#Eagle-eyed robot can catch the common fruit fly Machine vision and robotic precision have combined in a new way to further fruit fly research.
Scientists at Stanford's Bio-X program have developed a robot that can catch and sort the tiny creatures much faster than a human can,
The fruit fly (or Drosophila) is one of the most important model organisms used in biomedical research it's easy to care for
and has understood a well genome that maps well to ours. It's also very small at around 2. 5 mm in length
and identification of these tiny beasts requires many monotonous human hours and anesthesia. This isn't always a good mix,
when my biology classmate inhaled a little too much ether while mouth-pipetting. Using a beam of IR light invisible to the fly,
and avoiding anesthesia. Once restrained, the robot can identify the gender and physical characteristics of the fly and even prepare microdissections to analyze the brain.
Associate professor of biology Mark Schnitzer and his team were even able to perform behavioral studies with the robot,
The video below demonstrates the quick (and painless) lift and release via robot b
#Wi-fi signals used to perform a head count The technology is basically the same as that previously used by Mostofi's team to look through walls.
But rather than identifying the position and outline of stationary objects within a walled structure,
the changes in the strength of the sent and received Wi-fi signals was used to estimate how many people were walking in a given area.
the researchers used two Wi-fi cards, placing one at each end of a target area of roughly 70 sq m (753 sq ft). Using the received power measurements of the link between the two cards,
and the scattering of the signal being reflected back to the receiving card when the person is not in the direct line of sight,
with Mostofi believing it could find applications in energy efficiency and search and rescue given the near-ubiquity of Wi-fi signals in many areas.
In terms of energy efficiency she suggests the technology could be used to estimate the number of people in a building,
and adjust the heating and cooling automatically. Similarly, this kind of information could help with search
Mostofi says she plans to eventually bring the two Wi-fi-based technologies together, which could result in a system that could estimate the number of people moving in a given area,
but also locate people behind solid walls. The video below explains the head-counting Wi-fi technology,
with the team's paper scheduled for publication in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.
Source: UC Santa Barbar b
#Engineers create a computer with a water droplet processor From driving water wheels to turning turbines,
water has been used as the prime mover of machinery and the powerhouse of industry for many centuries.
In ancient times, the forces of flowing water were harnessed even to power the first rudimentary clocks.
Now, engineers at Stanford university have created the world first water-operated computer. Using magnetized particles flowing through a micro-miniature network of channels,
Using poppy-seed sized droplets of water impregnated with magnetic nanoparticles (those handy little elements being used in everything from drug delivery in humans to creating e-paper whiteboards
the new fluidic computer uses electromagnetic fields to accurately pump these droplets around a set of physical gates to perform logical operations.
Stanford assistant professor Manu Prakash has spent almost a decade thinking about such a device, ever since he was a graduate student.
The many and varied components required of a fluidic computer have coalesced slowly in his mind over that time
with the most fundamental component of all an accurate operating clock to drive the logic being the crucial element in bringing his invention to fruition.
Ultimately, Prakash built a rotating magnetic field to synchronize the flow of all the droplets in a precisely timed manner,
"The reason computers work so precisely is that every operation happens synchronously; it's what made digital logic so powerful in the first place,
"In this work, we finally demonstrate a synchronous, universal droplet logic and control.""According to the Stanford researchers, this new type of computer offers up a way to produce an alternative to high-speed, complex,
electronic computers and take logic processing to the physical world. In this way, the fluidic computer may find applications in such areas as biology, chemistry,
and other physical sciences and technology that use processes more akin to the properties of organization found in nature."
or to operate word processors on this. Our goal is to build a completely new class of computers that can precisely control
and manipulate physical matter. Imagine if when you run a set of computations that not only information is processed
but physical matter is manipulated algorithmically as well. We have made just this possible at the mesoscale.""To create the fluidic logic,
Prakash and Stanford graduate student Georgios Katsikis constructed assortments of miniscule iron blocks on glass slides to act as physical logic gates.
