, we aren't at the point where we can build software to account for every possible condition. Trusting software above human intelligence and flexibility may be a mistake. At least three other Airbus accidents resulted in hundreds of deaths due to similar computer-versus-pilot control issues.
Are all operating parameters documented and accounted for in your design? Might the safety requirements differ during different plant operating phases, such as start-up, operation, maintenance, and shutdown? Have you considered and reviewed factors like these during your hazard analyses? Make sure you account for the impact of spurious sensor signals in the rest of the system design and operations

Future Automation Flat Screen Lifts - The Future Automation Inverted Plasma lift allows a plasma screen to be stored in a ceiling. Press the remote control and the plasma will drop in to view. The mechanism also opens a trap door in the ceiling before lowering the plasma. A matching piece of ceiling above the plasma then fills the opening in the top of the cabinet when the plasma is down

A Model for Types and Levels of Human Interaction with Automation - Here you find the outline of a model for types and levels of automation that provides a framework and an objective basis for deciding which system functions should be automated and to what extent. Appropriate selection is important because automation does not merely supplant but changes human activity and can impose new coordination demands on the human operator. We propose that automation can be applied to four broad classes of functions: 1) information acquisition; 2) information analysis; 3) decision and action selection; and 4) action implementation

The Hottest Trends in Automation & Technology - Automation and technology systems are exerting more influence on the way businesses run. And as automated systems and technologies get more ubiquitous and powerful, they are also becoming more invisible, with many imbedded intelligent devices undetectable to passersby.CAD/CAM software is improving its process planning capabilities, which "involves finding the right tool to do the right job

Modern Trends in Industrial Automation, Process Control and Robotics - Globalisation, growing Technology and their development increasingly influence Automation in industry. And, it plays an important role in the global economy and in our daily lives. The most effective and visible part of modern Industrial automation is the industrial robotics. Fully automated process control Robots have contributed greatly to improve the productivity of virtually all manufacturing industries throughout the world. And, almost all the process monitoring systems installed as a part of plant or production process are basically Digital Control Systems DCS connected by digital networks.

Design Automation for Deepsubmicron: Present and Future - Advancing technology drives design technology and thus design automation (EDA). How to model interconnect, how to handle degradation of signal integrity and increasing power density are changing now, and have led to integrating logic and layout synthesis. Aggressive gate sizing to control timing has become part of any modern back-end. From 0.13 μ and down, chips will be more susceptive to breakdown during fabrication (antenna effect) or to wear out over time (electromigration) and dealing with these issues will require careful planning. More integration of fast and accurate analysis with a complete design flow (chip planning, synthesis, placement and routing) will be needed, and still, advancing complexity will affect design and verification

Future Trends in Process Automation - The importance of automation in the process industries has increased dramatically in recent years. In the highly industrialized countries, process automation serves to enhance product quality, master the whole range of products, improve process safety and plant availability, efficiently utilize resources and lower emissions. In the rapidly developing countries, mass production is the main motivation for applying process automation. The greatest demand for process automation is in the chemical industry, power generating industry, and petrochemical industry; the fastest growing demand for hardware, standard software and services of process automation is in the pharmaceutical industry. The importance of automation technology continues to increase in the process industries

Labels: Automation, Industrial-Engineering

A Stickybot is a state-of-the-art robotic lizard that can scale smooth surfaces like walls and windows with the ease of Spiderman.

The Pentagon hopes to someday use the gecko-inspired device as a "spy in the sky" to watch over enemy territory.

According to the robot's creator, Sangabae Kim, the gecko can climb almost any surface, fast. For example, it can climb glass surfaces at about a meter per second using an incredible feature on the bottom of its toe covered in nano-scale hairs. The technology is called "directional adhesive stock" and is meant to imitate real gecko hair. Stickybot has been featured in National Geographic.

