What is Artificial Intelligence?

The robo-roach in action.

Believe it or not, the scientists in Texas A&M’s Nuclear Science and Policy Institute have turned the near-indestructible cockroach into a remote-controlled nuke detector.

A team of nuclear engineers at Texas A&M’s Nuclear Science and Policy Institute attached radioactivity sensors to the backs of cockroaches which are meant to scope out different kinds of nuclear material. The cockroaches are remote-controlled, so officials could unleash them into potentially contaminated areas that might not be safe for humans.

When it comes to nuke-detection, roaches are the ideal candidates - for every reason everyone already hates them. The critters can survive for weeks without food, are nearly impossible to kill. They can also run non-stop for 35 minutes, and are resilient enough to carry a three-gram back-pod for several months. And somehow the things are radiation-resistant, too.

The tiny chip on the cockroach’s back sends electrical signals allowing the human controller to make the roach move forward or side-to-side.

Click here to read more about Cyborg Roaches, Radiation-Detecting Roaches.

The Future Soldier Initiative. Credit: U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Design and Engineering Center in Massachusetts.

Those powersuits that we see in the movies may not be just a dream anymore. The U.S. Army research lab in Natick, Massachusetts has this latest project that attempts to create what our soldiers might carry into the battlefield of tomorrow.

The future combat suits are mechanical exoskeletons which can provide the wearer superhuman strength and endurance. They are planning to use drugs and prosthetics to boost the brain function of the soldiers and have artificially intelligent "digital buddies" at their beck and call, according to the U.S. Army's Future Soldier Initiative.

These “digital buddies” are paired with each soldier. They can be considered as personal intelligent agents or sidekicks. These programs could sift through information to alert soldiers to vital details. It can provide reminders as memory joggers and even monitor levels of ammunition and other supplies for automated calls for resupply. It can also communicate with other "digital buddies" to better weave soldiers into teams, and even adapt to an individual soldier's personality, strengths and weaknesses.

Click here to read more about Future Soldiers, Future Combat Suits, Digital Buddies.

DRIVSCO

Florentin Wörgötter and his colleagues have now created a prototype vehicle which can actually learn how to drive. DRIVSCO, which is an EU-funded research program, is a system that follows a driver’s every move then matches those actions with what it “sees” down the road and then learns how that driver usually handles the situation such as upcoming curves or other vehicles ahead.

“What we wanted was a system that learns to drive during the day by correlating what it sees with the actions a driver takes, then at night the system could say, ‘Slow down, a curve is coming up!’ – a curve the human didn’t see. Now we have a prototype that does this.”, says Wörgötter.

The prototype has infrared headlights, stereo cameras, and advanced visual processing the system which enables it to see better at night than the human eyes can. With these features, it can provide early warnings of danger to a human driver that he had not yet seen or reacted to.

Click here to read more about DRIVSCO.

Self-Assembling Computer Chip

To create archetypes of tiny posts on a silicon chip, Karl Berggren, the Emanuel E. Landsman Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Caroline Ross’s, the Toyota Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, method is to use electron-beam lithography sparingly. Specially designed polymers are then deposited on the chip. The polymers automatically fasten up and arrange themselves into useful patterns.

“It’s like the difference between writing by hand and printing a page all at once,” says Berggren and Ross. In their attempts to set apart themselves, the distinct types of polymer chain classify themselves into predictable patterns. By altering the length of the chains, the proportions of the two polymers, and the shape and location of the silicon hitching posts, Ross, Berggren, and their colleagues were able to produce a wide range of patterns useful in circuit design.

But the use of electron-beam lithography is much more expensive than the conventional optical lithography.

Click here to read more about Self-Assembling Computer Chips, Artificial Intelligence.

X-ray Full Body Scanners Back Scatter Detection System only show an outline of your body

After the attempted bombing incident of an airplane flying to Detroit last year in December, more American airline fares can anticipate to undergo a more sophisticated bomb detection system than metal detector units at security channels.

450 X-ray full body backscatter scanners are said to be installed in American Airports this month. The U.S. Congress has specifically allocated funds for this detection system that reveals metal objects concealed under garments.

These X-ray scanners, according to Joe Reiss, vice president of marketing at the American Science and Engineering (AS&E), in Billerica, Mass., which manufactures SmartCheck X-ray backscatter scanners, only shows the outline of the passenger's body, no more than that, as contrary to what rumors say.

These devices releases a tiny amount of ionized radiation less than 0.1 microsievert, which is equivalent to less than 10 microrem.

And a spokesperson from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Sarah Horowitz confirmed that the radiation level is safe for all ages, but airline passengers will still have the option to be patted down instead.

Click here to read more about X-ray Full Body Scanners, Backscatter Detection System