Robot deer will be used to help catch poachers

That deer you take aim at this fall might not actually be a deer.

Not if you’re inclined to do your shooting illegally, anyway.

Regional Pennsylvania Game Commission officers are going to be working with a new robotic deer —– a realistic-looking mechanical decoy whose head and tail move — to catch would-be poachers this year, courtesy of some local sportsmen.

The PA National Pike Branch of the Quality Deer Management Association purchased the $1,650 deer decoy for use by the commission. Members will present it to the agency at their banquet, set for Sept. 13 in Belle Vernon.

It’s a way of giving back to the sport while also protecting honest sportsmen and the increasingly large bucks being produced by antler restrictions, said chapter officer Jason Beck of Monessen.

“We’re seeing more nice deer out there than ever before. Some people try to take advantage of that the right way, and unfortunately, some feel the need to go about it the wrong way. We don’t want honest sportsmen to suffer for that,” Beck said.

The commission has another robo-deer in use. It works when used in specific circumstances, said Tom Fazi, information and education supervisor for the commission in Bolivar.

“Every officer in the region has problem roads where they habitually see a lot of road hunting. That’s where these get used,” Fazi said.

Officers can use “facsimiles,” as they’re referred to in the law, to nab poachers without fear of anyone crying entrapment, added Doug Bergman, wildlife conservation officer in northern Fayette County. They’re set up so that only people looking to take deer illegally end up shooting at them.

“We don’t just take them out and stick them in plain view in the middle of a field. Someone has to be looking for them to see them,” he said.

Officers throughout the region will share the robo deer.

“Sometimes, that’s how we get that kind of equipment, when a sportsmen’s club decides it’s had enough and donates something like that,” Bergman said.

Beck said the chapter is always looking to do more for the outdoor sports, whether that be helping with a youth day, signing up cooperators for the Hunters Sharing the Harvest program or doing habitat work on a game lands. That will continue, he said, with plans perhaps to provide the commission with surveillance cameras.

“We’re trying to keep being as much of a ball of fire as we can,” Beck said.

Source: Tribliv
e

 

Linda the Robot, Not Just a Giant Chess Piece: Could Help with Security and Nursing Home Assistance

The future is here, and it’s filled with robots! Here at MM we are always covering the latest about government robots, noodle making robots and anything in between. Now comes Linda, a robot that could take security and elderly care to a new level.Wait… Security and elderly care? An interesting combination of uses, right? The $38k+ robot is designed to patrol areas effectively, sweeping rooms, checking for unusual activity and so forth.

Linda could also be an important help when it comes to alerting nurses and caregivers when an elderly patient falls or even for escorting them to appointments or simply acting a messenger between nurses and patients.

This giant chess piece — err, robot – might not have any arms and legs but it does have eyes (robotic ones of course…). But why can’t nurses and traditional security guards do the job that Linda is designed for?

First, because robots are just that cool and we gotta have em’. Second, because nurses are busy folks and have tons of things to do, so this could help them more effectively do their job. As for security guards, well, as robot pricing drops, Linda could prove cheaper for businesses to utilize (sorry, security guards!).

You might be wondering though, how does Linda know the difference between a fallen patient and just some large random object on the floor? A £7m (nearly $11m) EU-funded project is being conducted by six universities in Britain and abroad to tackle this problem.

The STRANDS project (Spatio-Temporal Representations and Activities for Cognitive Control in Long-term Scenarios) hopes to program robots to learn about their environment, and to learn to recognize situations where they need to react or report on the problem. This means that robots like Linda may soon be able to better analyze such situations and even learn the environment that it is in, without any additional input or programming.

Source: Mobile Mag

 

Intelligent robot project aims at security and care applications

Funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework programme and led by Birmingham University, Dr Tom Duckett and Dr Marc Hanheide from Lincoln University’s School of Computer Science have been awarded £750,000 to help develop the software to process the volume of experiences the robots will encounter.

Dr Duckett, who is director of L-Cas, the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems Research, will lead the research on creating 4D maps (3D mapping over extended time periods) of the environment and investigate methods for detecting changes and unusual situations.

‘The idea is to create service robots that will work with people and learn from long-term experiences,’ he said in a statement. ‘What’s unusual about any environment depends on the context. In a security scenario a robot will be required to perform regular patrols and continually inspect its surroundings for variations from its normal experiences. Certain changes such as finding a person in a restricted area may indicate a security violation or a burglary. In a care home a robot will be required to act as an assistant for elderly patients, fetching and carrying things while also being alert to incidents such as people falling over.

‘It’s not just about developing a care home or security guard robot. We are trying to enable robots to learn from their long-term experience and their perception of how the environment unfolds in time. The technology will have many possible applications.’

As well as mapping the environment the robots will require capabilities for person detection, tracking and activity recognition. Dr Hanheide will lead the research on how the robots gather information about their surroundings, and use this knowledge to interact with human users.