More from here

Keywords: Stickybot, Amazing Robotic Gecko, Spiderman, Pentagon, spy in the sky, Good Morning America, Sangabae Kim, nano-scale hairs, directional adhesive stock,
National Geographic

Labels: Industrial-Engineering

Accidental inventor Gordon Thiessen hears a lot of "how come no one's ever thought of this before," when showing off his support arm for construction tools."This" is a gas-strut swing-arm that clamps to a vertical post, scaffolding or a tripod to hold heavy portable jackhammers, drills and other power tools aloft so construction workers don't have to strain and sprain their backs and necks holding them up manually for hours at a time.Thiessen, a research associate in automation and electronics at BCIT's technology centre, started work on developing the device in 2001 at the behest of Worksafe BC, then known as the Workers Compensation Board, which was looking for a way to ease the injurious strains of construction work.

The heavy-tool support arm that Thiessen came up with won some recognition as one of 75 technologies to be highlighted at a major U.S. innovation showcase at the end of last month.

More from here

Keywords: Swing-arm invention, Gordon Thiessen, jackhammers, drills, power tools, BCIT, Workers Compensation Board, Canadian federal government, Arlington, Las Vegas, Robert Duncan, James Wells

Labels: Civil-Engineering, Design-Engineering, Industrial-Engineering

In the future your face, and not hands, will do the work. Breakthroughs in computerized facial expression and voice recognition technology are heralding a new era in communications that requires virtually no physical exertion whatsoever – not the click of a mouse or the tap-tap-tap of a keyboard. It'll save space on your desk and could put an end the ache of carpal tunnel syndrome. It will be a godsend for people with severe arthritis in their hands and arms. Like the voice command technology used in cars to keep drivers' hands on the steering wheel, much of this computerized communication is coming down the pipe in bits and pieces.

Technology for computerized facial recognition is ten times more accurate now than it was four years ago, and the best of the systems outperform humans, the National Institute of Standards said almost a year back.

Its facial-recognition test has compared vendor systems on in their ability to recognize high-resolution still images and three-dimensional facial images, under both controlled and uncontrolled illumination. According to the NIST report issued in late March 2007, the facial recognition systems it tested in the trials showed an “order of magnitude,” or tenfold, improvement over comparable tests conducted four years ago.

A new facial-recognition algorithm created by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is able to recognize faces with 90-95 percent accuracy, even if the eyes, nose and mouth are obscured

Reaffirming these trends, a number of consumer products today are coming out with visual recognition capabilities. Some of the new Toshiba laptops such as Portege M800, Satellite M300 and A300 recognize your face. A bunch of researchers from Tel Aviv University have even managed to successfully 'teach' a computer how to spot an attractive woman. Wow!

Voice recognition is making rapid strides too

Yahoo has released a new application that allows users to search the web with voice commands. The feature is part of oneSearch version 2, due to be released during the summer. However, the company is offering BlackBerry users an early peek of the voice recognition technology at m.yahoo.com/voice.

Mac users now have the option to use voice recognition tech too, thanks to MacSpeech Dictate.

Products such as Nuance voicemail to text make the transformation of voice and text messages easy and at the same time lets one access, sort, forward and archive their messages. The voicemail transformed texts are compatible with all standard message media. So that's voice recognition transforming the way you read email!

It's early days yet for facial and voice recognition systems. Sure, there are still lots of promises that face recognition and voice recognition systems are yet to deliver on, but the current status is, some elements of these technologies are poised for greatness even when still in the prototype stage, and some are already available to consumers and work just fine.

You can look forward to a future that involves a lot less using your fingers to type and a lot more using your face to talk and communicate.

