Meet the Robotic Cat for the Elderly

 

Robot – Companion Pet – Fight Loneliness

A Robot `companion pet’ created by toy maker Hasbor, is the first product in the Joy for All range. It is an initiative which Hasbor states will be beyond play and in areas which would fight bigger issues especially loneliness. Jim McGuckin, a resident at Lake Park, which is a care home for the aged in the city of Oakland, California states that `he feels like a real cat when Alan is placed on the lap and can feel the movements inside’.

Alan is the name given to the robotic `companion pet’. The robocat has been designed to imitate a real cat and tends to meow semi convincingly, and also tends to purr. It’s nice to stroke its fluffy body though the rigidness of Alan’s’ electronic insides tends to spoil any illusion that it is genuine.

Inspite of its flaws, it tends to work and when it is switched on, you instinctively say a hello and then onwards it is no longer a gadget but a cat. The cat is said to react to communication through a series of fairly basic sensors all over its body and a stroke of Alan’s back would make him purr and a trickle of the cheek would incite a meow.

Created for Interactive Companion

If it tends to get dark, one would hear Alan yawn and nod off and the movements are not predictable which adds to its lifelikeness. However, Vice president of business development for Hasbro, Ted Fischer comments that this could not be a replacement for a pet and incidentally for one who is allergic to cats.

It has been created with the intention of interactive companion that is familiar as well has characteristics and is realistic. The opportunity for Hasbro seems enormous as the population of the world tends to age. Research recommends that there is a real advantage in offering people with companion robots especially if they tend to suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia.

A Japanese designed robotic seal, `Paro’ is without question the adorable thing when it is on show at tech shows. Great thoughts have gone into the development of Paro in making it extremely lifelike and adorable.

A Distraction/Friendly Face Making them Feel Better

Charging Paro is a delight wherein it can be plugged by popping a dummy into his mouth. It seems to be more advanced than Hasbro’s cat though considerably more expensive and at around $5,000, Paro is advertised as a medical device. Paro seems to be utilised all around the world including in Britain’s NHS. Dialogues which will take place later in the year would look into the expansion of the number of Paros in UK hospitals as well as care homes.

This is because; people are getting real benefits on cuddling up to the robotic companion pet with a sense of empowerment. Dr Simon Davies from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in California has commented saying that their pet therapy dog can only work for a certain amount of the day.

Dogs tend to have more of a mind of their own than Paro and are not always going to get along with everyone. Not everyone seems to be happy and comfortable with dogs. Allan and the other robotic companions seems silly to people who do not have the need for them but for those who do, it could be a distraction or a friendly face which would make them feel better even if it was for a momentarily period.

Biologically Powered Chip Created

Linking Biological Electronic Device with CMOS

For the first time, Columbia Engineering researchers have connected the molecular machinery of living systems for the purpose of powering an integrated circuit from adenosine triphosphate –ATP, energy currency of life.

They have attained this on integrating conventional solid state complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor – CMOS unified circuit with an artificial lipid bilayer membrane comprising of ATP powered ion pumps which tends to open the door to the development of a completely new artificial method which has both the biological as well as solid state constituents.

Led by Lau Family Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, Ken Shepard, the study has been published online on Dec 7 in Nature Communications. Shepard states that `in linking a biological electronic device with CMOS, it will be capable of creating new methods not possible with technology alone and are excited at the scene of increasing the palette of active devices which will have new functions, like harvesting energy from ATP which is done here or recognizing specific molecules. This would give the chips the potential to taste and smell. This has been a unique new direction and has great potential in giving solid-state system, new capabilities with biological components.’

CMOS Solid State Electronics – Inability to Imitate Certain Tasks

Shepard’s lab which heads the development of engineered solid state schemes interfaced to biological schemes records that inspite of its success, CMOS solid-state electronics does not have the ability of imitating certain tasks natural to living systems like the sense of taste and smell as well as the use of biochemical energy sources.

 Living systems tend to attain this functionality based on their own form of electronics built on lipid membranes and ion channels as well as pumps which tend to act as a type of biological transistor. The use of charge in the form of ion in carrying energy and information – ion channels tends to control the flow of ions through cell membranes.

The solid-state systems, like those in computers as well as communication devices utilises electrons, where the electronic signalling together with power seems to be controlled by field-effect transistors. In the case of living systems, the energy is stockpiled in capacities through lipid membranes and in this instance, is created through the action of ion pumps.

ATP Utilised in Transporting Energy

ATP is utilised in transporting energy from where it is generated to the cell where it is consumed. Shepard’s team led by Jared Roseman, a PhD student, packed a CMOS integrated circuit – IC with an ATP harvesting `biocell’ in order to build a prototype of hybrid system. In the existence of ATP, the system pumped ions through the membrane and produced an electrical potential gathered by the IC.

