NASA Designs Ape-Like Robot for Disasters

NASA has developed the “RoboSimian”, which is an ape-like disasters relief robot designed to pick up and manipulate the objects in emergency response at the time of disasters. “RoboSimian” is headless robot; NASA has designed it in Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “RoboSimian” has four identical limbs to do double duty as legs and arms, seven cameras as eyes, the robot is able to run on any surface as it has wheels that makes it smooth enough.

NASA scientists has also designed a robot named as “Surrogate” with the help of left-over parts of “RoboSimian” and “Surrogate” was more traditional to ran on the tracks of complicated disaster. According to researchers “Disaster relief robots can go into dangerous environments where human rescue workers can’t go and these robots can also execute the simple tasks such as; lifting debris off survivors or the turning off a valve.

As per Supervisor, Brett Kennedy from RVMG (Robotic Vehicles and Manipulators Group) of JPL, “The stable, durable and deliberate approach suites to their technical strengths and it also provides the model for different vital element of the ecosystem, it is expected that robots will be deployed for disaster scenarios in the future”.

The tasks of RoboSimian will also include the maintenance and assembly of orbital structures, exploration of low-gravity bodies such as; comets, moons and moons; exploration of cliffs and caves on Moon and Mars. The software technique of RoboSimian was influenced by programs which can control the Mars rovers, but now JPL is focusing on the ape-like design, so that it can be used for Earth-bound applications.

If you will imagine the robots of the future, so they will work and move more like humans via using a pair of arms to work and grab the objects and standing up on two legs, but Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA was working on a different type of robot, which can help them in disaster response, which is designed to look and move like an ape. The seven cameras will act like head in this headless robot, whereas; the four identical limbs will act as pair of arms and legs.

RoboSimian is the final entry in DARPA Robotics Challenge from JPL. DARPA Robotics Challenge is 27 month long competition among the world’s top organizations and individuals, who have create robots for an emergency response such as; a nuclear disaster, climate disaster and more. In June 2015, RoboSimian along with other 18 finalists will have to find their way through multiple obstacles simulates eight common scenarios to test the strength and artificial intelligence of robots. In this each and every robot will have to drive car, use a tool and climb stairs, move across rubble and more without human controlling or support. The final winner will receive the prize of $2 million.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is well known and recognized for robotics the robots for space exploration like those robots who can work on Mars and Moon, but the DARPA competition will be an opportunity for the JPL group to come up with new robotics research where they can directly approach to other talented teams.

ASUS ZenFone Zoom is the Thinnest 3x Optical Zoom Smartphone

Smartphones manufacturers are continually improving the cameras in the mobile devices. But ASUS has just run past the top mobile device manufacturers by bringing in the world’s thinnest 3x Optical Zoom in its new Smartphone offering. Asus new Smartphone Zenfone Zoom is similar to the Samsung’s Galaxy Zoom Line but it claims to have the thinnest and best Smartphone featuring a 3x optical zoom camera.

Specifications of Asus Zenfone Zoom

The Asus Zenfone Zoom boasts a robust and efficient 13 MP shooter with a 3x optical zoom along with a 12x digital zoom. It also possesses laser auto focus with optical image optical stabilization. For the users who are crazy about clicking selfies Asus had given a 5 MP front facing camera.

This camera is aptly complimented with a 5.5-inch screen featuring a full 1080x1920 resolution of IPS display on Gorilla Glass 3. ZenFone Zoom will run on Android 5.0 Lollipop with a ZEN UI which provides excellent interface and adds multi-functionality. It will have the modern 802.11 ac WiFi and storage could be enlarged upto 128 GB for storing all the beautiful photos.

Asus Zenfone is the thinnest of all with a 3x optical camera at just 11.95mm. It weighs around 185 grams and is powered by a 3000 mAh battery.

Some other distinct features of ZenFone Zoom are a dual-color LED Flash, HDR mode, Low light mode and enhanced beautification mode. It also has a zero shutter lag feature and manual camera controls which gives more opportunities to the users to take better pictures.

