New 4D Camera Designed by Stanford Researchers

Stanford researchers created a new camera to enhance virtual reality and robot vision

Robotics is advancing at a frantic pace and Stanford researchers giving it a new push by bringing such a technology which can play a remarkable role in its future. A new 4D camera has been built by the researchers which have the ability as the name suggests generating four dimensional images. Furthermore this camera can even capture images in 140 degrees which is unbelievable and one of a kind in itself. This camera will find its way in the robots in upcoming days where it will help them in airborne package deliveries by offering a remarkable view of surroundings.

Camera designed specifically with robots in mind

This 4 D camera has been developed by the team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego. This camera is designed with robots in minds therefore it comes loaded with some exquisite features like wider field of view, light weight and single lens rather the multiple lens used in the modern consumer electronics.

This camera will be showcased at the upcoming computer vision conference called CVPR 2017. Researchers had stressed the current demand of the robotics are quite heavy on the robots wherein they are required move around and gather information from different perspectives in order to understand the varied aspects of the environment.

This camera will help robots in gathering large amount of the information from a single image like never before.Researchers believe that this camera will find wider application in the autonomous vehicles along with the ever growing augmented and virtual reality technologies.

Desirable features for the robotics

If robotics and wearable technologies want to grow by leap and bounds then this new 4D camera will be a boon for them. It has some of the most desirable features like detailed depth information, wider field of view and ability to be manufactured in any shape or size. This would give a great boost of the imagining system incorporated in the robotics, augmented and virtual reality as well as the wearables.


When compared to the conventional cameras, the images taken from the 4 D camera offers a refreshing perspective of looking through a ‘window’ rather than a ‘peephole’. In normal 2D images users can move their head to gain more information but the images taken from this camera allows users to identify features such as shape, brightness, transparency and much more.

The best thing about this 4 D camera is that it can also function as the modern conventional camera at far distances. A unique feature about this camera is that it can enhance the close up images to a great extent which means it can be used for a really wide variety of tasks and operations like it can used in the small robots which tends to navigate small areas in the landing drones or self-driving vehicles.

 Its other characteristic of offering incredible depth information will come in handy in the augments and virtual reality system wherein it will be help in seamlessly rendering real scenes. It will also bring support for better amalgamation between the actual scenes as well as the virtual components in an efficient fashion.

Ways To Improve The Readability Of Technical Code And Avoid Falling Into Debt

There are multiple types of technical debt available, and each comes with some handy solutions. Depending on the type of core problem condition, the solutions are going to vary accordingly. One of the biggest types has to be associated with poor readability. There are loads of codes, which are written around for 5, 10 or even for 20 years. And those are to be maintained at a continuous rate and changed throughout the chosen time. The size of code, with growth, will try to make maintenance harder with passing time. It is important to make code readable, which is easier for changing or modifying later.

Ways to improve readability

There are multiple ways, which can help you to improve readability. It is important for you to know more about the ways, which can help in this segment and offer you with great response now. For the right step, you can even check on taking help from another set of eyes. Team members are likely to have developers, who will read the code. That will ensure that everyone can understand it well, and that will not help in creating any problem later. If other members can read your code, then other developers will be able to do the same.

Try following other norms

Apart from following the option of letting others read your code, there are some other ways available to maintain readability and improve the same. You can even try to break it in the best manner possible for easy readability. You are always invited to break codes into virtual modules for help. To work on that, it is mandatory to know the points. And to know the points, you can visit here for better response. For breaking the virtual modules, you can use comments, which can explain the intention of developers. It will help people to know more about next code piece too.

Check on the common issues

There are so many other ways and steps to perform to get readability of code checked and present you with long lasting responses. You can always choose to work on common codes for help. It is mandatory for you to use common and well-known practices for the codes. That will help the future developers to work comfortably on reading code. It can work wonder for your code and can prevent technical debt from hampering the condition of your firm, as well. Loads of options are waiting for your help now.

Avoid keeping secrets

You are asked to avoid keeping secrets, while working on technical codes. You are always asked to use some intention revealing names, associated with methods, variables and even classes to some of the self-document services. These are some of the important points to follow, while trying to improve the readability of the code and avoid falling into technical debt. So, the next time you face any of these problems, you know just the right steps to take for impeccable help. If you need any help, experts are more than happy to offer you with the same too.

Climbing Stairs Just Got Easier with Energy-Recycling Steps

Scientists make it easier to climb stairs with new age energy recycling steps

If you have trouble walking up and down stairs then researchers from Georgia Tech has a device meant just for you. They had been successful at making the world’s first energy recycling stairs which has the unique features of storing as well as returning the energy to the users while moving up and down the stairs. The working of this device is quite simple and right to the point which makes it easier for anyone to make use of it.

It has been found that this spring loaded stairs results in saving energy by 26 percent while going up or down the stairs. When some goes up using this device then it releases the stored energy and in the process it makes it 39 percent easier for the subject to move up the stairs. It also remains soft on the knees and seriously limits the amount of energy which is usually wasted while using the conventional stair cases. The best thing about this device is that it can be easily placed on the existing stairs without the need of even installing it permanently.

How this stairs works? 

The working of this energy recycling device has been defined by Karen Liu, an associate professor AT Georgia Tech. She explains that normal walking usually results dissipating energy with each heel strike which can be easily store and utilized in the ascent using this device. In order to achieve this functionality each stair is made up of springs which are equipped with pressure sensors. When a user walks downstairs the steps sinks and lock in a certain position which helps in storing the generated energy and when someone walks upstairs then this stored energy is released. Researchers are going to publish their findings in the journal called Public Library of Science PLOS ONE.

