IBM CIMON: IBM Ships Robotic Head to the International Space Station

IBM gets into the delivery of equipment to International Space station

International Space Station needs a consistent of supply of essential equipment and food supplies from the earth. Earlier Elon Musk’s SpaceX played a vital role in delivering supplies to the ISS but now even IBM is in the same fray. IBM is aiming towards delivering a very unusual eleven pound robot head to the International Space Station using a device called IBM Cimon or the Crew Interactive Mobile Companion.

All you need to know about IBM Cimon

 

IBM Cimon is powered by company's popular supercomputer Watson. But IBM is utilizing it in a different manner which enables to embark on a unique mission to the International Space Station. Earlier IBM has used the Watson technology to run a number of crystal experiments as well as solving the Rubik's Cube. IBM is working closely with a German Astronaut named Alexander Gerst in order to use the IBM Cimon to perform variety of tasks like conducting complex medical experiment just using the on-board camera.

IBM Cimon isn't just every tech piece rather the company wishes to establish it as a reliable companion for the astronaut in the space which can do a number of tasks on its own or with little guidance from the astronauts. With IBM Cimon astronauts will be able to get a number of prescribed tasks done with effortless co-ordination on the space station. Secondly IBM Cimon will also act as a safetyimprovement device by giving out timely warning of any impending failure. It will be smart and intuitive enough to find the failure even before it is shown on the astronauts control boards.

IBM Cimon learns and improves on its own

As IBM Cimon is backed with the AI technology this device can literally act as the first space assistant which will be beneficial for the astronauts working on the International Space Station.The use of technology in IBM Cimon allows it to possess speech, text and other image processing capabilities. Secondly it will be smart enough to retrieve certain specific information and finding when needed to offer valuable insight in time of need. Thirdly astronauts will be able to teach a number of skills to the IBM Cimon individually thereby enhancing it application.

IBM is essentially making use of the Watson speech and vision technologies in order to make CIMON recognize and understand the different voice sample with perfection. Visual Recognition of Watson is employed to understand as well as learn the construction of plans of the Columbus module of the International Space Station.

As IBM Cimon will be deployed at the International Space Station it is necessary that it understand its layout so it can move around with ease and simplicity. Astronauts have even taught him a number of procedures which is ought tobe carried out by him in connection with the on-board experiments. IBM Cimon shows that the science fiction wouldn't be a fiction anymore as we move towards creating intelligent robots to assist astronauts in space.

Porsche Could Build Flying Cars, Says Sales Chief

Porsche Sales Chief Claims That They Can Build Flying Taxis

Flying cars may soon become a reality rather than staple feature of science fiction literature sand entertainment shows. Porsche is gearing towards bringing flying cars to consumers in a bid to shake up the automobile industry. It will soon be joining a group of companies to come with reliable designs of the flying cars. After the success of the electric cars spurred by the Tesla most of the automobile are simply looking forward to bring a definite shift in the traditional transport arena by doing with the conventional cars with self-driving vehicles and flying cars.

Porsche flying car reducing the commuting time

Uber has already started the trial of the self-driving vehicle which will effectively work as a taxi through it very own ride hailing app. It wouldn’t need a driver as the name suggests which will help in saving on the internal space ad get more people board the car at the same time. Porsche is thinking about lowering the commuting time drastically with the launch of the flying cars. Porsche official stated that at the moment it takes 30 minutes to reach the Stuttgart airport from the Porsche plant in Zuffenhansen but flying cars easily reduce the duration to just three and half minutes.

Similarly Volkswagen is also in the fray to come with a reliable and first flying car for the masses. It has collaborated with the famed auto designer Ital design and Airbus to come with a working prototype of the Geneva auto show. This car is tentatively titled Pop.Up and it happens to be a two-seater vehicle designed with ability to avoid the gridlocks present on the city roads.

Here comes the competition for flying cars

Porche isn't the only one with the aim of bringing flying cars to fruition and launching it for the masses in upcoming days. At recently started Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland automobile manufacturer are showcasing their attempt at creating the flying cars. One such notable flying car is PAL-V Liberty which happens to be most robust aero car to be displayed in the show.

The good thing is that it does look like a car rather than being a skirmish between a car and airplane. Its design feels quite suited for the super special racing circuit than the usual roads it is planned to play upon. It boasts of two side-by-side right in the front along with the unique tricycle design and a rotor isplaced right at the top which unmounts when the need arises.

Porsche flying car will not be completely automated rather it will offer certain amount of control over itself to the commuters. But passengers aren’t required to get a pilot license in order to take trips in the flying cars because the major aspects of the flying will be taken care of the automated features. Porsche is certainly feeling the heat of the competitors with similar ideas and prototypes in work for the ultimate flying car which will be launching by the mid 2020’s.

