Robotics defination

           

           A robot has a mechanical body and an electronic nerve system to drive it. For the robot to do something useful. you need to be able toprogram it with some kind of intelligence. This can vary from hardwired logical circuits implementing some early robots to low-level reflex code on microcontrollers used in many small robotics projects. Incomplicated robotics systems, the control system can go up to advanced neural network control systems running on powerful microcomputers networked together. Included in the mechanical aspects of robot building would be metal working, mechanical engineering, and electrical motors. Electronic systems fall into three categories: power drivers, discrete electronics and a microcontroller. To be able to build your own robots, you need to understand something on all of those fields.Robotics isn't an easy hobby - it does require some skills. Besides the obvious - mechanics, programming, and electronics, there are the less obvious skills of dilligence and genuine curiosity.

Panasonic AW-005A Robot

The Panasonic AW-005A features high acceleration and deceleration and fast joint speed. All of the functions are on the teach pendant to reduce operator training time. The high performance digital servos with custom IC chips have reduced size and increased performance.

The high-speed 32bit RISC CPU operates at 4 times faster than the conventional 16 bit CPU. This gives the Panasonic AW-005A quicker, more accurate position feedback and quick sharp motions. With simultaneous editing and operation, it is even more flexible. The AW-005A can be floor or ceiling mounted and handle multiple computer communications options. This leads to more production and future expandability.

The Panasonic AW-005A features a 1019mm reach. The long-arm version, the Panasonic AW-005AL features a longer reach of 1335mm. Both models can handle a 5kg payload

Robot News Roundup

Here's a few interesting articles for your holiday-time perusal:

For $225k, you can swing by a department store in Japan and get a humanoid robot that looks like you!

Robot advances from around the world are featured in the EU Infrastructure article.

Wired's Gadget Lab shows off the hard-drive sculptures by Miguel Rivera, including a biped robot which uses 14 defunct laptop drives.

Unmanned flying vehicles are looking for a boost from research into hummingbird flight at University at Buffalo.

Advances in brain-machine interfacing is outlined in a recent article at GIGIOM.

A posting over on DIGG linked to this picture of R2 having lunch.

And we finish off with this Christmas video by rhyspross and the robot powers that be.

Cheers to all!

Talon, PackBot May Find Work at (or Under) the Border

potential threats and imagined threats are becoming ever more high tech, one of the lowest-tech methods of sneaking people and contraband into the U.S. is one of the thorniest problems facing the U.S. Border Patrol. Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 30 smugglers’ tunnels have been located and shut down near San Diego – whose position right on the Mexican border has made it a hotspot for both cross-border industrial projects and illegal smuggling of workers and drugs. Since 2006, when Congress passed the Secure Border Fence Act, which launched a series of projects to build real and virtual fences along 700 miles of porous border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, border patrollers have found more than 30 tunnels. In at least a few cases, they’re now getting a little robot help to explore those tunnels without sending in agents who could be hurt by noxious chemicals, violent smugglers, or boobytraps. In December 2008, roboticists from the Idaho National Laboratory took a Foster-Miller Talon robot equipped with laser-vision systems, video and chemical sensors to a tunnel Border Patrol agents discovered during the 1990s in Arizona. The tunnel proved too deep and long to be explored safely at the time, so Border Patrol agents flooded it and kept an eye on it to make sure it wasn’t being reopened. After hearing about the INL’s success in another trial, Border Patrol agents asked them to come down to Arizona for a look. INL roboticists dropped the Talon through a grate in the floor of an old warehouse that concealed the U.S. end of the tunnel, and set it loose 10 feet below ground in what turned out to be a staging area for the tunnel proper, which was 50 feet below the surface. Unlike the almost-unmodified oil-pipeline inspectors Canadian border security uses for some tunnels, the Talon provides enough autonomy that it can continue exploring even when the remote connection to its operators is cut off by, say, 50 feet of dirt and rock. It was able to explore and map the tunnel, and bring its results back to operators in the aging warehouse. INL is a Department of Energy facility whose charter is to develop new technologies to make energy production, conservation and control safer and more effective. Since Sept. 11, 2001, that mission has included beefing up the DoE’s capabilities in security and defense of power plants and various bits of energy-distributing infrastructure. INL roboticists have been working for more than 10 years to expand the capabilities of the type of robots sent into pipelines or areas of nuclear power plants that are too dangerous to send humans very often. Once they made the connection with smuggler tunnels, however, the project’s goals expanded. The key piece of technology, according to INL roboticist David Bruemmer, is the Robotic Intelligence Kernel – a piece of command-and-control software that can operate on several types of robots. In a trial two months earlier the team had been able to explore a 600-meter-long tunnel under the grounds of Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in North Carolina using an iRobot PackBot running the Robotic Intelligence Kernel. The successful test came at the request of the Army’s Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), which passed its results along to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials who, in turn, asked for the INL’s robotic help with the Arizona tunnel. Neither trial was in a live law enforcement situation, and neither was conclusive. They both are indications that robots are becoming more common in law enforcement and emergency response situations, doing jobs humans would rather not.

QinetiQ Robots Deal Should Help Cut Transport Delays

Following a successful series of trials, QinetiQ is now working alongside key government partners to deliver a robot based service that is being used to help fight fires and support other major incidents – particularly if acetylene gas cylinders are involved which can become highly unstable – thereby protecting fire fighters plus helping minimize disruption to travelers by reducing resulting delays on major transport systems in and around London.

This initiative is funded jointly by Network Rail, the Highways Agency and Transport for London, in collaboration with the London Fire Brigade. The two year contract currently covers incidents within Greater London and surrounding counties but national coverage is possible with additional funding and extended call out times.

If acetylene gas cylinders are thought to be involved in a fire, the London Fire Brigade and others can request QinetiQ attend and deploy a range of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) with all-terrain capabilities. These can then enter environments that could be potentially unsafe for fire fighters. Their cameras can identify whether any acetylene cylinders are present and, using thermal imaging, can gauge whether the cylinders are sufficiently cool for the Brigade to safely approach and remove them. The ROVs can also be used to gain access to premises and vehicles, target cooling onto cylinders, move debris and other items, or assess other potential risks.

Standard Fire & Rescue Service procedure is to impose an initial hazard zone of 200m for up to 24 hours if acetylene gas cylinders are present and have been involved in fire – which causes enormous disruption to transportation routes and local communities who have to be evacuated. This is because the risk of explosion following heating can remain long after the fire is extinguished and even after extensive cooling has been applied. Recent experience during the operational trials have shown that when QinetiQ’s robots are used at incidents, hazard zone restrictions can, on some occasions be reduced in as little as two hours from the time that they are in attendance.

“When fires break out near the railway they are often in circumstances where there is a suspicion that acetylene gas cylinders may be involved,” explained Simon Christoforato, QinetiQ’s business group manager for robotic systems. “In recent years there have been an increasing number of rail line-side fires and acetylene incidents across London, each causing massive disruption to passengers. During the 2008 trials QinetiQ responded to a total of 17 incidents and helped reduce the average period for the hazard zone to be in place from over 19 hours to less than three and has so far responded to more than 10 incidents under this contract in 2009.”