A simple idea with wider future application of Energy Recycling

 

The idea behind this device came to Liu when she attended a conference and got to see a unique ankle brace which effectively works on the basis on storing and releasing the energy. Secondly she also saw her 72 year old mother having grave walking difficulty and problems associated with climbing the steps. Thereon she got the idea of creating smart stairs rather than the sneakers.

Her device is extremely low cost which means wider number of people suffering from the knee and walking issues will be able to buy it. This energy recycling stairs can be easily installed in the home which isn’t possible when it comes to having stair lifts or elevators at home.

It is also believed that this device will allow users to maintain their mobility by allowing them to keep walking and moving around even through injury and it will eventually help in elevating the quality of life in the long run. When it comes to application this energy recycling stairs can act as the temporary stars at home, hospitals or old age homes where older people or people recovering from surgery are spending their time.

Multiple Attributes And Basic Forms Of Technical Debt

When it comes to development cycle, there are multiple places, where you are likely to come across technical debt. It might create some problems in near future for the product, which you have been developing for so long. For tackle such problems with technical debt, it is important to know more about the things, which are associated with technical debt first. Later, you have to learn more about the steps, which will help you to identify such debt related options and ways to address the presence in system. These points are likely to act in your favor and offer you with impressive a rewarding help now for sure.

Comprises of multiple attributes: 

Technical debt is known to have multiple attributes. Each comes with its own sets of symptoms, which can be stated as signals for increasing level of current tech debt in system.The first one to talk to has to be implementation debt. This type of attribute helps in manifesting itself as proper code duplication. It can further talk about code smells and static forms of tool rules. Another one to follow has to be architectural and design debt. It can be seen through design rule and design small violations.

Other types of attributes: 

Test debt is another form of attribute covering the technical debt segment. This might be due to lack of tests, or can be a result of inadequate coverage. It can further be a result of improper tests in the current code base. Another type of attribute to work on has to be documentation debt. Here, you will come across multiple results like lack of documentation or even poor documentation to name a few. It can also be stated to confirm documentation, which is entirely out of date. For other details, you have to be aware of the values and features revolving around technical debt.

Multiple forms of debts: 

The points, which have already been mentioned, are some tell-take signs that technical debt is associated with the base of the code. However, there are multiple other forms of debt, which can be well-presented in such scenario. These debts largely vary in why and how the development team is incurring the term, which states technical debt. Working on these points is always a great option to learn more about the packages available in this sector. If you want to know more about the solutions, then you can log online for better and rewarding help now.

Going for the basic types: 

You will be able to solve technical debt, if you know more about basic types. For that, you can check online to learn the details. The first one has to be strategic debt. It is incurred for strategic purposes and debt is taken on long term. You can even get along with tactical debt, which is known for procuring quick gains and meant to be paid within a short period.Inadvertent debt is taken not knowingly due to lack of skill of developers and awareness on ways technical debt is well-incurred. Another one is incremental debt, which is continuous form of inadvertent debt.

There are many people in today’s time who are struggling with debt issues and are not finding a way to get out of it. Nor they are able to manage it well so that they can live a peaceful life. For such people debt consolidation loans are doing well as they are much effective. You can go for them and can make your life easy and stress free. Check them out and learn about them well before going for them.

Neural Networks Model Audience Reactions to Movies

Deep learning software models the audience reactions to the movies

Blockbusters and tentpole movies have become a mega event not just for the fans but also for the studios. A huge amount of money is stake when movie are released but for some time now movies are failing to get desired results as per the expectations of studio executives.

Engineers at the Disney Research had developed a new deep learning software which makes effective use of the neural networks to map and access the viewers’ facial expressions to the movies. This particular software is result of collaboration between Disney Research and researchers from the Caltech and Simon Fraser University.

This new age deep learning software will arm studios with the knowledge of how movies are going to perform on box office through utilizing a newly developed algorithm called factorized variational auto encoders (FVAEs).

How it works?

This software makes use of the deep learning to translate the images of highly complex objects automatically. These objects can be anything from the human face, forests, trees to moving objects and this software essentially turns their images into sets of numerical data through a process called encoding or latent representation.

Thereby they were able to understand how human react to the movies by understanding how much they are smiling or how worries they were in a particular scene and so on. In next stage these neural networks are fed with the metadata which helps in bringing better understanding of the audience responses.

Researchers are all set to showcase their findings to the world at the upcoming event called IEE Conference ion Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition in July.

Futures prospects and application of this new software

Research team has performed extensive testing of this software to make the best use of the neural networks to unlock how human perceive movies in real life. This software was applied in more than 150 showings of nine blockbusters ranging from The Jungles Book, Big Hero 6 to Stars Wars: The Force Awakens.

In the 400 seater cinema hall researchers made use of four infrared cameras to make out the audience face reactions in the dark. The result of these testing provided highly astonishing findings with the help of some 16 million individual facial images captured by the cameras.


Lead researcher has stressed the amount of data collected by the software is too much for a person to comprehend on its own. The FVAEs effectively understood the nueral networks and brought some of the greatest finding for the researchers. It helped in understanding how audience reacted to certain scenes and how movie making can be enhanced to strike cord with audience hot points.

This software will not be just limited to study the audience reaction to the movies but it can also find application in analyzing varied things or places like forest wherein it can state how trees responds to different climatic and environmental changes. Later on this very finding can be utilized in creating animated simulation of the flora all around us with precision.