Cybernetics and Robotics News - March 2008 Archives

'Wildcat Power Cord' repairs cruciate ligament in dairy cow's knee (3/30/2008)

An 8-year-old Jersey dairy cow is back at her Kansas farm thanks to a decade of research and an experimental surgery. ...> Full Article

Helping Your Brain Be All That It Can Be: Neuro Research Works to Combine Human Brain Capabilities with Computer Data Crunching Power (3/29/2008)

As fantastic as computers are at processing mountains of data at lightning speed, they still can't beat the human brain at, for instance, detecting a friend's face in a crowded airport terminal, or even at more specialized tasks such as detecting suspicious objects in X-ray scans of checked baggage. The human brain can do these tasks not just very well but also very rapidly, within a fraction of a second, says Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientist Maximilian Riesenhuber, Ph.D., of the Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience. However, while the brain's visual system can perform the actual detection task very rapidly, even for multiple images presented at the same time, turning these decisions into behavioral responses is much slower. ...> Full Article

Foldable and stretchable, silicon circuits conform to many shapes (3/28/2008)

Scientists have developed a new form of stretchable silicon integrated circuit that can wrap around complex shapes such as spheres, body parts and aircraft wings, and can operate during stretching, compressing, folding and other types of extreme mechanical deformations, without a reduction in electrical performance. ...> Full Article

Medical Center Performs First U.S. Implant of Heart Device (3/22/2008)

A central Ohio man has become the first person in the United States, and only the 16th worldwide, to receive a heart implant designed to improve the heart's pumping action and help manage congestive heart failure symptoms. The procedure was performed at The Ohio State University Medical Center. ...> Full Article

Robot Fetches Objects With Just a Point and a Click (3/21/2008)

Scientists have found a way to instruct a robot to find and deliver an item it may have never seen before using a more direct manner of communication -- a laser pointer ...> Full Article

Crab-like robot could benefit undersea exploration (3/19/2008)

Underwater exploration may become easier in the future thanks to a new prototype crab-like robot ...> Full Article

Implantable medical devices may expose patients to security, privacy risks; solutions suggested (3/14/2008)

Study conducted by team from UMass Amherst, University of Washington ...> Full Article

Joint research: Probing the mysteries of a surprisingly tough hydrogel (3/12/2008)

Scientists have reported on a gel that, while having the pliancy of gelatin, won't break apart even when deformed over 1,000 percent. ...> Full Article

Regeneration Initiative enables nerve cells on a computer chip to heal and regrow damaged nerves (3/8/2008)

Neuroscientists, brain surgeons, graduate students, rehabilitation specialists and neurologists are joining forces to develop new technology aimed at repairing and regenerating peripheral nerves that connect the brain, spinal cord, and the body. ...> Full Article

Magnetic levitation gives computer users sense of touch (3/6/2008)

Computers, long used as tools to design and manipulate three-dimensional objects, may soon provide people with a way to sense the texture of those objects or feel how they fit together, thanks to a haptic, or touch-based, interface developed at Carnegie Mellon University. ...> Full Article

Robotics Academy Develops Programming Language for Robots (3/1/2008)

ROBOTC Language Supports LEGO Mindstorms and Other Educational Robots ...> Full Article