Defeat for Microsoft: In the calling procedure around patent laws, a US court confirmed yesterday the judgment of the August according to what the present versions not more long may be sold by Word and Office 2007 in the USA. Read the rest of this entry »

At the bottom of a light and sound tower, on a park bench, two heavy-set security cops seem to be more concentrated than I like cops to be. One is peering inside a green knapsack (my heart skips a beat), while the other is quickly but politely asking people to move away. He’s waving his arms to say “Get Back!” to those who can’t hear his shouts above the music. The knapsack cop now fumbles with his mike, draws a deep breath and speaks some measured words into his radio. They both are moving outward from what I hope is simply a suspicious package. But they are moving too quickly, not lazily like bored cops going through the minimum motions of proper police procedure. Each one is hyper-aware, eyes, hips and hands locked in a hesitant five-steps-left, six-steps-right, one-step forward tango as they wave back the crowd. Some folks don’t notice, pierce the invisible police line, and five sit down on the bench next to the knapsack. The cops suddenly run back to the bench and order the people away, but not too politely this time. The crowd is sucked back into the vacuum toward the bench. One of the cops is visibly sweating, now. Their urgency triples, and they begin again to move the people back as other security forces converge and join the frayed invisible police line. Some are in Air Force berets, some in Army camo BDUs, some in Georgia white shirts. Only one has a side-arm. They have never met, have never worked together, but somehow they coordinate perfectly. No chiefs, no Indians, no cop egos. Just a shared and immediate need to move the crowd back without panicking it. My wife is wondering what I’m staring at: I haven’t blinked in two minutes.

I hear a whir and whiz from high torque electric and pneumatic motors behind me. At the walking entrance to the park a buffalump rises up to full mastadon height, its six legs shuffling slowly in an unfamiliar kind of elephant step. Infra-red rings surrounding each leg, feeler wires in each foot, and four video cameras at each rump search for walking obstructions, especially kids and dogs, near the intended footsteps. The buffalump aims toward the sound and light tower. There is a muffled voice coming from the unidirectional horn in the front of it’s buffalo-like head, saying something unintelligible. When the head turns toward me, I’m startled by the booming volume, “Stand back! Watch your children. Zurucktretten! Achtung auf Ihre Kinder.” The crowd parts rather quickly, and the buffalump gains speed. I’ve seen them hit 100kph on the open road on a National Geographic holo-vid before. This one only trots at walking speed, though, since the crowd is so dense and so near. The crowd only half pays attention. Cool aren’t they? Wow, imagine riding one. Ha Ha. But you can’t ride one. The buffalump’s hide is slicker than teflon, and the “skin folds” ripple like a snake’s slithering belly to discourage you from trying. You can’t run under one, either, because the hide droops almost all the way to the ground. Within 30-seconds, the buffalump passes me and slows to a stroll. I’m thinking how silent its footsteps are, how lightly each foot pad touches the ground, when it enters the invisible police line.

The buffalump’s head opens up, and it places its giant walrus-like mouth over the knapsack, engulfing the package with Kevlar armored cheeks. Inside its head, it x-rays the package and makes some independent choices without waiting for the humans at the Olympic Bomb Management Center to review the transmitted images. Noting there are no cop-killer tripwires, the buffalump rips the bag with the claws inside its head (where you expect teeth to be) , then grabs it and the nail-filled tupperware with two different grippers inside of its “throat,” and passes the bomb and shrapnel separately to different portions of its “stomach.”

Surrounded now by three thousand pounds of bulletproof hide impregnated with heat-reactive foam, the bomb is placed in the “pocket,” just below the buffalump’s “blowhole.” If the bomb were to detonate now, the force of the blast would be aimed upward to the sky, with the heat of the explosion sealing the foam around it, thus lengthening the duration of the conflaguration by a few milliseconds. The bomb would fizzle, or at least blow up less forceably.

Accompanied by a whush of white noise, a United Nations hovercopter appears over my head, and two shadows quickly descend. A black package lands first, followed almost instantly by a large man in an 85-pound air-conditioned blast suit with a three-quarter inch face shield. He ignores the package, and shuffles straight to the buffalump’s rear end. He activates a hand-held box, waving it near the buffalump’s butt, and an arm sized opening appears. The technician plugs a cable into it and reviews an image on his clipboard viewscreen. He is satisfied that this is a simple pipe bomb, no booby traps, three galvanized steel pipes taped together with a kitchen timer and a few wires leading to blasting caps. Inside, the buffalump already has several tools trained on various parts of the apparatus: tele-operated wire cutters surround each wire, a water cannon is aimed at the trigger, and censored by law enforcement authorities censored by law enforcement authorities censored by law enforcement authorities censored by law enfor.

Perhaps it is time to leave the planet before they dominate us penguins. The German company Festo has presented to the astonished world its latest creation: two colonies of penguins bionic. These are robots that mimic the movement and appearance of the penguins will have revolutionary applications in the industrial world.

