What is Artificial Intelligence?

The first-ever anthropomimetic robot was developed for the main purpose of investigating machine consciousness through internal modeling.

Anthropomimetic is the science of developing bio-medically engineered robot that mimics the physiological and behavioral systems of humans. If humanoids are made to copy the human form, anthropomimetic copies the inner structures and mechanisms such as bones, joints, muscles, and tendons

The first anthropomimetic robot, ECCEROBOT is a three-year project funded by the 7th framework programme of the EU. This project is a spin-off of the CRONOS1 project conducted at the University of Essex.

ECCEROBOT stands for “Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot”. Interestingly, the robot's anatomy is designed to mimic the human body systems.

The robot's skeleton is a very detailed replicate of the human model, consisting of bones and joints formed out of thermoplastic polymorph (a caprolactone polymer) which when heated to only 60°C it softens and can be freely hand molded several times. It has a distinctive bone-like appearance when cold and can be reheated and remoulded as many times as necessary.

ECCEROBOT's subsystems include the actuator, sensor and the behavioral subsystems.

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A screenshot shows the Crisis in the Air challenge, which puts the student in the position of a co-pilot who needs to assess jet streams, water vapor imagery and computer models while trying to make a decision about an emergency landing. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Findings from a new study on the use of interactive animations in the college science classroom showed, interactive games supplemented learning helps retain a much better understanding of a scientific concept than those who don't.

Researchers Steve Ackerman, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and UW-Madison graduate student Tim Wagner conducted the study using an introductory meteorology course to 400 students as a crucible for testing the efficacy of short animations that can show such concepts as tracking hurricanes and ice bergs, heat transfer, and how rain or snow form in the atmosphere and other weather elements.

The animations are small computer programs called applets can be virtually interactive to adjust to real-world variables that may come into play as students learn.

In an assessment test, the students who used the animations showed better mastery of concepts included on the test.

"The students who used the applets performed much better on those questions," said Wagner.

The new findings by Wagner and Ackerman are essential to encourage educational institutions to integrate interactive teaching materials in the science classroom and how teachers and students alike can benefit from such method of teaching.

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airport security measures are strengthened through new intelligent system

An undergoing airport security system project, named HAMLeT, tracks down suspected terrorists-carrying hidden explosives through smell sensors in addition to surveillance cameras.

HAMLeT, which stands for Hazardous Material Localization and Person Tracking, will alert security personnel to suspicious individuals," says head of department Dr. Wolfgang Koch from the FKIE, Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics in Wachtberg.

The prototype was built in response to the increasing number of undetected suspicious individuals, going in and out of national airports carrying hidden explosives that are difficult to investigate especially during peak hours or seasons.

HAMLeT, highly sensitive smell sensors which consist of oscillating crystals on the sensor chips, and whenever chemical molecules are sniffed through the "electronic noses" their oscillation frequency changes. Oscillation frequencies are unique for a particular chemical or substance contained in an explosive.

The system also uses a second network - the sensor's data fusion function, that traces the explosive's trail and tracks down the carrier.

In a mock demonstration, HAMLeT proved effective in sniffing out hidden explosives and tracked down 5 "terrorists". Currently, the researchers are doing some refinements on the prototype's algorithms in order to reduce the false alarm rate.

Click here to read more about Artificial Intelligent System, HAMLeT, Smell Sensors to Sniff Terrorists.

tiny ant-like beads form short chains to carry objects inside a microchip

A collaboration of MIT, Boston University and German researchers has developed a new system that mimics the human body's cilia, to transport tiny objects inside a microchip.

The unnamed system uses superparamagnetic beads, tiny polymer beads which contain traces of magnetic material that as soon as a rotating magnetic field is applied, the beads attract big particles as they form short chains naturally.

The short chains soon start spinning, creating currents that can effectively carry big particles along with them to a particular direction the software guides them to.

As complex as the design would take, Alfredo Alexander-Katz, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and part of the research team is positive that "applications to creating a new kind of microfluidics chips could be achieved within a year or so" as they were able to create the base form of the system.

The new system uses the "virtual microfluidics" approach which will prove beneficial particularly to the biomedical field, where it could be used from biomedical screening to pollution monitoring applications.

Click here to read more about Superparamagnetic Beads, Virtual Microfluids and Microfluidic Chip.

an artistic illustration of molecular computing

A new and promising form of chemical computing made possible by lipid-forming characteristic of the human cells has recently begun.

This is a 1.8m-euro (£1.6m) project which will run for three years and funded by an EU emerging technologies program placing importance on biologically-inspired computing.

The project "Wet computer" also known as Chemical or Molecular computing is a form of computational model that mimics the characteristics of the human cells, particularly the brain cells called neurons.

As described by Dr. Klaus-Peter Zauner, project collaborator of the University of Southampton, "wet computer" takes advantage of the lipid-forming characteristic of stable "cells" that forms a coating spontaneously and uses chemistry to establish interactions among these cells similar to that of human neurons.

The project hinges on two critical ideas, says Dr. Zauner.

First, individual "cells" are encapsulated by the so-called lipids that spontaneously traps the liquid within the cell. And in a recent findings, interaction among these cells occur during collision of the lipids allowing chemical signaling molecules to pass.

Second, the cells' interiors will play host to what is known as a Belousov-Zhabotinsky or B-Z chemical reaction which can be initiated by changing the concentration of an element, say bromine by a certain threshold amount.

In essence, chemical computing will open up applications for controlling molecular robots, fine-grained control of chemical assembly, and intelligent drugs that process the chemical signals of the human body and act according to the local biochemical state of the cell.

Click here to learn more about "Wet Computer", Chemical or Molecular Computing.