Assistant Commissioner for Operational Policy at London Fire Brigade, Jon Webb says the QinetiQ trial had played a key role in the Brigade’s successful efforts to reduce the impact of acetylene cylinder fires in the capital. “The successful trial of the ROVs, the improved provision of technical advice on the incident ground, together with a process of raising awareness and reinforcing understanding of the operational procedures to be applied at cylinder incidents have all been integral to the overall reduction in the average time that hazard zones are in place. In London we have also seen a reduction in the number of acetylene cylinder incidents overall thanks to our on-going campaign with local authorities to ensure the safe use, signage and storage of acetylene cylinders and to create a greater awareness of the dangers they bring when they are involved in a fire.”

Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s Director of Operations and Customer Service added the use of ROVs was good news for train users: “Anything we can do to reduce travel delays for passengers is high on our list of priorities but so is overall safety. The deployment of the ROVs will give us more options for faster resolution of incidents and hopefully lead to less disruption to train services.”

The Highways Agency is also carrying out a study that could see QinetiQ’s remotely operated vehicles modified for easier vehicle entry and potential use at a number of roadside incidents.

“All our efforts are designed to ensure that travellers are informed and can reliably make journeys on safe roads,” stated Mark Clark, responsible for Incident Management at The Highways Agency. “Roads are regularly affected by major incidents so anything we can do to deal with the problems and reduce delays for commuters is a good thing. We are working with QinetiQ to develop the robotic solution to meet our national needs going forward.”

“Hazard zones are necessary to deal with fires and other major incidents and can have a major knock-on effect on the road, bus and tube network causing disruption for motorists and our passengers,” concluded Richard Stephenson, Transport for London Director of Group Health, Safety and Environment. “Trials suggest this new equipment could have a real impact on cutting the length of time hazard zones are in place, while maintaining the safety of the emergency services and the travelling public.”

QinetiQ’s remotely operated vehicles are extensively used in Iraq and Afghanistan to combat improvised explosive devices and deal with roadside bombs but they are also ideal for a range of other dirty and dangerous tasks including dealing with hazardous materials and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CRBN) incidents.

Background
QinetiQ’s response team can be called upon 24/7 and its special response vehicle, containing the three different ROVs with operators, will be dispatched. On arriving at the incident they immediately come under the command of the senior fire officer present who determines how and when they are deployed.

The three specialized vehicle types comprise: Talon, a small, highly maneuverable tracked vehicle, extensively used in Iraq for bomb disposal, that’s equipped with a video and thermal image cameras; Black Max which is similar in size and appearance to a quad bike which again has a video camera but also provides a remote hi‑pressure hose and water delivery capability; and the Brokk 90, a heavier duty mini-digger based vehicle designed to remove debris and gain access to vehicles or structures and therefore any cylinders.

In addition to this program London Fire Brigade is calling for improved control over the safe use, signage and storage of acetylene gas cylinders; and a greater awareness of the dangers when the cylinders are involved in fires and other incidents.

Typically the closure of a rail line can cost the network operator tens of thousands of pounds each hour the service is not operating in lost revenue and fines. The closure of other key transport routes or commercial facilities can equally mean significant losses in income and provision of services for the companies involved.

NASA Concludes Robotics Tests For the Moon in Arizona

NASA has concluded two weeks of technology development tests on two of the agency’s prototype lunar rovers. The Desert RATS—or Research and Technology Studies—in the Arizona desert at Black Point Lava Flow allow NASA to analyze and refine technologies and procedures in extreme environments on Earth.

“These tests provide us with crucial information about how our cutting edge vehicles perform in field situations approximating the moon,” said Rob Ambrose, Human Robotic Systems project lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We learn from them, then go back home to refine the technology and plan the next focus of our research.”

The annual studies featured an intensive, simulated 14-day mission. Two crew members, an astronaut and a geologist, lived for more than 300 hours inside NASA’s prototype Lunar Electric Rover. The explorers scouted the area for features of geological interest, then donned spacesuits and conducted simulated moonwalks to collect samples. The crew also docked to a simulated habitat, drove the rover across difficult terrain, performed a rescue mission and made a four-day traverse across the lava.

Throughout the test, the crew provided updates via Twitter and posted pictures and video online.

Prior to the test, NASA’s K10 scout robot identified areas of interest for the crew to explore. NASA’s heavy-lift rover Tri-ATHLETE—or All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer—carried a habitat mockup to which the rover docked.

The Desert RATS tests have been held for more than a decade, as engineers from NASA centers work with representatives from industry and academia to determine what will be needed for human exploration of the moon and other destinations in the solar system. This year’s work built on the investigations of previous years and increased the scope and length of the tests.

Eight NASA centers were involved in the project. Desert RATS participants from outside NASA include the Smithsonian Institution in Washington; the United States Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz.; Arizona State University in Tempe; University of Texas at El Paso; University of Colorado at Denver; Brown University in Providence, R.I.; the Mars Institute at Moffett Field, Calif.; and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Alexandria, Va.

MobileRobots Rolls Out Low-Cost Seekur Jr UGV

New Seekur Jr Unmanned Guided Vehicle (UGV), from MobileRobots Inc, jump-starts industry-of-the-future inventions like self-driving cars, soldier-following carts, fruit-picking wagons and teams of reconnaissance scouts. Before Seekur Jr, roboticists needed to jerry-rig a standard vehicle, build their own, or seek the rare six-figure grant to buy a typical UGV. Seekur Jr changes all that.

This is not the first time MobileRobots succeeded in advancing research while growing the robotics market. Back in 1995 when the company was founded, most researchers had to build any robot they wanted to study. With luck, the device held together long enough to test. MobileRobots introduced the sturdy Pioneer robot at 10% the cost of other ready-made platforms. Suddenly, tens of thousands of students could study robotics and focus on advancing knowledge instead of fixing robots. Robotics research took off!

Designing an affordable robot for various weather conditions (IP 54, from -5 to +35°C), 45-degree grades and variable terrain was only possible by starting from tested technologies from the original Seekur and MobileRobots’ other platforms. Seekur Jr’s 0.8 X 1m size eases storage and transport, crucial for robot teams. Seekur Jr’s field-swappable batteries mean no wasted hours waiting for robots to charge. Seekur Jr users also benefit from MobileRobots powerful software architecture and tools that ease integration and programming.

Seekur Jr offers many accessories: MobileRobots Outdoor Autonomous Guidance System (MOGS) with GPS and laser-rangefinder, MobileRanger 3-D TOF camera and C3-D Stereovision obstacle avoidance. Seekur Jr can carry up to two arms and many cameras, as well as multiple PC’s to support processing-intensive applications.

Says Project Manager Seth Allen, “We designed Seekur Jr to maximize the performance-cost ratio. Since more researchers can afford Seekur Jrs, they’ll develop robot applications more quickly, which will create new industries and jobs more quickly to re-build the economy. It’s a win all around.”

About MobileRobots Inc :-
MobileRobots Inc has made jobs easier for 14 years with thousands of robot platforms and autonomous cores worldwide. MobileRobots helped jumpstart global robotics growth with affordable, general-purpose Pioneer robots in 1995. Now MobileRobots provides autonomous navigation solutions with Motivity autonomy to VARs and OEMs. The company operates from a 35,000 sq ft facility in Amherst, NH, 50 minutes north of Boston.

