GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue 005
GineersNow Engineering Magazine July 2016 Issue No. 005
Masdar: The Future of Sustainable City in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Exclusive Stories: Future cities, smart cities, robotics, artificial intelligence, deep learning, digital migration, exoskeleton, social good, information technologies.
Special feature stories: HVAC, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, MEP contractors, construction, civil engineering, chemical, petrochemicals, oil & gas, water and wastewater, nano filtration, ultra filtration, desalination, reverse osmosis.
Country Focus: United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United States, Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam.
https://www.gineersnow.com/topics/magazines
GineersNow Engineering Magazine July 2016 Issue No. 005
Masdar: The Future of Sustainable City in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Exclusive Stories: Future cities, smart cities, robotics, artificial intelligence, deep learning, digital migration, exoskeleton, social good, information technologies.
Special feature stories: HVAC, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, MEP contractors, construction, civil engineering, chemical, petrochemicals, oil & gas, water and wastewater, nano filtration, ultra filtration, desalination, reverse osmosis.
Country Focus: United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United States, Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam.
https://www.gineersnow.com/topics/magazines
WORLD’S FIRST ENGINEERING NEWS FOR YOUNG BADASS ENGINEERS JULY 2016 ISSUE NO. 005 MASDAR: THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE CITY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE CEO SPECIAL FEATURE STORIES: Future Cities Smartest Cities in the World Robotics Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning Exoskeleton Social Good Technologies JULY 2016 Future Cities & Robotics 1
- Page 3 and 4: John Vauden Senior Editor Asia-Paci
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- Page 7 and 8: kilometers east-south-east of the c
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- Page 11 and 12: as part of the UAE leadership’s c
- Page 13 and 14: TINY ORIGAMI ROBOT REMOVES SWALLOWE
- Page 15 and 16: Photo by: Adrian Malloch ENGINEERS
- Page 17 and 18: THE MORAL AND ETHICAL ISSUE WITH RO
- Page 19 and 20: MEET ASUS’ ZENBO: THE FAMILY’S
- Page 21 and 22: company claims “She’s the whole
- Page 23 and 24: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN COMPUTERS START T
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- Page 29 and 30: NASA’S CURIOSITY ROVER TO SAMPLE
- Page 31 and 32: Photo by: Hawking Photo by: Woz Pho
- Page 33 and 34: ROBOTS THAT WILL COOK FOR YOU Photo
- Page 35 and 36: Photo by: dronologista machinery gi
- Page 37 and 38: WORLD’S FIRST POLICE ROBOT WORTH
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- Page 41 and 42: This Creepy Robot Is Designed Just
- Page 43 and 44: 3D-PRINTED PROSTHETIC ARM HAS FEATU
- Page 45 and 46: Photo by: chipchick Photo by: Artic
- Page 47 and 48: WORLD’S FIRST ROBOT-RUN FARM OPEN
- Page 49 and 50: there her robot that feed her with
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WORLD’S FIRST ENGINEERING NEWS<br />
FOR YOUNG BADASS ENGINEERS<br />
JULY 2016 ISSUE NO. <strong>005</strong><br />
MASDAR:<br />
THE FUTURE OF<br />
SUSTAINABLE CITY<br />
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW<br />
WITH THE CEO<br />
SPECIAL FEATURE<br />
STORIES:<br />
Future Cities<br />
Smartest Cities in the World<br />
Robotics<br />
Artificial Intelligence<br />
Deep Learning<br />
Exoskeleton<br />
Social Good Technologies<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
1
John Vauden<br />
Senior Editor<br />
Asia-Pacific<br />
Hina Sapra<br />
Senior Editor<br />
South Asia<br />
Therese Matheren<br />
Senior Editor<br />
North America<br />
GINEERSNOW TEAM<br />
Ems Bagatsing<br />
Sales & Marketing Director<br />
Ems@LincolnMartin.com<br />
Robert Bagatsing<br />
Editor-In-Chief<br />
editor@<strong>GineersNow</strong>.com<br />
Engr. Alice Hernandez<br />
Senior Editor-At-Large<br />
Charity Bagatsing<br />
Senior Editor<br />
North America<br />
Engr. Dion Greg Reyes<br />
Junior Editor<br />
Engr. Cielo Panda<br />
Junior Editor<br />
Raymond Gerard del Valle<br />
Junior Editor<br />
Abhishek Tarafder<br />
Matrix Media<br />
Information Technology<br />
Lauren Lloyd Del Mundo<br />
Video Editor<br />
Creative & Layout<br />
<strong>GineersNow</strong> is a subsidiary of<br />
Lincoln Martin Strategic Marketing<br />
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Editor's<br />
Note<br />
The future is here and we can see<br />
it everywhere. From the advanced<br />
technology that helps us easily<br />
navigate our way around the world<br />
to the robotic technology we’re<br />
using to make everyday life more<br />
efficient. No more waiting lines, no<br />
more harsh and awkward human<br />
interactions from offices and<br />
definitely a faster way to fix things<br />
and heal people. Yes, the future<br />
is here and we’re benefiting from<br />
all the hard work engineers have<br />
devoted to making it all happen.<br />
In this issue, we bring you different<br />
stories about how the world<br />
interacts with robots and artificial<br />
intelligence. Learn more about<br />
cities that are setting an example<br />
on today’s renewable-energy-driven<br />
technologies and machines that can<br />
work for the human race. Aren’t you<br />
excited with what more engineers<br />
can do for us now?<br />
Whatever you need, there’s an<br />
artificial intelligence program ready<br />
to serve you. May it be one push of<br />
a button or just one word uttered,<br />
today’s AI has fully advanced and<br />
developed into a machine that can<br />
think like a human. Come to think<br />
of it, there are robots out there that<br />
looks just like a real person. Is this<br />
a good thing or a bad thing for<br />
the human race? I’ll let you be the<br />
judge of that. A lot of experts have<br />
different opinions on this matter<br />
but one thing’s for sure, the world<br />
may no longer be a place for only<br />
humans and animals.<br />
Let’s talk about futuristic cities, too.<br />
While we can’t deny that majority of<br />
today’s people are poverty-stricken,<br />
there are rising cities and welldeveloped<br />
places that have been<br />
labeled as the cities of the future.<br />
We’re not just talking about highrise<br />
establishments here. We’re<br />
seeing cities with the most advanced<br />
technologies available to all of its<br />
citizens. We’re talking about the use<br />
of renewable energy to power these<br />
places, which leads to a cleaner and<br />
safer environments to live in. One<br />
example of these projects is what<br />
Masdar has accomplished so far<br />
in Masdar City. We’re giving you<br />
an exclusive interview with the<br />
company’s CEO on our cover story<br />
to let you know what exactly is the<br />
company up to and how they can<br />
set an example for other cities and<br />
countries to follow.<br />
As engineers, we’ll be taking on a<br />
crucial job in providing the future<br />
generation a place where they can<br />
thrive more using the artificial<br />
intelligence programs we’ll be<br />
developing. It is our responsibility<br />
to give them a place to live where<br />
we can teach them that anything is<br />
possible - something we’re tacking<br />
on as well. Futuristic cities? Robots<br />
that can follow our every demand?<br />
Who knew that this day would<br />
come? The engineers in the past<br />
did. The engineers today believe<br />
that as well. Let’s set an example for<br />
the future engineers to think that as<br />
well.
CONTENTS<br />
PAGE<br />
TITLE<br />
PAGE<br />
TITLE<br />
06<br />
COVER STORY<br />
MASDAR: THE<br />
FUTURE CITY<br />
43<br />
SCARLETT JOHANSSON<br />
BECOMES A DOLL ROBOT<br />
12<br />
WORLD’S FIRST CHILD<br />
EXOSKELETON HELPS<br />
DISABLED KIDS TO WALK<br />
44<br />
HOW THE JETSONS<br />
PREDICTED THE<br />
FUTURE<br />
15<br />
ENGINEERS HELP<br />
PARALYTICS TO GET BACK<br />
ON THEIR FEET<br />
48<br />
THE QUEEN OF<br />
USELESS ROBOTS<br />
16<br />
‘2045 INITIATIVE’: THE<br />
TECHNOLOGY TO GAIN<br />
ETERNAL LIFE<br />
50<br />
ROBOTS THAT WILL MAKE<br />
THE KIDS WANT TO LEARN<br />
MATH AND SCIENCE<br />
17<br />
THE MORAL AND ETHICAL<br />
ISSUE WITH ROBOTS<br />
56<br />
FUTURISTIC CITIES<br />
YOU'D WANT TO LIVE IN<br />
20<br />
MEET THE REAL JARVIS<br />
FROM IRON MAN<br />
58<br />
6 GADGETS MADE<br />
FROM LEGO BRICKS<br />
26<br />
SCIENTISTS ARE TEACHING<br />
AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE<br />
SYSTEM TO TELL STORIES<br />
BASED ON PHOTOS<br />
60<br />
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO<br />
KNOW ABOUT ROBOTICS<br />
ENGINEERS<br />
30<br />
BIG GUYS - HAWKING,<br />
WOZNIAK, HASSABIS AND<br />
MUSK ARE OPPOSING<br />
AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS<br />
62<br />
HOW WOULD HUMANS<br />
SURVIVE A CURRENT<br />
ROBOT APOCALYPSE?<br />
34<br />
ROBOTS ARE THE FUTURE<br />
OF CONSTRUCTION<br />
64<br />
HOW R2-D2 AND C-3PO<br />
INSPIRED THOUSANDS<br />
TO JOIN ROBOTICS<br />
37<br />
WORLD’S FIRST POLICE<br />
ROBOT WORTH $3.2 BILLION<br />
66<br />
TOP 50 ROBOTICS<br />
COMPANIES IN THE<br />
WORLD<br />
38<br />
ELIOS: THE WORLD'S FIRST<br />
COLLISION TOLERANT<br />
DRONE<br />
68<br />
10 MOST FAMOUS<br />
FICTIONAL ROBOTS
COVER STORY<br />
MASDAR:<br />
THE FUTURE CITY<br />
MEET THE<br />
COMPANY’S<br />
CEO:<br />
MOHAMED<br />
JAMEEL AL<br />
RAMAHI<br />
I joined Masdar in 2008<br />
as Head of Internal Audit<br />
and Compliance. Later, I<br />
was appointed Masdar’s<br />
Director of Corporate Services<br />
and Financial Affairs. I<br />
subsequently became Chief<br />
Financial Officer, and then<br />
Chief Operating Officer of<br />
Masdar. I was appointed<br />
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)<br />
in February 2016.<br />
In addition to my<br />
responsibilities as CEO, I serve<br />
on the board of a number of<br />
prominent companies, joint<br />
ventures and special entities,<br />
including the Dudgeon<br />
Offshore Wind Farm in the<br />
UK, the Masdar Solar Wind<br />
Cooperative, the Masdar<br />
Investment Committee,<br />
and Torresol Energy. Before<br />
joining Masdar, I was head<br />
of the Internal Audit and<br />
Risk Management Office at<br />
GASCO, a leading oil and gas<br />
company based in Abu Dhabi.<br />
I have a bachelor’s degree in<br />
business administration and<br />
finance from the University of<br />
Evansville in the US.<br />
KNOWING THE<br />
COMPANY<br />
Q: Are you an educational<br />
institution, social enterprise,<br />
non-profit or private<br />
company?<br />
Masdar is a commercially<br />
driven renewable energy<br />
company based in Abu<br />
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.<br />
The company has a mission<br />
to invest, incubate and<br />
establish a new energy<br />
industry in Abu Dhabi and<br />
around the world. Masdar<br />
is playing an important role<br />
in extending Abu Dhabi’s<br />
energy leadership beyond<br />
hydrocarbons. Masdar is<br />
delivering on its goal of<br />
becoming an innovative,<br />
holistic, ecosystem while<br />
helping to realise a template<br />
for sustainable urban<br />
development. Masdar City<br />
is the home of the Masdar<br />
Institute of Science and<br />
Technology, the focal point<br />
of an innovation cluster<br />
that is leading global<br />
technology partnerships,<br />
commercializing new<br />
technologies and driving<br />
real-world innovation.<br />
Q: How big is your company?<br />
Masdar was established in<br />
2006 as a wholly owned<br />
subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi<br />
government’s Mubadala<br />
Development Company.<br />
Our company is located 17<br />
6<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
kilometers east-south-east of<br />
the city of Abu Dhabi near<br />
its international airport: our<br />
operations span the globe<br />
from Europe through the<br />
Middle East and North Africa<br />
(MENA) region to the Indian<br />
Ocean, Asia and the Pacific<br />
islands.<br />
Q: Describe your mission,<br />
vision and values.<br />
Masdar is advancing<br />
the development and<br />
commercialization of<br />
renewable energy and<br />
sustainable technologies<br />
in both developed and<br />
developing markets. Through<br />
initiatives such as Masdar<br />
City, Masdar is helping<br />
to realize a template – or<br />
“greenprint” - for sustainable<br />
urban development. Masdar<br />
is realizing solutions and<br />
technologies at the critical<br />
nexus of water and energy<br />
– in a region where water<br />
is more important than oil.<br />
Masdar is helping to equip<br />
the region’s future leaders<br />
in energy and sustainable<br />
development with the skills<br />
to succeed in an increasingly<br />
diversified economy. Through<br />
its diverse activities, Masdar<br />
is raising awareness among<br />
the wider community of the<br />
importance and potential<br />
of sustainability and clean<br />
energy, helping to change<br />
behavior and motivate action.<br />
Q: Where is this company<br />
headed? What’s your future<br />
expansion plans?<br />
Our long-term vision is to make<br />
Abu Dhabi the preeminent<br />
source of renewable energy<br />
knowledge, development and<br />
implementation, as well as<br />
the world’s benchmark for<br />
sustainable development.<br />
In the next five years, we will<br />
further develop Masdar City<br />
as an innovation ecosystem.<br />
Our aim is for 35 percent of<br />
the planned built-up area of<br />
the City to be complete within<br />
5 years (up from 5 per cent<br />
today) and to quadruple the<br />
number of tenants in Masdar<br />
City Free Zone. We will<br />
continue adding residential<br />
facilities, commercial facilities<br />
and educational institutions,<br />
as well as building out the<br />
clean-tech R&D hub.<br />
In clean energy, our goal is<br />
to double the clean energy<br />
capacity in our portfolio in the<br />
next 10 years and to continue<br />
improving energy access in<br />
some of the most remote<br />
areas of the world.<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
Q: What is clean energy?<br />
Clean energy can be defined<br />
as sustainable and renewable<br />
energy sources that increase<br />
the global carbon footprint.<br />
Masdar has been at the<br />
forefront of the UAE’s efforts<br />
to deploy clean energy at<br />
home and abroad, while<br />
driving sustainable economic<br />
growth, employment,<br />
innovation and prosperity.<br />
Since its inception in 2006,<br />
Masdar has positioned Abu<br />
Dhabi on the front line<br />
of clean energy research<br />
and technology, investing<br />
over US$2.7 billion in clean<br />
energy projects around the<br />
world, with nearly 1.7 GW of<br />
renewable energy capacity<br />
either in operation or under<br />
development globally.<br />
Masdar has 360-degree<br />
expertise in renewable energy<br />
projects, from development to<br />
construction to operation: the<br />
company now has projects in<br />
the UAE, Spain, the United<br />
Kingdom, Jordan, Mauritania,<br />
Seychelles and the South<br />
Pacific.<br />
• The 630MW London Array<br />
in the Thames Estuary,<br />
UK, is Masdar’s biggest<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
7
international investment at<br />
present and the largest wind<br />
farm in the world currently in<br />
operation<br />
• Masdar has a 35% share<br />
in the planned Dudgeon<br />
offshore wind farm in Britain,<br />
which is being developed<br />
with the Norwegian partners<br />
Statoil and Statkraft<br />
• The Tafila Wind Farm in<br />
Jordan is the first utility-scale<br />
wind farm commissioned<br />
in the region. The US$238<br />
million project is capable<br />
of producing 117MW<br />
of electricity, delivering<br />
400GWh of electricity<br />
annually and displacing<br />
235,000 tonnes of CO 2<br />
• A pilot desalination<br />
programme in Ghantoot, Abu<br />
Dhabi, is producing 1,500<br />
m3/day of potable water<br />
over 15 months using four<br />
unique technologies from<br />
four international partners.<br />
The programme is ultimately<br />
aimed at the large-scale<br />
deployment of one or more<br />
of these energy-efficient<br />
desalination technologies<br />
in the UAE and potentially<br />
across the MENA region, and<br />
in other global locations.<br />
• Masdar’s 100MW Shams 1<br />
facility in the Western Region<br />
of Abu Dhabi is still one of the<br />
world’s largest concentrated<br />
solar power plants, capable<br />
of reducing CO 2<br />
emissions<br />
by up to 175,000 tonnes<br />
annually.<br />
• In partnership with ADNOC,<br />
Masdar is developing a<br />
Carbon, Capture, Usage<br />
and Storage project that<br />
sequesters industrial carbon<br />
and enhances oil recovery<br />
• Through the Ecomagination<br />
2020 Partnership, Masdar<br />
and GE are implementing the<br />
first complete energy-neutral<br />
wastewater treatment<br />
process.<br />
Why bother? What's the<br />
importance of pursuing clean<br />
energy?<br />
It is crucial that we develop<br />
clean energy to mitigate<br />
climate change and address<br />
domestic and global energy<br />
demand. Our rapidly<br />
urbanizing world will mean<br />
that cities are likely to host<br />
up to 70% of the world’s<br />
population by 2050. We need<br />
to reduce carbon emissions<br />
and provide sufficient energy<br />
for a rapidly growing global<br />
population.<br />
The UAE’s commitment to<br />
generate 24 percent of its<br />