To this, the researchers syringe in separate magnetic nanoparticle-infused droplets of water. They then surrounded the device with a series of large electromagnetic coils that,
when turned on induce a magnetic field in the iron bars. As this magnetic field has its polarity alternately and continuously changed
so too there is a change in the induced magnetic field of the iron bars, and the magnetized water droplets are drawn around the circuit.
Each alternation of the electromagnetic field amounts to one clock cycle, and each drop moves exactly one step onward with each of these cycles.
To observe the process, a video camera is used to capture the exchanges between individual droplets, and to observe fluidic computation in real time.
As such, the ones and zeroes of binary code are represented by the presence or absence of a water droplet,
with the magnetically-induced clock cycle ensuring that the droplets transfer in a flawless symphony that,
the researchers believe, means the system can practically run forever without errors.""Following these rules,
we've demonstrated that we can make all the universal logic gates used in electronics, simply by changing the layout of the bars on the chip,
"says Katsikis.""The actual design space in our platform is incredibly rich. Give us any Boolean logic circuit in the world,
and we can build it with these little magnetic droplets moving around.""The team also believes that, from the viewpoint of fundamental science,
the work is exciting because it provides a new aspect on computation in the physical world.
As such, just as the physics of calculation have been used to understand the limits of electronic computation, now the physical features of bits of information may be exploited in some novel way to control matter at the mesoscale (10 microns to 1 mm).
Given that the new system is also physically strong compared to electronic devices and adheres to universal design rules,
Prakash and his team intend to produce a design tool for these fluidic circuits for anyone to use."
to enable everyone to design new circuits based on building blocks we describe in this paper or discover new blocks,
"Right now, anyone can put these circuits together to form a complex droplet processor with no external control something that was a very difficult challenge previously.
computation takes a special place. We are trying to bring the same kind of exponential scale up because of computation we saw in the digital world into the physical world."
"The results of this research have been published in the journal Nature Physics. The short video below shows the fluidic computer in action
#3d printing breakthrough creates metal and copper structures The method developed at the University of Twente in The netherlands involves microscopic drops created from a thin metal film that is melted by a pulsed laser.
This precision melting allows microscopic metal drops to be placed onto a substrate and stacked to create high resolution metal structures.
The team claims it was able to stack thousands of metal drops into a tiny pillar just 2 millimeters tall and 5 microns in diameter.
including electrodes and copper circuits. The process is distinct from micro laser sintering or direct metal laser sintering,
The key to this breakthrough in printing metals seems to be using a higher energy laser than in previous attempts.
creating drops of metal that maintained a more spherical shape and led to the creation of a stack that was less stable.
The method still requires some refinement as the high-energy laser currently causes droplets to also land next to the desired placement location.
The team plans to look into this effect to improve printing capability not just in metals
Other efforts around the globe to print metals are also beginning to bear fruit, including hopes to exploit Australia's plentiful titanium reserves.
University of Twent t
#3d printing breakthrough creates tiny metal structures The method developed at the University of Twente in The netherlands involves microscopic drops created from a thin metal film that is melted by a pulsed laser.
This precision melting allows microscopic metal drops to be placed onto a substrate and stacked to create high resolution metal structures.
including electrodes and copper circuits. The process is distinct from micro laser sintering or direct metal laser sintering,
The key to this breakthrough in printing metals seems to be using a higher energy laser than in previous attempts.
creating drops of metal that maintained a more spherical shape and led to the creation of a stack that was less stable.
The method still requires some refinement as the high-energy laser currently causes droplets to also land next to the desired placement location.
The team plans to look into this effect to improve printing capability not just in metals
Other efforts around the globe to print metals are also beginning to bear fruit, including hopes to exploit Australia's plentiful titanium reserves.
#"Origami battery"made from paper and dirty water for just a few cents In the system, explained in the July issue of the journal Nano Energy,
liquid containing bacteria can be used to power a paper-based sensor, which could be especially useful in areas
and situations where access to electricity and resources are scarce. ny type of organic material can be the source of bacteria for the bacterial metabolism,
says Seokheun eanchoi, the engineer who developed the battery. nd we don need external pumps
or syringes because paper can suck up a solution using capillary force. he battery can fold down into the size of a matchbook
and utilizes a cheap air-breathing cathode made of liquid nickel sprayed onto one side of a regular
piece of paper. Actual origami techniques were used to create three-dimensional, stackable battery structures from the original, two-dimensional paper batteries.