Here are some more interesting resources for computerized facial & voice recognition, for those whose curiosity is never satisfied easily!
The Mathematics of Face Recognition
The Year Consumer Voice Recognition Gains Momentum

Labels: Computer-Science, Design-Engineering, Industrial-Engineering

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) announced a new initiative called Innovations That Could Change The Way You Manufacture. This member-driven initiative outlines the emerging technologies that are making a positive impact on manufacturing. It also provides an educational framework for SME members and manufacturing practitioners to keep up-to-date on the industry's latest and greatest innovations. These innovations, which include such "what's hot" advancements as Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM); "what's now" like self- assembling nanotechnology and "what's green or eco-friendly" like ultracapacitors will be showcased at the upcoming Competitive Manufacturers Conference. The Conference, scheduled for June 17-19 at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg, is designed to connect manufacturing professionals to leading industry experts.

The Innovations initiative was born out of a series of meetings, e-mail exchanges and other communications between SME's Technical Community Network (TCN) and the larger manufacturing community. The TCN requested nominations for ideas from the community, kept some and eliminated others, and then presented its findings to SME's Manufacturing Enterprise Council (MEC) for review. The Council collaboratively selected five "innovations that could change the way you manufacture" based on such criteria as universality across industries, positive impact on manufacturing, current availability for integration, and overall industry value. These innovations include:
o Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM)
o Ultracapacitors o Self-Assembling Nanotechnology
o Intelligent Device Integration (IDI)
o Integrated 3-D Simulation
o Modeling/Desktop Super Computers...

Full report here

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Labels: Industrial-Engineering, Manufacturing-Production-Engineering

Stacked package is a promising solution offering high integration that leads to miniaturization. Among stacked packages, package-in-package (PiP) and package-on-package (PoP) are increasingly becoming important in the packaging industry, especially in mobile phone applications, as they enable the stacking of high-density logic devices. PoP solutions feature two packages with one placed above the other; solder balls are used to bond both these packages. This type of packaging results in the integration of logic and memory components in separate packages. For example, the integration of the application processor and the memory in mobile phones is achieved by using PoP solutions.PoP solutions contain two to four memory dies stacked on the top-package and one or two logic devices stacked on the bottom-package. The package height for the PoP solution depends on the number of dies encapsulated within that package. Presently, mobile handsets and digital cameras are stacking two packages for logic and memory architecture, while flash memory modules and high-density dynamic random access memory (DRAM) are stacking up to four packages more.

Full report from here

Labels: Industrial-Engineering

Demand for valves and actuators have increased as a result of huge investments and expansions in various process industries. The Asian and rest of the world markets are expected to see good growth compared to their European and North American counterparts. Among the various end-user criteria, aftermarket service assumes the highest importance.

A report from Frost & Sullivan report provides an insight into the dynamics guiding this market, and includes market challenges, drivers, restraints and avenues of opportunity for growth. Highlights of the briefing include analysis on different kinds of valves and actuators across regions worldwide, challenges and future trends of the market. The briefing will give an insight on the global perspective and trends in different regions which will benefit the various valves and actuator manufacturers, distributors & OEM’s.

Full details on the report here

Labels: Industrial-Engineering, Instrumentation-Engineering

The bots, until a decade back, used to be just fun and were more toys for tinkerers and scientists (except in Japan of course). But now the robots are beginning to be seen in many social places. We are used to chuckling at stories from Japan of robots serving coffee and greeting visitors to homes. But know what, these mechanical humans are here with us now, in London, in New York and whoa! even in my country, India. And when I read about predictions that robots in future could love and gasp!, go even one step beyond, I felt it was time I compiled a list of resources for what the future held in store for robotics. What are scientists predicting for the bots' future? What do the experts think? And who do those always fascinating sci-fi writers and futurists say after gazing at their crystal balls?

This compilation is divided into sections more for reading convenience than for any logical reason. Please let me know your thoughts and predictions on robots and their future roles by using the comments section below. Thanks!

