/ News
A Tumbleweed Robot to Stop the Spread of Deserts
Desertification is a massive problem across the globe. We have a general idea of what causes it: unsustainable agricultural practices, mining, climate change, general land overuse. But much like climate change itself, desertification is a complex ecological issue that’s difficult to totally understand, not in small part due to the difficulties of gathering quality data.
Shlomi Mir is familiar with the effects of desertification. Based in Jerusalem, the industrial designer has seen it firsthand. He’s currently developing an autonomous system that could help scientists better understand what’s happening in the depths of the desert.
You could employ a swarm of these to sit on sand dunes and record each other’s motion.
His robot Tumbleweed, a nod to its round, spindly shape and wind-powered motion, would roll across the desert, gathering information along its path with the goal of delivering improved, uncovered data to scientist.
We have all sorts of methods for quantifying our planet, but data about land, despite (or because of) its abundance, is difficult to capture. “Land-based autonomous systems have always been the biggest challenge,” says Mir. “It’s much harder for something to get around on land.” Not only is traversing the world’s surface expensive, there are all sorts of physical obstacles a robot could encounter.
Mir designed his current Tumbleweed prototype to be a robust, adaptive robot. The steel structure relies on tension, which allows it to transform itself depending on its path. The arrangement of the robot’s sails allow it to catch wind and roll. Using a kinetic generator, the Tumbleweed’s motion powers an onboard computer, sensors and motor.
The Tumbleweed can’t control its exact path, but Mir designed it to respond to favorable wind conditions, meaning, the robot will flatten out like a pancake until a gust comes along to propel it in its intended direction. “There are applications where this system could go where people can’t go or can’t afford to go, or can’t go enough to collect the information that these researchers need,” he says.
A Change of Plans
Originally, Mir imagined that he could pack seeds into the ball’s center, and as it rolled through the desert, the Tumbleweed would drop seeds into the ground as needed. After more research, he quickly realized that wasn’t going to work. “It’s not like if you spread seeds in the desert, it will become green; it’s much more complicated than that,” he says. “There’s no real silver bullet solution to an ecological problem like desertification.”
Gathering hard-to-reach information, he found, would be far more beneficial to scientists than what Mir calls a TED-esque solution. A cure-all, autonomous Johnny Appleseed robot is a fun thought, but, he says, “I think we have to be really honest with ourselves about what an idea can and cannot do.”
He’s since departed from his original plan, and instead has been working with researchers to modify his Tumbleweeds, making them smaller and more nimble. The idea is that you could employ a swarm of these master data gatherers to sit on sand dunes and record each other’s motion. This could allow scientists to create a 3-D map of the wind across the surface of a dune, ultimately leading to a better understanding of how dunes move and what potential solutions are.
[hat tip: WIRED UK]
Source: http://www.wired.com/design/2014/02/rolling-robot-prevent-spread-deserts/
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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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