The system doesn't require specially engineered nanomaterials like those used to make other paper-based batteries in the past.
Creating one of the batteries capable of delivering enough microwatts to run a biosensor in the field costs only five cents.
At the moment, the paper sensors need to be used with hand-held devices to conduct analysis on the data they gather,
but Choi has received a three-year, $300, 000 grant from the US National Science Foundation to create a self-powered system that can run the paper biosensor independently of other devices.
Some also see potential for the portable paper power tech to create diagnostic tools for disease control in the developing world.
including local wastewater, biomass or watersheds. Source: Binghamton Universit a
#3d printed flutes hit the right notes Researchers at Australia's University of Wollongong (UOW) have created a number of 3d printed custom flutes that can play microtonal tunings otherwise unachievable with standard flutes,
thus opening up a whole new series of tones to flute players. The same research could also lead to instruments
the UOW team made use of existing research data to mathematically plot the precise size the instrument must measure
Data from modeling software was fed then into a 3d printing machine, and a custom flute was manufactured duly."
"says UOW's Global Challenges, Manufacturing Innovation Leader, Professor Geoffrey Spinks.""We can see many applications moving forward with areas like custom-made instruments for people with physical restrictions,
student models for use by children where the instrument grows as they do customized instrument design where alternative designs can be printed and tested prior to production,
#Remote-control Range rover can be driven with a smartphone app High end cars are creeping towards full autonomy,
Now, using the sensors and hardware that let the car park itself, Jaguar land rover has demonstrated a very nifty remote control app that lets you get out of your car,
stand beside it and drive it using your smartphone. It's an incredibly handy way to get this huge thing in and out of tight parking spots,
or negotiate particularly rough terrain while keeping an eye on what's happening. You can literally be your own spotter.
The prototype smartphone app lets you start the car and control the brakes, throttle and steering, as well as gearshifts.
The car will go a maximum 4 mph (6 km h) in remote pilot mode, but it'll stop
if the smartphone or the car key get more than 10 meters (33 ft) from the vehicle.
It's unclear whether the car's collision avoidance sensors will stop you from running it into a pole.
A second prototype was revealed that can do its own 180-degree multi-point turn if you're in a narrow street that won't let you do a proper U-turn.
The car uses its ultrasonic sensors to look for hazards in the environment and then autonomously executes an about-turn in as many steps as is necessary, from a simple 3-point turn towell, presumably to one of these.
Check out both new systems in the video below l
#Graphene used to create world's thinnest light bulb Researchers and engineers from Columbia University, Seoul National University (SNU),
and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) created the device using tiny filaments of graphene attached to metal electrodes,
with these strips then suspended above a silicon substrate. Passing current through the filaments caused them to heat up to over 2, 500°C (4, 500°F) and produce an exceptionally bright light."
what is essentially the world's thinnest light bulb, "said James Hone, Professor of Mechanical engineering at Columbia."
"This new type of'broadband'light emitter can be integrated into chips and will pave the way towards the realization of atomically thin, flexible,
and transparent displays, and graphene-based on-chip optical communications.""Interestingly, the ability of graphene to reach such elevated temperatures without melting
either the underlying substrate or the metal electrodes is because, as graphene is heated up, it is less able to conduct heat away from itself.
As a result, the concentration of heat is limited to the very center of the filaments
and an exceptionally intense light is produced. Measuring the spectrum of light emitted from the new device,
so that less energy is needed to attain temperatures needed for visible light emission, "said Myung-Ho Bae, a senior researcher at KRISS."
"These unique thermal properties allow us to heat the suspended graphene up to half of the temperature of the sun,
"Not the first graphene light-bulb University of Manchester researchers lay claim to that but certainly the thinnest,
or catalysis."said Professor Hone. The results of this research were published recently in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
The short video below is an animation showing how the graphene filaments generate Light source: Columbia Universit U
#Inkless printing manipulates light at the nanoscale to produce colors Using nanometer-size metamaterials, researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have developed a technique to print images that uses the manipulation of light, rather than the application of ink,
to produce colors. This"no-ink"printing method has been demonstrated by producing a Missouri S&t athletic logo just 50 micrometers wide.