electricity from clean energy<br />
sources by 2021 shows both<br />
our nation’s commitment<br />
to climate action and its<br />
willingness to invest in the<br />
innovation needed to achieve<br />
such an ambitious target.<br />
THE MACRO<br />
LEVEL OF<br />
CLEAN<br />
ENERGY<br />
Q: Where are we today? What<br />
is the current situation of<br />
renewables?<br />
Globally, an estimated<br />
US$329 billion was invested<br />
in new renewable energy<br />
capacity last year, an all-time<br />
high [2015 Bloomberg New<br />
Energy Finance Report (http://<br />
www.climateweeknyc.org/<br />
news-media/clean-energyhit-record-investment-lastyear-bnef-report)].<br />
Emerging<br />
markets still account for a<br />
relatively small proportion<br />
of this expenditure, but the<br />
Middle East and North Africa<br />
(MENA) region will steadily<br />
acquire a larger share of<br />
newly installed renewables<br />
capacity. At Masdar, we<br />
are refocusing our efforts<br />
on the further adoption of<br />
clean energy and sustainable<br />
development across MENA in<br />
8<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
2016, building on our many<br />
successful projects overseas.<br />
Q: Where should we be 10<br />
years from now? Are we<br />
on the right track? Are we<br />
delayed? Are we progressing?<br />
The business case for<br />
renewable energy is now<br />
beyond doubt. A recent<br />
report by the International<br />
Renewable Energy Agency<br />
suggests that doubling the<br />
share of renewables in the<br />
global energy mix by 2030<br />
could boost global GDP by<br />
1%. That equates to more<br />
than 1 trillion US dollars and<br />
an estimated 24 million jobs.<br />
Countries in arid and semiarid<br />
regions are increasingly<br />
setting renewable energy<br />
targets in their energy mix as<br />
demand grows, serving as a<br />
boost for investments in solar<br />
and wind power ventures.<br />
At the same time, prices<br />
are becoming increasingly<br />
competitive.<br />
MASDAR’S<br />
INITIATIVES,<br />
DEVELOPMENTS<br />
AND<br />
ACHIEVEMENTS<br />
Q: What are the initiatives /<br />
projects that you are doing<br />
(or have done) that will drive<br />
low or zero emission?<br />
Masdar is a for-profit,<br />
renewable energy company<br />
that has been fulfilling a<br />
mission to invest, incubate<br />
and advance the new<br />
energy economy around the<br />
world since the company’s<br />
inception in 2006.<br />
Our completed projects are:<br />
• Shams 1, Abu Dhabi (100<br />
MW CSP plant)<br />
• Masdar City, Abu Dhabi:<br />
10 MW PV array and 1MW<br />
roof-top complex, Abu<br />
Dhabi<br />
• Solar Hub testing and R&D<br />
facility, Abu Dhabi<br />
• Renewable Energy<br />
Desalination pilot<br />
programme<br />
• London Array, UK (630 MW<br />
offshore wind farm)<br />
• Gemasolar solar power<br />
plant, Spain (20 MW)<br />
• Valle 1 and 2 solar plants,<br />
Spain (100 MW)<br />
• Tafila Wind Farm, Jordan<br />
(117 MW)<br />
• 600 solar home systems in<br />
27 villages in Afghanistan<br />
• Sheikh Zayed Solar Power<br />
Plant, Mauritania (15 MW PV<br />
plant)<br />
• Port Victoria Wind Power<br />
Project, the Republic of<br />
Seychelles (6 MW)<br />
• Siwa Solar PV Plant, Egypt<br />
(10 MW)<br />
• Red Sea Solar Power Plants,<br />
Egypt (14 MW)<br />
• Al Wadi Al Jadeed Solar PV<br />
Plants, Egypt (6 MW)<br />
• 7000 Solar Home Systems<br />
in Egypt<br />
• Kiribati: 500kW Solar PV &<br />
Water Protection<br />
• Fiji: LaKaRo 525kW Solar<br />
PV plant<br />
• Samoa: 550kW Cyclone-<br />
Proof Wind Farm<br />
• Tonga: Vava’u 512 kW Solar<br />
PV plant<br />
• Tuvalu: 500kW Rooftop<br />
Solar PV plant<br />
• Vanuatu: Port Vila 767kW<br />
Solar PV plant<br />
• Solomon Islands – Solar PV<br />
Plant in Honiara<br />
• Marshall Islands – Solar<br />
Water Collection in Majuro<br />
• The Republic of Nauru –<br />
Nauru Solar PV plant<br />
• Palau – Solar Penetration<br />
and Water Access projects<br />
• FSM – Solar PV plant in<br />
Pohnpei<br />
Our projects currently under<br />
development are:<br />
• Carbon Capture, Usage &<br />
Storage project, Abu Dhabi<br />
• Waste to Energy projects<br />
• Dudgeon, UK (402 MW<br />
offshore wind farm)<br />
• A 50MW onshore wind farm<br />
in Dhofar, Oman<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
9
• A 200MW PV plant in Jordan<br />
• Additional PV projects in<br />
Mauritania with a total<br />
capacity of 12MW<br />
Q: What are the future<br />
innovations that your<br />
company is currently<br />
pursuing?<br />
The pilot research projects<br />
located at Masdar City, many<br />
of them led by or closely<br />
involving MI scientists and<br />
students, are accelerating<br />
the acquisition of scientific<br />
knowledge in the clean tech<br />
industry and paving the way<br />
towards the development<br />
of real-world commercial<br />
applications. As the<br />
surrounding community at<br />
Masdar City grows, the R&D<br />
cluster will also expand.<br />
The exciting and innovative<br />
new projects currently being<br />
developed at Masdar City<br />
include:<br />
• Eco-Villa Prototype: a project<br />
incorporating innovative<br />
water- and energy-saving<br />
technologies and design<br />
features that significantly<br />
reduce its environmental<br />
impact compared to standard<br />
villas. The ‘Net Zero Energy’<br />
prototype equipped with 80<br />
rooftop PV panels can supply<br />
up to 40,000 kWh per year<br />
to the national grid, easily<br />
offsetting its own electricity<br />
requirements.<br />
• Seawater Energy &<br />
Agriculture System (SEAS):<br />
a project supporting the<br />
nascent aviation biofuel<br />
industry in the Middle East<br />
and promoting increased<br />
food security through the<br />
cultivation of oil-rich, salttolerant<br />
plants from the<br />
waste water of an industrial<br />
fish farm. SEAS is an initiative<br />
of the Sustainable Bioenergy<br />
Research Consortium<br />
established by the Masdar<br />
Institute, Etihad Airways,<br />
Boeing and Honeywell UOP.<br />
• Electric Energy Storage<br />
Solutions Hub: exploring the<br />
potential of electrochemical<br />
technologies to enhance the<br />
capacity of renewable energy<br />
systems to store power,<br />
enabling their wider adoption<br />
in the energy mix.<br />
• Geothermal Energy: a<br />
project evaluating a possible<br />
power source for district<br />
cooling. With geothermal<br />
wells already sunk to a depth<br />
of 2,500 metres within the<br />
grounds of Masdar City, the<br />
research initiative is the first<br />
of its type in the Middle East<br />
and may be converted into<br />
a full-fledged demonstration<br />
project.<br />
• The Masdar Solar Hub:<br />
Photovoltaic (PV) Test Centre:<br />
operated in partnership with<br />
the Masdar Institute and TÜV<br />
Rheinland, the facility provides<br />
independent measurement of<br />
the performance, reliability<br />
and durability of PV modules,<br />
their panel coatings and other<br />
related technical equipment.<br />
• The Masdar Solar Hub:<br />
CPV Testing Facility: a<br />
joint initiative between<br />
Masdar and Instituto de<br />
Sistemas Fotovoltaicos de<br />
Concentración (ISFOC)<br />
of Spain, researching the<br />
performance of Concentrated<br />
Photovoltaic (CPV) systems<br />
in the Gulf’s desert climate<br />
conditions.<br />
Q: What impact have you<br />
delivered (social, economic<br />
and environmental)? Do you<br />
have metrics or statistics of<br />
your accomplishments?<br />
Masdar has 10 years of<br />
experience as a renewable<br />
energy developer and<br />
investor, building state-ofthe-art<br />
projects, from large,<br />
utility-scale power plants to<br />
community grid projects to<br />
individual solar house systems<br />
in locations around the world.<br />
In total, Masdar has invested<br />
more than US$2.7 billion in<br />
clean energy generation.<br />
Our already-operational solar<br />
and wind projects have a total<br />
peak capacity of nearly 1,000<br />
megawatts (MW) and are<br />
displacing nearly 2.5 million<br />
metric tons (2,389,725 m/t)<br />
of carbon dioxide per year.<br />
Another 700MW of capacity is<br />
currently under development.<br />
Among the most notable of<br />
our clean energy projects is the<br />
630MW London Array, which<br />
is the largest offshore wind<br />
project in the world currently<br />
in operation. The landmark<br />
Gemasolar concentrated solar<br />
power (CSP) plant in Spain<br />
was the first utility-scale solar<br />
plant to deliver electricity to<br />
the grid 24 hours a day.<br />
Masdar City’s 10MW<br />
photovoltaic array produces<br />
about 17,500 megawatthours<br />
of clean electricity<br />
annually and offsets 15,000<br />
tonnes of carbon emissions<br />
per year. The plant consists of<br />
87,780 multi-crystalline and<br />
thin-film modules supplied by<br />
Suntech and First Solar.<br />
Masdar also manages the<br />
Zayed Future Energy Prize.<br />
From ensuring access to<br />
modern energy in rural African<br />
villages, to empowering<br />
Bangladeshi women with<br />
careers as solar technicians,<br />
more than 202 million people<br />
around the world have<br />
experienced the sustainable<br />
actions of the Zayed Future<br />
Energy Prize winners. Through<br />
progressive achievements<br />
recognized by the awards,<br />
water security is now a<br />
reality for millions of families<br />
across Bangladesh, India,<br />
Ghana and the Philippines.<br />
Renewable energy sources<br />
supply electricity to 60 million<br />
people, and enough carbon<br />
emissions have been avoided<br />
to offset the price of global<br />
deforestation for a year.<br />
The Zayed Future Energy<br />
Prize’s Global High Schools<br />
category was launched in 2012<br />
10<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
as part of the UAE leadership’s<br />
commitment to the Sustainable<br />
Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative.<br />
Since the launch of this category,<br />
nearly 2,000 students have<br />
participated in projects run by<br />
award-winning schools and<br />
academies. Over 9,000 students<br />
in total have benefitted along<br />
with 37,000 people living in local<br />
communities. Almost 1.5 million<br />
kWh have been generated, solar<br />
panels with a total capacity<br />
of 263 kW installed and CO2<br />
emissions cut by over 1,000<br />
tonnes.<br />
Our annual Sustainability Report<br />
for 2015 demonstrates that we<br />
have firm foundations to build on<br />
by outlining a range of significant<br />
achievements. During 2015, we<br />
secured the production of 2,962<br />
gigawatt hours of total renewable<br />
energy, displacing a total of 1.39<br />
million tonnes of carbon. Masdar<br />
City’s personal rapid transport<br />
(PRT) system was used by more<br />
than 33,000 passengers each<br />
month on average during the<br />
period. Our attractiveness as a<br />
business environment was further<br />
illustrated by the 64 percent<br />
increase in registered companies<br />
in Masdar Free Zone (MFZ) last<br />
year.<br />
FACING<br />
CHALLENGES<br />
& PROVIDING<br />
SOLUTIONS<br />
Q: What are the stumbling blocks<br />
or bottlenecks in the renewable<br />
industry?<br />
From a wider industry<br />
perspective, one of the main<br />
technical hurdles for sustainable<br />
renewable energy, and therefore<br />
one of the main points of focus<br />
in terms of innovation, is energy<br />
storage. With effective storage<br />
technology in place, energy from<br />
renewable sources will evolve<br />
from its traditional peak-sharing<br />
energy providing role to providing<br />
reliable base-load generating<br />
capacity, enabling electricity<br />
grids to absorb even more clean<br />
power. Overall, renewable energy<br />
is the fastest growing power<br />
sector worldwide, accounting<br />
for the majority of new installed<br />
capacity, so the future for the<br />
industry is bright indeed.<br />
Q: How do we provide cheap<br />
energy in poverty stricken areas?<br />
Masdar has led the way in<br />
providing renewable energy to<br />
remote regions and communities<br />
away from the national grid.<br />
For example, Masdar has led a<br />
UAE initiative to bring secure<br />
sources of renewable energy to<br />
11 remote Pacific Island counties.<br />
These projects include innovative<br />
solar and wind solutions that have<br />
provided 6.5MW of clean energy<br />
and saved US$1 million dollars in<br />
diesel fuel imports.<br />
The most important consideration<br />
when designing energy access<br />
projects in remote areas is to<br />
consider the specific needs of the<br />
community and of the geography.<br />
No two projects should be the<br />
same. For example, our<br />
project in Samoa features<br />
collapsible wind turbines due<br />
to the prevalence of cyclones.<br />
ADVICE TO<br />
THE YOUNG<br />
ENGINEERS<br />
The momentum towards<br />
the widespread adoption of<br />
sustainable and renewable<br />
energy can only be maintained<br />
through the collective action<br />
of our young scientific,<br />
technological and engineering<br />
talent.<br />
My advice to young engineers<br />
would be – think big and work<br />
hard. There is no limit to what<br />
you can achieve with bold ideas,<br />
dedication and determination.<br />
You have the power to create<br />
the new innovations that will<br />
secure our future.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
11
WORLD’S FIRST CHILD<br />
EXOSKELETON HELPS<br />
DISABLED KIDS TO WALK<br />
We have already seen many exoskeletons being developed for quite<br />
some time, and most of them have been created especially for<br />
elderly workers and for people achieving extraordinary strength. This<br />
company however, has developed an exoskeleton made especially<br />
for children with disabilities.<br />
The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has developed the<br />
world’s first child exoskeleton which is designed to help children with<br />
spinal muscular atrophy. Spinal muscular atrophy is a degenerative<br />
illness which affects one in ten thousand babies in Spain.<br />
This exoskeleton weighs 12 kilos, and is made of aluminium and<br />
titanium. It is designed to help the patients walk—for some, for<br />
the first time. This exoskeleton will also be used in physiotherapy<br />
in hospitals to prevent secondary effects that are associated with<br />
the loss of mobility in this illness. This technology is currently in the<br />
preclinical phase and has been patented and licensed by CSIC and<br />
its technology-based business unit, Marsi Bionics.<br />
12<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
Photo by: Engadget
TINY ORIGAMI<br />
ROBOT REMOVES<br />
SWALLOWED<br />
BATTERIES AND<br />
MARBLES<br />
Good news for parents<br />
and toddlers everywhere.<br />
No need to worry about<br />
young kids accidentally<br />
swallowing a battery or a<br />
marble. Scientists from MIT,<br />
the University of Sheffield<br />
and Tokyo Institute of<br />
Technology have developed<br />
a robot that can remove<br />
eaten batteries and marbles.<br />
It’s an ingestible origami<br />
robot that unfolds itself from<br />
the capsule as soon as it<br />
enters the stomach. It crawls<br />
along the stomach wall and<br />
detects the small object<br />
and wraps itself around it,<br />
then remove it. Scientists<br />
also makes it possible for<br />
the robot to help in healing<br />
wounds inside the digestive<br />
system.<br />
Professor Danial Rus, leader<br />
of the group behind this<br />
origami robot and director<br />
of MIT’s Computer Science<br />
and Artificial Intelligence<br />
Laboratory (CSAIL), said:<br />
“It’s really exciting to see our<br />
small origami robots doing<br />
Photo by: MIT News<br />
something with potential<br />
important applications<br />
to health care. For<br />
applications inside the<br />
body, we need a small,<br />
controllable, untethered<br />
robot system. It’s really<br />
difficult to control and<br />
place a robot inside<br />
the body if the robot is<br />
attached to a tether.”<br />
This small robot works<br />
without wires since it can<br />
be controlled by magnetic<br />
waves. It is encased in a<br />
piece of ice so that it can<br />
be swallowed easily.<br />
Every year, around 3,500<br />
small batteries are<br />
swallowed by toddlers. If<br />
not removed immediately,<br />
it can cause stomach<br />
lining burns.<br />
A ROBOT DID A<br />
SURGERY WITHOUT<br />
THE HELP OF ANY<br />
DOCTOR<br />
It’s not new that robots have<br />
assisted doctors in medical<br />
operations and surgeries, but<br />
recent experiment indicates<br />
that robots alone can do<br />
the job themselves – yup,<br />
with the doctor no longer<br />
in the operating room. This<br />
is what can be derived from<br />
an experiment with an<br />
autonomous robot named<br />
Smart Tissue Autonomous<br />
Robot or STAR, who made<br />
surgical stitches with pigs.<br />
Composed of a robotic arm,<br />
a suturing tool and imaging<br />
technologies, STAR operates<br />
using a computer program<br />
which has the intelligence<br />
to perform surgical practices,<br />
especially stitches.<br />
It was found out that the<br />
robots were as good as, if<br />
not better, than the stitches<br />
made by skilled surgeons.<br />
Peter Kim, the study’s senior<br />
author, believes that if robots<br />
can do it on pigs, they can<br />
also do it to human patients.<br />
He said, “The main message<br />
is that by giving surgeons<br />
Photo by: Medifit Biologicals<br />
tools that are intelligent,<br />
whether autonomous or<br />
semi-autonomous, you can<br />
make outcomes better.”<br />
Surgeons have the tendency<br />