Industrial, Professional & Military Applications

Robots: The Future is Now - Robots are already a part of our lives. Industrial robots widely used in manufacturing. Military and police organizations use robots to assist in dangerous situations. Robots already have a significant role in medicine. Robots are helping doctors achieve more precision in the operating room, performing safer, less invasive techniques

Future of Robotics for Civil Use - Caterpillar plans to develop remote controlled machines and expects to develop fully autonomous heavy robots by 2021. Some cranes already are remote controlled It was demonstrated that a robot can perform a herding task. Robots are increasingly used in manufacturing (since 1960s). In auto industry they can amount for more than half of the "labor". There are even "lights off" factories such as an IBM keyboard manufacturing factory in Texas that are 100% automated. Robots such as HOSPI are used as couriers in hospitals, etc. Other hospital tasks performed by robots are receptionists, guides and porters helpers, (not to mention surgical robot helpers such as Da Vinci) Robots can serve as waiters and cooks.

Bots on The Ground - The most effective way to find and destroy a land mine is to step on it. This has bad results, of course, if you're a human. But not so much if you're a robot and have as many legs as a centipede sticking out from your body. That's why Mark Tilden, a robotics physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, built something like that.

Surgical Robotics - Surgical Robots towards autonomy:
* Current surgical robots are tactical: every move authorised by a surgeon
* Telesurgery already requires local autonomy
* Miniaturisation and new MIS techniques lead to strategic robots

* Robotics will become ubiquitous in future

Applications for Robot

Applications for robot insects are
* Tasks on terrain unsuitable for wheeled robots
* Animal modelling
* Remote handling
* Remote location exploration
* Entertainment/home projects
* Robot insects could be used for tasks that involve transportation, exploration and surveillance, especially for tasks that are inhospitable for humans.

Mobile Robot Suits Material Handling Applications - Employing Industrial Mobile Robotics technology, vision-guided Model GT3 moves through manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution operations utilizing stereo cameras to build 3D map of environment. It then uses map and its own reasoning ability to navigate predetermined path to complete assigned transport task. Designed to free up skilled employees, GT3 pulls carts, delivers palletized materials, and positions supplies without wire guides, magnets, or lasers.

Military Robots of the Future - Since Robby the Robot first appeared on screen in 1956’s Forbidden Planet, science fiction in print, film and on television has pushed the limits of our imagination regarding machines of the future and their abilities to perform human tasks.

Social Bots

Robots! More robots! And They're in Your House! - Robots of the future will look nothing like R2D2 in Star Wars, but resemble computer chips embedded in everyday appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and cell phones, if companies like Evolution Robotics Inc. have anything to do about it.The Pasadena-based company produces vision-based robotic technology. With it, you can point your cell phone at a movie poster, take a picture, and the technology will go out to the Web and download the movie's trailer to your phone.

'Love+Sex with Robots': Our Future? - Don Oldenburg says “I've seen the future of sex, and its name is Robot — as in humanoids designed and programmed to satisfy our every psychological and sexual need, want and desire. At least that's what artificial-intelligence expert David Levy contends in his controversial and troublingly arousing book about sexuality 50 years hence.” His prediction: Falling in love with and making love to artificial but remarkably human-like robots will become a socially accepted alternative

Robotic Rats Will get a Sense of Touch - An international team composed of robot designers and brain researchers is looking at nature to develop a new generation of robots with active touch sensing abilities. The BIOTACT (’Biomimetic technology for vibrissal active touch’) project is developing whiskered robot rats which might help in rescue or search missions under conditions of restricted visibility, and even for planetary research

Roomba Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - The Roomba 530 is easy to set up and use (it even has a talking tutorial/demo mode). Simply unpack it, install the battery and place it on its charging station. Several hours later, you’re good to go, using either standard mode or the spot-cleaning mode. Spot cleaning is best for small areas, while the Clean mode will cover several standard-size rooms. The Verdict: The Roomba 530’s clever design means dirt and dust won’t pass through the robot’s vacuum workings, which make it both easy to maintain and a great choice for dust-allergy sufferers. The Roomba 530 is also value for money; at $599 it’s not much more than a reasonably good vacuum cleaner.