WPI-Sponsored Robotics Team Wins $500,000 at NASA Moondust Excavation Challenge

The Worcester Polytechnic Institute-sponsored team Paul’s Robotics took home first place last weekend at NASA’s 2009 Regolith (moondust) Excavation Challenge, beating out 22 other teams of professional engineers, and college, university, and high school students from across the country, for the $500,000 top prize. The competition was held Oct. 17-18, 2009 at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., and was part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program, which exists to help inspire innovative solutions to technical challenges in the aerospace industry.

The victorious team – made up of WPI faculty, staff, students, and alumni—is led by Paul Ventimiglia, a WPI robotics engineering major and head of Worcester-based Paul’s Robotics. Ventimiglia and his team designed, built, and programmed the robot, which is known as “Moonraker 2.0.”

“We’re excited that the machine did what we designed it to do,” Ventimiglia told New Scientist magazine.

Ventimiglia’s team consists of Mike Ciaraldi, professor of practice in WPI’s Computer Science Department; Colleen Shaver BS ‘04, MS ‘08, manager of robotics initiatives at WPI; Brian Loveland ‘07; Jennifer Flynn ‘04; and Marc DeVidts, a software developer from Miami, Fla., who is the team’s only non-WPI-affiliated member. WPI is the team’s primary sponsor.

The impetus for the Regolith Excavation Challenge was NASA’s quest for new ideas for excavation techniques that do not require excessively heavy machines or large amounts of power. The competition called for teams to design and build robotic machines to excavate simulated lunar soil (regolith), a function that will be an important part of any construction projects or processing of natural resources on the Moon. Specifically, the robots had to navigate around a moon-like surface, collect regolith, and deliver it to a collection bin. To qualify for a prize, a robot had to dig up and dump at least 150 kg of regolith within a 30-minute period. The teams that boasted the largest loads would claim the three cash prizes: $500,000 for first place, $150,000 for second place, and $100,000 for third place. Paul’s Robotics won the competition by collecting and dumping 439 kg of regolith.

“This was a landslide victory; it’s a wonderful outcome,” said Kenneth Stafford, adjunct assistant professor, director of WPI’s robotics resource center, and Ventimiglia’s faculty advisor. “Moonraker 2.0 is an excellent, excellent engineering project.”

Moonraker 2.0 features a large number of scoops that constantly rotate to collect the lunar soil. Once the robot is full, the team navigates it to the collection bin and deposits the regolith by raising the collector arm. Per NASA guidelines, Moonraker 2.0 is a battery-operated robot weighing less than 80 kg that fits fit within a 1.3 meter cylinder; it also employs only technology that could be used on the moon.

“I’m very excited that we have a winner this year,” Greg Schmidt, deputy director of NASA’s Lunar Science Institute in Moffett Field, told New Scientist. “The fact that it’s taken three years shows what a difficult job it is.”

da Vinci Approved in Japan

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (Nasdaq:ISRG), a producer of surgical robotics, announced that it has received regulatory approval from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to allow marketing of its da Vinci S System in Japan.

Commenting on the announcement, Gary Guthart, President and COO of Intuitive Surgical, said, “We are pleased with the Ministry of Health’s decision to grant Shonin approval for the da Vinci S Surgical System. This approval has been a long process for Intuitive, and we are happy to be one step closer to bringing our products to market in Japan. Our focus will now shift toward satisfying the trade and importation requirements necessary for commercialization and to obtain appropriate reimbursement for da Vinci procedures in Japan.”

About Intuitive’s Products
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (Nasdaq:ISRG), headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is the global technology leader in robotic-assisted, minimally invasive surgery. Intuitive Surgical develops, manufactures and markets robotic technologies designed to improve clinical outcomes and help patients return more quickly to active and productive lives. The Company’s mission is to extend the benefits of minimally invasive surgery to the broadest possible base of patients. Intuitive Surgical - Taking surgery beyond the limits of the human hand(TM).

About the da Vinci(R) Surgical System :-
The da Vinci(R) System is a breakthrough surgical platform designed to enable complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach. The da Vinci(R) System consists of an ergonomic surgeon console, a patient-side cart with four interactive robotic arms, a high-performance vision system and proprietary EndoWrist(R) instruments. Powered by state-of-the-art robotic and computer technology, the da Vinci(R) System is designed to scale, filter and seamlessly translate the surgeon’s hand movements into more precise movements of the EndoWrist(R) instruments. The net result is an intuitive interface with breakthrough surgical capabilities. By providing surgeons with superior visualization, enhanced dexterity, greater precision and ergonomic comfort, the da Vinci Surgical System makes it possible for more surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures involving complex dissection or reconstruction. This ultimately has the potential to raise the standard of care for complex surgeries, translating into numerous potential patient benefits, including less pain, a shorter recovery and quicker return to normal daily activities

Robot Made for Out-Of-This-World Harvest

Agriculture engineer Peter Ling and his team took the $100,000 NASA grant and built a robot that can identify a ripe tomato, zero in and pluck it from the vine. All in 3 1/2 minutes.

The delicate tomato is a perfect test subject.

“It’s fragile,” said Ling, an Ohio State University researcher. “If you can harvest that, you can also harvest citrus and apples.”

Maybe NASA hasn’t grown a tomato in space yet, but if a robot can pick a good one, it could do a lot of other work, said Terri Lomax, a senior adviser for research at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Besides tomatoes, lettuce, sweet potatoes, potatoes and soybeans likely will be part of the life-support system for spaceships and moon buildings.

“If you were going to be locked up in an enclosed system for a long time, wouldn’t you want a ripe tomato with you?” said Kennedy Space Center agricultural engineer John Sager. Plants will generate oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide from the air, take care of waste, purify water and generally give space quarters that homey feel.

The robot, which is pushed around Ling’s lab on a low-tech metal cart, consists of an electronic eye, a small industrial robotic arm and a cagelike appendage that plucks the fruit and drops it into a basket.

“They showed we could do it: Locate the fruit, go into the vine and find it,” Sager said. “That’s not a trivial task.”

First, the eye senses the tomato by its roundness and color, then the arm moves in. A small suction cup pulls the fruit away from the vine, and the cage opens and closes around the fruit. More than 95 percent of the time the robot can identify the fruit, and more than 85 percent of the time, successfully pick it. That’s not, however, as good as a person.

“Humans can identify a tomato 100 percent of the time and harvest better than 95 percent,” Ling said.

But in space, humans will be busy doing other Final Frontier stuff, such as research and exploration. Captain James T. Kirk never picked a tomato in his life.

Ling, whose team squished a lot of tomatoes getting it right, said the robot will need to be improved before it’s truly ready for space. He said reducing the plucking time to 20 seconds is a reasonable goal.

Ohio State’s harvester is more likely to find its first job on Earth. Ling has received some calls from growers in Arizona, Florida and Holland.

US Naval Air Warfare Center Personnel Fly Zephyr

QinetiQ’s Zephyr High-Altitude Long-Endurance unmanned aerial system (HALE UAS) program recently resumed flight testing and payload evaluations in Yuma, Arizona, when a joint US/UK Zephyr team undertook the first operation of the system with a US flight crew.