to have tremors during<br />
operations, which robots<br />
do not have. This is what<br />
autonomous robots can<br />
offer far more than the<br />
humans: consistency. Having<br />
autonomous robots in<br />
operating rooms can reduce<br />
human errors and improve<br />
efficiency, surgical time and<br />
access to quality surgeons<br />
in some of the 44.5 million<br />
soft-tissue surgeries in the<br />
United States a year.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
13
A revolutionary device is<br />
now being developed<br />
in the laboratory of<br />
AndrosRobotics (AR) LLC<br />
which will help stroke<br />
patients and physical<br />
therapists in gait training.<br />
The device is called the<br />
Robotic Leg Advancement<br />
Device (R-LAD).<br />
The device will primarily<br />
help physical therapists in<br />
administering gait training.<br />
It will reduce the number of<br />
physical therapists required<br />
in treating a patient from<br />
2 or 3 to just one, without<br />
compromising the gait<br />
training therapy. But it<br />
isn’t designed to replace<br />
the therapists and is meant<br />
to compliment them.<br />
NEW ROBOTIC DEVICE<br />
TO ASSIST PHYSICAL<br />
THERAPISTS<br />
R-LAD is the brainchild<br />
of Dr. Maciej Pietrusinski,<br />
Founder and President<br />
of AR, whose career is<br />
dedicated to medical<br />
robotics. The device<br />
is a by-product of Dr.<br />
Pietrusinski’s Ph.D.<br />
project which aimed to<br />
develop a robotic system<br />
for controlling pelvic<br />
motion during therapy.<br />
The original system was<br />
too complicated and too<br />
expensive which led to the<br />
simpler R-LAD device.<br />
A prototype was made<br />
thanks to a $225k grant<br />
from National Science<br />
Foundation. This grant<br />
paved the way for R-LAD<br />
to place third among<br />
664 submissions in the<br />
International Robotics<br />
for Good competition in<br />
Dubai.<br />
Photo by: Google/Sites<br />
14<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
Photo by: Adrian Malloch<br />
ENGINEERS HELP<br />
PARALYTICS TO<br />
GET BACK ON<br />
THEIR FEET<br />
The Rex Bionics Group is a leading<br />
technology based company that<br />
produces robotic walking devices.<br />
Paralytics in wheel chairs will now<br />
be able to walk, all thanks to this<br />
company’s innovation. The robotic<br />
innovation’s physical appearance is<br />
similar to a human exoskeleton, a sort<br />
of robotic suit, which could be the<br />
next alternative for wheelchairs.<br />
Rex Bionics uses advanced<br />
technological solutions, precise<br />
engineering, electromechanical<br />
actuators and exclusive system<br />
of network to make this awesome<br />
robotics device possible. The primary<br />
concern of the robotic exoskeleton<br />
has been to improve the capabilities<br />
of the people of military ground. The<br />
materials that are used to build it<br />
are lightweight, so that the person<br />
will be able to maneuver the device<br />
comfortably. The individual will strap<br />
themselves to the exoskeleton with<br />
the help of several Velcro and bucklestraps<br />
that are strapped around the<br />
legs and the belt wraps around the<br />
waist. Unlike most exoskeletons, REX<br />
is controlled through a joystick that is<br />
placed in the waist level of the user.<br />
With Rex, an individual can make<br />
any movement like walking, moving<br />
sideways, climbing up and down the<br />
stairs, and even turning around. It is<br />
convenient to move on any surface<br />
may it be on slopes, ramps or flat<br />
surfaces.<br />
It has a battery that can be<br />
recharged and can run for around<br />
two hours. However, prior to<br />
purchasing a Rex, the person needs<br />
to consult a physician and qualified<br />
physical therapist to make sure that<br />
it is suitable for them. In order to<br />
use Rex, a person’s height must be<br />
between 4’8’’- 6’4’’, weight less<br />
than 220lb and a waist dimension<br />
of less than 15”.<br />
Rex Bionics ensures that they instruct<br />
their customers well on how to use<br />
it. They mention that it is suitable<br />
for any manual wheelchair user<br />
to operate with the help of hand<br />
controls. This device has proved to<br />
be very helpful for the paralytics.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
15
‘2045 INITIATIVE’:<br />
THE TECHNOLOGY TO<br />
GAIN ETERNAL LIFE<br />
Dmitry Itskov, a Russian media mogul and multi-millionaire,<br />
has one goal: to be able to use technology to live forever. To<br />
be able to do this, he is currently heading a science-based<br />
project called the ‘2045 initiative’ which aims to “upload”<br />
human consciousness into an online avatar that can live<br />
forever.<br />
Itskov has given millions of dollars into pioneering the<br />
research since the initiative was launched. His team of<br />
scientists, believe that the human brain is very similar to a<br />
computer and will eventually be able to be transferred to<br />
upgradable “bodies”.<br />
Itskov claims that he has upped the urgency of his research.<br />
"If there is no immortality technology, I'll be dead in the<br />
next 35 years," he says in an upcoming documentary,<br />
The Immortalist. “The ultimate goal of my plan is to<br />
transfer someone's personality into the new artificial carrier.<br />
Different scientists call it uploading or they call it mind<br />
transfer. I prefer to call it personality transfer."<br />
Photo by: International Business Times<br />
16<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
THE MORAL AND ETHICAL<br />
ISSUE WITH ROBOTS<br />
Photo by: EW.com<br />
Photo by: geeksofdoom.com<br />
Take a look at science fiction<br />
and you will find innumerable<br />
examples of robots gone<br />
evil. From the popular<br />
Skynet and Terminators to<br />
HAL 9000 to Ultron, there<br />
are many robots that are<br />
out to destroy humanity. Of<br />
course, such stories may be a<br />
bit of a stretch. Nonetheless,<br />
there is a genuine concern<br />
about artificially intelligent<br />
robots but it’s not because<br />
people worry about these<br />
robots taking over the world.<br />
The concern is about whether<br />
the robots in question are<br />
capable of taking the right<br />
moral choice at the right<br />
time.<br />
Thousands of scientists<br />
and tech experts such as<br />
Stephen Hawking, Steve<br />
Wozniak and Elon Musk have<br />
agreed to get autonomous<br />
weapons such as drones<br />
banned. Such weapons are<br />
capable of identifying and<br />
destroying targets without<br />
human intervention. As scary<br />
as that sounds, the actual<br />
applications may be more<br />
mundane. Nonetheless, it<br />
may spark off another arms<br />
race.<br />
Jerry Kaplan, a scholar<br />
of artificial intelligence,<br />
believes that morality is<br />
essential to robots. After all,<br />
humans can end up making<br />
some extremely silly and bad<br />
choices when it comes to<br />
their robots. After all, they<br />
may ask the robot to fetch<br />
something quickly. Now,<br />
that may turn to be very bad<br />
if the robot ends up hurting<br />
people when fetching the<br />
desired item.<br />
Another interesting test<br />
proposed by Jerry Kaplan is<br />
the driving test. Self-driving<br />
cars need to make a very<br />
crucial decision when it comes<br />
to avoiding a major accident.<br />
For example, should the car<br />
swerve to save pedestrians<br />
and harm the occupants or<br />
the reverse? Now that is a<br />
moral conundrum that even<br />
humans find difficult to<br />
agree on. Kaplan declares<br />
that machines by their very<br />
nature are psychopaths.<br />
Therefore, it becomes crucial<br />
that robots are taught<br />
morality and ethics. A lofty<br />
goal? Well, we need that or<br />
Skynet is a possibility.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
17
It’s Scary What AI Can Do<br />
Artificial Intelligence has come<br />
a long way after its introduction<br />
in 1950’s. But what if robots and<br />
Artificial Intelligence replace the<br />
human race as shown in the scifi<br />
movies? Sounds intimidating,<br />
right? Some eminent personalities<br />
like Stephen Hawking seems to be<br />
bothered about this same issue for<br />
quite some time now.<br />
Nevertheless, reality tells us that<br />
there is nothing to worry about.<br />
The concern of the people is mostly<br />
compelled by Hollywood movies.<br />
The fact is that though the field<br />
of artificial intelligence might be<br />
making huge progress but it is<br />
nowhere near being a threat yet.<br />
There will be enough time to gauge<br />
the problem and solve it.<br />
This does not necessarily mean that<br />
the issue can be left to be ignored.<br />
In any case, if you look into the<br />
matter very closely you will notice<br />
that artificial intelligence needs to<br />
reach to some point where they will<br />
be able to think all by themselves<br />
and evolve into something all by<br />
themselves which we will not be<br />
perceive and control.<br />
There is no reason to think that<br />
artificial intelligence will rise up<br />
against us one day in an attempt<br />
to break free from the constraints of<br />
humanity. When you come to think<br />
of it logically, you will realize that<br />
if you have a robot that performs<br />
according to your instruction, then<br />
how can you wake up one morning<br />
to find the robot to be doing some<br />
other tasks which it has not been<br />
programmed to do? No way! They<br />
are not human beings that they will<br />
not have their feelings and opinions<br />
about something. They do not have<br />
dreams and desires, and they work<br />
according to the goals that we set<br />
for them.<br />
You might want to ask, is there<br />
nothing to worry about? Well, not<br />
really, not at least at present. For<br />
now you can enjoy the privileges<br />
provided by the AIs.<br />
Photo by: Technologyreview.com<br />
Photo by: t-online.de<br />
Photo by: consciouslifenews.com<br />
left:: Stephen Hawking<br />
below: Michio Kaku<br />
18<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
MEET ASUS’ ZENBO:<br />
THE FAMILY’S<br />
PERSONAL ASSISTANT<br />
ROBOT<br />
Asus has just unveiled a<br />
cute talking robot named<br />
Zenbo. It was presented at<br />
this week’s Computex trade<br />
show in Taipei, it’s priced at<br />
$599.<br />
Zenbo is an adorablydesigned,<br />
friendly home robot<br />
which generally provides<br />
assistance, entertainment<br />
and companionship to<br />
families and it helps address<br />
the different needs of the<br />
family members. It has<br />
numerous capabilities like<br />
moving independently<br />
and understanding spoken<br />
commands.<br />
In Asus’ Zenbo video<br />
showed some of the robot’s<br />
capabilities, like giving<br />
reminders, interacting with<br />
family members, telling<br />
stories to the children, movie<br />
streaming, and its face is<br />
touch screen too!—which<br />
helps the family to connect<br />
and browse through the<br />
internet.<br />
The Chairman of Asus<br />
Jonney Shih presented and<br />
demonstrated Zenbo at a<br />
press conference in Taipei,<br />
he gave it various voice<br />
commands and asked it<br />
questions as it rolled on the<br />
stage.<br />
A big reason for Asus’s<br />
creation of Zenbo is that it<br />
could help assist the elderly.<br />
According to Asus, Zenbo<br />
“helps to bridge the digital<br />
divide between generations”<br />
by allowing seniors to make<br />
video calls and use social<br />
networking with simple voice<br />
commands.<br />
Zenbo can also connect to a<br />
smart bracelet which alerts<br />
relatives via a smartphone<br />
app if their elderly relative<br />
has a fall.<br />
Photo by: Android Community<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
19
MEET<br />
THE REAL<br />
JARVIS<br />
FROM<br />
IRON MAN<br />
Autonomous, a company<br />
based in the United<br />
States will be offering<br />
us, mere mortals, the<br />
opportunity to purchase<br />
Maya, a Personal Robot<br />
for US$1499 come the<br />
middle of 2016. Maya’s<br />
Kickstarter program<br />
had 274 backers pledge<br />
$161,537.00 to get the<br />
project off the ground and<br />
it seems the first of 300<br />
of these Robotic Personal<br />
assistants will be born very<br />
soon.<br />
Some cynics have ridiculed<br />
the concept, and sure,<br />
the design may look like<br />
the unplanned progeny<br />
of a Tennis racquet, iPad<br />
and Robo Vac after a<br />
swinger’s party. But the<br />
problems that was solved<br />
and the engineering<br />
effort that has gone into<br />
the making of Maya is<br />
simply breathtaking!! The<br />
Photo by: Cloud Front<br />
20<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
company claims “She’s the<br />
whole package: your very<br />
own personal assistant,<br />
photographer, storyteller,<br />
telepresence device<br />
& the smartest home<br />
automation system.”<br />
Sounds good to me, and<br />
if the promotional videos<br />
are to be believed she will<br />
be effective to the point of<br />
being a nagging nuisance!<br />
But despite this, the<br />
company is dedicated to<br />
the development of such<br />
devices and has gone to<br />
painstaking measures to<br />
find the best componentry<br />
available in the market<br />
today. If you fancy yourself<br />
as a tech genius and<br />
would like to be part of the<br />
development process, the<br />
company offers a research<br />
version called Deep Bot<br />
for US$999. Though it<br />
looks like something an<br />
alien race would use in a<br />
death squad, Deep Bot is<br />
creating an open source<br />
opportunity for anyone<br />
willing to contribute<br />
to the evolution of this<br />
technology.<br />
While I think many of<br />
the features of Maya<br />
are already done well by<br />
people, I think the concept<br />
is pretty darn clever! The<br />
discussion and research<br />
it will foster, will make<br />
a huge contribution to<br />
how we can develop the<br />
technology to aid us in<br />
our daily lives. Who knows,<br />
with further development<br />
of these devices, we<br />
might even be able to<br />
program Maya to match<br />
the owner’s preference of<br />
assistance like aiding the<br />
disabled and the elderly.<br />
Photo by: Autonomous<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
21
THIS<br />
ROBOT<br />
HAND CAN<br />
LEARN<br />
FROM ITS<br />
MISTAKES<br />
Many robots nowadays can<br />
do a variety of tasks ranging<br />
from easy to difficult.<br />
They are used in different<br />
industries, but mostly in<br />
manufacturing. Yet while<br />
these robots have an edge in<br />
specific tasks, they can’t do<br />
a given list of chores or learn<br />
certain skills on their own.<br />
Now a new robot hand can<br />
learn how to master new<br />
abilities over time, and it<br />
doesn’t need help from its<br />
programmers. This extradexterous<br />
robotic hand<br />
is the product of study<br />
by 3 researchers from the<br />
University of Washington.<br />
They call this the Adroit<br />
manipulation system, and<br />
presented it on Tuesday at<br />
Photo by: Turner<br />
the International Conference<br />
on Robotics and Automation<br />
in Stockholm.<br />
If you’re familiar with Rosie,<br />
the robot maid from the<br />
Jetsons, the Adroit system<br />
is somewhat similar to its<br />
technology. Its hardware<br />
accomplishes tasks better<br />
than humans and is<br />
controlled by a “Brain”<br />
which learns—just like the<br />
human mind. Vikash Kumar,<br />
the lead researcher, and his<br />
team focused on building a<br />
robot that could do general<br />
tasks and be able to adapt.<br />
According to the researchers,<br />
their creation can be used in<br />
many applications like space<br />
exploration and healthcare.<br />
Photo by: Youtube/ ADROIT Manipulation Platform<br />
22<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
WHAT HAPPENS<br />
WHEN COMPUTERS<br />
START TO LEARN<br />
ON THEIR OWN<br />
How do computers learn something new? One might say<br />
programming, but it involves telling the computer every<br />
little step that it needs to perform in order to complete the<br />
new task. You need to know the steps yourself in order to<br />
teach the computer. However, what do you do when you<br />
don’t know the steps yourself?<br />
This is where machine learning comes in. With this<br />
technology, the computer is made to learn things and<br />
processes on its own. Jeremy Howard is a specialist in this<br />
field. He gave a TED Talk to show how much machine<br />
learning has evolved and how it will begin to affect the<br />
world at large.<br />
The first example of machine learning took place in 1956<br />
when a guy named Arthur Samuel wanted his computer to<br />
be good enough at checkers to beat him. His solution was<br />
to make the computer keep playing checkers against itself<br />
and learning from the games. Suffice to say, it worked<br />
so well that the computer ended up defeating the state<br />
champion of Connecticut.<br />
Photo by: Stanford Info Lab<br />
Today, examples of machine learning<br />
are all around us. The most common<br />
application is the search engine. Google<br />
makes use of machine learning to get<br />
its search engine locate the information<br />
that you actually want. Remember those<br />
recommendations shown in Amazon?<br />
Those recommendations are provided by<br />
machine learning algorithms. Pretty nifty,<br />
right? Well, it can be creepy too like those<br />
friend recommendations in LinkedIn.<br />
Photo by: Your News Wire<br />
Take for example the team which created<br />
a computer program for automatic drug<br />