Home Robots Grow In Popularity - We are moving beyond the stage where robots were used only in controlled and therefore relatively simple factory environments. The home and the surgical operating table are both much more complicated environments with more unplanned and unexpected elements that can show up. Recent advances in robotic vehicles demonstrate the potential for robotic systems to handle complex environments outside of factories. The success of robots in the mass market will provide revenue flows to fund the development of more robotic products. We should expect the introductions of new kinds of home and workplace robots in the next few year. Robots are a growing part of our everyday lives.

Robot Future Poses Hard Questions - Scientists have expressed concern about the use of autonomous decision-making robots. As they become more common, these machines could also have negative impacts on areas such as surveillance and elderly care, the roboticists warn. The development and eventual deployment of autonomous robots raises difficult questions. The more pressing and serious problem is the extent to which society is prepared to trust autonomous robots and entrust others into the care of autonomous robots

Future Vision: Cheap Robots Change the World - Virtual Travel: People will be able to visit each other without traveling. They will do this by taking control of a robot at their desired vacation destination, and use the Internet to transmit all the sensory information back and forth
* Housekeeping
* Machines will do the routine chores around the house
* Robots will be inexpensive

Exotic Stuff

Self-healing Mini Robots for Search and Rescue Operations - It is believed that the self-healing robots will be able to dock with each other, share energy, and co-operate to maximise their abilities to achieve different tasks. Researchers from 10 universities are associated with the project. They say that future applications include search and rescue missions, space exploration, and medicine. "A swarm could be released into a collapsed building following an earthquake. They could form themselves into teams searching for survivors or to lift rubble off stranded people"...Hmmm...

Robots Fly into Antarctic Skies - A pair of lightweight, robotic planes have made the first unmanned flights over Antarctica's icy expanses. Driven by propeller, the machines made 20 low-altitude sorties, including four over the Weddell Sea. The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were launched by catapult but flew autonomously until landing.During some of the test flights the machines were fitted with miniaturised instruments to collect data for use in predictive climate models

Thought-controlled Robot Picks up Green or Red Block………and more such interesting info

Brain Machine Interface - In January, Miguel A. L. Nicolelis announced that his team completed the first steps toward a brain machine interface that might make it possible for paralyzed people to walk by directing devices with their thoughts. The team's monkey, in North Carolina, demonstrated the power of the technology when she used her brain signals to make a robot in Japan walk.

Future Predictions

Future Trends in Robotics This brief report from AI Depot cites some interesting articles discussing trobotics trends...Guardian's feature on a recent experiment in evolutionary robotics, NY Daily report on Honda's Humanoid Robots, and the BBC News report on Robot Pets.

Bill Gates Stumps for Robotic Future - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates lays out the robotic future in the cover story of January's Scientific American magazine, which has a C-3PO type robot on the cover. In the story, Gates argues that the robot industry is akin to the PC industry 30 years ago. Robots lack standards and don't have a common OS, processor or code base. And guess who wants to be that standard OS? Microsoft.

iRobot CEO Talks Past, Present and Future of Robotics Very few people know more about the practical robotics industry more than iRobot CEO Colin Angle. This article is based on a chat with Colin Angle earlier today about the state of the robotics industry, why iRobot is essentially the only company doing what they're doing in the field, what kind of robots are coming in the future and why robots are necessary for the human race to survive. Why are so few people getting into the robotics industry now? Colin says it's because the market is incredibly hard, the margins are terrible, and very few companies have the collective knowledge necessary to enter the market. More in the article.