This test sequence, jointly sponsored by MOD UK and OSD DDRE JCTD program, focused on evaluating potential payloads as well as advancing the conops for operating long endurance persistent aircraft in excess of five days.

The Zephyr concept is designed to offer solar-powered, persistent coverage with continuous mission durations of up to three months at a revolutionary low-cost per flight hour. Capable of carrying a variety of payloads, the applications of the system include wide area surveillance, communications relay, specific target monitoring, anti-piracy efforts, route monitoring, counter-IED, border security, and local area security.

An ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber aircraft, Zephyr weighing less than 100 pounds with a wingspan of up to 75 feet. Launched by hand, Zephyr is solar powered during the day using United Solar Ovonic amorphous silicon arrays no thicker than sheets of paper that cover the aircraft’s wings. At night it is powered by lithium-sulfur batteries supplied by the SION Power Corporation that are recharged during the day using solar power.

The US Army’s Yuma proving ground in Arizona was the site of Zephyr’s world-beating three and a half day flight in July’08 – the fourth of a series of flight trials that have been flown in the US since 2005.

This was the first deliverable following a new enabling contract awarded earlier this year to QinetiQ North America that runs until May 2014 and gives access to up to $44.8 million for operational training in the US, accelerated development, in-theatre evaluation and possible transition to production of Zephyr and its associated ground station.

The $44.8m cost-plus-fixed-fee enabling contract was competitively procured via a Broad Agency Announcement led by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, NJ. The contract award marks the second phase of a Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) program jointly sponsored by the OSD DDRE and the United Kingdom MOD.

Titan Medical Signs Development Agreement With CAE Healthcare for Amadeus Surgical Robot

Titan Medical Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TMD) announced that it has signed an agreement with CAE Healthcare for various services related to the development of Titan’s Amadeus clinical-grade robotic surgery platform. Once completed, the platform could be used, not only to perform surgery at a distance, but also to train surgeons via simulation.

“We are proud to partner with Titan Medical Inc. This agreement marks an innovative and significant step for CAE Healthcare as we will be applying our simulation and modelling expertise to help analyze, research, and develop the world’s next generation robotic surgery platform,” said CAE Healthcare President, Guillaume Herve. “CAE’s modelling and simulation tools are already used by aircraft manufacturers to research, test and validate the design of new aircraft. We are now bringing those best practices to healthcare.”

As part of the agreement, CAE Healthcare will deliver an engineering development management environment platform. The agreement includes options, which if exercised would make CAE Healthcare the exclusive training provider for the Amadeus Robotic Surgical Platform.

“This agreement represents a major advancement toward realizing our objective of commercializing Amadeus that will overcome the current limitations of robotic surgery,” said Reiza Rayman MD, PhD, President of Titan Medical Inc. “As a multiengine instrument rated pilot, I understand the importance of simulation and training for aviation safety. A world-class development partner such as CAE Healthcare serves to validate our critically enabling technologies, reduce development risk and cost as well as accelerate the development of Amadeus, while also leveraging CAE’s unmatched expertise in simulation and training to heighten surgical safety.”

Under the terms of the agreement, both parties will focus their initial efforts in setting out requirements of the surgeon console to meet FDA standards. In addition, CAE Healthcare will install at the Titan Medical Inc.’s development location in Ancaster, Ontario an engineering development management environment platform.

About CAE Healthcare :-
CAE Healthcare is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CAE (NYSE:CAE)(TSX:CAE). CAE Healthcare is applying CAE’s training, simulation and modeling know-how from aviation to bring best practices to the healthcare industry. It is developing cutting-edge learning tools and innovative simulation solutions for healthcare education with the objective of offering healthcare professionals the opportunity to learn using multiple simulation platforms before testing their skills on patients. The ultimate goal is to improve clinical competence and expertise and enhance the quality and safety of patient care and the efficiency of healthcare systems.

CAE (NYSE:CAE)(TSX:CAE) is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defence forces around the globe. With annual revenues exceeding C$1.6 billion, CAE employs more than 6,500 people at more than 90 sites and training locations in 20 countries. CAE has the largest installed base of civil and military full-flight simulators and training devices. Through its global network of 29 civil aviation and military training centres, it trains more than 75,000 crewmembers yearly. CAE also offers modelling and simulation software to various market segments and, through its CAE professional services division, it assists customers with a wide range of simulation-based needs.

About Titan Medical Inc:- Titan Medical Inc. is a Canadian public company focused on the development and commercialization of robotic surgical technologies. The Company is currently developing Amadeus, a next generation 4-armed robotic surgical system, with the objective of enabling surgeons to remotely manipulate surgical instruments. Robotic surgery has developed over the past 10 years into a proven and growing method of treatment. The global robotic surgical market size is currently estimated to be $3.4 billion with potential for placement of 6,000 robotic surgical systems. The Company is researching and developing innovative technologies to empower surgeons to use robots in the operating room of the future.

NASA Selects Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic Technology for Two Moon Robot Contracts

NASA selected Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon University for two contracts to study Moon excavation robots and methods to simulate the one-sixth lunar gravity on Earth.

Lightweight excavation robots are key to recovering the water and hydrocarbon deposits at the Moon’s poles, which will enable explorers to “live off the land” rather than hauling all their supplies from Earth at great expense. New results from NASA probes released last week show that the water content in the polar soil is 10 to 30 times richer than previously thought, and in easier-to-access places than the floors of deep craters.

“We intend our robots to be prospectors for water and hydrocarbon resources, and then to demonstrate how they can be turned into rocket propellant and life support supplies,” said Dr. William “Red” Whittaker, founder of Astrobotic Technology and a research professor at the university’s Robotics Institute. “Creating propellant at the Moon will halve the cost of lunar exploration and advance the date when we can send human expeditions to Mars.”

Excavation is expected to be required to remove a top layer of dry soil covering ices deposited by comet and asteroid impacts.

The lunar gravity simulation study will examine the best ways to mimic the effects of the one-sixth lunar gravity via various active and passive gravity-offload mechanisms and ways to make the apparatus scalable and transportable for field tests in challenging terrain.

NASA selected the excavation robot proposal under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and lunar-gravity simulation proposal under its Small Business Technology Transfer program designed to move university research into the commercial sphere. The two Phase I awards total $199,850 and may lead to Phase II awards in six months totaling $1.2 million.

About Astrobotic Technology :- Astrobotic Technology Inc. is a Carnegie Mellon spin-off that will fund a series of robotic Moon missions, first winning the $20 million Google prize and visiting Apollo 11 on the “Tranquility Trek” expedition in late 2011. The Trek robot will be a rolling TV studio and Internet node, sending back high-definition video of its adventures. Later missions will prospect for water ice in deep polar craters and seek out volcanic caves as low-cost shelters for both robots and astronauts. The company has secured lunar contracts from NASA and two commercial firms. Prototype rovers are now being field-tested at Carnegie Mellon University by Dr. William “Red” Whittaker, the firm’s chairman. The company will license lunar data, deliver payloads and perform on-the-surface services for space agencies, aerospace contractors, researchers, corporate marketers and the media.

