RIDGED ROBOTS: Robots don't have fingerprints, but perhaps they should. Fingerprints not only allow us to grip better but do some signal processing too, letting us understand what it is we're touching. Researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed a robotic touch sensor covered with a ridged plastic sheet in the style of fingerprints. This allows the robot to identify the shape of an object being touched. We just can't get away from the models Nature provides, eh. Details at Technology Review.
FAST NOT FAR: Toyota's single-seater Ku:Rin test car can reach almost 130 km/h using only compressed air. The three-wheeler's tank was filled using a conventional air-conditioner compressor manufactured by Toyota. The speed's good, the compressed air is good, but the vehicle's range at the moment is a mere 3km. So you could rocket down to the shop for some milk, but forget the round town driving.
PhysOrg. More at physorg.com and video here.
CHANNEL SURFING: Researchers at the Münster University of Applied Sciences in Germany can figure out what channel you're watching on TV just by looking at your electricity meter, if it's a smart meter. Light and dark passages and volumes of data make an analysis possible. Unfortunately, for details you'll need to brush up your German to read their paper. Ha, two TV sets on different channels should deal to that
research. More details at H Security.
WATCH YOUR STEP: An international team of bioengineers say that the way we walk can be used as an accurate way to identify us. In tests with 104 people they reached an accuracy of 99.6%. Barefoot test subjects walked on a system of pressure-sensitive sensors that recorded timing and pressure from parts of the foot. They recorded around 100,000 pressure values for each single step, so had a lot of data to work with. Classification algorithms were able to extract the key data. Ah, but shoes will confound everything. Wired has more.
WATER CLEANER: More than 10 per cent of people in the world don't have ready access to clean water. An organisation called Sarvajal has a new approach to dealing with that problem in India: solar-powered ATMs that dispense water. Local franchisees collect water for the ATM. The ATM treats the water with reverse osmosis and ultraviolet rays and feeds back quality and system information to base. Members of the local community can then buy the water from the ATM with a prepaid card they recharge via cellphone. The idea seems to be working, as the franchise network is growing fast. That's a way better idea than feeding money into a machine to get out water bottled in single-use plastic and shipped around the world. Read more at Fast Company.