Robotics - What Next? - The robotics industry, while in development for half a century, is still relatively in its infancy and faces a number of challenges in the years ahead. Besides the technological and cultural hurdles to overcome, questions remain unanswered regarding their economic and environmental impacts as well as the ethical issues of human and robot interaction. What is obvious is that robots, whatever form they take, will increasingly play a role in societies around the world and that the ecosystem of services and capabilities will offer increasing opportunities for designers in the years to come

Bots with Brains: Future Robotic Overlords? - Science fiction has portrayed machines capable of thinking and acting for themselves with a mixture of both anticipation and dread, but what was once the realm of fiction has yet again become the subject of serious debate as robots become more intelligent. In 1981, Kenji Urada hopped a safety fence at a Kawasaki plant to carry out maintenance work on a robot. While working on the machine, the robot reached out and pushed 37-year-old Japanese factory worker into a grinder with its powerful hydraulic arm. Urada’s death is often said to mark the first recorded victim to die at the hands of a robot, although Robert Williams was killed by a robot two years earlier. Since both deaths, and despite the introduction of improved safety mechanisms, there have been many more gruesome industrial fatalities involving robots crushing humans, smashing their heads and even pouring molten aluminum over them. So will the robots be our future overlords, overstepping the bounds that humans had prescribed for them?

Predictions and Trends - The Robotics Industry - RobotWorx President Keith Wanner attended the 15th Annual Robotics Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida last year. Wanner said the casual atmosphere at the Forum provided the perfect setting for him to talk with top executives from major robot manufacturing companies and connect with suppliers. Some thoughts from him based on his discussions...

Robotics Technology Trends - Despite the wishes of robot researchers to emulate human appearance and intelligence, that simply hasn't happened. Most robots still can't see – versatile and rapid object recognition is still not quite attainable. And there are very few examples of bipedal, upright walking robots such as Honda’s P3, mostly used for research or sample demonstrations. Today, simple pattern matching vision sensors can be purchased for under $2,000 from Cognex, Omron and others. The price reductions reflect today's reduced computing costs, and the focused development of vision systems for specific jobs such as inspection.

Some Nice Articles on Robots - Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. And although the prototype will not fly for three years, killer Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, are much closer than that. More on such stuff from here.

The Future of Robotics - From vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers to military landmine detectors, robots are becoming increasingly present in our daily lives. Living on Earth’s Bruce Gellerman visits MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to meet a humanoid robot named Domo, its creator, PhD student Aaron Elsinger, and the man behind all the magic, CSAIL director Rodney Brooks.

How Robots Will Affect Future Generations - The future for robots is bright. But, how will robots affect future generations? Sometimes you can get ideas for the future by looking into the past and thinking about the changes we've seen as a result of other great inventions, like the cotton gin, airplane or Internet. Perhaps one day we will have true robotic ''helpers'' that guide the blind, assist the elderly. Maybe they'll be modular devices that can switch from lawn mower to vacuum cleaner, to dish washer and window washer.

What Does the Future Hold for Robot Applications? - If you ride in a car, an industrial robot helped build it. If you eat cookies, such as the Milano brand from Pepperidge Farm, there are robot assembly lines to help make and pack them. The computer you use to send e-mails and use for research almost certainly owes its existence, in part, to industrial robots. Industrial robots are even used in the medical field, from pharmaceuticals to surgery.

And the Rest

Bot Junkie - And here's a fascinating blog on the bots!

Microsoft's Announcement on Robotics - Microsoft's announced earlier this summer (late June) that it was launching a development platform for folks building robots. Microsoft historians may know Trower as a 24-year-plus Microsoft veteran who has worked on a variety of Microsoft projects, ranging from Visual Basic to Microsoft Agent technology. He has also served as a member of Chairman Bill Gates' strategic planning staff during his tenure. It was in that capacity that Trower discovered the robotics community and its growing prominence in the tech landscape. What persuaded the Microsoft power elite, which had just shunned a grid-computing initiative, to back Trower's robotics play? Two words: The future. Trower believes that robots are the natural successor to PCs, and he's convinced his bosses to adopt his view, or so it would appear.