Tibion Receives TÜV Certification for PK100 Bionic Leg Orthosis

Tibion, a provider of bionic devices for rehabilitation and mobility, announced today it has received TÜV certification for its PK100 Bionic Leg Orthosis. The Tibion PK100 product has been tested and evaluated for compliance with internationally recognized standards for the safety of medical products. Compliance to the standards has resulted in NRTL (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory) and SCC (Standards Council of Canada) certification for the U.S. and Canada from TÜV Rheinland of North America.

Tibion’s PK100 Bionic Leg Orthosis is a wearable device for the leg which actively and transparently supplements muscle strength to enhance rehabilitation therapy and provide mobility assistance for those patients with loss of muscle function. Patients with neuromuscular impairment due to stroke or chronic disease may benefit from this technology. The PK100 uses sensors to automatically detect the user’s actions, such as sitting/standing, walking, and ascending/descending stairs which allow it to transparently apply the force needed to augment the user’s actions.

“At Tibion, we are committed to providing high quality products to assist clinicians and their patients who are dealing with loss of muscle function,” said Kern Bhugra, Tibion President and Cofounder. “This TÜV certification provides the highest assurance that the PK100 Bionic Leg Orthosis will perform in a safe manner for its intended use as a medical product for rehabilitation and mobility enhancement.”

About TÜV Rheinland of North America
As an NRTL for the United States and an SCC accredited Certification Body for Canada, TÜV Rheinland of North America delivers premier independent testing, assessment, and certification services for medical products helping manufacturers demonstrate compliance to international standards. TÜV Rheinland of North America is a subsidiary of TÜV Rheinland Group of Cologne, Germany, which has over 130 years of product testing and certification experience and offices in over 40 countries worldwide.

About Tibion
Tibion is a privately held company located at NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, California. The company’s mission is to develop smart medical devices and therapies that address the needs of neuromuscular and musculoskeletal deficiencies. Tibion’s products are enabled by patented innovations encompassing a broad range of disciplines, including orthotics, biomechanics, robotics, and embedded control systems. The company’s PK100 Bionic Leg Orthosis is a wearable, noninvasive bionic device for the leg to enhance rehabilitation and help patients improve muscle function as well as to provide assistance with activities of daily living.

PHP Hosting

Are you searching for PHP web hosting? If so, you probably have a website that calls for this type of hosting. But for some people, it can be more difficult than they thought to find a good PHP web hosting provider.
This is not always the case, but it is something that you should be prepared for. When it comes down to it, not all PHP web hosting companies are the same. You will find that some offer better response, more features, and much more. As you can imagine, you want to get set up with the host that is going to give you the best deal for your money.
So what should you look for when it comes to PHP web hosting? Although a lot of this has to do with what your website is calling for, there are some basic features that most webmasters do not want to overlook; not even if you are a newbie.
First off, take a look at what your PHP web hosting provider is offering in the way of disk space. You need to make sure that you get enough space to suit the type of website you are building. For most people, anywhere from 15 to 30 GB of disk space should do the job. But of course, this is solely up to you based on your needs.
Of course, bandwidth transfer is also important when shopping for PHP web hosting. You may be overdoing it with anything more than 500 GB, but you will never know until you actually have your site up and running.
When shopping for PHP web hosting you should also consider some of the smaller details as well. For instance, how many domains can you host on the same account? If you have more than one website, you may need to the ability to host them all in the same place.
You should now have a better idea of what to look for from a PHP web hosting provider.

Cheap Web Hosting PHP

I found a lot of PHP web hosting on internet, some cheap some highly expensive. After few research on hosting forums I collected some cheap high quality web hosting for PHP site. Here are the list of Good quality PHP website hosting :
1. ExclusiveHosting“Best Choice”
PHP and MySQL support web hosting. Price $2.95/month Free Setup
+ Free Domain Registration, Almost all features included in package.
- Paid Annually but you have 30 day money guarantee
2. HostMonster
PHP and MySQL support hosting. Price $4.95/month Free setup, Free Domain
+ Big Storage (300GB), Accept Multiple Domain (You won’t wasted that big space , 100 MySQL Database
3. WhipOrbit
PHP and MySQL support web hosting. Price $1.50/month Free setup
+ 3 MySQL Database, support almost all PHP hosting needs.
- Not included domain name
4. SiteFlip
PHP and MySQL support web hosting. Price $0.99/month Free setup
+ Unlimited MySQL database, Good upgrade option
- Domain not included, $8.8 domain registration annually
5. BigBlueHost
PHP and MySQL support web hosting. Price $3.95/month Free Setup
+ Unlimited MySQL, all features included, one month free if you paid annually.
- Not included domain name

Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions on Domain Name Registration

Here are the top ten most frequently asked questions regarding on Internet domain name registration:
Q1. Which characters are allowed in Internet domain names?
A: For normal ASCII domain names, the letters a-z, the numbers 0-9, and one special character, the hyphen or dash “-”. Note that domains cannot start or end with a hyphen. For the new tested IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names), the full range of Unicode characters are available. This allows nearly all of the languages on the planet to be represented within domain names, including Thai, Arabic, Lao, Hebrew, French, German etc.
Q2. How many characters can a Internet domain name have?
A: Generic domains (gTLDs) can have 63 characters in the second level, plus the top level domain, .com, .net etc.
Q3. How long can I register a Internet domain name for?
A: In most cases, you are allowed to register a Internet domain name for period of one to ten years. Longer periods are not currently allowed by the registry.
Q4. How long do Internet domain registrations take to make & process?
A: Typically ten minutes or so. Once you have chosen the name and paid the fee, most registration systems will register your name in near real-time.
Q5. Do I “own” a domain name I register?
A: Not really, it is more like a rental agreement. But importantly, you have the exclusive right to renew the agreement with the registry at the end of the initial registration period, so effectively you can keep the name as long as you want.
Q6. Why does my Internet domain name still show as unregistered in a WHOIS tool?
A: WHOIS tools are meant to show the nameserver / contact information for domain names held by a particular ICANN registrar. They are typical not updated in real-time and thus are not good indicators of current domain registration status.
Q7. How will I know if a Internet domain registration attempt has been successful?
A: WHOIS tool takes anything up to 48 hrs to be updated so can’t be relied on. A better indicator is whether you receive a confirmation e-mail from the domain registrar. You could also try registering the name again. By doing so, the registrar will do a “live” availability check on the name, which will indicate to you whether the name has been registered or not. This is not the same as a WHOIS look-up.
Q8. How long do domain names take to be active after registration?
A: Approximately 24 – 48 hrs, though because nameservers work as a distributed network, it can take up to 72 hrs or more before your domain name is accessible to all Internet users worldwide.
Q9. Can I register a Internet domain for later use?
A: There is no problem in registering domain names first, and using them later on. In fact, it is estimated that among 80% to 90% of all domain names are “idle”.
Q10. Can I get a refund if I make a mistake & register the wrong name?
A: Nearly all domain registrars operate a strict no refund policy. This is because they are charged a non-refundable fee by the registry to perform the registration.

