'Link of the Week' Archives

• Self-Replicating Bots

  A robot that makes functional copies of itself was announced this week in the journal Nature. Researchers at Cornell University´s Computational Synthesis Lab say their robot is a working example of machine self-replication and evidence that self-reproduction is not unique to biology.

  Tags: "artificial intelligence", "robotics",

• Programmable Matter?

  Researchers specializing in nanotechnology and teleconferencing are investigating tiny one-millimeter robots which will combine to form large, multi-purpose 3D bodies (such as humans).

• Designs on Less Complex Mobiles (that means phones!)

  Evolving cell phone technology means that a push for better user interface design is necessary...this article discusses some of the most pressing issues in UI design currently.

  Tags: "human computer interface",

• Eggheads invent tele-petting

  Researchers have developed a cybernetic system to allow physical interaction over the internet. The system allows touching and feeling of animals or other humans in real time, but it´s first being tried out on -- chickens.

  Tags: "human computer interface", "human-computer interaction",

• Can Grand Theft Auto Inspire Professors?

  The impact of video games on modern day education is discussed in this article. It also provides a good introduction into academic investigation of video games.

• Is it finally time for 3D online?

  An interview with one of the creators of Virtual Reality Modeling Language promoting the possibilities of Web 3D.

  Tags: "human computer interface",

• Scientists developing

  Imagine a day when your computer will be able to let you know if you need a break, alert you to take medication or even go to the doctor. In some computer science labs at the University of Houston, such human-computer interaction is becoming a reality.

  Tags: "psychology", "computer science", "artificial intelligence", "human computer interface", "human-computer interaction",

• Electronic Butlers to facilitate human-to-human interaction

  "Need information, a translation, a conference recording? Let the butler handle it. The FAME butler, however, is no ordinary Jeeves; it is an intelligent agent integrating several key technologies that bridges linguistic, cultural, communication and information barriers."

  Tags: "computer science", "human computer interface",

• The Web: Video search engines come of age

  "New video search capabilities, created for broadband Internet users by firms from Google to Lycos, are starting to enable people to search and view select video clips of news, public affairs and entertainment programming from television."

  Tags: "algorithms",

• The Infinite Library: Does Google's plan to digitize millions of print books spell the death of libraries; or their rebirth?

  This article discusses the issues that at hand concerning the development of Google Scholar: Google's latest attempt to use the Internet to make the world's accumulated knowledge accessible to all.

• A robot in your future? Not unless you plan to live for a really, really long time.

  This article discusses some of the most recent technological developments in intelligent robotics for the average consumer, while also bringing up a very good point: where are the truly intelligent robots?

  Tags: "robotics",

• To err is human: teaching a GUI good manners

  "Does the GUI you're designing scold and scoff at those idiot users or does it politely guide the gentle users to a civilized, pleasant interaction with technology? The author offers some tips that may keep your customers from kicking your invention and keep 'em coming back for more."

  Tags: "human computer interface",

• 'Skin' could refine robots' sense of touch

  "Robots have mastered picking and placing, welding, and similar tasks that can be precalibrated, but they cannot perform tasks that requite a sense of touch, such as "feeling" when a bolt's threads mesh before screwing it in...electrical engineers at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) say they are on the way to solving this problem. The team has created a prototype robot "skin" from a flexible polymer with multiple sensors that simultaneously assess shape, force, hardness, motion, temperature and thermal conductivity."

  Tags: "robotics",

• Camera sees behind objects

  "Researchers from Stanford University and Cornell University have put together a projector-camera system that can pull off a classic magic trick: it can read a playing card that is facing away from the camera. The dual-photography system gains information from a subject by analyzing the way projected patterns of light bounce off it. "

  Tags: "vision",

• New 'roadcasting' concept allows music sharing in and between cars

  "Just as commuters are catching up to the idea of satellite radio for their cars, former graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a next-generation radio concept that allows users to tune into music from iPods and other digital music players in nearby cars."

• Stuck in Traffic? IT Can Ease the Commute

  This articles discusses some of the solutions developed by information technology researchers for one of society's greatest problems: traffic jams.

