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Sandia modular robotic hand is most lifelike yet
Science is hard at work developing ever more freaky robots to take over the world. To that end, DARPA, in partnership with private-public-hybrid Sandia National Laboratories, has developed a "cost-effective" modular robot hand that is scarily close to mimicking a human hand's movements.
If you check out the video below (complete with rockin' techno-metal soundtrack), you'll see examples of this Sandia Hand not only handling a variety of everyday objects, but having the dexterity to pick up a tiny screw off a table or even placing a battery into the back of a tiny flashlight.
The hand is controlled like a robotic puppet, as it mirrors the movements of an operator wearing a glove. (We will also have to assume it is somewhat more complicated than that, as a second operator twiddling what appears to be a sound mixer is clearly visible in the foreground).
But in any event, the human-like movement of the hand showcased in the video, however it is achieved, is pretty impressive.
Another innovation of the Sandia Hand is that it is modular. Fingers can be easily detached and reattached, and presumably specialized fingers (say, those with a camera, flashlight or screwdriver) could swapped in depending on the task to be accomplished. According to the engineering team, the hand will even have the ability to remove and reattach its own fingers.
As this is the result of a DARPA-funded project, the goal of the hand was to disarm IEDs. Typically, today's protocol just calls for blowing the suckers up. The disadvantage there is that investigators are left with little evidence to track down bomb makers. This robotic arm would keep human soldiers out of harm's way and also maintain evidence of the bomb for the military forensics team.
Now, when we say the Sandia Hand is "cost-effective," we are being both truthful and relative. Previous robotic hands have cost up to $250,000, while this Sandia Hand maxes out at around $10,000. Still, once it enters the economies of scale and develops out of the prototype stage, expect to see the price tag on this robotic puppet hand comedown considerably.
Source: http://dvice.com/archives/2012/08/video-the-milit.php
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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