In normal color printing, various semitransparent inks are applied on top of each other to produce the various hues of a picture.
microminiature perforations are made in a multilayered structure consisting of two thin films of silver separated by a film of silica 45 nanometers thick.
The uppermost layer of silver film, just 25 nanometers deep, is punctured with miniscule holes using a focused ion-beam milling microfabrication process.
the researchers created holes with different diameters (ranging in size from 45 to 75 nanometers) corresponding to the desired absorption of light at various wavelengths.
This nanoscale"color palette"meant that the physical characteristics of the holes in the material determined the color displayed to accurately reproduce the S&t athletic logo"Unlike the printing process of an inkjet or laserjet printer,
where mixed color pigments are used, there is no color ink used in our structural printing process only different hole sizes on a thin metallic layer,
"said Dr. Jie Gao, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri S&t. The nanoscale perforations used to provide this color are so small as to only be visible with the help of an electron microscope,
but they allowed the researchers to reproduce the standard colors of the S&t logo, and also to manipulate the light to produce four new colors to make an orange ampersand,
As the sandwiched silver/silica material acts as a plasmonic device, the Missouri S&t team believes that mechanical color printing on such materials provides a much higher printing resolution than conventional color printing.
This is because their research shows that the periodic holes on the surface of the silver film provides excitation of surface-plasmon polaritons (electromagnetic waves that travel along the surface of a metal-dielectric
or metal-air interface) and create an optical magnetic dipole resonance which results in near-perfect light absorption and negligible reflection in the material.
As a combination of substances that provide functions or phenomena that act in ways not yet found in nature,
the printing substrate is also a metamaterial. As such, its unique properties may allow it to be used in ways not previously possible in the areas of nanoscale visual arts,
security tagging, and information storage. The researchers also believe that such a method of printing should also result in a reduced material count in relation to standard printing methods,
and could lead to lower costs, easier recycling, and higher fidelity and stability in image reproduction.
The results of this research were published recently in the journal Scientific Reports r
#Brain-zapping headwear designed to treat Parkinson's While the device has not yet been clinically trialled on humans,
its design took out second place at the Venturewell BMEIDEA national design contest earlier this month as well as first place in the People's Choice Award at Johns Hopkins'Biomedical engineering Design Day 2015.
The students took inspiration from one of the more invasive and advanced treatment options: deep brain stimulation.
This involves a surgeon implanting electrical leads into the region of the brain that controls movement.
A pulse generator inserted under the skin below the collarbone provides electrical signals that create a lesion,
and not all patients qualify for the surgery. We asked if there was a way to provide the same treatment in a less invasive way that doesn't require brain surgery."
"From there, the students learned about an experimental clinical treatment called transcranial direct current stimulation, which involves low-level current being passed through electrodes on a patient's head.
Like deep brain stimulation, it affects electrical activity in specific areas of the brain, but it's cheap, safe,
and has known no side effects. The students essentially developed a portable version of the treatment one that could run off a battery
and be activated at the push of a button. Their prototype works for up to 20 minutes per day, with current delivered at a doctor-prescribed level.
It goes on your head somewhat like a baseball cap with an elastic band that stretches to fit the size and shape of your skull.
The students obtained provisional patents to cover STIMBAND's design, which is still a work in progress.
Another Johns Hopkins student team will take over development in September, with a likely additional feature being remote connectivity that allows a doctor to adjust a home patient's treatment levels from his or her office.
Source: Johns Hopkins Universit s
#Robo-Mate exoskeleton aims to lighten the load for industry The development of powered exoskeletons has so far been restricted largely to the laboratory, the military,
and areas such as rehabilitation therapy. This kind of technology also has obvious potential in industry, where constant heavy lifting is still very much a part of many working lives.
Recently in Stuttgart, the Robo-Mate project unveiled an exoskeleton designed specifically for industrial use that can make 10 kilos feel like 1. One of the often overlooked benefits of modern technology is how much backbreaking labor workers are spared.