discovery. What’s cool is that the team<br />
did not have any knowledge in biology or<br />
medicine. They simply used what is called<br />
deep learning. Deep learning allows<br />
computers to actually learn Chinese.<br />
Now, what does that mean for people<br />
and their jobs? We might be heading into<br />
another Industrial Revolution, except, the<br />
results might not pretty. After all, deep<br />
learning will allow computers to perform<br />
80% of human jobs easily.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
23
ATLAS THE ROBOT DOESN'T<br />
WANT TO BE PUSHED<br />
AROUND ANYMORE<br />
It’s 2016 and these engineers have finally<br />
programmed a robot that can’t be pushed<br />
around anymore. Boston Dynamics, an<br />
engineering and robotics design company,<br />
has just released an updated version of Atlas.<br />
This company is where people from the<br />
military and even the entertainment industry<br />
turn to when they need help with specialized<br />
robots.<br />
And as expected, Google owns this company.<br />
In its Youtube video, it has described its latest<br />
addition to the company’s weird but very<br />
innovative collection of robots:<br />
“A new version of Atlas, designed to operate<br />
outdoors and inside buildings. It is specialized<br />
for mobile manipulation. It is electrically<br />
powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses<br />
sensors in its body and legs to balance and<br />
LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to<br />
avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with<br />
navigation and manipulate objects. This<br />
version of Atlas is about 5' 9" tall (about a<br />
head shorter than the DRC Atlas) and weighs<br />
180 lbs.”<br />
Atlas can now walk and move just like a<br />
normal human being. It can even stack boxes<br />
on its own. One feature that makes this latest<br />
version remarkable is its ability to get back<br />
right up after it has been pushed over by a<br />
stick.<br />
Is this the beginning of robots finally sticking<br />
up to itself and eventually picks a fight with<br />
humans? Are we seeing a possible humanrobot<br />
war in the future? Will these robots<br />
evolve into something that would make them<br />
our enemies?<br />
Future enemies or not, these robots will be<br />
used to help soldiers carry equipments and<br />
probably replace humans in deployment to<br />
dangerous areas. So far, Boston Dynamics<br />
tests its robots’ efficiency by treating them<br />
to different kinds of tortures like kicking them<br />
and making them walk in icy steps.<br />
Still brutal even for robots. Good thing they<br />
don’t feel anything.<br />
Photo by: 4erevolution<br />
24<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
Photo by: UAH<br />
AUTONOMOUS<br />
ROBOTS CAN<br />
ALSO SAVE<br />
LIVES<br />
Science is doing everything in its<br />
power to bridge the gap between<br />
humans and robots. The students of<br />
University of Alabama in Huntsville<br />
(UAH) and their adviser have built<br />
an autonomous robot that has<br />
managed to grab a lot of attention.<br />
There are a lot of robots out there, so<br />
what is so special about the robot?<br />
The project that they are developing<br />
teaches the robots the way they<br />
will control themselves in certain<br />
environments. These robots function<br />
primarily like driverless cars.<br />
Dr. Farbod Fahimi, along with<br />
mechanical engineering graduate<br />
Sai Susheel Praneeth Kode and his<br />
research assistant, Tevon Walker,<br />
an undergraduate Computer<br />
<strong>Engineering</strong> Major, has been working<br />
on the project for more than one<br />
year.<br />
They have written a code and<br />
inserted it into the robot which<br />
will make the robot function. The<br />
robot has a GPS system to be<br />
able to detect its surroundings.<br />
It is supposed to function in an<br />
unfamiliar environment without any<br />
kind of assistance from you. You just<br />
let it do the task. That’s it; but it can<br />
be operated by a remote control if<br />
you desire.<br />
The robot is so smart that it can<br />
detect the surroundings and report<br />
about its conditions to you. That<br />
way, it can also cut off human<br />
element when it is not required.<br />
At present, the robot is working<br />
according to the inputs that they<br />
are giving but they are unsure as<br />
to how accurate the robot executes<br />
the code. However, what is amazing<br />
about this robot is that this has<br />
the capability to adjust its error<br />
automatically. Somehow, their robot<br />
fixes a problem that their makers<br />
cannot fix.<br />
This robot is definitely opening up<br />
new opportunities in the field of<br />
autonomous robots. With time,<br />
these kind of robots will come out<br />
of the laboratory and find its place<br />
in the hands of the military and<br />
emergency response where they are<br />
needed the most.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
25
SCIENTISTS<br />
ARE TEACHING<br />
AN ARTIFICIAL<br />
INTELLIGENCE<br />
SYSTEM TO TELL<br />
STORIES BASED<br />
ON PHOTOS<br />
26<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
Photo by: Pinterest<br />
Scientists will soon prove<br />
that Artificial Intelligence<br />
may be able to embody the<br />
saying “A picture is worth a<br />
thousand words,” because<br />
now, they are teaching<br />
programs to tell a story<br />
based entirely from pictures.<br />
According to the researchers,<br />
computers will soon be able<br />
to explain what is happening<br />
in videos, just like people do.<br />
Scientists at Microsoft<br />
Research with their<br />
colleagues are developing<br />
a system that can<br />
automatically describe<br />
images just like a person<br />
would tell a story. Their<br />
objective is not only to let<br />
the system enumerate the<br />
objects in the picture, but to<br />
explain what is happening<br />
in the photo and how it can<br />
make a person feel. In other<br />
words, they are giving the AI<br />
storytelling capabilities.<br />
For example, if a person is<br />
shown a picture of a man in<br />
a tuxedo and a woman in a<br />
long, white dress, instead of<br />
saying. “Bride and groom,”<br />
they would say “My best<br />
friend got married. They look<br />
happy, and it was a beautiful<br />
wedding.”<br />
According to study senior<br />
author Margaret Mitchell,<br />
a computer scientist at<br />
Microsoft Research, "The<br />
goal is to help give AIs more<br />
human-like intelligence, to<br />
help it understand things on<br />
a more abstract level — what<br />
it means to be fun or creepy<br />
or weird or interesting.”<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
27
AN AI CAN NOW<br />
READ AND ANSWER<br />
QUESTIONS BASED<br />
ON NEWS ARTICLES<br />
In the future, you may<br />
be able to chat with your<br />
computer about the daily<br />
news headlines, because<br />
now, an AI is being taught<br />
how to read, analyze and<br />
answer questions about a<br />
news article accurately.<br />
One of Computer Science’s<br />
goals is to be able to<br />
create AI systems that can<br />
learn humanity’s existing<br />
information. According to<br />
Chris Manning at Standford<br />
University, “Computers<br />
don’t have the kind of<br />
general knowledge and<br />
common sense of how the<br />
world works [from reading]<br />
about things in novels or<br />
watch[ing] sitcoms,”<br />
Last year, Google’s<br />
DeepMind team got a series<br />
of articles from the Daily Mail<br />
website and CNN to help<br />
train an algorithm, so that<br />
it can read and understand<br />
short stories. The researchers<br />
used the bulleted summaries<br />
of the articles to create<br />
short and simple questions<br />
which trained the algorithm<br />
to search for the article key<br />
points.<br />
Now, a group led by Manning<br />
has designed an algorithm<br />
that was able to beat<br />
DeepMind’s results by 10<br />
percent on the CNN articles<br />
and 8 percent for Daily Mail<br />
articles. Overall, it got a score<br />
of 70 percent.<br />
“Some of the stuff they<br />
had just causes needless<br />
complications. You get rid<br />
of that and the numbers go<br />
up.” Manning said.<br />
Photo by: Makeuseof<br />
28<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics
NASA’S<br />
CURIOSITY<br />
ROVER TO<br />
SAMPLE<br />
WATER ON<br />
MARS<br />
NASA scientists have been<br />
searching for liquid water<br />
on mars, and they’ve found<br />
hints. Now, they want to<br />
have a closer look at it. NASA<br />
revealed that the Curiosity<br />
rover will be investigating<br />
recurring slope lineae—<br />
the dark narrow streaks on<br />
the above photo—around<br />
Mars’ Gale Crater hoping to<br />
find water.<br />
It will first take a photo<br />
using its mast camera to<br />
make sure that there really<br />
is water. If it does find<br />
water, the machine will<br />
go and get samples. The<br />
agency is expecting to take<br />
photos within a year.<br />
However, finding water<br />
doesn’t mean Curiosity will<br />
find life. As we all know,<br />
Mars’ harsh conditions like<br />
fierce radiation might have<br />
prevented life in the first<br />
place. We may take a look<br />
at this investigation as a<br />
stepping stone for mankind.<br />
By getting results, the<br />
findings Curiosity will collect<br />
may help plan a mission<br />
for finding signs of life. A<br />
small success in this trip may<br />
lead to greater things in the<br />
future.<br />
Photo by: Express<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
29
BIG GUYS - HAWKING,<br />
WOZNIAK, HASSABIS<br />
AND MUSK ARE OPPOSING<br />
AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS<br />
30<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
Until now, it was just in the<br />
science fiction movies, but<br />
now, it is known that the<br />
“killer robots” are possible.<br />
Throughout the world, there<br />
are around 40 countries<br />
that are engaged in building<br />
autonomous robots.<br />
Probably, the day is not far<br />
when the humanity has to be<br />
on war against the machines<br />
for their survival. There<br />
are talks that the world is<br />
nearing an autonomous<br />
arms race. To stop this kind of<br />
a destructive war, which can<br />
have a devastating impact<br />
on the entire humanity,<br />
some great scientists of the<br />
world have come together.<br />
They have filed a petition to<br />
the governments all around<br />
the world to put ban on<br />
autonomous weapons. There<br />
are some high profile names<br />
on the list of petitioners<br />
including Prof. Stephen<br />
Hawking, Tesla’s CEO Elon<br />
Musk, Google DeepMind<br />
CEO Demis Hassabis and<br />
Apple co-founder Steve<br />
Wozniak. They have joined<br />
hands to put a ban on the<br />
designing and development<br />
of weapons that can<br />
autonomously “select and<br />
engage targets without<br />
human interventions.”<br />
The letter of declaration<br />
states: “AI technology has<br />
reached a point where the<br />
deployment of [autonomous<br />
weapons] is – practically<br />
if not legally – feasible<br />
within years, not decades,
Photo by: Hawking<br />
Photo by: Woz<br />
Photo by: speakerpedia<br />
Photo by: Ted<br />
and the stakes are high:<br />
autonomous weapons have<br />
been described as the third<br />
revolution in warfare, after<br />
gunpowder and nuclear<br />
arms.”<br />
Hawkings and Musk<br />
reiterated that mankind’s<br />
biggest existential threat is<br />
to develop an AI that could<br />
spell the end of the human<br />
race.<br />
A few of the early examples<br />
of machines that could hit<br />
targets and kill without<br />
any kind of human help<br />
are drones, quadcopters<br />
armed with weaponry, and<br />
various military targeting<br />
systems. However, that is<br />
not the end of it, they are<br />
just the beginning. With<br />
the advancement of robotic<br />
technology, more lethal<br />
weapons are going to come<br />
to the forefront to kill people<br />
and wage wars against one<br />
another.<br />
According to roboticist Noel<br />
Sharkey, the new world<br />
robots will not look like the<br />
ones we see in movies and<br />
televisions. The killer robots<br />
will probably look like the<br />
autonomous machines that<br />
we have now. According to<br />
Sharkey, the machines will<br />
almost look like the tanks, jet<br />
fighters, or ships. The main<br />
aim of the petitioners is to<br />
stop the kill decision to be<br />
given to machines.<br />
An open letter from Future<br />
of Life Institute summarizes<br />
the ideologies of every<br />
petitioner: “We believe that<br />
AI has great potential to<br />
benefit humanity in many<br />
ways, and that the goal of<br />
the field should be to do<br />
so. Starting a military AI<br />
arms race is a bad idea, and<br />
should be prevented by a ban<br />
on offensive autonomous<br />
weapons beyond meaningful<br />
human control.”<br />
In the distant future, I hope<br />
that mankind won’t have to<br />
choose between the red pill<br />
or the blue from Morpheus?<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
31
Photo by: digitaltrends<br />
DOMINO’S PIZZA<br />
UNVEILS<br />
SELF-DRIVING<br />
PIZZA DELIVERY<br />
ROBOT<br />
If you told my college self that in a<br />
few years, pizza would be delivered<br />
by a smaller and less depressed<br />
version of the robot Marvin from The<br />
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,<br />
I’d have laughed in your face (and<br />
maybe barfed, too, because college<br />
was an insane blur).<br />
Well, my past self should have known<br />
better because Domino’s Pizza just<br />
told the world that it is currently<br />
testing a new, totally autonomous,<br />
pizza delivery robot that will be driving<br />
itself to your door in the very near<br />
future. The Domino Robotic Unit, or<br />
DRU, is apparently not an elaborate<br />
marketing stunt but an actual robot<br />
that’s been driving around Australia<br />
for some time now for its trial runs<br />
before Domino’s rolls it out to the<br />
world.<br />
According to Domino’s, DRU can deliver<br />
pizzas up to 12.5 miles away and will<br />
be using the sidewalk and bicycle lanes<br />
while following your GPS coordinates.<br />
After ordering, you get a unique code<br />
on your phone that will let you open a<br />
specific compartment on DRU, which<br />
incidentally can carry up to 10 pizzas in<br />
separate heated compartments, along<br />
with drinks.<br />
For those worried that little DRU might<br />
fall into a pothole, worry no more because<br />
this robot was built by Marathon Targets,<br />
a company that works primarily with the<br />
military in developing robots specifically<br />
for obstacle-avoidance during live-fire<br />
exercises. Because when I’m having my<br />
pizza delivered, I take comfort in knowing<br />
it’s being done by a military-grade piece<br />
of technology.<br />
Photo by: PCmag<br />
Photo by: imgix<br />
32<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
Photo by: Arstechnica
ROBOTS THAT WILL<br />
COOK FOR YOU<br />
Photo by: Moley Robotics<br />
If you have a problem with your own<br />
cooking, or wanted a chef in your own<br />
kitchen, that won’t be so much of a<br />
problem anymore with the world’s<br />
first ever robotic kitchen.<br />
The robotic kitchen features four key<br />
integrated kitchen items of robotic<br />
arms, an oven, a hob and a touchscreen<br />
unit. It can be operated right at your<br />
fingertips via a smartphone or via the<br />
included touch screen; all you need to<br />
do is pull up a recipe and wait for the<br />
robot to serve you the food.<br />
It isn’t a machine that just cooks; it<br />
has hands that can cook like a master<br />
chef. The hands get its articulation<br />
– its speed, its sensitivity, and its<br />
movement – by recording the cooking<br />
skills of Master Chef Tim Anderson,<br />
winner of the BBC Master Chef title,<br />
in a demonstration and putting the<br />
skills into its system. The hands then<br />
replicate, even the pauses in between<br />
and the OK gesture in the end, the<br />
master chef’s abilities into its kitchen.<br />
No wonder about that, since the<br />
nuclear industry and NASA uses the<br />
same kind of hands made by the<br />
Shadow Robot Company.<br />
If you are concerned with being<br />
stabbed by the robot, no need to fret<br />
as the robots uses a food processor<br />
and limits itself to knives. The kitchen<br />
also comes with a protective screen<br />
as an additional layer of safety.<br />
This technology, however, will not be<br />
available to consumers until the fourth<br />
quarter of 2017. It will be supported<br />
by an iTunes-style downloadable<br />
library of recipes that the robot chef<br />
can cook at your own home which<br />
are about 2,000 recipes. Just prepare<br />
a good amount of $75,000 at its first<br />
launch.<br />
The robot kitchen is the brainchild<br />
of U.K.-based Moley Robotics,<br />
which prototype premiered at an<br />
international robotics show Hanover<br />
Messe. The eureka moment for the<br />
idea was of Mark Oleynik in January<br />
of 2014. The first patents were filed<br />
in the following month; a prototype<br />
was built by Moley in September of<br />
the same year.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
Future Cities & Robotics<br />
33
ROBOTS ARE<br />
THE FUTURE OF<br />
CONSTRUCTION<br />
We have seen many robots<br />
integrated with laboratory<br />
machines and factory<br />
equipment, but we have<br />
just started seeing robots<br />
helping in the construction<br />
of our buildings. It doesn’t<br />
end there: there’s more<br />