Anatomy of 3x Optical Zoom Camera

Wondering how ASUS happened to place 3x optical zoom camera within a slim body of its Smartphone. All credit goes to its development team which intelligently placed the periscope flat against a round metallic place. The front group of moving optics helps in zooming while the group behind helps in focusing and optical stabilization. Furthermore the camera machinery is crafted in such a way that the camera mechanics lies flat inside the phone’s body and there is no protruding part while zooming.

Technical Features of Asus Zenfone Zoom

Asus has undertaken a careful engineering in implementing a 10-element lens into a phone which is extremely thin. The lens of Zenfone Zoom has an aperture of f/2.7 to f/4.8 as well as it has a 13 mega-pixel sensor which promises to deliver highly sharp and detailed images. In order to enhance the photographing experience on the Smartphone Asus gives an important optical image stabilization system which stabilizes the photo and video capturing.

Price and Availability of This Influential Smartphone

Asus had revealed that this iconic is all set to launch in the second quarter of 2015. Tech experts believe that Asus wants to clear its existing ZenFone 4,5 and 6 series before it could launch another mobile device. However this Asus Smartphone falls under the premium phone category and therefore it rightly commands a price of $399. Company would inform about the geographical availability later on.

Qualcomm's Universal Media Streaming Comes To Soundcloud

The mobile chip constructor company Qualcomm has been quite steady with their footsteps in the competitive market of gadgets. The start of this New Year has been no different for the company Qualcomm; rather it is proving to be better considering their previous records. The Qualcomm’s universal media streaming for AllPlay devices has not been much of a success compared to their fellow technologies like DLNA, Apple’s Airplay etc., but a recent move made by the company might earn them good dividends.
Briefing

The Qualcomm’s universal media streaming is all set to extend their range of access across SoundCloud and Tidal devices that will let you use AllPlay as well. The company’s recent unveiling of such new set of plans seems promising and will definitely gain them enough momentum in the gadget market. Later this year, the Tidal and SoundCloud have both promised to extend their support to the company’s universal media streaming which will enable the users to hear to remixes, pristine-sounding songs and podcasts available at large range of networked stereos and speakers.

Special Mention

Meanwhile, there is good news for Korean and Chinese listeners, as they will be delighted to see that QQ music and KT music also kept on deck.

USP of the Qualcomm’s Universal media streaming 

The universal media streaming of the mobile chip maker company is expected to deliver a platform of simple and convenient streaming of media universally. And with its vision of having floating partners alongside them and extending their app program, will definitely fulfil the expectations. You will be able to stream in AllPlay, SoundCloud and Tidal devices through several music (audio and video) services which even include Spotify. You can have your albums blasting on every system in the house of yours, if you want. To be straight, both Monster’s SoundStage speakers and Fon’s Gramophone media hub will take your AllPlay, SoundCloud and Tidal tunes.

Its Competitions 

There are a lot of similar gears in the market that promises to match the required services. The first WiFi speaker of the House of Marley, the One Foundation (that can take your AllPlay tunes), Bayan Audio, Goodmans, OptomaNuforce, Inkel/Sherwood, SVS, TCL, TP-link and many more, that are vowing to match each other’s services throughout the year 2015.

However the list of partners that have extended their support can be trusted upon, as it is highly improbable that any of them will ditch by holding back their existing services or devices.

By the end of this year, one can definitely expect some more apps to work with the Qualcomm’s media streaming and in the near future as well, before the wave of such supporting software applications reach the wild. But one feels that it will not take much longer time before all of our music applications have an in built audio sharing ability. Although it is big enough that one should not have much problem in streaming their favourite music on devices they are happy using.

Carpenter Who Cut Off His Fingers Makes 'Robohand' With 3-D Printer

Richard van As was recalling the moment of May 2011, when he was in the hospital of Johannesburg and waiting for the statement that his fingers can be stitch back, before an hour he was in carpentry workshop where saw slipped and ripped through his four fingers of right hand. And all of this happened too quickly to understand and know that what actually happened. Rather than the fear of losing his fingers, he was thinking for the way to fix the problem, which is the habit of any real carpenter.

