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'Robots on reins' could soon replace guide dogs: Machines use tactile sensors and vibrations to help people navigate
The small mobile robot is equipped with tactile sensors to lead the way. A sleeve on the user's arm then interpret signals sent back from the robot. These vibrations can reveal the size, shape or stiffness of an obstacle. Engineers said they could also benefit blind people as well as firefighters.For example, they could help firefighters move through burning buildings. Researchers have also developed a so-called 'tactile language' for robots. They now plan to explore how reins and haptic signals could help older people in their homes.
Robots are already being blamed for taking people's jobs, and now the machines are gunning for guide dogs.
Researchers have developed a 'robot on reins' that can help people navigate using tactile sensors and vibrations.
The proof-of-concept currently resembles a vacuum cleaner or lawnmower but future versions could be smaller and more lightweight for use in the home.
Engineers said they could also benefit firefighters, for example, by helping them moving through smoke-filled buildings to find people more easily.
The small mobile robots are equipped with sensors that lead the way, with the user following up to 3ft (one metre) behind holding a rein.
A special sleeve covering the user's arm would then be fitted with electronic micro-vibrators.
This sleeve would turn the signals sent back by the robot into detailed data that the blind person, firefighter or other user would have been trained to interpret.
These vibrations could also provide data about the size, shape and even the stiffness of any object it finds.
This potentially life-saving robot has been developed by King’s College London and Sheffield Hallam University with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Jacques Penders, from Sheffield Hallam University, explained that the four-year project has seen the team using the tactile robot in a number of scenarios from a university gym to a smoke-filled cave in Germany.
The team has also developed a so-called 'tactile language' for the robots and now plans to explore how reins and haptic signals could help older people in their homes.
Currently, even when they have a map of the building, firefighters have to grope their way forward if smoke has badly affected visibility, feeling their way along a wall or following ropes laid by the first firefighter on the scene.
But with only 20 minutes of oxygen per firefighter, the researchers said there is a real need for any innovation that can help them move more quickly and easily.
Senior designer Heath Reed, also of Sheffield Hallam University, added: ‘With the use of robots in emergency situations still in its relative infancy it is crucial to develop an understanding of how robotics interact with people and how those communications can be explored.
‘This project paves the way for robotics to be developed in a number of exciting sectors and I would expect the next five years to see some real developments based on our own research.’
Project partners included the charity Guide Dogs, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and Thales Ltd.
The researcher have built a proof of concept and plan to build a full-working prototype for testing in real-world firefighting conditions.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3011069/Robots-reins-replace-guide-dogs-Machines-use-tactile-sensors-vibrations-help-people-navigate.html
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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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