with robots in the field of<br />
construction in the future.<br />
The future of construction<br />
lies in modern technology<br />
that will help in various<br />
aspects: drones to monitor<br />
site activities and robotic<br />
bulldozers to push soil<br />
without the human touch.<br />
Robots can also be used with<br />
off-site fabrication of the<br />
buildings’ elements by 3D<br />
printing them.<br />
Drones have become<br />
recently popular and their<br />
applications in construction<br />
sites are already realized. US<br />
start-up Skycatch uses drones<br />
on high-profile building<br />
projects, which provides a<br />
bird’s-eye view of a site to<br />
give progress reports, and<br />
speed up site logistics<br />
through delivery monitoring<br />
and real-time updates.<br />
Japanese construction<br />
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Photo by: dronologista<br />
machinery giant Komatsu<br />
takes it a step further and<br />
uses Skycatch drones to<br />
have eyes for automated<br />
bulldozers. Their function is to<br />
send 3D models of a building<br />
site to a computer which will<br />
then feed information to the<br />
driverless machinery.<br />
Other than drones are 3D<br />
printing machines which will<br />
be prevalent in the future to<br />
solve the housing crisis. The<br />
United Nations estimates<br />
that by 2030, approximately<br />
three billion people will<br />
require housing and has<br />
introduced 3D printing as<br />
one possible solution.<br />
Technology is moving<br />
forward and the construction<br />
industry is adapting with it.<br />
There’s a lot more in store<br />
for this teaming up that<br />
engineers have to deal with.<br />
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35
Learn<br />
Buddhism<br />
from Xian’er,<br />
the Baby<br />
Robot Monk<br />
Photo by: Crowd Fund Insider<br />
CUBETTO, A<br />
PROGRAMMABLE<br />
ROBOT FOR KIDS<br />
This is what we get when we meet<br />
Buddhism and technology.<br />
A modern approach has been<br />
made to introduce one of the<br />
oldest religions in the world,<br />
Buddhism, and that is through a<br />
baby robot monk named Xian’er.<br />
It’s more than just a cute robot as<br />
it will promote the religion in its<br />
own way.<br />
The robot, which is dressed like<br />
a Buddha but only standing two<br />
feet tall and purely electronics,<br />
has a touchscreen on his chest<br />
which helps him answer 20<br />
questions about Buddhism and its<br />
lifestyle. It can also move around<br />
in seven different ways adding to<br />
the fancy of its appearance.<br />
Xian’er is the brainchild of<br />
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Photo by: The Malay Mail Online<br />
Master Xianfan who says that<br />
this integration of science and<br />
technology with spirituality is<br />
but a natural alignment. He said,<br />
“Science and Buddhism are not<br />
opposing [or] contradicting,<br />
and can be combined and<br />
mutually compatible. Buddhism<br />
is something that attaches much<br />
importance to inner heart, and<br />
pays attention to the individual’s<br />
spiritual world.“ He added, “It is a<br />
kind of elevated culture. Speaking<br />
from this perspective, I think it<br />
can satisfy the needs of many<br />
people.”<br />
The current robot monk is still up<br />
for development to cater to more<br />
functions. But if you want to have<br />
an overview of Buddhism, Xian’er<br />
will give you that just enough in<br />
Beijing Longquan Temple.<br />
Just when you think that the<br />
kids of this era is all about<br />
playing games on tablets or iPads<br />
(where no fundamental skills are<br />
developed), an educational toy is<br />
created that aims to revolutionize<br />
the way youngsters think and<br />
learn. Introducing Cubetto by<br />
Primo Toys, a playful wooden<br />
robot that lets kids aged 3 and<br />
above to learn programming and<br />
STEM skills through storytelling.<br />
Using its screenless blockbased<br />
control panel and tactile<br />
methods specifically designed for<br />
young minds, the toy set is able<br />
to introduce debugging, queue<br />
and recursions which in effect<br />
teaches the children to think<br />
more logically.<br />
Basically, the kids have to<br />
command the cube robot to<br />
move around obstacles to reach<br />
its home. Think it's all too much<br />
for the innocent minds to handle?<br />
Not really because of the colorful,<br />
creative displays and easy to<br />
maneuver toy parts, Cubetto is<br />
able to provide joyful learning<br />
memories for the 'curious little<br />
minds with big imaginations'.
WORLD’S FIRST<br />
POLICE ROBOT<br />
WORTH $3.2 BILLION<br />
China has unveiled the world’s<br />
first police robot at the 12th<br />
Annual Chongqing Hi-tech Fair.<br />
The robot is called “AnBots”,<br />
and was created by the<br />
National Defense Univeristy—<br />
the Chinese military base for<br />
innovation.<br />
Anbots is 1.49 meters long,<br />
and weighs around 78kg. It<br />
is programmed to patrol the<br />
streets at one kilometre per<br />
hour. It can run for a span of<br />
8 hours and charge its battery<br />
on its own.<br />
The robot is 1.49 meters<br />
long and reportedly weighs<br />
approximately 78 kg. It is<br />
programmed to patrol the<br />
streets one kilometer per hour<br />
and can reach a speed of 18<br />
kilometers per hour. It can<br />
run for 8 hours and charge its<br />
battery on its own.<br />
Photo by: Popsci<br />
It includes other features like<br />
biochemical detection, explosive<br />
clearing, intelligent monitoring,<br />
emergency call response and<br />
also environmental monitoring.<br />
The Ministry of Public Security<br />
has also pointed out the<br />
limitations of the robot at the<br />
launch, they mentioned its<br />
lack of social and emotional<br />
intelligence, and the inability<br />
to catch suspects and it also<br />
carries the risk of cyber-attacks.<br />
They also mentioned that<br />
robots will never fully replace<br />
the police, and that the system<br />
will be controlled by humans.<br />
Civilians will also be able to use<br />
the robot using the SOS button<br />
on the robot.<br />
Photo by: Telegraph<br />
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Elios: The World's<br />
First Collision<br />
Tolerant Drone<br />
Photo by: Flyability<br />
Drones have been around for<br />
some time and they are usually<br />
used for different purposes like<br />
taking aerial footages of events,<br />
and taking aerial selfies. For<br />
the engineering field though,<br />
drones have a different purpose,<br />
they are used to survey and<br />
inspect different areas that are<br />
too difficult or dangerous for<br />
people to do so themselves.<br />
Using drones not only makes<br />
the job safe and effective, it<br />
also promotes safety—since<br />
people don’t have to risk going<br />
through extreme measures<br />
to survey or inspect a certain<br />
area. However, one flaw in<br />
using drones is that it could get<br />
damaged during inspection or<br />
surveying. This can happen if<br />
the area being inspected is too<br />
tight—the drone would bump<br />
into different places, and could<br />
get damaged. Falling debris,<br />
and weather issues could also<br />
damage the drone.<br />
This is why the company<br />
Flyability developed Elios, the<br />
world’s first collision tolerant<br />
drone. This drone is surrounded<br />
by a 15-inch exoskeleton-sphere<br />
(approximated size). The idea<br />
of this drone was inspired by<br />
houseflies, which bounces off a<br />
surface and keep flying. Elios is<br />
equipped with a free-rotating<br />
carbon-fiber exoskeleton which<br />
spins on a separate axis from<br />
the drone avionics inside.<br />
When Elios hits a wall, the<br />
cage will continue to spin and<br />
therefore absorb the energy from<br />
the collision while the propellers<br />
inside are still spinning and the<br />
HD camera and lighting system<br />
are still stabilized. This drone<br />
can be used in different extreme<br />
and dangerous environments<br />
that could cause harm to a<br />
person like chemical spill sites,<br />
collapsed buildings and even<br />
glaciers.<br />
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Photo by: youtube/Laundroid<br />
THE<br />
WORLD’S<br />
FIRST<br />
LAUNDRY-<br />
FOLDING<br />
ROBOT<br />
Anyone who has tried to live<br />
alone (and by alone, I mean no<br />
household help, not even parttime)<br />
will most probably agree<br />
with me that folding clothes<br />
is such a pain in the arse. I<br />
mean, come on! It personally<br />
takes me some three tries<br />
before I can successfully fold<br />
a simple short-sleeve shirt, let<br />
alone a long sleeve one. I am<br />
sometimes just tempted to<br />
fold each of the clothing item<br />
the way I want just to get the<br />
chore done and over with. If<br />
there is a device that can do<br />
the washing and the drying,<br />
why isn’t there that can do<br />
the folding?<br />
Well, folks, our wait is over!<br />
Presenting the “laundroid” –<br />
a device that can wash and<br />
dry clothing, then identify<br />
each clothing item and neatly<br />
fold them up. The Japanese<br />
technology, produced by<br />
Panasonic, together with<br />
Seven Dreamers and Daiwa, is<br />
about the size of a refrigerator,<br />
and is said to be capable of<br />
folding a t-short in about five<br />
to 10 minutes.<br />
Wait, what? Ten minutes!<br />
The creators admit that<br />
laundroid’s present turnaround<br />
time is exceedingly<br />
long compared to manual<br />
work, but it is committed<br />
to shortening that and also<br />
reducing the product’s size as<br />
soon as it hits the market by<br />
2017.<br />
Laundroid’s trump card is its<br />
ability to recognize the type of<br />
clothing and to fold the item<br />
by means of its robotic arm.<br />
It has an automated opening<br />
in the center in which the user<br />
can toss the piece of clothing.<br />
The machine accepts the item,<br />
then after folding it, tosses it<br />
out neat and tidy.<br />
The makers of laundroid plans<br />
to integrate the device with its<br />
user’s home by 2020, in that<br />
the user can simply dump their<br />
used clothes into laundroid,<br />
and the machine itself will put<br />
them in their proper closet<br />
spaces once washed, dried<br />
and folded. The creators, as<br />
early as now, envision that<br />
laundroid will be most useful<br />
in hospitals and nursing care<br />
facilities, which require an<br />
exceedingly high volume of<br />
items to be washed, dried and<br />
folded.<br />
A prototype of laundroid was<br />
demonstrated at the CEATEC<br />
trade fair, Japan’s biggest IT<br />
and electronics fair.<br />
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Photo by: Robotic Gizmos<br />
THIS ROBOT<br />
CAN BEAT<br />
YOU AT<br />
BADMINTON<br />
A group of students and<br />
professors from the University<br />
of Electronic Science and<br />
Technology of China developed<br />
a robot that can play the<br />
sport badminton just like any<br />
amateur player. This robot uses<br />
cameras, motion sensors and a<br />
special navigation system.<br />
It was named the Robomintoner,<br />
and was created for competition.<br />
The UESTC team was given a<br />
task to create a badmintonplaying<br />
bot for the Asia-Pacific<br />
Robocon 2015, wherein the<br />
robots would compete against<br />
each other in doubles matches.<br />
According to Huang Xi, a<br />
student from the University<br />
of Electronic Science and<br />
Technology of China, "We were<br />
the only team who made this<br />
robot fully-automated. We are<br />
in the business of making clever<br />
devices. We might as well make<br />
it fully intelligent,"<br />
This robot has become very<br />
popular in China. It played<br />
ceremonial matches against<br />
Dong Jiong, an Olympic medal<br />
winning badminton player.<br />
Recently, it competed against<br />
table tennis champion Wang<br />
Liqin.<br />
Photo by: Prog3<br />
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This Creepy Robot Is<br />
Designed Just to Stab<br />
People<br />
Photo by: Alexander Reben<br />
Biochemist Isaac Asimov has Three Laws<br />
of Robotics. The first law says, “A robot<br />
may not injure a human being or, through<br />
inaction, allow a human being to come to<br />
harm;” while the second law states, “A robot<br />
must obey orders given it by human beings<br />
except where such orders would conflict<br />
with the First Law.”<br />
But both laws are challenged by a roboticist<br />
from California who just invented a machine<br />
that purposely stabs humans with needles.<br />
For a reason.<br />
Alexander Reben from Stochastic Labs in<br />
Berkeley, California wants to join the ethical<br />
debate with robots but on a different light<br />
– by breaking the laws, he wants people<br />
to realize about the inevitable robot<br />
population that might harm us later in life.<br />
He does not intend to scare people with<br />
his robot either, which by the way, is only a<br />
black box with a mechanical arm. Nothing<br />
scary at all on first look, but when you<br />
place your fingers (for the fun of it) inside<br />
a pair of brackets, the robot is alerted of<br />
your presence and it starts pricking your<br />
finger until it bleeds. That’s it.<br />
He says, “No one’s actually made a robot<br />
that was built to intentionally hurt and<br />
injure someone. I wanted to make a robot<br />
that does this that actually exists...That<br />
was important, to take it out of the thought<br />
experiment realm into reality, because once<br />
something exists in the world, you have to<br />
confront it. It becomes more urgent. You<br />
can’t just pontificate about it.”<br />
Reben wants the people to start confronting<br />
the physicality of robots harming the<br />
people. He reiterates that it will raise a bit<br />
more awareness outside the philosophical<br />
realm, so he broke the robotics laws.<br />
He could have just chosen a robot that<br />
pinches the humans, right? But no, he<br />
wants it bloody.<br />
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TATTOO<br />
ARTIST<br />
GETS THE<br />
WORLD’S<br />
FIRST<br />
TATTOO-GUN<br />
MACHINE<br />
PROSTHESIS<br />
There are a huge mass of people who<br />
love tattoos, from simple, minimalistic<br />
designs, to hardcore awesome hyperrealistic<br />
tattoos. Some get tattoos<br />
because of many reasons, the most<br />
prevalent one is because each tattoo<br />
has its own special meaning. That’s<br />
why it’s important to many tattoo<br />
recipients to make sure their tattoo<br />
artist is skilled in his/her art.<br />
Photo by: Metrouk2<br />
But let’s be honest, it’s really difficult<br />
to find a tattoo artist who can satisfy<br />
the perfect tattoo art. After all,<br />
getting a tattoo is somehow a ‘forever’<br />
commitment—since they don’t come<br />
off unless you have it professionally<br />
removed.<br />
If you’re one of those people who love<br />
special tattoos, you might love that<br />
tattoo art of JC Sheitan Tenet. Why?<br />
Because, not only does he do awesome<br />
realistic tattoo art but he does it using<br />
a prosthetic hand! Woah!<br />
Confused? Tenet is from Lyon,<br />
France. He lost is arm 22 years ago,<br />
and his existing prosthetic hand was<br />
modified into the world’s first tattoo<br />
machine prosthetic by French artist<br />
JL Gonzal. Here are some of his<br />
works.<br />
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Photo by: Metro UK
3D-PRINTED PROSTHETIC ARM HAS FEATURES<br />
YOU DON’T SEE WITH THE OTHERS<br />
We have seen artificial arms<br />
that enable limb mobility, but<br />
not with one with a laser light, a<br />
torch, a USB port, a watch, and<br />
a drone fixed on a panel outside<br />
of the shoulder.<br />
This design is created by a<br />
Konami developer and publisher<br />
of the Metal Gear Solid titles,<br />
who worked with a leading<br />
prosthesis artist Sophie De<br />
Oliviera Barata and a technical<br />
team. It is inspired by the<br />
protagonist Snake in the new<br />
PlayStation 4 game Metal Gear<br />
Solid V.<br />
A product of 3D printing<br />
technology, the arm allows its<br />
recipient to pick up the tiniest<br />
objects through commands<br />
sent by the shoulder muscles.<br />
It communicates with the<br />
sensors and does its tasks like<br />
a real hand, only with the extra<br />
features.<br />
The recipient of this first-of-itskind<br />
prosthetic arm is James<br />
Young, a gamer who fell under<br />
a train which left him with a<br />
damaged left arm and a severed<br />
lower left leg. It happened May<br />
18, 2012.<br />
James is happy to have been<br />
provided with the arm. He<br />
shared, “It gives me a hand –<br />
and not a device. It’s soft, but<br />
firm, so it’s really nice to shake!”<br />
Photo by: Fashionably Geek<br />
Scarlett Johansson<br />
Becomes A Doll Robot<br />
Hong Kong-based product and<br />
graphic designer Ricky Ma just<br />
created a female robot that is<br />
modelled after the Hollywood<br />
star Scarlett Johansson from<br />
scratch. The female robot<br />
prototype is named Mark 1<br />
and is able to response from<br />
verbal commands. It could also<br />
make facial expressions. As an<br />
example, when the robot is told<br />
'Mark 1 you are so beautiful',<br />
it will bow and smile while<br />
replying 'Hehe, thank you.'<br />
The success of Ricky Ma was<br />
all thanks to his persistence<br />
and dedication to live out a<br />
dream--that is to create his<br />
own robot. He did not mind<br />
spending more than $50,000<br />
just to finish what he wanted.<br />
Even if he had no background<br />