Free Web Hosting Tips

Free Web Hosting Tips

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you look for a free web hosting account online.
1. Content Ownership – You might not own the space, but it is your content. That means that you should expect some sort of notice if the service is going offline so that you can make alternative arrangements or save your information to your computer.
2. Tools – Surprisingly many free web hosting accounts come with lots of tools that you can use to enhance your site. The larger the hosting provider or hosting community, the more tools you will have in your control panel.
3. Free domain names – Usually you are getting a subdomain or even a subfolder for your files. Typically free domain names only come with a paid hosting account. The reasons is that bandwidth is very expensive and no one wants to build up a free web hosting service unless they have access to cheap resources.
It is not surprising then that the free web hosting market is dominated by companies like Yahoo, Google, and Bravenet. They are large organizations who have figured out ways to balance paid services and free services without going broke.
4. Search engine optimization – Some free hosting communities are so large and so fluid that it takes some time get new pages into the major search engines. People abandon their pages at such a high rate that is hard to keep up with the live sites versus abandoned real estate.
Also, any page rank you get goes to the hosting provider and not to you that is one of the perks of having your own domain name.
5. Tracking – It always helps to know who is coming to your website and how they got there. You might have to search around for some type of free tracking service. This is very important if you plan to make money off your free web hosting account.
My picks
Bravenet, Yahoo Geocities and Blogger. I have used all three and I haven’t had the time lately to investigate other services. I will add to the list in the near future.

Carter Signs UAS License Agreement with AAI

Carter Aviation Technologies LLC (Carter) of Wichita Falls, TX announced that they have completed negotiations with AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company, of Hunt Valley, MD on an exclusive licensing agreement for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) using Carter’s revolutionary Slowed Rotor/Compound (SR/C) Aircraft Technology - a combination of rotorcraft and fixed-wing aerodynamics. The 40-year exclusive agreement covers all UAS programs worldwide.

According to Carter President, Jay Carter, Jr., “This is a turning point for Carter. As an R&D company we have been focused on developing and defining our technology and the systems that would enhance its capability. We now have a viable SR/C platform that has the ability to compete in both manned and unmanned sectors with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and high-speed flight, and a trusted partner in AAI. This partnership enables us to combine the unique capabilities of SR/C technology with AAI’s unmanned expertise.”

AAI is a respected provider of unmanned aircraft systems for customers including the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Its platforms include Shadow® Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which have amassed more than 450,000 flight hours; the Aerosonde® fleet of expeditionary small unmanned aircraft systems; and AAI’s One System® Ground Control Station and Remote Video Terminal for unmanned command and control, as well as manned/unmanned teaming.

Carter’s hybrid technology combines the runway independence of rotorcraft with the cruise efficiency of fixed-wing designs. SR/C technology enables these capabilities by seamlessly transitioning lift between the rotor and the wing based on the specific phase of flight. Carter’s SR/C design is a pure autogyro and currently incorporates 20 patents. In the latest, four-place, civil aircraft the empty weight is expected to be 2,200 lbs with a gross weight of 3,500 lbs. The unique rotor system will allow jump take-offs clearing 50-foot obstacles through its vertical takeoff capability. Equipped with a 350 HP twin turbo-charged engine, the performance numbers are impressive. At an altitude of 12,500 feet and max power, the aircraft has a projected speed of 223 mph and, with 500 lbs. of fuel, a range of 768 miles at this max power setting. Flying at best range speed, the aircraft will deliver a range extending to 1465 miles. Maximum speed of 250 mph is projected at 25,000 ft with a range of 879 miles at max power and 1510 miles at best range speed.

Leveraging SR/C technology and the civil four-place primary aircraft components, Carter and AAI have been evaluating a UAS design variant employing a turbine engine. At 7,250 lbs. gross weight, with 4,750 lbs. of useful load, the SR/C UAS is expected to deliver 3000 lbs of cargo to a range of over 1300 nm at speeds of 288 mph. Configured for multi-role UAS missions, the SR/C UAS is expected to deliver endurance in excess of 24 hrs.

All SR/C aircraft variants will be enhanced by incorporation of Carter’s patented landing gear and propeller system. The Carter gear absorbs up to 24 ft/second on impact. Carter’s highly swept, hollow blade, scimitar propeller design is very light, unusually quiet, more than 90% efficient and can, because of its wide cord, produce up to 30% more static thrust than a comparable stock propeller.

About AAI :-
AAI Corporation designs, produces, and supports aerospace and defense systems through its direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, AAI Services Corporation, Aerosonde Pty Ltd, ESL Defence Limited, and Symtx, Inc. Its high-technology products and services include unmanned aircraft systems, training and simulation systems, automated aerospace test and maintenance equipment, armament systems, aviation ground support equipment, and logistical, engineering, and supply chain services. AAI Corporation is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc.

MAKO Surgical Launches New Knee Resurfacing Application

MAKO Surgical Corp. (Nasdaq:MAKO), a medical device company focused on marketing its advanced robotic-arm solution and its implants for minimally invasive orthopedic knee procedures known as MAKOplasty, today announced the commercial availability of the Lateral Unicompartmental Knee Resurfacing Application for its RIO Robotic Arm Interactive Orthopedic System. The new application complements MAKO’s existing unicompartmental and bicompartmental knee applications targeting the medial and patellofemoral compartments.

“We believe the advanced proprietary features of our RIO Robotic Arm System and the RESTORIS MCK bicompartmental knee implant system provide the potential to address a larger population of patients suffering from limited osteoarthritis in the knee,” said Dr. Maurice R. Ferre, President and CEO of MAKO. “Providing this lateral capability represents the achievement of another milestone towards the continuing commercialization of innovative technology that restores patient quality of life.”

Dr. Gary Poehling, a MAKOplasty surgeon at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, said, “The availability of the lateral knee application is another great advance in the MAKO product offering. I am now able to utilize MAKOplasty to treat patients with single compartment knee osteoarthritis, regardless if it is medial, lateral or patellofemoral.”

“MAKO has again taken a difficult, heavily instrumented procedure and made it much simpler to perform with accurate and reproducible results,” stated Dr. John Velyvis, a MAKOplasty surgeon at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. “The lateral application is a promising addition, especially in the minimally invasive treatment of women, who are more prone to this deformity.”

About MAKO Surgical Corp.
MAKO Surgical Corp. is a medical device company that markets both its RIO Robotic-Arm Interactive Orthopedic system and its proprietary RESTORIS implants for minimally invasive orthopedic knee procedures. The MAKO RIO is a surgeon-interactive tactile surgical platform that incorporates a robotic arm and patient-specific visualization technology and prepares the knee joint for the insertion and alignment of MAKO’s resurfacing RESTORIS implants through a minimal incision. The FDA-cleared RIO system allows surgeons to provide a precise, consistently reproducible tissue-sparing, bone resurfacing procedure called MAKOplasty to a large, yet underserved patient-specific population suffering from early to mid-stage osteoarthritic knee disease. MAKO has an intellectual property portfolio of more than 250 licensed or owned patents and patent applications relating to the areas of robotics, haptics, computer assisted surgery and implants.

“MAKOplasty,” “RESTORIS,” and “RIO,” as well as the “MAKO”
logo, whether standing alone or in connection with the words “MAKO Surgical Corp.” are trademarks of MAKO Surgical Corp.

Touch Bionics Unveils World’s First Bionic Finger

Touch Bionics, developer of advanced upper-limb bionic technologies, announced the commercial launch of ProDigits, the world’s first powered bionic finger solution for patients with missing fingers. Now partial-hand patients have a dexterous powered solution to support their return to function and independence.