It isn't too long ago that even so-called high tech industries required an astonishing amount of lifting
and carrying. Even plastics factory making small household items required as much manual labor as a metal works turning out petrol engines.
Mechanisation and automation have done away with a lot of this, but according to the Work Foundation Alliance, 44 million workers in the EU alone still suffer from musculoskeletal disorders.
In some industries, workers still lift 10 tonnes a day. The reason why this still happens on a daily basis is that not every task lends itself to automation.
Some involve making things on a very small scale or others involve complicated, unpredictable moves, like dismantling a car,
that are well beyond even the most advanced robots. The result is human beings literally having to do the heavy lifting
It also has knock-on effects for employers trying to retain workers, health care systems, and even the ability of countries to keep jobs from going abroad.
Meanwhile, the leg modules support the inner thighs and act like a seat while squatting,
According to the project team, the key to developing the exoskeleton was using software to simulate tasks involving assembly and disassembly,
but the team says that a great deal of work still needs to be done. Currently the safety requirements of the exoskeleton are being evaluated
and streamlined case for the unit is being developed as part of an effort to make it more acceptable with workers as an everyday tool. ee not looking to make superheroes,
a specialist in ergonomics and product design at the University of Limerick in Ireland.""We want to develop a helper that supports production workers in their everyday work
and keeps them healthy. l
#LG unveils its lightest micro LED projector yet LG states that its new projector tips the scales at only 270 grams (9. 5 oz.
To put that in perspective, the company says that it weighs about the same as an average paperback book.
800-mah battery that offers enough juice for the projector to run for about two hours on a charge.
Of course, there's also a 100-240v AC-DC adapter to plug in the device when power is available.
Users can connect a smartphone, tablet, or PC to it wirelessly using Wi-fi. With this option,
users can mirror their screens on the giant projector display. There's also a USB port that will allow users to directly play videos from a USB drive.
Lastly, there's the option to use HDMI for connecting an external device. As far as lifespan is concerned,
LG is promising that its LED lamp is capable of working for up to 30, 000 hours,
which equates to 10 years of continuous watching for eight hours a day. LG is rolling out its new, lightweight projector in North america, Asia, Europe, Africa/Middle east and Latin america.
that are composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer. To make the tubes, the researchers start by dipping a rod-shaped cylindrical template in a bath of liquid PDMS.
gravity pulls much of the gelling elastomer down to the underside of the template, making the coating thinner on top and thicker on the bottom.
Because the tube's wall is thicker on one side than the other, the tube as a whole coils towards the thinner side as it stiffens with the higher air pressure.
#Compound discovery sets stage for speedier electronic devices A discovery at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids could pave the way for further leaps forward in the speed of electronic systems.
and Radbound University, found that a material called niobium phosphide, which is a compound of transition metal niobium and phosphorus,
dramatically increases its resistance in a magnetic field. The material could find use in faster, higher-capacity hard drives and other electronic components.
Electronic components such as hard disks typically use layers of different materials in filigree structure (tiny beads and threads of metal soldered onto the surface) to exploit a phenomenon known as magnetoresistance to develop a high electric resistance,
which allows for higher density of data and thus greater storage capacity. What happens here is that a tiny amount of electricity causes the charge carriers to deflect via a phenomenon called the Lorentz force,
and then that causes electrons to flow in the"wrong"direction thereby increasing electric resistance and allowing a very precise read of the data that's magnetically stored in a given location."
"The faster the electrons in the material move, the greater the Lorentz force and thus the effect of a magnetic field,"explains study lead author Binghai Yan.
The electrons in this material, niobium phosphide, travel very quickly. Niobium phosphide contains superfast charge carriers,
or relativistic electrons, that move at 300 km/s (186 mi/s), which is one-thousandth the speed of light.
And that extreme speed allows the resistance to increase by a factor of 10,000. The researchers believe that niobium phosphide has"enormous potential for future applications in information technology"not only in hard drives but also in many other electronic components that use magnetoresistance to function.
A paper describing the study was published in the journal Nature Physics y
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