in 3D printing, programming and<br />
electromechanics, he pursued with<br />
learning it. To him, it was a sweat<br />
and blood project but it was all<br />
worth it.<br />
"I figured I should just do it when<br />
the timing is right and realise my<br />
dream. If I realise my dream, I will<br />
have no regrets in life," Ricky Ma<br />
happily commented on his work.<br />
What do you think is going to<br />
be the consequence if humanoids<br />
become a part of our daily lives?<br />
Photo by: economictimes/indiatimes<br />
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43
Photo by: Apartment Therapy<br />
HOW THE<br />
JETSONS<br />
PREDICTED<br />
THE FUTURE<br />
One of the many fascinating cartoons that we’ve watched<br />
as a kid must be The Jetsons, because of an element<br />
contrary to other animations: the future. The makers of<br />
this cartoon have imagined what the world will look like in<br />
2062, through the lifestyle in its characters George Jetson,<br />
his son Elroy, his daughter Judy, and his wife Jane. And oh,<br />
not to forget the family’s space dog, Astro and their robot<br />
maid, Rosie.<br />
Robot Maids<br />
Let’s start with Rosie the robot maid. In 2012, we already have<br />
a Rosie version through Honda’s Asimo, who can walk, talk, and<br />
interact with humans. Some other robots can now do housekeeping<br />
like she does.<br />
It’s not 2062 yet as how this Hanna Barbera 60’s cartoon<br />
is staged, but there are some feats seen in many of their<br />
episodes that are already happenin – a safe conclusion<br />
that the writers of The Jetsons somehow predicted the<br />
future.<br />
Video Chat<br />
Remember Jane getting to call George while he is in his Spacely<br />
Sprockets through video call? Yes, that’s it, but that’s only two<br />
of them – there’s a lot more in the cartoon that used video chat.<br />
It’s prevalent now with the camera technology we have and the<br />
Internet connection. Communication has become easy in the<br />
modern times because of video calls.<br />
Flatscreens<br />
The video calls of the Jetson couple were done on flatscreen<br />
televisions, on top of having to watch the news. Right now,<br />
the best tool for entertainment and information is through<br />
those thin and wide TVs.<br />
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Photo by:Smithsonian Mag<br />
Photo by: Venture and the city
Photo by: chipchick Photo by: Article 3<br />
Flying Cars<br />
The transportation in The Jetsons is primarily flying car, if you can recall<br />
George driving everyone to their respective locations in their opening billboard.<br />
Although we are not there yet with flying cars, maybe in 2062, but humans<br />
have made significant improvements with Terrafugia Transition, which can get<br />
up to 62 mph on the road.<br />
Jetpacks<br />
Human flight is achievable in the said television<br />
series through jetpacks. We also have that now in<br />
our aim to also be elevated.<br />
Dog Treadmills<br />
Astro casually takes dog walks through a treadmill, which already<br />
exists to exercise their favorite canine.<br />
Smartwatch<br />
The first smartwatch that shows images and videos might<br />
have been in The Jetsons. Even when the screen is so small,<br />
it still works with George and even the humans just to<br />
watch the favorite shows.<br />
Photo by: retrokimmer<br />
Photo by: Youtube<br />
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45
Photo by Hubspot<br />
Photo by:Cartoon Scrapbook<br />
Tanning Beds<br />
Tanning beds, at the time The Jetsons was aired, wasn’t<br />
very relevant at all. It is only after over a decade that<br />
tanning beds were introduced to America in 1979 through<br />
Friedrich Wolff.<br />
Mall Architecture<br />
The malls we have now are shaping to look like the<br />
shopping centers in The Jetsons. Instead of the<br />
conventional concrete and wood, we already use huge<br />
amounts of glass for the exteriors.<br />
Cloning<br />
In one episode, George decides to clone himself to do<br />
dual duties: be relaxed at home and be busy at work.<br />
But in the new century, we only have until animal<br />
cloning because of moral debates regarding the<br />
possibility of having to clone a human. That is not the<br />
same way George cloned himself though as such only<br />
exists in fiction, but through biomedical engineering.<br />
Vacuum Tube Transport<br />
The Jetsons haven’t stepped on the levels of elevators and<br />
stairs, but of vacuum tubes that will serve as transport.<br />
Today, undergoing study has been done by US and China<br />
if such system can work in real life. The transporters might<br />
hit 2,500 miles an hour as predicted by scientists, which<br />
will enable the commute from America to Europe be<br />
shortened to an hour rather than 6 hours via plane.<br />
There is a catch though: the clear elevator shafts are<br />
already existent.<br />
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Photo by Devops<br />
Photo by: Flickr
WORLD’S FIRST<br />
ROBOT-RUN<br />
FARM OPENS<br />
IN JAPAN<br />
Automation is on the way to the<br />
industries. Spread, a Japanese<br />
vegetable producer, announces its<br />
automated farm run by robots in<br />
Kameoka, Kyoto prefecture.<br />
It will the world’s first “robot farm”<br />
in an attempt to address labor<br />
shortages by the country’s shrinking<br />
workforce and aging population.<br />
The robot will do the re-planting<br />
of young seedlings, watering,<br />
trimming and eventually harvesting<br />
of crops. The feat is said to boost the<br />
productions from 21,000 to 50,000<br />
lettuces per day and a consequent<br />
plan to raise it up to half a million<br />
lettuces daily in five years. It will also<br />
improve efficiency and reduce labor<br />
cost into half according to Spread’s<br />
global marketing manager, JJ Price.<br />
With the success of the first<br />
automated farm, surely, Japan plans<br />
to build more robotic plant factories<br />
elsewhere, even across the globe.<br />
Photos by Getty Images<br />
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47
The Queen of<br />
Useless Robots<br />
All hail the queen of shitty robots!<br />
She who works on useless automation!<br />
by Dion Greg Reyes<br />
For Swedish inventor Simone Giertz, robots are<br />
not entirely as useful as we think they are. There<br />
are ways to utilize robots in everyday life to the<br />
point that they are already useless. And this is<br />
evident in her YouTube channel, filled with videos<br />
of robots and their out-of-this-world applications,<br />
that has already gathered enough followers<br />
– more than 200,000 of them – to say that the<br />
Internet is indeed a weird place.<br />
Her shitty machines speak of her imagination<br />
and abilities. She already considers making such<br />
machines a job (she earns quite a fortune with<br />
her ingenous robots) and never plans to stop from<br />
manufacturing and posting about them. Using<br />
only Arduino UNO boards, she has brought robots<br />
and contraptions to a different dimension that no<br />
other engineer could have ever thought of.<br />
If you visit her YouTube channel, you can find<br />
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there her robot that feed her with cereal, her<br />
robot that puts on her lipstick, her robot that<br />
chops vegetables, and her robot that argues on<br />
the internet by banging itself on a keyboard,<br />
among others. All are products of self-taught<br />
robotics. She built stuff on her own being so ideaoriented<br />
- she figures out building stuff by herself<br />
rather than just learning them in theory.<br />
It usually takes her an afternoon of work for<br />
projects that only require minimal programming,<br />
and one to two weeks full-time when she’s<br />
working on more complicated robots like the<br />
Applause Machine, which claps for you when<br />
your hands are full (such a groundbreaking idea<br />
for a robot, huh).<br />
Living in an old tugboat makes her wish to have a<br />
project of a submarine houseboat someday. It’s a<br />
dream robot project that is up her sleeves when<br />
she has enough time, skills and money for it. But<br />
she will get there, undoubtedly, having to do her<br />
unusual job on a regular basis that she enjoys. She<br />
left her job in San Francisco for this kind of life in<br />
Stockholm.<br />
All hail the queen of shitty robots! She who works<br />
on useless automation!<br />
All photos are screencapped from<br />
Simone Giertz’s YouTube channel.<br />
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49
Robots that Will Make<br />
the Kids Want to<br />
Learn Math and Science<br />
by Dion Greg Reyes<br />
For the kids, learning math and science is<br />
almost always boring. The methods of teaching<br />
such subjects to the young ones do not usually<br />
appeal to them especially when the styles are<br />
too traditional or lacking with techniques or<br />
innovation. You can see in their eyes that they<br />
show no interest at all because let’s face it, they<br />
would rather choose to play with their toys<br />
rather than immerse themselves in the seemingly<br />
difficult to process world of math and science.<br />
But with advent of modern technology through<br />
robots, this might change.<br />
There is a certain charm with robots that children<br />
can be so enticed with. Using that charm, the<br />
robots can capture the attention of the children<br />
to be directed to a fun learning process, teaching<br />
them about math and science. The children will<br />
be immersed more than ever in wanting to learn<br />
with the enhanced interactive tools.<br />
“Kids recognize when they are learning something<br />
themselves—robots give them that. Building and<br />
programming these devices is part of becoming<br />
a creative science and engineering kind of<br />
person.” That’s what Larry Johnson, CEO of a<br />
research organization specializing in educational<br />
technology called New Media Consortium said.<br />
Robots have been proven to be more effective<br />
educational tools starting from the lower grades<br />
up to graduate school.<br />
Here are robot platforms specially designed to<br />
teach children:<br />
Play-i<br />
The robot tandem that encourages kids to engage<br />
in computational thinking without knowing<br />
it, Play-i robots are a product of a successful<br />
Kickstarter campaign. No doubt about that<br />
because it holds a lot of promise in teaching kids<br />
through learning activities. Play-i robots are ballshaped<br />
and composed of two: Bo and Yana. Bo is<br />
made up of four connected spheres that children<br />
program to glide along the floor on three wheels,<br />
avoiding obstacles and delivering small items in<br />
the process. Yana is a single sphere laden with<br />
sensors. Both are connected with a variety of<br />
Apple iOS and Google Android mobile devices<br />
using Bluetooth 4.0.<br />
“The goal is to keep interaction open-ended and<br />
free-play so kids discover what they can do with<br />
the robot. The robot draws them in while posing<br />
new challenges over time,” says Play-i founder<br />
and CEO Vikas Gupta.<br />
Photo by Robot Launch<br />
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RobotsLAB<br />
This robots platform feature a lot of educational<br />
robots that will ultimately keep the kids have fun<br />
while learning. There’s the mini humanoid NAO,<br />
the two-wheeled Qbo series, and the RobotsLAB<br />
BOX. The RobotsLAB BOX has a tablet computer<br />
containing 50 lesson plans and quizzes, which are<br />
math and science at its core, as an aid to the flying<br />
AR.Drone, stationary ArmBot, rolling Sphero and<br />
mobile Mustached Rover.<br />
“This helps teachers create the bridge between<br />
the concrete world and the abstract world of<br />
mathematical concepts,” says RobotsLAB CEO<br />
Elad Inbar.<br />
Photo by RobotsLAB<br />
Linkbots<br />
EZ-Robot<br />
If the kids love to craft and program new robots and<br />
want to share them with its other users, EZ-Robot<br />
is the one for them. It is an open-source software<br />
platform that works on personal computer and<br />
mobile devices, and also a hardware platform.<br />
It uses a graphical user interface that promotes<br />
robot-making for the newbies.<br />
Photo by Robot Shop<br />
Not only for the younger ones because of its<br />
advanced quality, Linkbots are for those who like<br />
to play with customizable machines on two main<br />
modules. Such modules are connected wirelessly<br />
with accelerometers, which can be controlled<br />
one by the other through simply moving them.<br />
The robots are designed with a program similar<br />
to stop-motion animation, which is manipulation<br />
of the robot using the hands instead of giving<br />
instruction over a computer. It can go further<br />
complex movements with the a software for<br />
programming.<br />
Photo by Linkbots<br />
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51
An Autonomous Robot<br />
as your Grocery<br />
Shopping Assistant<br />
Say goodbye to the conventional push and pull<br />
shopping cart as Kartum by Charles Bombardier<br />
has revolutionized your weekly shopping<br />
experience.<br />
Kartum is an electric autonoumous shopping cart<br />
that is also a virtual grocery-shopping assistant.<br />
It has features that will pick up the items in your<br />
shopping list that you can create via an online<br />
application, monitor your items that will be over<br />
your budget and even calculate the calories in<br />
your items. It can even plan the best itinerary<br />
in the store which can link up with the store’s<br />
database to identify location of the products.<br />
This ‘smart shopping cart’ also eliminates the<br />
need to stop at the counter as you can pay by<br />
using your digital print. Once you unload the<br />
items from the cart, it will proceed with the next<br />
customer in sight.<br />
There is no need to plug Kartum in as it recharges<br />
itself with wireless electricity. It walks along with<br />
you based on the user’s preferences, may it be<br />
behind or just ahead of you.<br />
Bet that this will make you want to visit the<br />
grocery stores even more.<br />
Photo by Charles Bombardier<br />
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A Robotic Arm<br />
that Acts Like an<br />
Elephant Trunk<br />
Biomimetics is a damn exciting field. Engineers<br />
in this field use nature as their inspiration for<br />
systems and designs to create awesome stuff. For<br />
example, they used the elephant’s trunk to create<br />
a cool robotic arm.<br />
At first glance, the thingamajig looks like a cross<br />
between a mechanical claw and iron snake with<br />
a good measure of tentacle horror thrown in. In<br />
fact, they are reminiscent of the sweet robotic<br />
arms used by the infamous Dr. Octopus, the<br />
Spiderman villain. Of course, they are calling it<br />
the Bionic Handling Assistant, the blandest name<br />
possible for the cool robot. But it’s cool anyway.<br />
As it stands, elephant trunks are possibly the<br />
coolest appendages in the Animal Kingdom. So,<br />
making a robotic arm based on that is a fantastic<br />
idea. This robotic arm was made by Festo, a<br />
German automation company.<br />
What is even more fantastic is that the arm acts<br />
and learns just like a baby’s arm. The researcher<br />
will guide the arm to perform certain actions. The<br />
robot will learn and memorizes the movements<br />
so as to repeat them whenever necessary. This<br />
will enable the robot to fulfill functions such as<br />
operating in tight quarters and helping people in<br />
the medical or the industrial sector. It can even be<br />
programmed to change a light bulb.<br />
Festo has also been responsible for the creation of<br />
the first robot kangaroo that actually moves like<br />
the real thing. Again, they have used biomimetics<br />
to mimic the leaping movements of the kangaroo<br />
precisely. The robot jumps and lands perfectly as<br />
a result. Now, that’s a kickass use of science.<br />
Photo by Festo<br />
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53
Would You Let a Robot<br />
Do Your Make Up?<br />
Girls, by now you may have<br />
probably perfected your<br />
everyday make-up routine from<br />
washing your face, to putting on<br />
foundation, eyeshadow, blush<br />
and lipstick. After all, you’ve been<br />
doing it everyday, over and over<br />
again, until such a time you are<br />
able to create a systematic way<br />
of putting on make-up that you<br />
don’t have to concentrate so<br />
much when doing so anymore.<br />
But what if you were offered the<br />
option of letting someone or<br />
something else take your place<br />
in putting on your everyday make<br />
up, let’s say—a robot? Would you<br />
let it?<br />
Two students from the University<br />
of Applied Arts Vienna in Austria<br />
wanted to experiment on the<br />
idea. The two students are Maya<br />
Pindeus and Johanna Pichlbauer.<br />
They designed three robots that<br />
can mimic three real human<br />
make-up application motions,<br />
which are swiping on lipstick,<br />
putting on eyeshadow and using<br />
a facemask.<br />
The pair wanted to answer<br />
the question: “If aesthetic<br />
judgements are resigned to<br />
robot intelligence, would it<br />
make our lives emotionally less<br />
complicated?”<br />
Their answer: No.<br />
After they set up the installation<br />
with the robots, it proved that<br />
the irregularities and uniqueness<br />
in different people’s faces make<br />
it simply impossible to perfectly<br />
beautify the face of every person.<br />
This experiment proved one<br />
thing: that mindless robots can’t<br />