Dr Hanheide said, ‘The main idea is to deploy robots that run for a long time so they have the chance to develop a common-sense attitude on how the world should be and be able to spot the deviations. The robots are curious to learn about the environment – they will see if something has changed and whether that’s a one-off or a regular occurrence. Our robots will be active for long periods in dynamic and changing environments.

‘Currently industry robots can run for 24 hours a day and are incredibly reliable in well-controlled environments, but they don’t use long-term experience to adjust or improve in any way. Cognitive robotics systems can learn and adapt, but most are used for just one experiment. We want to build a bridge between the two by creating robots that can run for long periods of time and also make use of life-long learning capabilities to adapt to the needs of different users.’

Source: The Engineer

 

Robot teddy bear beats daredevil Felix’s record skydive

Giant leap for teddy bear! A cuddly robot bear controlled by a computer has beaten daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydiving jump.

With the help of a weather balloon, the bear named Babbage climbed to an estimated height of 39,000m before tumbling back to Earth.

Baumgartner made the furthest free-fall in October 2012, from a balloon almost 39km high and now the bear called Babbage has leapt from a similar height.

The low-cost micro-computer inside Babbage transmitted its position and shot stills and video throughout the flight and descent, ‘BBC News’ reported.

Babbage is a creation of high-altitude ballooning enthusiast Dave Akerman, who has used the Raspberry Pi as the control centre on other flights.

The launch site was a field near Akerman’s home north of Newbury, in Berkshire UK.

Babbage drifted south-west during its flight and rose to a height of just over 39km – slightly higher than Baumgartner’s record of 38,969m, the report said.

Akerman made a cradle that Babbage sat on during the flight that was equipped with another camera that shot pictures similar to those clicked over the shoulder of Baumgartner before he jumped.

The Raspberry Pi inside the bear and his cradle switched from stills to video to record the moment when the toy fell off the cradle and started its descent.

Akerman said the whole flight had gone “brilliantly”.

“It released on time at just above 39km,” he said, adding that a firing mechanism on the balloon was set to trigger just above that altitude.

Source: Business Standard

 

Parallax Innovations unveils CT Sabre, the only commercial

London, Ontario, August 27, 2013 – The Parallax Innovations CT Sabre™ is a six-degree of freedom robotically-controlled micro-positioner for pre-clinical biomedical research. Guided by either live fluoroscopic x-ray feedback or retrospective 3D CT image reconstructions the CT Sabre™ allows better than 200 µm positioning of a variety of user selected tools. There is no need to reposition the animal between acquisition and interventions. All functions can be performed inside the micro-CT bore.

Parallax Innovations and the Centre for Imaging Technology Commercialization (CIMTEC)will be demonstrating the CT Sabre™ in booth #312 at the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC) in Savannah, Georgia from September 18-21.

“The CT Sabre™ has the potential to significantly impact biomedical research,” says Del Archer, co-founder and co-owner of Parallax Innovations. “Given that imaging of small animals now plays a key role in interventional research, the addition of safe, effective interventions is an invaluable combination that enables serial, non-destructive testing of animals.”

Hardware for the device was developed by mechanical engineers at CIMTEC with software developed by Parallax Innovations.

Its accuracy and repeatability is unparalleled:

·         Targeting accuracy is 200 µm

·         Repeatability is 50 µm

And, its impressive range of motion includes:

·         185º in the roll plane, perpendicular to the x-ray beam

·         57º in the pitch plane

·         7.3 mm range for the needle, including various attachments

·         x, y, z range is 10.6 mm, 12.1 mm and 25.0 mm respectively

“The CT Sabre™ has allowed us to perform experiments with a degree of precision and accuracy we’ve never been able to achieve before”, says Dr. David Jaffray, Head of Radiation Physics, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at University Health Network. “The ability to localize our measurement probes and target tumor sub-regions is invaluable. The device is opening up new applications, allowing us to do things we previously couldn’t do. The full potential of the CT Sabre™ has yet to be explored, but we see it as an important tool in our lab.”

Visit www.parallax-innovations.com to see videos highlighting the capabilities of the CT Sabre™.

Parallax Innovations, Inc.

Parallax Innovations Inc. is a consulting, solutions, and products provider focused on the preclinical imaging sector. It has 20+ years of experience working with imaging companies including EVS, Amersham, GE Healthcare, Gamma Medica and Trifoil Imaging.

For more information, visit www.parallax-innovations.com

Centre for Imaging Technology Commercialization (CIMTEC)

CIMTEC was created to facilitate the commercialization of world-leading medical imaging technology.

Mission

To enable and accelerate commercialization of medical imaging innovations ensuring that Canada’s investment in imaging technology translates into economic growth and job creation.