After a lot of research in medicinal field and scouring on the Internet, he couldn’t find it anywhere to buy a functional prosthetic finger whereas the cost of prosthetic hands and limbs was thousands of dollars. But in the end his online research and surfing paid off as he finds the amateur video which was posted by a mechanical effects artist Ivan Owen, who was from Washington State. After five minutes he finds that, actually people can use it.

Printing Prosthetics: 

The pair of a mechanical finger was developed for Richard van As, but the process has gone for the countless benefit in all over world. In January 2012, it was official launched to create affordable mechanical prosthetics with the help of 3D printers. It has been designed in open source, so anyone with the help of desired technology and 3D printer can print out hands, any fingers, and arms as well.

These specialized printers use the additive manufacturing technique and PLA (thermoplastic material Polylactide) to print body parts like; joints and knuckles which can be produced through the combination of stainless steel and aluminum with personalized approach to assemble and fit in the body of human through the guidance of free open-source manual.

After the five minute of installation people can start ti use it. According to, Leonard Nel, communications manager of team, “It’s anatomically driven by the shoulder, elbow and wrist, which means its movements will be controlled by the user”.

Richard van As drives the whole process simply, by removing unnecessary red tape to reduce the cost with something as essential as a limb. The first Robohand was created for the five-year-old Liam in South Africa, who was born with ABS (amniotic band syndrome) and the syndrome left him with none fingers on his right hand, but after fitting the newly printed mechanical hand Liam he was able to pick up stuff within five to ten minutes.

The hand cost for full adult is $2,000 and it takes five and a half hours to print it and approximately ten to fifteen hours to assemble it. Placing an order for prosthetic is pretty simple as customers need to send measurements by filing the forms and 3-D scans of their hands to get their translation into the software and later that will print out the parts for their desired prosthetic, but for this now an eight-month waiting list from the date of order.

Welcome the Next Generation of Narratives Wearable Camera

The first generation of the Narrative’s life logging camera has made its debut nearly a year back and it is almost time that the company should think about unveiling a sequel to this device. At CES, people could finally see as what the company has been working on till now and do not jump to the conclusion that nothing additional has been added to the sequel. You will be very wrong. As if now the company has given the name to the device as narrative Clip 2 and has even added a bulk of changes to the device.

The CEO, Martin Källström has given a very clear indication that the Swedish outfit has taken a completely new approach with their second-generation wearable camera and supported the fact that there is no need to fix a device until it is broken. Unlike other companies, the company did not look into developing something new but instead they focused on the some of the major issues encountered with the original device.

Three biggest issues fixed: 

Narrative Clip- The customers were facing issues with that was given to attach the device or the unit to the clothes. The company has now replaced this clip with a flexible mount, which can not only accommodate tripods but lapel pins as well.

Image quality- The unit was initially released with a 5-megapixel sensor but the company has now replaced this with 8-megapixel senor with 90-degree unit that will be offering much better low light performance compared to the previous version.

Sync Images- The initial device was dependent on the USB for syncing data but the company has added Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to enable the users to be able to sync the images with their phones or even through online services offered by the company. Bluetooth can be used for connecting with iOS apps and Android apps. So, now the users will be able to manage and see their photos on their phones.

According to the company, the initial Narrative was more about clicking pictures and making is a part of someone’s private journal, but the latest Narrative will make it much more social with their addition of the social layer. The Narrative Clip 2 is expected to be available in the market in 2015 and people can either have a black, white, or red one as their options.

The device is currently priced at $199. If the users are finding this a bit heavy on the pocket, then the company is still keeping their original narrative available and they are bringing down the price to $149. In United Kingdom the unit will available at £100 and in Australia it will be available at AU$245. At the moment the company is not sure about the existing stocks but they have promised that they will keep on manufacturing the previous version as long as they are receiving demands from the customers.

This device is the perfect companion for the people who are addicted to photography. This clip on camera will be automatically snapping pictures every 30 seconds and each of these photos will be stamped by GPS.