beautify every woman the same<br />
way, since every woman’s face<br />
is unique and has its own way<br />
of being beautiful. A make-up<br />
style may look beautiful for one,<br />
but may look bad on the other.<br />
This experiment also opens the<br />
issue of why are women trying<br />
to achieve the same beauty<br />
standards, when we all obviously<br />
look different? So how about you,<br />
would you like a robot to do your<br />
make up?<br />
Photos by Pindeus & Pichlbauer<br />
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Exoskeletons to Begin<br />
Iron Man Age<br />
ActiveLink, a Japanese tech company<br />
and subsidiary of Panasonic, released<br />
its first commercially available assist<br />
suit AWN-03, an exoskeleton that<br />
detects and assists body movements.<br />
It has been showcased in Tokyo’s<br />
International Robot Exhibition, the<br />
world’s largest robotics show, a few<br />
weeks ago where it garnered a huge<br />
interest from the audience.<br />
This is to address the aging<br />
population of Japan and supporting<br />
its shrinking workforce focusing on<br />
health care, physical assistance and<br />
maintaining the country’s level of<br />
production. Using the exoskeleton,<br />
which weighs a few pounds (6kg), the<br />
user would be able to lift up crates or<br />
things effortlessly, six to seven times<br />
in a row. The device is composed of<br />
two disks on the front part of thighs<br />
and distributed over the shoulders.<br />
It is powered by lithium-ion battery<br />
with an electric engine according to<br />
ActiveLink Engineer, Yasunori Nishi.<br />
The exoskeleton costs $10,000 each.<br />
Also, Japan is not the only one<br />
developing the exoskeletons. In<br />
Europe and the United States, a<br />
number of projects were soon<br />
be unveiled under the sectors of<br />
defense and rehabilitation industries.<br />
Exoskeletons ranging from modular<br />
arms, limbs and chairs are now being<br />
developed for commercialization.<br />
In this technological age of robotics,<br />
from parts to overalls, these “Iron<br />
Man suits” are now a reality.<br />
Photos by Panasonic<br />
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FUTURISTIC<br />
CITIES<br />
YOU’D WANT<br />
TO LIVE IN<br />
If you’ve come from a small town,<br />
you’ll definitely find yourself amazed<br />
at the wonder big cities can give<br />
you. With buildings so high and<br />
people living a very different lifestyle<br />
compared to those who live in a<br />
small town, it’s impressive for small<br />
town people - but imagine going to a<br />
futuristic city. It’s not exactly what we<br />
see in movies and shows such as The<br />
Jetsons but it’s still innovative and<br />
creative than ever before.<br />
Futuristic cities give us a feel of what<br />
the future will look like. It’ll give us<br />
a peak on how things will be in the<br />
future. Isn’t it exciting to see all these<br />
things in just one place?<br />
If you’re the type of millennial coming<br />
from a small town who would like to<br />
wander around futuristic cities, how<br />
about going for a visit in these cities:<br />
DUBAI, UAE<br />
It’s got the world’s tallest building and<br />
a hotel located underwater. If you<br />
find yourself looking at the place in a<br />
bird’s eye view, you’d definitely catch<br />
The Palm, man-made islands that<br />
form the shape of a palm together.<br />
They offer free wifi using their palm<br />
trees and they even plan to have a<br />
smart beach. There’s definitely a lot<br />
of things to look forward to this place<br />
considered one of the most futuristic<br />
cities in the world.<br />
Photo by All Dubai<br />
HONG KONG, CHINA<br />
If you find yourself walking in the<br />
streets of Hong Kong, observe all<br />
the buildings in the place. You’ll<br />
find yourself amazed at how highlyadvanced<br />
these places can be.They<br />
even have plenty of skyscrapers that<br />
they’re more than of them compared<br />
to any other country.<br />
Photo by National Geographic<br />
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SILICON VALLEY,<br />
CALIFORNIA,<br />
UNITED STATES<br />
It’s the home of the offices of your<br />
favorite tech companies - from<br />
Facebook to Google. We all know<br />
what we can expert from nerds<br />
who gather in just one place. They<br />
definitely know how to make one<br />
helluva futuristic area.<br />
Photo by Spiegel<br />
HELSINKI, FINLAND<br />
If you’re crazy about getting<br />
connected to your social media all<br />
the time, you might want to consider<br />
getting your free Wifi access in<br />
Helsinki. What makes this place a<br />
little extra special is the government’s<br />
attempt to improve the quality of<br />
lives of the citizens.<br />
Photo by Helsinki Blog<br />
TOKYO, JAPAN<br />
You’ve probably seen futuristic anime<br />
set in Japan. As you can see, it’s not<br />
that far from reality. Everywhere<br />
you look, you’d see how advanced<br />
the city is. They have a sci-fi cuisine<br />
to its advanced railway system, you<br />
might consider living around there.<br />
It’s actually any tech-Savy’ dream to<br />
visit Tokyo.<br />
Photo by Vacation Advice 101<br />
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57
6 GADGETS<br />
MADE FROM<br />
LEGO BRICKS<br />
If there’s one certain toy<br />
every engineer as a child<br />
loved to play with, I’ll bet<br />
it’s building things using<br />
LEGO bricks.<br />
If there’s one certain toy every<br />
engineer as a child loved to play<br />
with, I’ll bet it’s building things using<br />
LEGO bricks. When we play with<br />
LEGO, anything we plan to build are<br />
limited only by our imaginations.<br />
From a rocket ship to a bulldozer,<br />
from a simple robot to a skyscraper.<br />
While, our creations as children<br />
weren’t able to really do much, we<br />
were content with the simple joys of<br />
being able to create our first designs<br />
as young engineers.<br />
Now, we would like to show you some<br />
awesome creations made from our<br />
once cherished toys. These creations<br />
will bring you back to your childhood<br />
days and show you that it’s possible<br />
to create almost anything if you just<br />
put your mind into it.<br />
THE WORKING<br />
LEGO CAMERA<br />
This creation is a camera that was<br />
created to capture indelible images.<br />
Cary Norton, an Alabama-based<br />
photographer built this working<br />
127mm f4.7 camera by using LEGO’s<br />
Digital Designer application.<br />
Photo by Engadget<br />
THE WORKING<br />
LEGO PRINTER<br />
Some years ago, a 14-year-old boy<br />
designed this working LEGO printer<br />
which moves a pen to write drawings<br />
and text. It’s called the LEGO<br />
Mindstorms NXT printer, or PriNXT.<br />
Photo by ICT Press<br />
THE DIY LEGO<br />
3D PRINTER<br />
The LEGObot 3D printer was created<br />
by Matthew Kreuger. This is the<br />
LEGO version of the Makerbot, an<br />
inexpensive NXT-powered printer.<br />
Photo by Inhabitat<br />
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LEGO’S MUSICAL<br />
BEATBOARDS<br />
This year, LEGO will be launching a<br />
new line called Beatboards, wherein<br />
anyone can use LEGO bricks to create<br />
original musical compositions. Touch<br />
sensors are built into the baseplate<br />
and it registers the resistance formed<br />
under the weight of the LEGO bricks<br />
and turns those messages into sound.<br />
Photo by Wikia<br />
THE PROSTHETIC<br />
ARM THAT<br />
GIVES KIDS<br />
LEGO ABILITIES<br />
THE PANCAKEBOT<br />
Carlos Arturo, a former LEGO intern,<br />
developed the IKO prosthetic arm. It<br />
was made especially for children, so<br />
they can create custom-built limbs.<br />
Torres was inspired by his childhood<br />
in Colombia, where many children<br />
lost their limbs during armed<br />
conflicts.<br />
Photo by Engadget<br />
This clever invention uses pancake<br />
batter to draw onto a sizzling griddle.<br />
It can create any elaborate shape you<br />
want. You’ll never see pancakes the<br />
same way again.<br />
Photo by YouTube<br />
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Everything You Need to Know<br />
ABOUT ROBOTICS ENGINEERS<br />
by Cielo Panda<br />
Photo by AP<br />
Nowadays, our technological world<br />
is filled with gadgets, Artificial<br />
Intelligence, Deep Learning, and<br />
Robots that help make our daily lives<br />
easier. All these are made possible<br />
thanks to the hard work of robotics<br />
engineers. So if you’re planning to be<br />
a robotics engineer, here is a short<br />
overview of what they do and what it<br />
takes to be one.<br />
What is a Robotics Engineer?<br />
A Robotics Engineer is basically an<br />
engineer who specializes in robots.<br />
They are also known as Automation<br />
Engineers, Robotics and Automation<br />
Engineers, or Automation Robotics<br />
Engineers.<br />
They are designers who are<br />
responsible for the creation of<br />
robots and robotic systems that does<br />
work that humans cannot or prefer<br />
not to do. With the help of their<br />
innovations, robotics engineers helps<br />
make different tasks easier, safer and<br />
more efficient.<br />
What are the Necessary Skills to be a<br />
Robotics Engineer?<br />
To be able to become a successful<br />
robotics engineer, one should be<br />
highly-creative with the ability to<br />
think outside the box. After all,<br />
robotic engineers design robots and<br />
robotic systems that can improve a<br />
certain job.<br />
They should have a solid<br />
understanding in subjects learned<br />
in school such as advanced<br />
mathematics, applied physical<br />
science, and computer science. It<br />
is also important that they enjoy<br />
collaborating with a team, and have<br />
adequate communication skills.<br />
Lastly, since programming new robots<br />
is one of the most challenging part of<br />
robotics engineering, it is important<br />
that one should be an expert in<br />
programming such. Others even get<br />
a degree in software engineering to<br />
expand their robotics engineering<br />
career further.<br />
What does a Robotics Engineer<br />
Particularly do?<br />
Robotics engineers spend most of<br />
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Photo by Press Herald<br />
their time designing plans that are<br />
needed to build robots and robotic<br />
systems. This also includes programs<br />
and processes that the robot will<br />
need for it to run correctly. There<br />
are even robotic engineers that<br />
create robotic systems that assemble<br />
robots. The design phase is crucial<br />
since it embodies every aspect that<br />
will build up the finished robot. Once<br />
the design is complete, they will<br />
move to the more exciting process—<br />
assembling the unit.<br />
Robotics engineers are responsible<br />
for creating several different types<br />
of robots depending on what<br />
task it is supposed to do. Prior to<br />
construction, it is important that the<br />
engineer researches properly what<br />
the robot will be used for, and the<br />
manner in which it will perform the<br />
needed task.<br />
More often than not, creating a robot<br />
takes a lot of time. This includes<br />
the research phase, design phase,<br />
assembling phase, and testing phase.<br />
Many robotics engineers get stuck in<br />
one of those phases and revise what<br />
needs to be revised to get the desired<br />
results. It can even take a few months<br />
to years to complete one robot.<br />
Professionals who want to enter in<br />
this field need to be extra patient.<br />
Photo by Alpine Daily Planet<br />
Photo by University of Michigan<br />
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HOW WOULD<br />
HUMANS<br />
SURVIVE A<br />
CURRENT<br />
ROBOT<br />
APOCALYPSE?<br />
Photo by Noval World<br />
Ok, when you hear “Robot Apocalypse”<br />
what usually goes on in your head? You<br />
may be imagining an army of Terminator-ish<br />
automations ready to destroy the human<br />
race who built them—just like in those sci-fi<br />
movies.<br />
Our technology is evolving through time,<br />
but we still have a long way to go. So instead<br />
of imagining the terminator-style robot<br />
revolution, let’s imagine: what if our current<br />
machines suddenly turned against us? How<br />
long would humanity last?<br />
Here’s how the scenario might go.<br />
#1<br />
In laboratories, experimental robots would<br />
go wild and leap from their benches and try<br />
to locate the door, only to suddenly crash<br />
onto the door and fall over. However, for<br />
those robots who have limbs, they may be<br />
able to open the doorknob and successfully<br />
leave the room.<br />
After a few hours, they would be found<br />
in bathrooms, trying to destroy and trash<br />
everything while looking for humans to<br />
exterminate only to be short-circuited due to<br />
the water spillage they’ve caused.<br />
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#2<br />
What about the machines in our offices,<br />
and our cell phones? Well, they could<br />
attack us but their options are limited. They<br />
could start annoying us with ringtones and<br />
irritating noises. Our desks would start to<br />
rattle because all our phones would be set<br />
on vibrate. In the end, the only physical<br />
damage our cell phones could do is if it falls<br />
off the desk (because of the simultaneous<br />
vibrations) and fall on our toes. Ouch!<br />
#3<br />
Most modern cars have computers now, so<br />
they’ll join the revolution. This would be way<br />
more dangerous, but mostly to their drivers<br />
and passengers. But there are options to fight<br />
back, drivers could still control the steering<br />
wheel, which has a direct mechanical link<br />
to the wheels. The driver could also pull the<br />
parking brake.<br />
#4<br />
What about industrial robots found in<br />
factories. Most factory robots are bolted<br />
to the floor, so they won’t be able to hurt<br />
humans if they suddenly fled the area. All<br />
they can actually do is assemble things.<br />
#5<br />
Photo<br />
Military Robots would be the most dangerous<br />
of them all, but there are very few of them in<br />
the world. Most of them are kept in storage<br />
lockers, and if there were machine-gunarmed<br />
military robots on the loose, they can<br />
be easily subdued by a couple of military<br />
men.<br />
Military Drones on the other hand is the<br />
closest to the terminator description, and<br />
they are dangerous. However, they easily run<br />
out of fuel and missiles.<br />
by Corbett Report<br />
With all these scenarios, there is still a part of<br />
the story that gives us hope. We still have our<br />
nuclear weapons to counter their attacks. In<br />
addition, nuclear explosions cause powerful<br />
electromagnetic pulses (EMP’s). EMP’s<br />
overload and destroy sensitive electronic<br />
circuits which in turn could destroy the<br />
robots. A few more strikes from us and the<br />
human race will be able to eradicate them<br />
completely.<br />
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Photo by Wallpaper Made
HOW R2-D2<br />
AND C-3PO<br />
INSPIRED<br />
THOUSANDS<br />
TO JOIN<br />
ROBOTICS<br />
If there are fictional characters<br />
that have played crucial roles in<br />
robotics, it will be the famous<br />
sidekicks in the Star Wars trilogy.<br />
R2-D2 and C-3PO have charmed<br />
their way around the audience<br />
and made a huge impact as well<br />
in the robotics field. As soon as<br />
they bicker in front of the screen,<br />
they have caught our attention<br />
and definitely inspired a lot of<br />
robotics enthusiasts to create<br />
their own robots.<br />
R2-D2 has inspired the public<br />
to create their own assistants<br />
that could help them around the<br />
house. The droid also helped in<br />
inspiring younger generations<br />
spark their curiosity in science in<br />
engineering. Through its beeps<br />
and bops, little children have<br />
curiously tried learning how the<br />
robot works and how to make<br />
one.<br />
R2-D2 got inducted into the<br />
Robot Hall of Fame back in 2003<br />
while made it in the list of 101<br />
Objects that Made America - a list<br />
made by Smithsonian Institution.<br />
The droid has definitely made an<br />
impact not just in pop culture<br />
but in robotics as well. It was<br />
also believed that this funny little<br />
robot was George Lucas’ favorite<br />
character in the series. According<br />
to him, he makes it intentional<br />
that R2-D2 manages to save the<br />
day every now and then in each<br />
movie.<br />
As for the humanoid robot<br />
character, C-3PO, we can see a<br />
lot of robots nowadays that has<br />
clearly taken inspiration from this<br />
funny easily frightened robot.<br />
Re-created by Anakin Skywalker<br />
in the Episode I, C-3PO has also<br />
made an impact in the robotics<br />
field. One example on projects<br />
that was inspired by the protocol<br />
droid was the robot built by the<br />
United States Navy. It’s called<br />
the Autonomous Shipboard<br />
Humanoid and its purpose was<br />
to extinguish fires, climb ladders<br />
and carry hoses.<br />
For both robots, we can see a<br />
lot of high-level toys created to<br />
develop the learning skills of<br />
children. Clearly, a lot of kids<br />
have sparked an interest in<br />
building robots as soon as they<br />
were introduced to these two<br />
funny droids. With the release<br />
of Episode VII last December, the<br />
public was also given a new robot<br />
to love - BB-8.<br />
Star Wars has a strong fan base<br />
and while not everyone got into<br />
robotics because of it, we still<br />
can’t admit how this series has<br />
helped out the robotics field in<br />
