The Possibilities

[ThatGirl]

When I was teaching in the middle school computer lab, I kept the kids connected to MIT's web where students and profs share current research and developments. I introduced my youngest to it, and he's kept up. Some perspective on the next generation is apparent in that he doesn't find THIS development (below) quite as exciting as I do. To him, it's just "ordinary".  I LOVE these KIDS!

This current development by students at University of Pennsylvania, looks like it took a technology we saw developed at MIT, a few years back, while exploring sensory perception/robotics, and applied it to flight.  See how that works? Very exciting, to me anyway.

I have one thing to say about "this" development. Remember "Minority Report"?  WOW

I don't keep up with UPenn,  but I'm sure they have an R&D web to checkout as well, but there are so many MIT resources available to the public. This is where I found "Alice" years ago -(download it here), which uses 'scratch' language developed at MIT, and was created by Carnegie Mellon. Its a few years old now but it's a good application to explore programming in a 3D environment-FREE.  A Little about it here.

A few links if you're interested in exploring or keeping up with MITs research and comp sci:

http://www.csail.mit.edu/

http://web.mit.edu/research/topic/computer.html

anyway.....there's that

i get excited....Technology is DOG!

[lima]

:)

[lima]

I want one now.

[spacemonkey1310]

I want a squadron of those things and I want to control them with my iPhone!

[ThatGirl]

I was thinkin the same. DAMN I want a squadron! OR I dont want to be the "target" of a squadron ...

[ThatGirl]

Stand Still and be Identified!

Spider Robots


Minority Report

[BlancheNoE]

Hmmm. In 1984, on a beach in Panama City Florida, I looked up at a night sky and thought I was looking at a constellation. It was a huge (2 football fields long and wide) " W " seemingly made of stars. After about 2 seconds, the " stars " all split apart and "zoomed" out into space and were gone....so I wonder if this (your subject matter) explains that (the "W") or the other way around.

[ThatGirl]

@Amy- that is SO crazy. you just cant explain that away without an explanation and we're never getting one.  I had 2 similar experiences in Arizona years ago, kept getting told "its military experiments" probably was- or not- same thing, coordinated "craft" that then disa-frikkin-peared. Which came first? us or them? or are we them? are they us? we are one.. we are not alone ...this is getting too serious. Back to studying. Nice sci-fi break. and i thank You.

[NatureJunkie]

I see all kinds of amazing potential for installation art pieces with those. And they could be really cool delivery systems for small items needing to go small distances, like from ground to the cab of a construction crane, or into a cave where people are working, or from the forest floor up into the forest canopy.

But I see the video was posted on a site called Military.com. Unfortunately most of the practical applications being developed for those little robots are probably military in nature, I bet. I've always thought hearing military copters hovering over my home would be the scariest sound. But it might be rivaled by the sound of a swarm of those things coming after me.

[ThatGirl]

@NJ- the video was posted everywhere, I just chose this particular link, because of the higher resolution. I am always looking forward to methods of completing dangerous work being replaced by robotics, rather than seeing delicate human beings put at risk.  I always feel like we're behind the 8-Ball in that respect, spending too much money on KABOOM. I dont even understand why we still have human soldiers but that's another topic. This excited me as much as it alarmed me, because of course, the mil will be the first to utilize the technology, but perhaps to create a safer environment for soldiers...that's my hope anyway. The good news-At the same time, this concept is being applied in medicine, to potentially scout a body to identify cancer scout cells, and to deliver medication or destroy cancer cells. It always works this way, so I celebrate these developments everytime. We see the benefits in medicine almost everytime. Are you ready to swallow the camera or the nanobots to scout your body? I am...