Herself’s Artificial Intelligence

Facet is planned to be released as open source software. It allows phones to alert you when an object enters or leaves an area. So if you are camping with friends you can set up your cells around the edge of the camp and it will figure out where the other phones are positioned and let you know when a person or animal approaches your camp.

Software that turns groups of ordinary camera cellphones into a “smart” surveillance network has been developed by Swiss researchers. The team says it will release the software for programmers and users to experiment with.

The software employs Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology included in many modern phones, to automatically share information and let the phones collectively analyse events that they record. This provides a platform for a group of phones to act as smart network capable of, for example, spotting intruders or identifying wildlife. [ read more Cellphones team up to become smart CCTV swarm]

More information:
Philipp Bolliger, home page and publications
Facet: Towards a smart camera network of mobile phones ( pdf )

See also:
AI coming to a cell phone near you

Machine gunned robot ships are chasing pirates and saving innocents. The future has arrived and the Terminator is in it.

Spartan USVs have been deployed for a while, I’ve found references back to 2003. They gather information to protect military vehicles from Cole type attacks. The Spartan can run about two days and travel at around 50 mph.

The newer MRVI Interceptor can be controlled or run autonomously. It has been designed to take on pirates, protect oil rigs and military vessels.

Robots versus pirates—it’s not as stupid, or unlikely, as it sounds. Piracy has exploded in the waters near Somalia, where this past week United States warships have fired on two pirate skiffs, and are currently in pursuit of a hijacked Japanese-owned vessel. At least four other ships in the region remain under pirate control, and the problem appears to be going global: The International Maritime Bureau is tracking a 14-percent increase in worldwide pirate attacks this year. [ more information Robot boats hunt high-tech pirates on the high-speed seas]

More information:
Spartan Scout ( pdf )
MRVI Interceptor
Sea Robotics
USV Video

See also:
Robots of War
More robots on the sea
What happens when weapons development goes private?

A technology that senses changes in emotions is being developed to help aged care, driver safety and anxiety in people. I’m betting Big Brother will also find some useful things to do with the technology.

The technology uses changes in speech rhythms and pitch; and changes in facial expressions. Interestingly short term nervousness shows in speech and long term in facial expressions.

A technology that can recognize anxiety in people is being developed by an Australian computer scientist.Australian National University researcher Gordon McIntyre says the technology could be applied in a range of areas from aged care to driver safety.McIntyre, a PhD student from the Research School of Information Services and Engineering, is working on a computer system that detects anxiety by analysing a person’s speech and facial expressions. [ read more Technology tunes into our emotions ]

More information:
Researching emotions in speech
Gordon McIntyre, homepage

See also:
Computer uses 3D face recognition to diagnose genetic diseases
Computer recognizes you by your typing skills or lack thereof