Created by the company responsible for market-leading bionics like the i-LIMB Hand, the ProDigits solution extends life-changing technology to partial-hand patients, whose finger absence is due either to congenital anomalies or to amputation from a traumatic incident or medical condition. The amputee population that can benefit from ProDigits is considerable, estimated at around 40,000 in the U.S. and 1.2 million worldwide, and until now, these people have had no commercially available powered prosthetic solution open to them.

Not having fingers or a thumb to act in opposition to one another makes simple tasks such as holding a fork or a cup difficult and frustrating. The articulating digit underpins much of ProDigits’ technical advantage and it is this articulation that provides the biggest benefit to the patient. With the ability to bend, touch, pick-up and point, the ProDigits used within an overall prosthesis reflects the function of a natural hand.

Vince Verges was one of four men aboard a Navy EA-6B when it crashed on the Olympic Peninsula on March 19, 1992. He lost all the fingers on his left hand during the ejection.

Prior to receiving ProDigits, Vince most looked forward to the independence his new prosthesis would provide. Vince values the simplification of everyday living activities offered by ProDigits, such as using a drive thru without having to reach over with his right hand, going to the water cooler at his office and not being forced to juggle the process with one hand, and a far more efficient experience going through a buffet line with two hands available.

In an industrial accident, Michael Bailey lost three of the fingers on his left hand, plus half of the rest of his hand and five of the eight bones in his wrist. Despite having never used a myoelectric prosthetic device before, Michael found adapting to ProDigits incredibly easy.

“Honestly, I had only put it on for five minutes and I was getting it to work just fine,” he said. “It feels like it belongs there, like it’s part of me.”

The nature of each partial-hand patient case is unique, and therefore each prosthetic build is also unique. The concept behind ProDigits is something never before commercially available in the prosthetics industry. Sockets are custom-designed and fabricated by clinicians to suit each individual’s specific needs.

“Vocational and social reengagement is very important to a patient’s rehabilitation after a traumatic event. Partial-hand injuries are, by their nature, challenging aesthetically and functionally,” said Stuart Mead, CEO, Touch Bionics. “With ProDigits, our goal is to provide all that we can to reinstate a patient’s function and interaction with other people in their chosen lifestyle and career.”

Because of the personalized nature of each ProDigits fitting, Touch Bionics is developing a clinical collaborator program in North America that will see the company partner with practitioners in order to fit patients. Around the world, Touch Bionics has established relationships and distribution channels in over 40 countries to support the roll-out of ProDigits, supported from its Centre of Excellence in Livingston, Scotland.

“Partial-hand amputation represents the largest group of arm amputees, and with ProDigits we finally have a functional state-of-the-art myoelectric prosthesis that we can offer this previously underserved amputee population,” said Jack Uellendahl, C.P.O., clinical prosthetics specialist, Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics. “With ProDigits, each finger is capable of being a standalone functional unit, allowing for fitting of many different configurations of hand absence. In addition, the movement of the ProDigit prosthesis is natural in appearance, delivering a more elegant solution to partial hand restoration than previously possible.”

There are two control strategies that can be employed to power ProDigits: either myoelectric sensors that register muscle signals from the residual finger or palm, or a pressure sensitive switch input in the form of a force sensitive resistor (FSR), or touch pad, which relies on the remnant digit or tissue surrounding the metacarpal bone to provide the necessary pressure to activate the finger. As with the i-LIMB Hand, a unique stall feature allows the device to detect when it has closed around an object, also allowing users to point single digits and configure the hand in various grip patterns.

Touch Bionics offers a range of coverings for ProDigits. For some patients the high-tech clear and black robotic skins offered by the company create a confident and highly functional solution. Others prefer a LIVINGSKIN option – this high definition silicone solution is used to provide a human-like restoration to the combined limb and prosthesis for a comprehensive prosthetic restoration.

For photos, video, diagrams and other information relating to ProDigits, please visit:

Technical Facts

• The partial-hand amputee population is considerable, estimated at around 40,000 in the U.S. and 1.2 million worldwide.
• A two-finger amputation will translate into 20%-40% hand impairment, depending on which fingers are affected, and close to 11%-22% whole-person impairment – i.e. overall disability profile, including both physical and psychological metrics.
• Thumb loss will significantly contribute to the impairment of an individual with digital amputations as the total thumb represents 40% hand impairment. Single ProDigit thumb fittings have demonstrated an excellent return to function.
• Without a prosthesis, there is the risk of Overuse Syndrome, also referred to as Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI), which is associated with unilateral hand loss and excessive use of the intact hand.
• There are physical criteria that dictate whether ProDigits are appropriate or not. Candidates must have amputation of one or more fingers at the transmetacarpal level or higher. It is possible to support candidates with a portion of the finger remaining.

Scarlet Knight Underwater Robotic Glider Crosses the Atlantic

The Scarlet Knight, the first submersible robot glider to cross the Atlantic, made its formal entrance into the port of Baiona on December 09, 2009 and was received by Spanish and American government officials, school children and the people of the town.

The Scarlet Knight, in the Investigador’s zodiac, arrived in Baiona’s harbor.
Baiona, a resort town of 11,000 in Galicia, is where the Pinta, one of Columbus’s ships, made landfall at the end of the explorer’s first voyage to America. It was thus the first town in the Old World to hear about the New World. A replica of the Pinta is docked at the municipal pier here. A replica of the Scarlet Knight now resides in the harbormaster’s building and will eventually be part of a maritime museum.
Read Ken Branson’s blog about the glider’s arrival

Spain’s minister of development, Jose Blanco, formally handed the glider over to an American delegation led by Richard Spinrad, assistant administrator for oceanic and atmospheric research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Jerry Miller, senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dean Robert M. Goodman of Rutgers’ School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, were also part of the delegation, and made brief remarks.

Spinrad told a gathering in the harbormaster’s building that he had challenged Scott Glenn, professor of marine science in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, to send a glider across the ocean in 2006. “Of course, I must admit that I made that challenge over a couple of bottles of wine in Lithuania,” Spinrad said, referring to a meeting during an academic conference in that country. “But I have another challenge now: to send a glider on a circumnavigation. And I’m sober now.”

A few minutes later, Goodman said, “On behalf of my colleagues, the guys and gals who have to pull this off, we accept your challenge.”

Miller, in his remarks, singled out the Scarlet Knight’s contribution to meeting that need. “It is especially gratifying that this craft – which is sharing with the world everything it learned on its historic voyage – is the epitome of the kind of transparency the Obama administration is committed to, in the firm belief that the best way for all of us to move ahead is to share information for the common good of all mankind.”

Mayor Jesus Vasquez Almuina said the Scarlet Knight was as important to his town as the Pinta, and New Jersey was as important to Baiona as any part of the New World. “Baiona and New Jersey will be linked forever after this moment,” the mayor said.

Later, several hundred fifth- and sixth-graders, teachers, parents and citizens gathered to wait for the submersible to come ashore. While a small boat brought the glider into the dock from the M/V Investigador, whose crew recovered the glider last week. The ship gave three long blasts on her horn, the people cheered, and Galician bagpipers struck up a tune. The people lined the old fortress wall as the Scarlet Knight was pulled on its trolley up to a dais on the yacht club’s lawn. School children, ignoring their teacher’s orders not to touch the glider, caressed it, pulled on it, patted it, moved its rudder back and forth, and ignored the speakers.

