Ok so most of you probably love movies like “Terminator” or “Transformers” or “Short Circuit” or “iRobot,” right? What would you do if those same beloved science fiction movies were actually science fact? The New York Times released an article recently detailing just how some scientists are worried that machines may become more than just our tools to make life more convenient.

Take a look: “Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man”

So, what do you think would be the best way to avoid having something horribly reminiscent of a scifi  happen where humans and robots battle it out in post-apocalyptic fashion?

Researchers at the University of South Florida have developed a wheelchair-mounted robotic arm (WMRA) that captures the user’s brain waves and converts them into robotic movements. The revolutionary device can help people with disabilities better perform their activities of daily living.

The BCI system – developed, used and modified by USF psychology professor Emanuel Donchin and colleagues – captures P-300 brain wave responses and converts them to actions. Donchin and colleagues harnessed the P-300 brain signal to allow the user to “type” on a virtual keyboard by thinking with the P-300 response serving as the virtual “finger” for patients who cannot move, such as those with locked-in syndrome or those with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS).

Early testing by human users has shown that the WMRA can be controlled “without the user moving a muscle.” The WMRA does not use any pre-programmed movements unless chosen by the user. The WMRA holds particular promise for persons suffering from “locked-in syndrome,” a totally paralytic condition that leaves people unable to move but intellectually normal, a condition that has gained greater attention thanks to the book and subsequent movie The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly. Even in its development stage, the WMRA offers hope for a better quality of life for people with all levels of mobility challenges.

Japanese researchers have created super-stretchy circuits from a new elastic conductor material. The rubbery conductor was developed by Takao Someya at the University of Tokyo with the aim to produce “e-skin” an affordable layer of pressure and temperature sensors flexible enough to completely cover a robot without limiting its movement.

The new material is made by mixing conducting carbon nanotubes with rubber. The team used a novel production technique that uses an ionic liquid consisting of charged ions and not molecules like most liquids to prevent the nanotubes clumping together. That made it possible to add more nanotubes without fear that a high density of them would form lumps.

Current flows through the material by hopping from nanotube to nanotube. Someya explains that the time during which a route across the material exists when it is stretched and the tubes are pulled apart is maximised by using long nanotubes.

The tangle of cables and plugs needed to recharge today’s electronic gadgets could soon be a thing of the past. US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players without wires.

The concept exploits century-old physics and could work over distances of many metres, the researchers said. Although the team has not built and tested a system, computer models and mathematics suggest it will work.

This breakthrough poses a new question to the technology community “open source power”? Can we possibly create power grid hotspots similar to those of wifi hotspots or plug-in-the-wall adaptors that will wirelessly charge our phones and other wireless devices.

For the roboticist, this holds a new frontier because how can you create a robot that is self autonomous when it constantly has to go back to a charging station? With this development comes more freedom in our work but at what cost? There are still many things to be sorted out such as health concerns, safety, and also security. But we’ll keep you posted on the newest developments on this topic.
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Look at your computer setup and imagine that you hooked up a 3D printer. Instead of printing on bits of paper this 3D printer makes real, robust, mechanical parts. To give you an idea of how robust, think Lego bricks and you’re in the general area. You could make a lot of useful stuff, but interestingly enough you could also make most of the parts to make another 3D printer.

That would then be a machine that could replicate itself! Plus it would allow for hobbyists and roboticists to create custom molds for their projects and to design custom casings for robot frames, etc. I’m looking forward to when these will the market at a reasonable cost since the only other 3D printers i’ve heard of are in the 5-6 digit figures. But with one of these, the design possibilities are endless!

A robotic fin that mimics the energy-efficient manoeuvres of an agile fish’s pectoral fins has been developed by US researchers. Working out how to use multiple versions in conjunction could allow robot submarines to hover and turn on a dime as natural swimmers can.

Researchers have been building fish and fin-like robots for over a decade. “But they have been primarily body- and tail-based swimmers aiming to improve on propeller propulsion,” says James Tangorra, at Drexel University, “and propellers can already go fast.”

Tangorra and colleagues from Drexel, MIT, Harvard and George Washington Universities, all in the US, are not interested solely in speed. They say fish-like fins are best used to make autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) more agile.

Their latest prototype fin is modelled on the pectoral fin of the bluegill sunfish, a freshwater fish found throughout North America.