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Flying 3D printer could seal off nuclear waste
"BEWARE: WILD ROBOTS AHEAD" reads the sign on the cage. Inside, a hexacopter – a drone with six rotors – hovers menacingly. A quadcopter – with four – rests on the ground.
They aren't really wild robots, of course, and the test arena isn't much of an ecosystem, but the quadcopter in particular has a rather special skill: it can build its own nest out of foam. In effect, it's the world's first flying 3D printer. One day such drones might work together to help remove waste from nuclear sites or help patch up damaged buildings.
Inspired by the swiflets that build nests using their own saliva, Mirko Kovac of Imperial College London and his team wanted an aerial robot that could make structures. The quadcopter carries two chemicals which create polyurethane foam when mixed, and a printing module to extrude the foam. As we watch, it takes off and hovers over a box in the arena, before lowering an arm and squirting the foam on to the box.
All of this has been done more or less autonomously; after the box's coordinates are programmed in, the quadcopter uses GPS to direct itself to the target. The quadcopter's job done, the hexacopter now lands on the foam and, after a few minutes' wait while the foam sets hard, it takes off again, carrying the box with it. The idea is that if the box contained, say, radioactive waste, this would be a safe way to remove it. The team has also developed versions of the drone that carry hacked Kinect cameras to survey the environment and work out where to land.
The hexacopter can carry 2.5 kilograms, but scaled-up versions could carry up to 40 kg, says Kovac. It runs on a regular battery but he envisages a fuel cell that the robots could recharge by resting on a treetop and deploying solar panels. "They will build nests to recharge their batteries with solar cells and to observe the environment," he says. Other possible uses include patching up damaged roofs and building bridges.
The aim is to increase the range of drone missions, says Thomas Creedy, an ecologist at the Natural History Museum in London who is working with Kovac. "In particular, extending the scope of scientific survey robots in challenging environments such as rainforests through the adaptable construction of recharging platforms or monitoring stations."
Kovac will be showing off the drones at the Imperial Festival in London on 9 and 10 May.
This article will appear in print under the headline "Drone squirts foam to clean up nuclear waste"
Thanks to Graham Hunt, Faidon Mitzalis, Talib Alhinai, Paul Hooper and Adam Braithwaite of the Aerial Robotics Lab, Imperial College London, for their work on this robot – their work will be presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Hong Kong in June.
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229683.900#.U3S6HoF_uN8
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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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