The two colonies, currently held in two pools of water, each have three individuals that are so similar to the real which can even swim backwards.

But if his striking appearance, its operation is simply amazing. Bionic These penguins are able to behave autonomously and adapt to the environment that they came across in his swimming. This is an amazing achievement, but draws much attention that, according to Pesto, are endowed with a social meaning which can adapt their behavior when they meet in groups for the common good, so absolutely spontaneous. It’s almost as if will take. Read the rest of this entry »

Who wants to go to the gym if you can be and with that bionic strength increases five times In 2005, the Japanese company Cyberdyme introduced to the wonder world of a prototype that seemed to push us forward. HAL that stands in English Assisted Hybrid Prosthesis is a exoskeleton prototype, a kind of prosthesis for the body biomechanics will now begin to be marketed.

According to an article in the journal Hplus, four years after its launch, the company Cyberdyme is ready for mass production of this robotic exoskeleton.

HAL is based on a system biocybernetics based on bionic principles, electronic and robotic. Some sensors bioelectrical brain communicate with the prosthesis and the same impulses that make the body move, move forward HAL.

Its utility, in addition to being purchased as a futuristic fantasy, it will be important for disabled or elderly. In fact also being explored that would HAL in rehabilitation work.

Another possible use is to assist in professions that require great physical strength, as HAL increases the physical strength of a person for five.

What appears at the moment is its adaptation for military purposes, the father of HAL, the Japanese Sankay engineer at the University of Tsuka, seems to have rejected proposals from several countries to change their invention and turn it into a weapon.

Its usage is quite simple and of course can be used and then stored as it is not definitive. In fact the latest versions of the prototype has been improved greatly and have that HAL is very easy to carry and despite just 25 kilograms.

For now, Cyberdyne will start to sell about 400 or 500 units per year at a price of $ 4200, which at the current exchange rate is about 3,100 euros. The forecast, however are going up production to reach several thousand per year.

For now, Cyberdyne has established an office in Amsterdam to handle the sales of the exoskeleton in Europe.

The Department of Surgery and Gastroenterology Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio has returned to star in two new milestones by performing the first surgical interventions in rectal cancer using robotic surgery in Spain. Surgeons of the Colorectal Unit, with the collaboration of Dr. Alessio Pigazzi, Head of Unit for Minimally Invasive Laparoscopic Surgery of the “City of Hope Hospital (California, USA) and a leading expert in minimally invasive surgery coloproctologica have made two interventions in two of 63 women and 78 years. Read the rest of this entry »

While the use of robots in warfare is practically in its infancy, strategists always plan ahead to stay one step ahead of the enemy. In this case, look for a generation of robots with completely new characteristics.

DARPA is aware that the use of robots will ensure access to combat areas “hot”, where a soldier would not dare to even up against. But it often happens that the point of entry to these areas is a skylight, a small door or a hole in a wall. This limits much of the traditional robots, which are generally heavy and bulky.

But if the robots in question were sufficiently soft to deform and stretch far enough, can solve this shortcoming, through openings whose dimensions are much smaller than the robot itself and are not known a priori. Read the rest of this entry »

It even has ducks and soft skin. They are two of the characteristics that might define a child a little over a year learning to walk. The CB2 is a robot that is growing and will soon become an adult. And it is that this child has been born Japanese robot-oriented growth in the baby. Was presented in 2007 by scientists from the University of Osaka (Japan) and after two years of work, the baby has managed to take their first steps, human and emotional touch to express any emotion through the face.

The idea of team Minuro Asada, director of the project is to make this little robot learns and evolves as you would a child halfway between humans and primates.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Robot Suit HAL” is a cyborg-type robot that can expand and improve physical capability.

The company Cyberdyne has developed a robotic suit, which allows to extend the power of a human being. Initially designed for people with physical disabilities, support for heavy work in the factories, and rescue support to the disaster sites, as well as in the entertainment industry. Its appearance resembles the costumes shown in the drawings Japanese manga.

When a person tries to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles through the motor, moving the musculoskeletal system as a result. At this moment, very weak biosenales can be detected on the surface of the skin. HAL catches these signals through a sensor attached to the skin of the signals obtained in usuario. Basado, the power unit is controlled to move all the points together with the generator of muscle movement, enabling the carrier support in everyday activities. This is what we call a ‘voluntary control system’ that provides movement to interpret the intent of the bearer from biosenales, before making the move. Not just a ‘voluntary control system’ HAL has, but also an “autonomous robotic control system that provides human movements on a robotic system that works entirely with the” system of self-control. ” HAL is the first cyborg-type robot controlled by this unique Hybrid System.

HAL is expected to be applied in various fields such as rehabilitation support and physical training support in the medical field, supporting people with disabilities, support for heavy work in the factories, and rescue support disaster sites, as well as in the entertainment industry.