• Fancy meets Function on the Runway

  "In the future, we'll text-message hugs to each other's shirts, our coat buttons will house cameras, and our underwear biosensors will phone home when we're in trouble. Some of us will go topless, adorned only with computer-extruded brooches adhered directly to skin. That's what's in store if the runway fashions during the fourth annual Siggraph Cyber Fashion Show ever see the light of day."

• AI Seduces Stanford Students

  "Psychologists and salesmen call it the "chameleon effect": People are perceived as more honest and likeable if they subtly mimic the body language of the person they're speaking with. Now scientists have demonstrated that computers can exploit the same phenomenon, but with greater success and on a larger scale."

  Tags: "artificial intelligence",

• Living Book Makes Learning Easier

  "Re-engineering online learning and teaching material on-the-fly to meet the individual needs of students and teachers is now possible thanks to a complete set of tools developed under the IST programme-funded Trial-Solution project."

• Designing the Virtual Interactive Classroom

  "We’ve all talked about synchronous online collaboration, but new tools may allow us to truly “know” this kind of collaboration for the first time." This article discusses the future of remote-learning environments.

• Machines' way with words

  "It has happened to most of us. The phone call you make to your bank is answered by a talking machine. It asks questions, you answer and then it asks more questions. Voice recognition systems are becoming more prevalent... and scarily efficient."

  Tags: "linguistics", "computer science", "artificial intelligence", "human computer interface",

• New Haptics Systems Challenge Stroke Patients to Grasp, Pinch, Squeeze, Throw and, Yeah, Get Pushy

  "An interdisciplinary team of researchers from engineering and the USC Annenberg School for Communication are collaborating with researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC to develop a variety of new haptics devices to let stroke patients get downright pushy with their rehab."

• Fingernails store data

  "It's the stuff of spy fiction. Researchers from the University of Tokushima and Hokkaido University have demonstrated that it is possible to read data written into a human fingernail using a laser, much like information is written on a rewritable compact disc. The data is read using an optical microscope."

• Magical History Tour

  "Through the use of wireless handheld devices, visitors to the Smithsonian Information Center at the Castle, the National Museum of American History, the National Postal Museum, and the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center can track their progress through the exhibits. (A fifth museum, the National Museum of Natural History, is slated to adopt the technology in mid- to late July.) Rent one of the handhelds, and you get not only a map but also an interactive list of exhibits, guided tours to follow, even instant messaging and location tracking for other members of your group—a great feature when it's time to round up the kids."

• Traffic model maps congestion

  "Researchers from Oxford University in England have tackled the problem [of traffic] by examining the congestion costs within a network model that combines paths that go around the perimeter of the network and central hubs that provide shorter paths through the network. Real-world networks are too complicated to describe exactly mathematically. The researchers' model is simple enough to solve exactly, yet realistic enough to provide insights into real networks. "

• The Weird Web And Other Safety Concerns

  This article discusses some of the security issues that arise from the internet.

• I Think, Therefore I Am — Sorta: The belief system of a virtual mind

  Researchers at USC discuss rational decision-making by AI-powered agents as they relate to both military applications and social interaction with humans.

  Tags: "computer science", "artificial intelligence",

• Software learns to recognize spring thaw

  Spring thaw in the Northern Hemisphere was monitored by a new set of eyes this year -- an Earth-orbiting NASA spacecraft carrying a new version of software trained to recognize and distinguish snow, ice, and water from space.

• When Cell Phones Become Oracles

  Cell phones know whom you called and which calls you dodged, but they can also record where you went, how much sleep you got and predict what you're going to do next. At least, these are the capabilities of 100 customized phones given to students and employees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- and they may be coming soon to your cell phone."

  Tags: "human computer interface",

• Mind May Affect Machines

  "Researchers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, or Pear, have been attempting to measure the effect of human consciousness on machines since 1979. Using random event generators -- computers that spew random output -- they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines' output. Out of several million trials, they've detected small but "statistically significant" signs that minds may be able to interact with machines."

• Can you hear me now? Improvements prep voice-recognition technology for a wider range of uses

  This article discusses some of the future implications of recent improvements in voice-recognition technology.

• Robo-Soccer Teams Shoots for Big Goals: Research into Robotics Teamwork is not just for Fun and Games

  "More than 400 research teams from more than 35 countries will converge on Osaka, Japan, for RoboCup 2005. As in the previous eight international competitions, scientists and developers will show off their latest attempts at developing teams of robots that can compete against others in a game of football — or soccer, as it's more commonly referred to in the United States."