While the other groups had gathered energy from living systems, Shepard together with his team had been exploring on how to do this task at the molecular level, in isolating only the desired function and interfacing it with electronics. He goes on to explain that the whole cell is not needed but only the component of the cell is taken which is needed. For the project, the ATPase is isolated since they are the proteins which enable us in extracting energy from ATP.

 The capacity in building a system which tends to combine the power of solid-state electronics with the potentials of biological components is great. He has commented that `a bomb-sniffing dog is essential now though if one can take just the part of the dog which is useful, the molecules that tend to do the sensing, we would not need the whole animal’.

New Sleep Number technology watches you while you're awake, too

SleepIQ API - Maximize Sleep Experience

The latest addition to Sleep Number smart beds had been on display at the CES recently. The new Sleep Number `It’ bed analyses how you sleep as well as keeps track of what one does during the course of the day and how to maximize the sleep experience. This smart, connected bed has been created to help individuals get better sleep at night.

It is the SleepIQ API that builds on the prevailing sleep-tracking SleepIQ technology. Besides utilising biometric sensor in order to track presence, movement, heart and breathing rates, the SleepIQ API tends to link the bed to your device through Bluetooth or the cloud through Wi-Fi, tracking your activity all through the day. By providing the `It’ bed with the data on when one eats, exercises, your agenda and much more, the mattress tends to recommend a perfect, adaptable firmness level and concepts on the adjustments of daily habits in order to obtain a better sleep pattern.

 Vice President of sleep science and research at Sleep Number, Pete Bils had commented that the company has been working on making partnerships with certain companies who had already tracked things like exercise and eating.

Provide Predictive Analytics

He stated that they are aware that lot of people seem to be tracking about everything and that they want to add sleep on to it. Users would be unable to manually input their daily activity but according to Bils, with all the stored data, together with the biometric reading which occurs hundreds of times per second, the `It’ would be capable of providing predictive analytics depending on reoccurring incidents.

He further adds that `it will identify markers in your life which tend to affect your sleep and if you drink coffee or work out late, and have restless sleep, it would provide recommendations to give you the best sleep’. The SleepIQ API is considered to have insights, making suggestions wherein the biometric sensors that are built into the bed, tend to track the whole body several times per second, the heart rate, breathing together with movement. Its technology provides you with the personal insights and understanding in adjusting for the best sleep at night.

Capable of Connecting to Cloud Service

Based on the individuals’ activities and sleep the `It’ beds enable you to understand your perfect level of firmness, support and comfort daily through your Sleep Number setting. It can also connect to your cloud service, tracking the daily routine each day and night.

 It also has insights, providing suggestions enabling you with good sleep with a sense of restful sleep at night. It is said that the new SleepIQ API would be pushed out to all SleepIQ mattress through a software update in 2016. The `It’ bed which is offered with this technology seems to be a relatively barebones model with two adjustable sides on models which differs from full to eastern and California king.

The six sizes from twin and above are about 8 inches thick and would be made available for online delivery anywhere in the U.S. which would commence during the second half of the year. The queen size would be about $1,000 and seems to be one of the least expensive beds available through Sleep Number. Sleep Number recommends a solid, flat base, stating that the bed does not tend to work with its FlexFit adaptable base.

Nextbit's Robin Phone, Which Taps Cloud for 100GB of Storage

Robin Smartphone Well-matched with Verizon Network

Nextbit, San-Francisco based, run by Google and HTC would be offering a version of its Robin smartphone which is well-matched with the Verizon network.The offer would start soon through its Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign according to an interview of the CEO of Nextbit, Tom Moss. The early version of the Robin had been compatible with only AT&T and T-Mobile networks. Robin had created a lot of disturbance through its standout feature of online storage and while the smartphone is provided with 32 gigabytes of internal storage, it would have about 100GB of storage on tapping into the cloud for added online resources.

Executive of Nextbits have implied that they would be able to use online access as well as storage for the improvement of phone in other ways over a period of time. The introduction of Verizon version has improved the customer base of Nexbit and Verizon is the largest wireless network of the nation. The announcement was made just two days after the company had hit the $1 million mark on its Kickstarter campaign, doubling its goal. The form of the Robin which tends to work with Verizon has been designed precisely for that network and is not augmented for AT&T or T-Mobile and it is not recommended to switch networks.

Verizon Type – Early Bird Special Price

The company is yet looking into a type for Sprint though the need to add extra frequency band tends to complicate the task. Moss has commented that they are figuring out whether they could make it work with Sprint. Moss together with co-founder Mike Chan had worked on Google’s Android software earlier when the company’s chief design and product officer, Scot Croyle, had led the development of the HTC One Smartphone.

Nextbit will provide the Verizon type and offer an early bird special price of $299 for the first 300 orders and the kickstarter price is $349. It would retail for $399 at its launch in January. The company also started a contest to enable Kickstarter backers to choose a colour combination for a special Kickstarer, only variant of the Robin. They could also propose colours. Nextbits would choose five, improve them and then enable the backers to vote. Presently the Robin comes in a combination of mint-white or dark blue `midnight’ colour.

