Google’s Glass Gets a Competitor
A company already in the business of selling wearable displays will launch its own consumer gadget next year—but the format is still unproven.Google stunned the technology industry this year when it...
View ArticleExploding Engine Could Reduce Fuel Consumption
The military and GE have made strides toward a practical detonation engine.A new kind of engine under development, called a detonation engine, could save the military hundreds of millions of dollars in...
View ArticleSentry System Combines a Human Brain with Computer Vision
A DARPA project suggests a mix of man and machine may be the most efficient way to spot danger.Sentry duty is a tough assignment. Most of the time there’s nothing to see, and when a threat does pop up,...
View ArticleDARPA Wants to Remake Manufacturing
The military research agency hopes to design and build an amphibious tank from scratch in three years.The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is launching a $300 million collection of...
View ArticleInjectable Foam Expands in the Belly, Stops the Bleeding
The DARPA-funded advance is designed to keep soldiers alive long enough to reach a hospital.
View ArticleObama Announces First Funding for Brain Mapping Project
A plan to map the activity of entire brain regions down to the level of indvidual neurons got its official nod from the White House on Tuesday when President Obama announced his budget will request...
View ArticleWhy Obama's Brain-Mapping Project Matters
Obama calls for $100 million to develop new technologies to understand the brain.Last week, President Obama officially announced $100 million in funding for arguably the most ambitious neuroscience...
View ArticleThinking of Running an Open Innovation Contest? Think Again.
Open competitions can help find an optimal solution to a well-understood problem, but they are a poor way to innovate.Open innovation contests are gaining popularity with companies. The thinking is...
View ArticleMeet Atlas, the Robot Designed to Save the Day
New humanoid robots will compete in a contest designed to test the ability of machines to take on extremely dangerous and high-stakes human jobs.The latest innovation from the U.S. Defense Department’s...
View ArticleRise of the More Human Robot
Atlas is meant to assist in emergencies, but it could also inspire other machines to walk in our footsteps.
View ArticleDriverless Cars Are Further Away Than You Think
Don’t expect self-driving cars to take over the roads anytime soon. Here’s what carmakers are really working on.A silver BMW 5 Series is weaving through traffic at roughly 120 kilometers per hour (75...
View ArticleAn Artificial Hand with Real Feelings
A new nerve interface can simulate a sense of touch from 20 spots on a prosthetic hand.There have been remarkable mechanical advances in prosthetic limbs in recent years, including rewiring nerve...
View ArticleQ&A with James Kuffner, Google Robotics Researcher
At a military contest in Miami, a Google scientist discusses the future of robotics.At a racetrack in Florida this weekend, 16 robots competed to complete a series of tasks inspired by challenges faced...
View ArticleMilitary Funds Brain-Computer Interfaces to Control Feelings
A $70 million program will try to develop brain implants able to regulate emotions in the mentally ill.Researcher Jose Carmena has worked for years training macaque monkeys to move computer cursors and...
View ArticleThe Robots Running This Way
Some of the machines acquired recently by Google represent a giant leap forward for robot-kind.In the pit lane of the Homestead-Miami speedway in Florida, inside a track on which race cars sometimes...
View ArticleTown Built for Driverless Cars
Tricky intersections and rogue mechanical pedestrians will provide a testing area for automated and connected cars.A mocked-up set of busy streets in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will provide the sternest test...
View ArticleNobel for Brain’s Location Code
Three scientists who made headway in cracking the brain’s code win Nobel Prize for discovering animal’s “inner GPS.”The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to three researchers who made key...
View ArticleWork Begins on Brain Stimulator to Correct Memory
Can deep brain stimulation affect how well and what we remember?For some of the approximately 10 million people worldwide with traumatic brain injury (TBI), forming and holding onto new memories can be...
View ArticleEven Robots Now Have Their Own Virtual World
A highly realistic simulated world is proving vital to robotics researchers.In a month’s time, a motley assortment of robots will attempt to navigate a punishing obstacle course laid out in a...
View ArticleDARPA's Robot Challenge May Equip Robots to One Day Walk Among Us
The DARPA challenge, designed to make robots disaster-ready, could have far-reaching technological benefits.Few people ever need to deal with a stricken nuclear reactor, but that skill could turn out...
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