by Aaron Saenz on February 9th, 2010
Laser range finding, SLAM navigation, an LCD screen and more powerful suction. The XV-11 is a Roomba killer, no doubt about it.
It’s been more than seven years since iRobot introduced the world to the Roomba robotic vacuum. Seven years without fundamental innovation, and its left the market ripe for competition. Enter Neato. This Silicon Valley startup is ready to take the robotic vacuum world by storm. The engineers over at Neato Robotics let us take a tour of their Mountain View home and get a first hand look at the XV-11 ($399), the vacuum robot that’s going to kill the Roomba. Yep, Neato doesn’t like to judge the competition, but I don’t mind talking trash: Neato has a bot that sees better, works smarter, and sucks harder…and that’s a good thing. After talking with VP Patrick De Neale, I can tell you that Neato isn’t just building the next great robotic vacuum, it’s building the next great robotic empire with more than $15 million in funding and retailers lined up to get the vacuum to market. Don’t fret robo-junkies, we’ve got some great videos and pics to sate your hunger for machine machinations after the break.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 8th, 2010
Vitamin D Video is out of beta and ready to purchase. Better still, the most basic package is free!
Ground breaking surveillance software, Vitamin D Video, is now available for sale at an impressively low price. I had a chance to review the program’s impressive object recognition and recording capabilities when I covered the beta launch a few months ago. This is a really cool application of limited artificial intelligence. Vitamin D Video uses algorithms based on human brain activity to quickly identify objects in a video feed. By setting the controls, you can specify events that will trigger a recording, an email alert, or an audio notice. Vitamin D not only acts like an electronic watchdog for your camera, it can take hours of monotonous footage and reduce it down to a highlight reel you want to watch. During the beta, testers used the program for some really cool applications you can read about on the VDV site. Interested in getting a copy for yourself? It’s free if you only want to use it on one camera. Two cameras and you’ll have to pay $50. Or you can pay $200 and use as many cameras as you like from one computer. That cheap price tag could launch Vitamin D Video to dominate the small business and home market. Catch a new demo video of the program below.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 8th, 2010
I saw this news team using LiveU at the launch of the iPad. Cheaper and more mobile than traditional news uplinks, it could change the face of media.
I was covering Apple’s recent premiere of the iPad when I saw some guy with a professional video camera plugged into his backpack. Was he some Apple mega-fan with a screw loose? Nope, turns out he was broadcasting a live news feed onto the internet. The backpack was part of an uplink system developed by LiveU. Instead of an entire news van, there’s just a box in a bag. It’s an amazing bit of technology that uses 3G, 4G, and WiFi to provide upload streams between 1 and 2 Mbps. That’s broadcast TV quality without any wires. Just plug any video camera into the backpack and you’re practically ready to go. The system sets up in one minute, goes anywhere anytime, and can stay on the move. LiveU was used to provide coverage on the train President Obama rode into Washington DC. It allowed internet news casters to provide around the clock coverage leading into the Grammys. According to LiveU’s Twitter feed, these backpacks are going to be all over the Super Bowl. The LiveU revolution is already happening, and its going to democratize the ability to provide high quality live video to the world. Check out their demo below. The picture is gorgeous!
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by Aaron Saenz on February 8th, 2010
Craig Venter is going to make synthetic life. Prepare yourself.
Craig Venter is pushing the boundaries of what humans can do with DNA and aims to create new life to serve our needs. At TEDMED this past year, he discussed what he and his company, Synthetic Genomics, have accomplished by analyzing and manipulating the genes of simple organisms. While the presentation was titled “What could we do with synthetic life?” it would have been more apt to call it “What we have done so far is going to blow your freakin’ mind.” Venter gives an in depth look at the methods which will lead to custom made organisms. Biofuel, new antibiotics, vaccines – Venter could one day make them all by using yeast and bacteria to reproduce artificially constructed genomes. As many have said, synthetic biology is likely to be the defining technology of the 21st century, and Venter plans on helping to write that definition. Check out his TEDMED video, in its entirety, after the break.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 7th, 2010
Give Siri a command and it will hunt down information on Yelp, MovieTickets.com, Google Maps, etc to get you what you want. Amazing.
You’re about to get your very own genie in a bottle. Simply talk into your iPhone and tell Siri what you want. Tickets for a show, reservations at a restaurant, a taxi to pick you up – the newest App can arrange to get you what you need. Best of all, Siri learns (with your permission) what you want, and gets better at understanding your commands. Just like a human assistant. Originally developed as part of DARPA’s CALO project, Siri represent more than five years of steady research and refinement. The App is sophisticated enough to filter through a sentence and identify the relevant key words and know which of its dozens of partnered APIs to engage. Want to find some live music in your area? Siri calls up LiveKick and understands to use GPS to determine what “in your area” means. It can handle most any command for six broad categories of interest: restaurants, movies, events, taxis, local information, and weather. In those fields, Siri can figure out what you want and how to get it for you. Best of all, the App is free. Look below for the cool demo video and a great interview of Siri founders by the Scobleizer himself.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 5th, 2010
Update: Google, the event sponsor, has not officially announced a cash prize for the winner.
