/ News
NASA testing robot with sticky gecko feet (VIDEO)
NASA, the US space agency, has equipped a climbing robot with sticky feet – a technology modeled on geckos and spiders. The robots could do repair work on spaceships, and be used back on Earth.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has already successfully used its “gecko grippers” to stick a 100 kilogram person to a wall and manipulate a 10 kilogram cube during tests conducted in micro-gravity. At Earth gravity, the latest generation grippers are able to hold up an object weighing up to 16 kg. The grippers, which are specially designed flat panels, are to be attached to a LEMUR 3 (Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot) prototype.
The gecko gripper technology, which is being developed simultaneously at various cutting-edge institutions around the world, including the defense agency’s DARPA and Stanford University, appears at first glance to be a work of magic. Unlike conventional sticky tape, there is no stickiness, and the gripper does not wear out with use – as NASA discovered after sticking a surface to foreign objects 30,000 times in a row with barely any loss of function. And in contrast to Velcro, there is no need for a second “mating” surface to make the object stick.
The principle behind the technology is van der Waals forces. Like the feet of spiders, the gecko gripper actually consists of thousands of microscopic hairs. Due to an even spacing of electrons around an atom, when together these form an electrical field. The stickiness is created by the positive particles being attracted to the negative. These forces only operate within nanometers, hence the need for tiny hairs. When millions of these work together, they can create a powerful cumulative force: a spider can lift 170 times its own weight while climbing along a smooth vertical force.
The stickiness is increased by simply pushing down harder, and making the hairs bend more.
“This is how the gecko does it, by weighting its feet,” said NASA engineer Aaron Parness.
The properties of the wonder-material, whose effectiveness is not hampered by temperature, radiation or other factors, would come in very handy for astronauts working at the International Space Station. NASA has already developed a series of patches that can be used to stick various objects like clipboards, and handheld devices to a wall in zero-gravity conditions.
Besides being used in developing more capable robots, NASA believes the technology could even revolutionize how spaceships interact with their outside environment.
“We might eventually grab satellites to repair them, service them, and we also could grab space garbage and try to clear it out of the way,” explained Parness.
Source: https://www.rt.com/news/312564-nasa-gecko-space-robot/
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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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