Among the honored guests was Doug Webb, a founder of Webb Research Inc., now Teledyne-Webb Research. He designed the Slocum Electric glider, of which the Scarlet Knight is the latest version. Webb, 80 years old and hard of hearing, did not speak at the ceremony, and was not interviewed by reporters. But at the end, when all the kids, their parents, the reporters and researchers had gone, he stayed a moment with the Scarlet Knight. “Quite a day,” he said. “Quite a day.”

GE Aviation and AAI Perform First Trajectory-Based Flight on Unmanned Aircraft System

GE Aviation and AAI Corporation, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and U.S. Army performed the first “proof of concept” flight demonstrations of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) controlled with a GE Flight Management System (FMS) certified for use in commercial manned aircraft. These flights used the AAI Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System controlled by the GE Aviation FMS as part of the UAS FAA & Industry Team (UFIT) Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRDA) to demonstrate an approach for the safe integration of UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS) as part of the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System Program.

“The Shadow and the U.S. Army will benefit by using a derivative of this commercial-certified flight management system to provide precise, time-based navigation capability,” said Dr. Gerry Vossler, vice president of Strategic Initiatives for GE Aviation Systems. “Continued development of this technology approach offers a path to 4DT UAS operations in NextGen.”

The first flight took off at 2:50 p.m. CST on Thursday, December 3rd at the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal Airfield This initial flight lasted 45 minutes and demonstrated both lateral and vertical control of the Shadow 200 UAS coupled with the GE FMS. On Friday, December 4th, a 3 hour demonstration was conducted that allowed for more rigorous testing of the FMS controlled Shadow 200. The results provide a variety of operational and technical assessments to demonstrate the ability to integrate a certified flight management capability into existing U.S. military UAS to support operations in national airspace.

This demonstration is in support of the UAS FAA & Industry Team (UFIT) Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRDA) between GE and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on August 10, 2009. The research agreement is complemented by an agreement between AAI, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company, and GE including the demonstration flights of the AAI Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System. Simulation is being conducted at the FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center, which began this fall and will continue for two years.

Integration of the FMS with the One System Ground Control Station (GCS) will enable the Army to fold this capability into all UAS that incorporate the One System.

GE certified their first flight management computer in November 1984. GE provides versions of its flight management systems for the Airbus A320/330/340, Boeing 767 Tanker, and U.S. Navy E-6 aircraft, the USAF E-4 and C-130, UK C-130, Spanish Air Force C-130s, C-130 AMP, UK Nimrod 2000, IL-96. GE’s FMS software will also be on the U.S. Navy P-8A aircraft which is currently in development.

The FMS optimized descent has qualified as an ecomagination product, having completed GE’s rigorous ecomagination Product Review (EPR) process. The evaluation focused on the operating and environmental benefits that the technology provides to customers, including demonstrated emissions reductions, fuel and costs savings.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components and integrated systems for military and commercial aircraft. GE Aviation also has a global service network to support these offerings.

Carnegie Mellon Engineers Develop Machine That Visually Inspects and Sorts Strawberry Plants

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) have developed a plant-sorting machine that uses computer vision and machine learning to inspect and grade harvested strawberry plants and then mechanically sort them by quality — tasks that until now could only be done manually.

In a successful field test this fall, the machine classified and sorted harvested plants more consistently and faster than workers could, with a comparable error rate.

“We’re looking forward to using the system,” said Liz Ponce, CEO of Lassen Canyon Nursery in Redding, Calif., one of five strawberry plant producers sponsoring the NREC project. “All of our stakeholders feel that it has a lot of potential.” The other sponsors are Driscoll Nursery Associates; Nor Cal Nursery, Inc.; Plant Sciences, Inc.; and Crown Nursery LLC. Together, the five producers represent about 85 percent of the California strawberry plant nursery market.

To maintain good strawberry yields, commercial berry growers must replace their plants every year. During the fall harvest season, strawberry plant nursery farms use manual labor to sort several hundred million strawberry plants into good and bad categories — a tedious and costly process.

The strawberry plant sorter uses computer vision to examine harvested plants that pass by on a conveyor belt. The sorter’s novel machine learning algorithms allow it to be taught how to classify strawberry plants of different sizes, varieties and stages of growth, beyond the simple classification of good and bad plants. This introduces dramatic new efficiencies for strawberry nursery farms, helping them improve quality, streamline production and deliver better strawberry plants to berry growers, which in turn produces better strawberries for consumers.

“The sorter can adapt to plants that vary from year to year, or even within the same growing season,” said Christopher Fromme, the project’s manager and lead engineer. “It’s very flexible.”

During a 10-day field test in October, NREC engineers tested the strawberry plant sorter under realistic conditions, where rain and frost change plants’ appearance, and roots may contain mud and debris. The prototype system had to sort plants of different varieties and levels of maturity. While in the field, it sorted more than 75,000 strawberry plants. On average, it sorted 5,000 plants per hour, several times faster than human sorting. The NREC hopes to achieve sorting rates of 20,000-30,000 plants per hour with the final system. While the sorter’s overall error rate was close to that of human workers, it inspected and sorted plants more consistently.

“That’s the beauty of it,” Ponce said. “Hand sorting varies more and has more drift in quality.”

The successful field trial concludes phase two of a five-phase program that will develop a machine ready for commercial operations. Phase three will develop better methods to separate harvested strawberry plants for inspection, improve the sorter’s robustness and ease of use, and integrate it into the nurseries’ harvesting and packaging processes.

For more information about the strawberry plant sorter, visit the NREC’s Web site at . The NREC, part of the Robotics Institute in the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, works closely with industry and government clients to develop and mature robotic technologies from concept to commercialization.

About Carnegie Mellon:-
Carnegie Mellon a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the fine arts. More than 11,000 students in the university’s seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon’s main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California’s Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia and Europe. The university is in the midst of a $1 billion fundraising campaign, titled “Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University,” which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.

About Lassen Canyon Nurseries :-
Lassen Canyon Nurseries is California’s largest producer of strawberry plants for commercial growers and home gardeners. It has over 1,000 acres of strawberry plants under cultivation in California, plus nursery operations in Mexico and Asia. Its headquarters are in Redding, Calif.

About Driscoll Nursery Associates :-
Driscoll Nursery Associates is the world’s leading grower of fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. It is the preferred berry partner of America’s leading culinary authorities, including the Culinary Institute of America. Its headquarters are in Watsonville, Calif.

About Nor Cal Nursery, Inc.:-
Nor Cal Nursery, Inc. is a state certified nursery that produces strawberry, raspberry and blackberry plants for domestic and international sales. Its headquarters are in Red Bluff, Calif.

Plant Sciences, Inc:-
Plant Sciences, Inc. is committed to research and development in plant breeding, plant tissue culture, seed production, crop growing techniques and pest management. Its headquarters are in Watsonville, Calif.

Crown Nursery, LLC :-
Crown Nursery, LLC produces strawberry plants for commercial growers. Its headquarters are in Red Bluff, Calif.