The annual Google AI Challenge has been announced: contestants will be competing to see who can build the program that can win the most games of Tron. Named after the famous light cycle scene in the 1982 scifi movie of the same name, Tron (aka Snakes) has two players control avatars that zip around a screen leaving a glowing trail. Run into your trail or your opponent’s trail, or into a wall, and you die. It’s a simple game with a huge range of possible strategies – a perfect fit for an AI challenge. While sponsored by Google (who’s offering a ‘cash prize’ to the winner), the contest is run by the CS Club at the University of Waterloo. You can go to the competition website to download a starter package of software, a strategy guide, or to check out who’s winning on the leaderboard. The competition will end at noon on February 26th, so if you want to enter you better get started now. The Google AI Challenge is a fun idea and another example of how the search engine company is developing the culture and expertise of computer science.
Fire up your light cycle, Google's latest AI challenge is to create a program to compete in Tron.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 5th, 2010
What keeps the liquid from penetrating into this wood? An invisible coat of nano thin Liquid Glass.
A Germany company is determined to coat your life in a thin layer of Liquid Glass. Also known as SiO2 in ultra thin layering, this transparent film of material is only 100 nm thick (1/500 the width of a human hair) but it can repel water, deter bacteria and fungus growth, protect against wear, and still allow the surface underneath to breathe. Developed by Nanopool, Liquid Glass seems almost too good to be true. Spray it on statues and graffiti won’t stick. Cover your kitchen counter in it, and it can stay clean and sterile for months. Don’t want fungus growing on your plants – you can cover them with Liquid Glass and they’ll be protected, and still able to live. A 30 minute application can last for a full year. The descriptions of what this substance can do are just insane and I wouldn’t believe most of them if we didn’t have visual evidence in their favor. Check out some promo videos from Nanopool after the break. This stuff is going to be everywhere.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 5th, 2010
Art created using a 3D printer has the potential for combining utility and stunning detail.
3D Printers are changing the way we approach fabrication and design, and I’ve just seen proof that they’re impacting art as well. The M museum in Leuven, Belgium is running an amazing exhibition of sculpture created using 3D printers. The Parallellipipeda Project (named after the geometric shape), features art that takes full advantage of the unique capabilities of the new technology. Insane furniture, spiraling light fixtures, and random pieces of mind twisting sculpture are on display now through February 11. There’s even a large 3D scanner from Eyetronics so you become part of the experience. If you’re like me and don’t have the funds to jaunt off to Belgium, don’t worry. One of the sponsors of the exhibit, iMaterialise, has posted a video of some of the amazing pieces from the show. Watch it below.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 4th, 2010
At the 30th All Japan Micromouse Competition, robot mice race through a maze for the fastest time.
Sure, geneticists are making smarter rats with better memories, but can they run a maze in less than five seconds? The 30th All Japan Micromouse Competition late last year demonstrated some amazing robotic mice and their ability to solve a maze faster than their biological counterparts. The competition was huge: 80 micro mice ran the expert course and a whopping 117 faced off on the novice level. Most of these robots use LED lights and sensors to measure reflection off walls, allowing them to map the maze. Competition organizers intentionally make it difficult for the mice by using bright overhead lights and allowing flash photography. The fastest official run was 5.5 seconds, but check out the following video to see a 4.7 second run that puts the best to shame.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 4th, 2010
CES heralded gesture controls hitting the mainstream. Here, Toshiba's Cell TV gets put through its paces. Just wave your hand to select a channel from the floating sphere of television.
The modern age of electronics is turning everyone into royalty. We have court jesters (TV), scholars (computers), and scribes (office software) at our command. Soon, these servants will even be watching our slightest gestures and voice commands to heed our will. Hitachi announced its TV with gesture controls more than a year ago. Both it and Toshiba were touting “TVs without remotes” at CES 2010. Microsoft announced the XBox 360’s Project Natal, a system that uses the gamer body as a controller, at E3 last year. All of these technologies are scheduled to arrive at market by the end of 2010. Though the specifics differ among devices, each of these technologies would allow a user to simply gesture (sometimes speak) commands to their electronics. Change volume, browse through movies, or drive an arcade race car…all you need is your hands. The end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 will see the first real attempt to get consumers to throw down their remotes and throw up their hands in jubilation. Will we want it? Check out some of the videos below to see what you’re buying.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 4th, 2010
Willow Garage just built 25 telepresence bots. Let the open source festivities begin!
Fans of open source robotics need look no further than Willow Garage. Not satisfied with merely creating an amazing robot platform that plugs itself in to recharge (PR2), they are also one of the driving forces behind an open source Robot Operating System (ROS). Now, Willow Garage has unveiled another ambitious project: telepresence robots. They recently finished building 25 of their Texas Alphas (TAs) – robots that allow workers to telecommute and command a dynamic representative thousands of miles away. The TAs are going to help with human-robot interaction research at Willow Garage and some are being lent out to other companies to test their feasibility in a non-robotics workplace. Looks like Willow Garage just jumped head long into the telepresence business and that could mean amazing open source development for the field. Check out videos of the TA in action below.
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by Aaron Saenz on February 3rd, 2010
Behold the Gekko, window washing robot of the future. It fears no wind.
Dubai’s endless streets of skyscrapers require an army of window washers. A Swiss company is hoping to replace that human workforce with a robotic one. Serbot AG has two high speed surface cleaning robots designed to work quicker than humans and in wind conditions no sane person would dare. The Gekko looks like a tank with suction cup treads and the Clean Ant has this weird set of legs that pivots and flips in crazy ways. These two bots are set to revolutionize Dubai’s massive building cleaning industry. If they can succeed in that glass jungle, Serbot AG could bring their cleaning bots to the rest of the world. Watch out window washers, the machines are coming for your jobs and they fear no wind. Check out all the crazy scrubbing action in the videos below.
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