• Simulators give carmakers a leg up on design

  This article elaborates on how auto designers use driving simulations to guide the industrial design of cars.

  Tags: "computer science", "artificial intelligence",

• Computer scientists focus on developing programs that can learn game rules

  "From mahjong to Monopoly, bridge to Bingo, Sorry to Scrabble—games are serious fun. And with their diverse rules, they're also the perfect tools for exploring concepts in artificial intelligence (AI) and new approaches to programming, say Stanford computer scientists."

• Robot lends 'a seeing eye' for blind shoppers

  "The Robotic Guide "dog" created by a Utah State University professor and his graduate students looks like a cross between a carpet cleaner and the plumbing fixtures in your basement. But the thinking behind the Robotic Guide is to create a device that can guide the blind through grocery-store aisles, the mall or maybe even an airport without assistance."

  Tags: "robotics", "vision", "human-computer interaction",

• Researchers say Human Brain is still Evolving (reg. required)

  "Two genes involved in determining the size of the human brain have undergone substantial evolution in the last 60,000 years, researchers say, suggesting that the brain is still undergoing rapid evolution. The discovery adds further weight to the view that human evolution is still a work in progress, since previous instances of recent genetic change have come to light in genes that defend against disease and confer the ability to digest milk in adulthood."

• Clever artificial hand developed

  "Scientists have developed an ultra-light limb that they claim can mimic the movement in a real hand better than any currently available."

• Linux Powers Airborne Bots

  "The University of Essex's UltraSwarm project is an experiment in swarm intelligence and wireless cluster computing that might one day spawn military surveillance applications. In one scenario, a flock of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, with video cameras could take in a hostile landscape from a variety of angles and process the image locally, in the sky."

  Tags: "robotics",

• Poker-Playing Robots Battle For $100,000 Pot

  "It's not just fun and games and cash. The winner of the World Poker Robot Championship will help artificial intelligence meet a tough challenge: solving problems in the face of incomplete and inaccurate information."

  Tags: "artificial intelligence", "algorithms",

• Video Robots Redefine 'TV Doctor': Machines Let Physicians Make Rounds From a Distance

  This article discusses the future of doctor-patient relationships via intelligent robotics.

• Professor's computer search work turns heads

  " University of Illinois computer science Professor ChengXiang Zhai wants to throw us a life preserver. And his ideas about how to get computerized search and information management systems to be better partners, even collaborators, are attracting attention from the top.

  Like the White House."

• Keeping An Eye On You

  This article provides an example of how anthropology and social science play an important role in technology development and design.

  Tags: "psychology", "social cognition",

• Space station gets HAL-like computer

  "A voice-operated computer assistant is set to be used in space for the first time...its operators hope it proves more reliable than "HAL", the treacherous speaking computer in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Called Clarissa, the program will initially talk astronauts on the International Space Station through tests of onboard water supplies. But its developers hope it will eventually be used for all computer-related work on the station."

• Teacher's Little Helpers: Robots Attend UCSD Nursery School in Research Study

  "RUBI, a Robot Using Bayesian Inference, is the evolving creation of the Machine Perception Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego. Together with QRIO, a research platform for advanced robotic technologies developed by Sony Corporation, RUBI is attending the Early Childhood Education Center at UCSD as part of a long-term research study to investigate the uses of interactive computers in educational environments and to advance the field of real-time, social robotics."

  Tags: "computer science", "artificial intelligence", "robotics", "learning",

• USC Voice-to-Voice Translation Machine Perfects Bedside Manner

  ISI natural language research has played a key role in the creation of a still-rudimentary but working two-way voice translation system that allows an English-speaking doctor to talk to a Persian-speaking patient.

• Keeping an eye on domestic appliances

  This article discusses how modern day information technology can be utilized to track and control home appliances remotely.

• Car System Lets Voice Drive the Web

  "In an attempt to explore the safety issues surrounding Internet navigation while behind the wheel, Meirav Taieb-Maimon, a faculty member at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, designed a voice-activated search engine. The system allows drivers to dictate a query and navigate the results while keeping their hands on the wheel."