terms of increasing people who<br />
join the field and inspired designs<br />
and prototypes that shaped the<br />
way we see the world now.<br />
Photo by Hello Giggles<br />
Photo by Ubergizmo<br />
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TOP 50<br />
ROBOTICS<br />
COMPANIES<br />
IN THE WORLD<br />
We’ve welcomed robots in our lives. This<br />
is very noticeable especially in futuristic<br />
and first-world countries that are fastpaced<br />
and give importance in giving people<br />
convenience and comfort. While some give a<br />
bad reputation for robots, it is quite obvious<br />
that robotics have played a crucial role in<br />
how we develop as a society. Nowadays,<br />
engineers have developed robots that can<br />
do all the chores for us, robots that work for<br />
us and robots who could even think for us.<br />
That’s why every robot has been very useful<br />
in making our daily lives better.<br />
There has been a debate going on lately about<br />
robots though. For some, robots pose as a<br />
threat to humanity. With the threat of actually<br />
replacing humans one day, some people<br />
believe that we should stop developing them<br />
into a more complex human-like machines.<br />
But other people thought differently and<br />
have made it their mission to produce highquality<br />
robots that could be more useful to us<br />
than ever before.<br />
Robotics Business Review released this year’s<br />
Top 50 robotics companies that made crucial<br />
commercial influence, groundbreaking<br />
applications and have shown innovativeness<br />
in their products.<br />
Photo by Robotnor<br />
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3D Robotics<br />
ABB Robotics<br />
Aethon Inc.<br />
Alphabet, Inc. (Google)<br />
Amazon<br />
Autonomous Solutions<br />
CANVAS Technology<br />
Carbon Robotics<br />
Clearpath Robotics<br />
Cyberdyne<br />
Delphi Automotive<br />
DJI<br />
Ekso Bionics<br />
Energid Technologies<br />
EPSON Robots<br />
FANUC Robotics<br />
Fetch Robotics<br />
Foxconn Technology Group<br />
GreyOrange<br />
IAM Robotics<br />
Intuitive Surgical<br />
iRobot<br />
Jibo<br />
Kawasaki<br />
Knightscope<br />
KUKA Robotics<br />
Lockheed Martin<br />
Locus Robotics<br />
Omron Adept Technologies Inc.<br />
Open Bionics<br />
Rethink Robotics<br />
ReWalk Robotics<br />
Robotiq<br />
Samsung<br />
Savioke<br />
SCHUNK<br />
Seegrid<br />
Siasun Robot & Automation Co Ltd<br />
SoftBank Robotics Corporation<br />
Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd<br />
Swiss log<br />
Titan Medical<br />
Toyota<br />
ULC Robotics, Inc.<br />
Universal Robots A/S<br />
Vecna Technologies<br />
Verb Surgical<br />
VEX Robotics<br />
Yamaha Robotics<br />
Yaskawa Motoman<br />
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10 MOST<br />
FAMOUS<br />
FICTIONAL<br />
ROBOTS<br />
In this age of information, more<br />
and more robots are being<br />
developed to aid humankind’s<br />
varying needs. Bit by bit they are<br />
being involved into different fields<br />
in our society, like manufacturing,<br />
construction, healthcare,<br />
automotive field, and even in the<br />
movie industry!<br />
You may have been familiar with<br />
some robot superheroes, and<br />
supervillains in some movies<br />
you’ve seen. We collected some<br />
of them to show you 10 of the<br />
most famous fictional robots.<br />
R2-D2<br />
R2-D2 is part of the robot duo<br />
tandem in the Star Wars saga.<br />
R2-D2 is the abbreviated form<br />
of Second Generagtion Robotic<br />
Droid Series-2. Though it only<br />
knows how to whistle talk, slowly<br />
move, and do minor things like<br />
create hologram messages, it is<br />
considered to be one of George<br />
Lucas’, the Star Wars creator’s,<br />
favorites.<br />
Photo by: Hello Giggles<br />
C-3PO<br />
C-3PO is the other half of the<br />
robot duo in Star Wars. This robot<br />
is famous for being a nervous and<br />
talkative. It is able to speak and<br />
interact in over 6 million forms<br />
of communication, which makes<br />
him a valuable asset to the group.<br />
It works as a protocol droid, and<br />
its main purpose is to be a liaison<br />
for different races, and planets by<br />
knowing their customs, etiquette,<br />
and language.<br />
Photo by: Side Show Toy<br />
BB8<br />
BB8 is a new robot droid favorite<br />
in the famous sci-fi saga, Star<br />
Wars. In the film, it loyally<br />
accompanies Poe Dameron on<br />
many missions for the Resistance.<br />
BB-8 is a spherical robot with a<br />
free-moving dome-shaped head.<br />
He is colored white, with orange<br />
and silver accents.<br />
Photo by: Tf3dm<br />
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Optimus Prime<br />
Optimus Prime is a fictional<br />
character from the Transformers<br />
franchise. This robot is depicted<br />
as one that has a strong moral<br />
character, excellent leadership,<br />
and good decision-making skills.<br />
Photo by: Comic Vine<br />
Wall-E<br />
Wall-E, or Waste Allocater Load<br />
Lifter- Eart Class, is a fictional<br />
robot that was featured in the<br />
2008 heart-warming film Wall-E.<br />
The plot of the story follows his<br />
adventures as he does his duty<br />
to clean the earth wasteland in a<br />
future era. While he was cleaning<br />
the earth he comes across and falls<br />
in love with another robot named<br />
Eve, and he follows her into outer<br />
space as they try to alter destiny<br />
that will save humanity.<br />
Photo by: No Cookie
T-800<br />
This robot character was played<br />
by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the<br />
1984 film. T-800 is a cyborg that<br />
was programmed as an assassin<br />
and military infiltration unit by<br />
the resistance in the future to kill<br />
Sarah Connor to prevent the birth<br />
of her son.<br />
Photo by: Geek Style Guide<br />
Megatron<br />
Earlier, I’ve mentioned Optimus<br />
prime. This robot is the total<br />
opposite, he is the leader of the<br />
evil robot faction, the Decepticons<br />
and the nemesis of Optimus<br />
Prime and the Autobots.<br />
Photo by: Enterpreneur<br />
RoboCop<br />
RoboCop is a fictional robot in the<br />
movie, RoboCop in the year 1987.<br />
In the movie he was the veteran<br />
police officer Alex Murphy, who<br />
was murdered. His body was<br />
reconstructed in a cyborg project<br />
by Omni Consumer Products<br />
(OCP) to fight crimes in the city.<br />
Photo by: YouTube<br />
Astro Boy<br />
Astro Boy is an atomic-powered<br />
robot with 100,000 hp. He<br />
is a robot that resembled its<br />
creator’s dead son. This robot is<br />
a superhero that saves his town<br />
from crimes done by evil doers.<br />
Photo by: Time 4 Smart<br />
Voltes V<br />
Voltes V is a robot from the<br />
Japanese Anime series, Chōdenji<br />
Machine Voltes V. Voltes V is a<br />
robot composed of five “Volt<br />
Machines”, and each of them are<br />
weapons. When the 5 machines<br />
combine, they create the ultimate<br />
robot that saves the earth from<br />
the invasions of the Boazanians.<br />
Photo by: YouTube<br />
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THIS IS<br />
LIFE IN A<br />
FUTURISTIC<br />
CITY<br />
What will the future look like<br />
in 50 to 100 years? Nobody<br />
really knows for sure but our<br />
imaginations can come up with<br />
so many possibilities that it could<br />
either fascinate us or terrify us.<br />
There’s no certainty if we’d still<br />
see the big blue oceans or the<br />
wild animals in the safari but<br />
we do have a glimpse of what<br />
futuristic cities can look like. We<br />
are on the way to living in the<br />
future and today’s engineers have<br />
very big ambitious plans for the<br />
places we’ll be living in.<br />
First, our future cities will<br />
definitely involve a lot of artificial<br />
intelligence systems. Remember<br />
The Jetsons? We’ll probably be<br />
living their lives soon. We can have<br />
cars that fly and a robot for a maid.<br />
We let things move on its own<br />
through science and engineering<br />
and we’ll have more robots to<br />
take over the government and the<br />
private institutions to serve us.<br />
There’s even a possibility that real<br />
dogs and cats might go extinct by<br />
then and we’ll replace them with<br />
robotic pets.<br />
According to a robotics professor<br />
from the University of Sheffield,<br />
Professor Noel Sharkey, robots<br />
will take on an important role<br />
in law enforcement and crowd<br />
control:<br />
“They keep the police out of<br />
harm’s way in an increasingly<br />
dangerous world of armed<br />
criminals, gangs and terror<br />
organizations.”<br />
How about our mode of<br />
transportation? It is possible<br />
that futuristic cities can easily<br />
allow citizens to travel in just a<br />
short period of time. Aside from<br />
autonomous cars (which aim to<br />
avoid accidents and lighten the<br />
load of traffic), engineers are<br />
working on flying cars and rail<br />
transportation that’ll only take a<br />
few minutes for people to arrive<br />
from point A to point B. We<br />
might even see a hovercraft in<br />
the near future.<br />
As for the infrastructures of future<br />
cities, we’ve already seen what<br />
they’ll look like in smart cities<br />
around the world. They’ll be selfsustaining<br />
and will use renewable<br />
energy to power up buildings,<br />
homes and industries. In an attempt<br />
to make places a safer and cleaner<br />
place for the future generations,<br />
engineers are working very hard to<br />
use solar, wind and other sources<br />
of renewable energy to power all<br />
of the energy needed for all human<br />
consumption.<br />
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Source: Lava 360<br />
All those infrastructures you<br />
see in dystopian movies may<br />
be our future cities but it is<br />
also possible that we could live<br />
underwater. This is currently<br />
what engineers are working on<br />
given that the crowd in the land<br />
are too many already for us to<br />
continue dwelling on land. As<br />
you know, it’s also possible that<br />
companies will be sending us to<br />
Mars to let us live there. That’s<br />
something Elon Musk is working<br />
on with his team.<br />
Who knows what the cities of the<br />
future will exactly look like? We<br />
have glimpses of it already but<br />
we are constantly changing and<br />
constantly working on making<br />
things better, faster and more<br />
efficient for us. Add the human<br />
factor to that, we’re vulnerable to<br />
any kind of change. One thing’s for<br />
sure, the futuristic cities waiting<br />
for us will definitely be an exciting<br />
thing to look forward to. May it<br />
be a positive change for the all<br />
species in this world.<br />
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THE 10 SMARTEST<br />
CITIES IN THE<br />
WORLD<br />
Cities around the world are constantly shifting to modern technologies, especially<br />
in information and communication, in order to provide a higher quality of life.<br />
Every opportunity for innovation is embraced by these cities – rightfully called to<br />
be smart cities – towards efficient use of resources, savings in cost and energy,<br />
and reduced environmental footprint. Such efforts are reflected to the cultural<br />
assets, human infrastructure, and networked markets of the city.<br />
Among the many cities true to their initiatives of urban progress by innovations,<br />
here are 10 cities that are worthy models of a smart city:<br />
VIENNA<br />
With programs like the Smart Energy Vision 2050,<br />
Roadmap 2020, and Action Plan 2012,-2015, Vienna is<br />
one of the smartest cities in the world with laser focus<br />
in improving the lives of the people. The city does well in<br />
almost every aspect of urbanization including innovation,<br />
green technologies, quality of life, and digital governance.<br />
Their strategies are leaned on Vienna’s planners who make<br />
decisions cohesive to the cities’ targets.<br />
Photo by: Urban Transform<br />
TORONTO<br />
If there’s a city in North America that is worthy to be<br />
included in the smart cities list, that’s Toronto. The city has<br />
a target towards a low-carbon economy (being an active<br />
member of the Clinton 40 megacities), and its private<br />
sector also contributing with the Smart Commute Toronto<br />
initiative, that aims to increase transit efficiency in the<br />
metro area. It also began using natural gas from landfills<br />
to power the city’s garbage trucks.<br />
Photo by: Navigatored<br />
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PARIS<br />
Paris comes close with Vienna in this list from Europe, with<br />
competencies in innovation, green technology and digital<br />
governance as well. They have a successful bike sharing<br />
program called Velib and a bunch of small electric vehicles<br />
called Autolib.<br />
Photo by: Itespresso<br />
NEW YORK<br />
Despite the low quality of life, New York fares in other<br />
categories of being a smart city. Notable is IBM’s launch<br />
in the city with their Business Analytics Solution Center to<br />
address "the growing demand for the complex capabilities<br />
needed to build smarter cities and help clients optimize<br />
all manner of business processes and business decisions."<br />
Photo by: Navigatored<br />
LONDON<br />
The capital city of the United Kingdom is well-known<br />
of its sustainability innovations. To add to that is their<br />
efficient mass transit system. It holds a promise towards<br />
transport, government, business, academic and consumer<br />
data efficiency through a smart city research center in the<br />
Imperial College.<br />
Photo by: Urban Data Hack<br />
TOKYO<br />
Being the house of tech giants like Panasonic and Accenture,<br />
among others, this Asian city is among the better cities<br />
when it comes to innovation and digitalization. Tokyo<br />
leans towards smart mobility solutions and also forwards<br />
the use of green technologies in the suburbs.<br />
Photo by: Jama English<br />
BERLIN<br />
The inclusion of Berlin in this list is because of its green<br />
technologies, innovation and quality of life. The city has<br />
been talking with car manufacturers in electric vehicle<br />
(EV) technology, which already includes vehicle-to-grid, or<br />
V2G, a system that collects power from electric vehicles.<br />
Photo by: Smart City App Hack<br />
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COPENHAGEN<br />
The leaders of Copenhagen must be happy to see that their<br />
sustainable innovations are paying off: the city was ranked<br />
by Siemens as number one on the green scale. Well, this<br />
is due to their cumulative efforts in pursuing a carbon<br />
neutral city by 2025. The locals also already promote and<br />
use bicycle as an alternative to cars.<br />
Photo by: Shutterstock<br />
HONG KONG<br />
The smart cards are Hong Kong’s key in this list. The<br />
city has been successful in forwarding the use of RFID<br />
technology in almost everywhere: airport, public transit,<br />
library, residential, car parks, and shopping centers. Their<br />
digital governance is working to their advantage.<br />
Photo by: SCMP<br />
BARCELONA<br />
The edge of this smart city in Spain primarily lies in its lowcarbon<br />
solutions. Barcelona is among the pioneers in solar<br />
thermal ordinance more than a decade ago, and is now<br />
promoting the adoption of EVs and charging infrastructure.<br />
The city also has a living lab for smart-city innovation to<br />
tap other sectors.<br />
Photo by: Fast Company<br />
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ROBOTS<br />
CAN NOW<br />
RECORD<br />
YOUR<br />
MEMORIES<br />
Recently, a new feature has been<br />
announced for the humanoid<br />
robot, NAO, by French researchers<br />
working at the Centre National de<br />
la Recherche Scientifique. This new<br />
feature will allow NAO to build up an<br />
autobiographical memory. Sounds<br />
pretty cool, doesn’t it? It is, in fact,<br />
pretty awesome as this technology<br />
can be used in space and can even<br />
reach to far more ordinary tasks like<br />
taking care of the elderly.<br />
The scientific explanation is that a<br />
human can teach NAO new actions<br />
via physical demonstrations, voice<br />
command or visual imitation. Physical<br />
demonstrations are performed by<br />
putting the limbs of the robot in the<br />
correct position while visual imitation<br />
uses the Kinect system. NAO will learn<br />
and store the information gathered<br />
as procedures, which the robot can<br />
later recall and even explain to other<br />
people. That’s quite a nifty skill for a<br />
little robot to have!<br />
This ability to not only learn but also<br />
teach information can be quite useful<br />
for the International Space Station.<br />
After all, in the ISS, astronauts have to<br />
come and go and still solve a problem<br />
right on the spot. In situations<br />
which have not been foreseen, this<br />
ability can be extremely useful. An<br />
experienced astronaut can teach the<br />
solution to a problem to NAO. Later,<br />
when a new crew arrives and the<br />
same problem occurs, NAO can help<br />
the new crew members solve it. In<br />
other words, NAO acts as a guide in<br />
different unexpected scenarios. It will<br />
be capable of providing information<br />
rarely found in manuals. This ability<br />
can also be used for serving people<br />
suffering from short-term memory<br />
loss back here on earth. This can<br />
make NAO a great companion for<br />
taking care of the elderly.<br />
Now, where was NAO during our<br />
exams at school?<br />
Photo by CNRS<br />
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