Vision

To be the driving force in the advancement and growth of the Canadian medical imaging technology sector, and to ultimately create better health outcomes for Canadians and people around the world.

Goals

Support Researchers and Companies:Provide researchers and small to medium-sized imaging enterprises (SMEs) with critical expertise, technical capabilities and infrastructure to allow them to grow and create Canadian high-tech jobs and economic growth.

Promote Commercialization:Cultivate new strategic partnerships and investments to enable research investments to become commercial products thus increasing economic growth and job creation.

Advanced Training:Create knowledge and skill advancement opportunities and produce highly-qualified people with commercialization expertise.

Improving Human Health:Improve understanding, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

For more information, visit www.cimtec-canada.ca

Contact:

Del Archer
Parallax Innovations, Inc.
Co-Founder/Co-Owner
darc…@parallax-innovations.com
519-914-5445 ext. 2
Cell: 519-914-5447

Darlene Pratt
Centre for Imaging Technology Commercialization
Director of Marketing Communications
darl…@cimtec-canada.ca
519-858-5013 ext. 25324
Toll free: 1-855-853-5155 ext. 25324

Source: CIMTEC-Canada

 

Rethink Robotics Baxter. ONExia Customer Success Story (Rodon Group)

Onexia’s customer, The Rodon Group, one of the largest family-owned and operated plastic injection molders in the U.S., has added a Baxter robot to their factory floor in Hatfield, PA. Watch how various Rodon employees view and use Baxter, their robotic manufacturing assistant and co-worker.

Source: OnexiaInc

New surgical tool may help sleep apnea sufferers, Wayne State University researcher finds

DETROIT — A Wayne State University researcher’s innovative use of a new tool may make surgery a more viable option for sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).

Ho-Sheng Lin, M.D., a fellow with the American College of Surgeons and professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery in the School of Medicine and Karmanos Cancer Institute, reported promising results in the July issue of The Laryngoscope, for treating sleep apnea using transoral robotic surgery (TORS), a technique whose safety and tolerability have recently been established for removing cancerous tumors in the back of the throat.

Patients with OSAHS typically are treated with positive airway pressure (PAP), which is extremely safe and often effective. However, not all OSAHS patients can tolerate PAP, which involves wearing a mask during sleep that forces the airway open so they can continue breathing without interruption.

For patients who cannot tolerate PAP, surgery may be a viable alternative.  A common procedure, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), targets the obstruction at the level of the soft palate, but has only been found to be effective in less than 50 percent of cases.

Lin, who also is chief of the otolaryngology section in the surgery department at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, said the less-than-optimal result from UPPP is not surprising.  In patients with OSAHS, obstruction of air flow can occur at multiple levels of the throat; UPPP only addresses blockage at the soft palate level.

“In order to be maximally effective, the surgeon must evaluate each patient individually to identify the exact site or sites of airway obstruction and then direct the surgical treatments to address those obstructions,” Lin said.

Obstruction at the back of the tongue (BOT) can play a significant role in sleep apnea.  Traditionally, surgical treatment of BOT blockage has been challenging because it’s hard for doctors to see and operate in that region.

Using a robotic device called the da Vinci Surgical System, Lin can now gain improved access to the BOT region to safely and precisely remove the excessive tissue causing airway obstruction. In this study, he reported on the outcome of 12 patients — nine women and three men — who underwent BOT resection via TORS.  They were selected for analysis because they underwent removal of excessive BOT tissue and nothing else.

Two prior studies, one from Europe and another from the United States, also looked at treatment outcome following TORS-assisted BOT surgery in sleep apnea patients.  However, in those studies, the BOT surgery was done in conjunction with other upper-airway surgeries, making it difficult to assess the effectiveness of the BOT procedure alone.  Because all patients in Lin’s study underwent only BOT surgery, it is the first to look at the effectiveness of only the TORS-assisted BOT resection.

“Despite undergoing only the BOT procedure, our patients’ surgical outcomes appeared similar to those who underwent BOT in addition to other upper-airway surgeries,” Lin said.

Significant improvements were seen in the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 75 percent of patients. AHI assesses the severity of sleep apnea based on the total number of complete cessations (apnea) and partial obstructions (hypopnea) of breathing occurring per hour of sleep.  Even the other 25 percent saw improvements in their condition, Lin said, with some now better able to tolerate PAP treatments.

Although his study results appear promising, Lin said because of the unique nature of each OSAHS sufferer, as well as his necessarily small sample size, more work is needed with larger groups in order to further assess the efficacy of TORS-assisted BOT, with an eye toward developing standardized criteria as to which patients would benefit from it most.

“The procedure we have focused on is not a cure-all, and its use is still in its infancy,” Lin said. “But surgeons now have a new, safe and precise technique to add to their OSAHS treatment options.”

# # #

Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research institutions in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visithttp://www.research.wayne.edu.

Source: Wayne State University