• Real-time speech translation decreases language barriers and improves communications in Iraq

  "At U.S. military checkpoints in Iraq, American soldiers are using one-way phrase-based handheld computers that instantly translate English into Arabic."

  Tags: "linguistics", "artificial intelligence",

• Adding a New Dimension to Television

  "A new advanced 3D-TV system that puts the viewer right in the centre of the movie challenges the broadcast environment by optimising every part of the video chain."

• Taking a Virtual View of the World

  "Skimming virtually around 3D scenery is no longer the preserve of experts. New software developed in Europe lets users browse and interact in three dimensions with any part of our planet. Terabytes of data daily flow downwards from remote-sensing satellites. Other useful data come from aerial photos and base maps. This information is commonly used for everything from town and country planning to tourism development."

• Gamers turn cities into a battleground

  This article discusses gaming in a high-tech world where GPS, text messaging, and other new communications technologies that will make couch-potato gaming a thing of the past.

• Eggheads Invent Tele-Petting

  "Researchers have developed a cybernetic system to allow physical interaction over the internet. The system allows touching and feeling of animals or other humans in real time, but it's first being tried out on -- chickens."

• Memory mimic aids reading

  "Researchers from the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) have devised software that leverages the way the brain models words to help speed the process of reading or skimming through digitized text. The software highlights portions of text in a way that makes it cognitively easier for the user to find what she is looking for. "

• Picture this - automatic image categorisation

  "Researchers in the IST project LAVA have developed a method of automatically categorising the content of digital images, providing an effective means of storing and retrieving digital image content without having to rely on additional metadata. The developed techniques should be of real value for document and content management, making it much easier for users to search for images as well as text."

  Tags: "artificial intelligence", "vision", "perception", "robotics",

• University professors use brain research to make 'smart' technology: Self-aiming video camera uses infrared, motion detection to capture image

  This article introduces a camera which is capable of tracking the most active person in a room using motion detection, infrared and face-detection technology. The camera was developed by a researcher who specializes in how the brain utilizes sensory information.

• Whatever happened to machines that think?

  "CLEVER computers are everywhere. From robotic lawnmowers to intelligent lighting, washing machines and even car engines that self-diagnose faults, there's a silicon brain in just about every modern device you can think of. But can you honestly call any machine intelligent in a meaningful sense of the word?"

  Tags: "philosophy", "artificial intelligence",

• Speech Recognition Software Slowly Making Progress

  "The growth of speech recognition technology has been slow and steady rather than quick and dramatic. One reason is that many companies are pushing their customers to Web-based customer service, which can be easier to implement than speech recognition service systems."

• New intelligent dictionary searches make sense

  "BENEDICT has built a dictionary suite with a Semantic Context Sensitive Dictionary Look-up. This dictionary not only scans the text around the search word, and gives the correct base-form and syntactic category for the word, but also highlights the correct sense, ie meaning, of the dictionary entry thanks to a pioneering component called Domain Detection System (DDS) that uses semantic taggers developed at the Universities of Lancaster and Tampere."

• Adventures in the Skin Trade

  "NTT Lab wants to build commercial technologies using its RedTacton technology, which enables devices to communicate by using the electrical fields on the human skin."

• A robot in your future? Not unless you plan to live for a really, really long time!

  This article discusses some of the most recent technological developments in intelligent robotics for the average consumer, while also bringing up a very good point: where are the truly intelligent robots?

• A World Cup for Gearheads

  Wired.com covers the Robotic World Cup, where hundreds of Robotics and AI researchers bring their robotic team, and their national colors, to Berlin for a league that mirrors the FIFA tournament.

  Tags: "computer science", "artificial intelligence", "robotics", "electrical and computer engineer",

• Association for Computing Machinery

  Seems to show that Cogs-related research is really beginning to pick up, possibly even more than "good old fashioned" CS stuff like compiler design...

  Articles like: "Self-Directed Robot Scientist Makes Discovery" and also "Scientifically Ignorant Computer Derives Natural Laws From Raw Data"

  Tags: "computer science", "artificial intelligence", "systems theory", "robotics", "human computer interface", "algorithms", "electrical and computer engineer", "human-computer interaction", "adaptive interface",