Strategy to Challenge Traditional Players

The strategy of Nextbit is to challenge traditional players such as Apple and Samsung, where their products tend to sell easily, double the price. Crowdfunded devices continue to carry some risk and Robin can wind up going up in smoke though the chances for its success seams good. Presently, Nextbit seems to have the funding, a reputable manufacturer together with some excellent credentials like the former Google and HTC executives which includes the former lead designer of HTC.

Though nowhere near the scale of Apple or even HTC, Nextbit had been a success on Kickstarter and the company had mentioned that it intends to increase the cloud storage of Robin to 129GB if the backing tends to hit $1.5 million. Regarding the campaign, Moss had commented that it is amazing and that it is such a validation.

The 4 worst patents of 2015

Depressing Year for Patent Law

This had been a depressing year for patent law, which had lost sight of its constitutional anchorages as a limited and balanced source of motivations for innovators. Although Congress, the courts as well as the Patent and Trademark Office individually made their own respective efforts to rein in a system widely considered as out of control and eventually nobody had made much headway. For instance, over 200 new patent lawsuits had been filed on a day in November, as plaintiffs had rushed to beat a change in federal procedure which needed added specific claims.

Several were from companies which tend to buy up patents of doubtful quality and utilise them to extract troublesome settlements from actual innovators. A polite name for such types of companies is `non-practising entities’, though most of us are aware of them as patent trolls.

According to the Consumer Technology Association, they have exhausted over $150 billion from the U.S economy at an accelerating pace. Besides this, there also seems to be a mismatch between expanding patent coverage and the quickening pace of disruptive change that has become one of the biggest sources of risk to the innovation economy.

An attorney with the Electronic Frontier foundation, Daniel Nazer has highlighted the worst patents across this year. He holds the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents and had little problem coming up with these four rejected from a monthly `Stupid Patent of the Month’ post, that he writes for the EFF site. Each of them tends to focuson a different crisis in the badly misaligned patent system.

1. Changing the quantity of goods on order

The patent office had approved US Patent No, 9,013,334, in April that covered `notification systems which handle changes in the quantity of items that are delivered or picked by a customer. The inventor of this invention is not an entrepreneur but a patent lawyer clearly gaming the system. In 2003, the holder had filed a provisional claim which he had used to shoehorn around 20 patents, most of which were vague, broad and abstract. As single claims are challenged, the lawyer tends to simply add new ones to the earlier filing which according to Nazer are largely indistinguishable. Thereafter the company tends to sue a new set of defendants, in quest of settlements of about $50,000 which is too small in mitigating the cost of fighting a winning battle in court.

2. Firewalls that cannot be configured

A stupid patent wisely abandoned by its own inventorcould be the cause of chaos. The patent office had granted the application for an Internet firewall, in 2000 which was already a standard feature due to the inventor repeatedly insisting that it was something else, a firewall for users too dumb for using a firewall. After the holder had permitted the patent to expire in 2012, it had been purchased by a newly formed patent troll, Wetro Lan, LLC. which filed a suit against providers both large and small of Internet security technology and most of it was totally unrelated to the patent.

In the first place, it should have not been granted and could be too expensive for individual defendants to combat. The new holder could only claim for the damages by going back six years prior to the patent’s expiry though it is endlessly in internet years. Wetro Lan states that EFF `had sued everyone who tends to sell product linked with network security from Avaya to ZyXEL’.

3. Connecting something/anything to the Internet

A garbage patent of 2006 has been used to threaten anyone involved in the Internet of Things, which is a new discussion of application with the potential of linking daily items to the cloud. The patent that EFF considers was `spectacularly mundane’ even in 2006, seemed to be mainly nonsense. It defines a system of adapting products comprising of solids and fluid, by enabling the user to enter `preferences’, linking a drink mixer to the Internet, in other words.

EFF had noted that `theapplication had not disclosed any new networking technology or any new beverage making technology. However, the over-taxed patent office had granted it and now the trolling company holding the patent, Rothschild Connected Devices Innovation, LLC has been suing all who tend to connect something to the Internet, inclusive of ADT (security), Rain Bird (irrigation and OnStar (cars).

4. Using electronics to control sex toy

In early 1980s, Howard Stern, a radio personality had demonstrated computer based sexual stimulants, a category known now as `teledildonics’. However, in 1998, that did not stop the patent office in granting anoutrageously broad application from Tzu Technologies, LLC for a patent on a method of `Interactive Virtual Control of Sexual Aids Using Digital Computer Networks’.The language of the claim as usual is garbed in scientific sounding terminology in order to conceal its certainty. Nevertheless, as written and approved, the input device could be nothing more than a microphone and the `stimulation device could be just a stereo speaker.