Herself’s Artificial Intelligence

It’s getting near the end of the month and there were several news stories that caught my eye but that I didn’t have time to dig into and write a proper entry about. So I’m posting just some quick takes here.

A very cool project from the Shape Retrieval and Analysis group at Princeton involves the creation of a 3D-model search engine; queries to the engine can be keywords but also a hand drawn outline of the object to search for. The researchers have constructed a database of 36000 3D models and have developed a JAVA application that allows users to try out the system over the web. The image below shows an example query and the results returned for a 2D outline of a car. . . [ read more Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: 3D search engine ]

To protect your small or midsize company’s network against bots, you’ve first got to understand what bots do and how they do it. Cisco’s Jimmy Ray Purser unveils the dark side of network bots . . . [ read more ]

Details are still light on this one, but Sega Toys (makers of freaky robots) and the brain-reading folks at NeuroSky have announced that they’ve teamed up in an effort to develop what they’re only describing as “mind-controlled tech toys,” which they say will “take ‘play’ to the next level.” Those unspecified toys will apparently make use of NeuroSky’s ThinkGear bio-sensor technology which, according to the company, uses “dry active sensors” that eliminate the need for contact gels while also maintaining a small form factor. . . [ read more Sega Toys, NeuroSky Team up for "mind-controlled" toys ]

The way water striders walk on water was discovered years ago. The insect uses its long legs to help evenly distribute its tiny body weight. The weight is distributed over a large area so that the fragile skin formed by surface tension supports the bug on the water. However, the ability of water striders to jump onto water without sinking has baffled scientists, until now. [ read more Scientists Discover How to Make Robots Bounce on Water]

A scientist who successfully connected a moth’s brain to a robot predicts that “hybrid” computers running a combination of technology and living organic tissue will be available in 10 to 15 years.[ read more Moth Based Robot May Lead to Hybrid Computers ]