Some related blog posts on robotics trends & future

Robots may soon protect people, places and things

It’s a Great Time to be in Robotics

Future of robotics: The Road

Future of Robotics

iRobot CEO Talks Past, Present and Future of Robotics

The Future of Robotics in the BattlefieldThe future of robotics

Future of robotics: The road ahead

World's strongest robot is put through its paces at HANNOVER MESSE 2008

NSF/CCC/CRA Roadmapping Workshop for Medical and Healthcare Robotics

Labels: Automation, Industrial-Engineering

If building zero-waste machines is one aspect of achieving interstellar travel, we may one day look back at the turn of the 21st century as the time when humans began to look at industrial design in such a way as to make this possible. How? By consulting the ultimate teacher - Mother Nature.

Some of the most advanced work in the field is being done here, on both the corporate and academic level. Students and teachers at local universities are exploring biomimicry research and education as companies such JDS Uniphase in Milpitas and Qualcomm in San Jose turn to nature's ingenuity for their designs. All this is just a microcosm of what's going on globally, where biomimicry is a burgeoning science.

Full report here

Labels: Bio-engineering, Design-Engineering, Industrial-Engineering

Robot Assisted Surgery by da Vinci

Ever been operated on by a robot? Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci surgical system isn't autonomous by any means, but the surgeon certainly isn't holding the scalpel in his or her hand.

The da Vinci system has electromechanical arms for holding a dual lens, dual 3-CCD sensor camera (for depth perception), and all the tools required for surgery from Intuitive Surgical (most called EndoWrist Instruments) including scalpels, needle holders, scissors, graspers, cauterization tools and other instruments. Although the specifics are not detailed, each arm sends force feedback to the controls and the camera produces what Intuitive Surgical calls a 3D image.

Full story here

Labels: Bio-engineering, Industrial-Engineering

Social Robots Being Developed by Japanese

At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust. Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot — dubbed Kansei, or "sensibility" — responds to the word "war" by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears "love," and its pink lips smile.

While robots are a long way from matching human emotional complexity, the country is perhaps the closest to a future — once the stuff of science fiction — where humans and intelligent robots routinely live side by side and interact socially.

Full story here

Labels: Industrial-Engineering, Mechanical-Engineering, Society

Shared work spaces a wave of the future

Working at home was too lonely for Summer Powell, a 35-year-old freelance graphic designer who had recently moved to San Francisco. She tried working in cafes but found it too distracting. So Powell called a friend and together they joined a communal drop-in office space called Sandbox Suites - an example of a new and growing work arrangement called co-working.

In co-working, a group of freelancers or other solo entrepreneurs share one big office space with perks that they might not get at home, such as conference rooms, espresso machines and opportunities for socializing. Co-working sites usually give members the option of renting a desk that becomes their own reserved space. But most also provide a drop-in option, where people can stop by and work in an unreserved common area for a lower fee...

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Labels: Design-Engineering, Industrial-Engineering

Robotic Vehicle that Won the Race

Whittaker, the Fredkin professor of robotics, director of the Field Robotics Center and founder of the National Robotics Engineering Consortium, all at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, is a big name in the robotics field. He's credited with liberating robots from repetitive assembly line work and setting them loose in the field.

Most recently, Whittaker led a Carnegie Mellon team that won a robotic vehicle race called the Darpa Urban Challenge. The race was overseen by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The goal of the race was to show that self-driving vehicles could conduct military missions without human assistance. The U.S. wants to use robotic supply trucks soon to keep soldiers out of harm's way. Whittaker's vehicle zipped through the 60-mile course in a mock urban setting in Victorville, Calif. The robot car had to merge into traffic, deal with busy intersections, avoid obstacles and follow California driving rules.

Full story here

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Robots Take to the Streets: Junior and the DARPA Urban Challenge

Labels: Industrial-Engineering, Mechanical-Engineering

War College Previews Future Robotics

Looking into the future of transformational technology means moving away from human capabilities and letting the robots do the dirty work.

"Robotics like this will help give EOD Soldiers a safe standing distance. We want to take the man out any mission that's dull, dirty or dangerous".

Full story here

Labels: Industrial-Engineering, Mechanical-Engineering