Archive for the ‘artificial intelligence in the news’ Category
Biomimetics to give robots cockroach like running ability
The sight of a cockroach scurrying for cover may be nauseating, but the insect is also a biological and engineering marvel, and is providing researchers at Oregon State University with what they call “bioinspiration” in a quest to build the world’s first legged robot that is capable of running effortlessly over rough terrain.
If the engineers succeed, they may owe their success to what’s being learned from these insects and other animals, such as the guinea hen, that have their own remarkable abilities.
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Within certain limitations, Schmitt said, cockroaches don’t even have to think about running – they just do it, with muscle action that is instinctive and doesn’t require reflex control. That, in fact, is part of what the engineers are trying to achieve. Right now some robots have been built that can walk, but none of them can run as well as their animal counterparts. Even walking robots absorb far too much energy and computing power to be very useful.
“If we ever develop robots that can really run over rough ground, they can’t afford to use so much of their computing abilities and energy demand to accomplish it,” Schmitt said. “A cockroach doesn’t think much about running, it just runs. And it only slows down about 20 percent when going over blocks that are three times higher than its hips. That’s just remarkable, and an indication that their stability has to do with how they are built, rather than how they react.”
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In a computer model, they’ve created a concept that would allow a running robot to recover from a change in ground surface almost as well as a guinea hen. They are studying how the interplay of concepts such as energy storage and expenditure, sensor and feedback requirements, and leg angles can produce recovery from such perturbations. Ultimately, a team of OSU engineers hopes to use knowledge such as this to actually build robots that can efficiently run over rough terrain without using significant computing power.
More information:
Modeling posture-dependent leg actuation in sagittal plane locomotion ( original paper )
Journal of Bioinspiration and Biomimetics ( lots of papers available at no charge )
Google uses quantum computing algorithm for image recognition
Google’s Research Blog posted an article this week on its use of quantum computing algorithms
More information:
Training a Large Scale Classifier with the Quantum Adiabatic Algorithm
Qubuit.org, Center for Quantum Computing
Introduction to Quantum Computing
The Quantum Computer
Quantum Computing and Shor’s Algorithm
Quantum Computing Day 1, Google Tech Talk on YouTube
Quantum Computing Day 2, Google Tech Talk on YouTube
Quantum Computing Day 3, Google Tech Talk on YouTube
Virtual ant swarms to hunt down computer worms
So are we ready yet to hand over some of the control of our computers to evolving virtual creatures to do the dirty work for us? What happens when a virtual war breaks out on your home network? Do you get to watch the battles?
If we hand over this control how far are we willing to let virtual creatures evolve? Will they develop personality disorders and call work stoppages?
The future is closer than you think, turn around to look and you may get mowed down.
In the never-ending battle to protect computer networks from intruders, security experts are deploying a new defense modeled after one of nature’s hardiest creatures — the ant.
Unlike traditional security devices, which are static, these “digital ants” wander through computer networks looking for threats, such as “computer worms” — self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of machines. When a digital ant detects a threat, it doesn’t take long for an army of ants to converge at that location, drawing the attention of human operators who step in to investigate.
The concept, called “swarm intelligence,” promises to transform cyber security because it adapts readily to changing threats.
“In nature, we know that ants defend against threats very successfully,” explains Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp, an expert in security and computer networks. “They can ramp up their defense rapidly, and then resume routine behavior quickly after an intruder has been stopped. We were trying to achieve that same framework in a computer system.” . . .
More information
Autonomic Computing freedom or threat?
EW Fulp Publications
Electrodes implanted in the brain
We know that our brains work by sending electrical signals along our neurons. Sometimes the built in damping mechanism for the signals fails to work and things like Parkinsons and epilepsy strike the victim. Much like a pacemaker for hearts, electric implants in the brain can smooth out signals and treat these illnesses.
Over 35,000 people have successfully had their Parkinsons disease treated this way, some with results lasting over seven years.
Surprisingly brain illnesses not commonly associated with electric signal problems also can be treated with implanted electrodes; depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, among them.
Patients can also be treated with electrodes placed outside the skull but the results tend to be very short term. It is thought that the brain learns to rewire itself with the electrodes implanted and helps to cure itself.
Occasionally electrodes can be bumped, covered in scar tissure and fail to keep working. One group of scientists has come up with an implant that moves itself to the strongest near signal hoping to over come this problem.
See also:
Moving brain implant seeks out signals
Wireheads: Healing the brain with electricity
Mind Hacks: Brain electrodes awake brain injured man
Technology Review: Tiny electrodes for the brain
Brain surgery helps a mute man speak
Brain surgery helps a mute man speak
This is your brain on electricity
How long before the government can read your mind?
Maybe soon, perhaps never, but recent advances have brought mind reading closer to reality.
An fMRI is a machine that takes pictures inside your body, like the familiar CAT scanner but in much greater detail. While you are in the machine scans your brain and can see which areas of your brain are getting more blood flow.
Had you sat in the machine while you looked at images or thought specific thoughts, a computer attached to the fMRI could learn which parts of your brain get active when you look at a specific photo or think a specific thought. Then the next time you entered the machine and thought those same thoughts it could recognize the pattern.
All our brains are different, not unlike our finger prints and so don’t all behave exactly the same. But they are a like enough that in time, with lots and lots of data, researchers might some day have a general mind map.
Perhaps your defense could be that you store murder weapons in a different part of your brain than the average person and so therefore are not guilty as charged. It’s too soon to know, but perhaps not as far away as we’d like.
News Stories;
fMRI Brain Scan Debate Neurology Research in Interrogations, Courtroom, Office
Scary or Sensational, A machine that can look into the mind
Can brain scans read our minds?
