Military / Medical / Vehicles

The online maps we use to find our way before going somewhere is not designed for blind people to make use of it. A new device developed at MIT Touch Lab is designed to solve this problem. The system, called BlindAid, lets the visually impaired person to feel his or her way around the virtual model of a place before going there. One of the […] Read More

To be able to fly for prolonged periods is a major requirement for unmanned aerial vehicles. Most of these vehicles, which are also commonly called “drones” are finding use in military applications but there are many civilian uses as well. One of the main obstacles for flying long periods is the supply of power. Using conventional combustion engines require a certain weight of fuel to […] Read More

Caltech (California Institute of Technology) scientists have created a four wheeled mobile robotic platform which might help the design of visual prostheses. The robot is remote controlled and is able to simulate visual experiences of a visually impaired person who has been implanted with visual prosthesis, like an artificial retina. The researchers hope that this technology may one day give blind people an independent mobility. […] Read More

Mechanical engineering graduate students at Stanford University is creating an autonomous car named “Shelley” which will race next year on the famous Pikes Peak highway in the Rocky mountains. The autonomous drving technology will lead to better safety systems for cars in the near future. The track is a 20 kilometer ascending road with 156 turns, and the elevation is 4300 meters above the sea […] Read More

The GPS devices are widely used today in our cars to help us find our way. The next generation of help is on the way, and it is a far more complex assistant than a GPS. Designed and developed by Volkswagen of America and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SENSEable City Lab and Personal Robots Group of Media Lab), AIDA stands for Affective, Intelligent Driving […] Read More

A new feature that has been introduced in certain recent Ford models, which enables the car to park itself. It does so first by scanning both sides of the road and determines the available spots. Then by using its ultrasonic sensors, it continuously measures the distance, at the same time moving the car back and forwards, at the same time managing the steering. This looks […] Read More

2009 International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition which took place between October 20th to 25th in Seoul Korea, showcased new technologies in defense technology. REX was also on display, which was built by Israel Aerospace Industries, a small robotic platform designed to accompany gorund troops on field operations. The robot can carry up to 200 kilograms, and is able to ride along ground troops for 72 […] Read More

One of the biggest challenges in building autonomous cars is the safety issue which need to be resolved completely before a single autonomous car hits the road. Events such as DARPA grand challenge are designed to improve the capabilities of such vehicles. A recent story in cnet.com talks about designing safe autonomous cars, which have collision avoidance capabilities incorporated into them. The inspiration came from […] Read More

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Boston Dynamics, developer of advanced dynamic robots such as BigDog and PETMAN, has been awarded a contract by Sandia National Laboratories to develop the next generation of the Precision Urban Hopper, meaning Sandia‘s hopping robots may soon be in combat. When fully operational, the four-wheeled hopper robots will navigate autonomously by wheel and jump – with one mighty leg – onto or over […] Read More

The artificial leg developed by an Iceland based company called OSSUR, can learn the users walking gait and then adjust itself accordingly. Not only that, but the leg is also able to give the user enough strength so that the natural walking motion is not interrupted as in ordinary artificial legs. The future of this technology is of course the artificial leg providing the user […] Read More