Google Embrace the eSim Technology with Its New Pixel 2 Devices

eSim is all set to become the new standard in the mobile industry and t is being actively promoted by the GSMA which is an association of the popular network operators in the world. As the name suggest the eSim will come in form of the integrated SIM chop which certainly can’t be removed from the device. This move is also appreciated by the consumer electronics manufacturers as they wish to give a major push to the connected device with their very own Internet of Things devices. Google happens to be first to adopt the built in eSim technology with its Pixel 2 devices.

Advantage of having eSim in Google mobile devices

Google will be making use of the eSim in order to authenticate the cellular account. But it will be applicable for those consumers who are active Project Fi subscriber under the Google. It is worth noting that no other Smartphone in the history has made use of the eSim standard every on the planet. For the time being this technology is only being reserved for the LTE equipped devices like Smartphones, tablets and SmartWatches apart from few wearable gadgets.

With new Pixel devices users will get the option to make use of the eSim by simply connecting it to the Fi network. Upon powering up the device users are simply required to give a tap on the SIM free option during the setup and Google will take care of rest of the process to ensure you get the necessary operator coverage on your device.

How it works? 

The best thing about the eSim is that the information placed on it is compliant and can easily be rewritten by any operator. A user will be able to change the operator by placing a simple phone call. There is no need to get a new SIM or any kind of unwanted delay in switching the eSim on purpose. In order words there are simply now physical swapping of SIM cards are required by the user when they change the operator.

This is the usability advantage of the eSim. Secondly, it allows the Smartphone manufacturer to go for the revolutionary smaller Smartphone design. Because they are no longer needed to place the SIM card tray in the devices and it will be certainly quite beneficial for the wearable products in the long run.

Google isn’t the only one to bring products with eSim technology as Apple and Samsung are in talks with a number of major network providers globally to adopt this technology. Samsung has also started using the GSM enabled eSim on the Gear S2 Classic 3g device similarly Apple has went ahead and brought the eSim on the Apple Watch Series 3. Esim is not bringing a wide range of advantages to the device manufacturers but it is also bringing the similar advantages to the user as well. In future we are likely to see Smartphone more compact and smaller in footprint with the adoption of eSim technology.

Metalens: Breakthrough Seen in Artificial Eye and Muscle Technology

Metalens the new human eye?

Researchers may have just found a new version of electronic eye that behaves much like a human eye. This flat electronically controlled artificial eye known as a metalens can autocorrect for blurry vision, giving it a host of uses in various industries be it Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, in optical microscopes and so on.

By taking a cue from the human eye and its functioning, researchers have made an adaptive metalens that can control the main reasons for blurry vision, which are astigmatism, image shift and focus. While the former two is well out of control of the human eye in correcting on its own, the latter can be taken care of by the functioning of the human eye. Therefore metalens even goes beyond what a normal human eye can do.

What is a Metalens? 

Inspired by a human eye, researchers came up with a flat electronic artificial eye come to be known as a metalens. The Metalens can autocorrect for blurry images caused by focus, image shift and astigmatism.

Combining breakthrough tech in artificial muscle technology and meta lens technology, researchers have devised an artificial electronic eye that is a meta lens that can focus on images in real time much like the human eye does. Going even further than the human eye, a metalens can even correct for astigmatism and image shift that the normal human eye cannot do on its own.
Applicability of Metalens Technology:

Because of the feasibility of the project, metalens can be used in a host of applications such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Optical Microscopes that can work electronically without the need to refocus or adjust, mobile cellphones, cameras and a host of other applications as well.

While being used in these fields, ametalens is capable of auto correcting blurry vision caused by a number of factors simultaneously.

How is a Metalens made?

A metalens focuses light and gets rid of spherical aberrations by using a dense layer of nanostructures which are smaller than a wavelength of light.

Researchers first developed a metalens which was the size of a single piece of glitter. In order to be used for commercial applications the size of a metalens had to be scaled up. Since each metalens has a lot of information pertaining to it, increasing the size of the metalens from 100 microns to a centimeter sized lens, increases the information relating to it by more than 10,000 times the original metalens. This leads to a file size of gigabytes or even tetrabytes of information pertaining to the design of a metalens.

In order to reduce the size of the file, researchers came up with an algorithm that is commonly used in fabricating integrated circuits. In making a metalens for commercial purposes would require the use of two industries, the semi-conductor industry that makes computer chips and the lens manufacturing industry.

Right now researchers have no plans in selling the intellectual rights of the metalens tech and are exploring avenues to bring the metalens to the manufacturing belt.

NASA Developing 3D Printable Tools to Help Analyse Biological Samples without Sending Them Back to Earth

NASA builds up 3D printable apparatus to help evaluate biological samples without transporting them back to our planet

To make possible astronauts on the ship the International Space Station (ISS) to study biological samples without transferring them back to our planet, NASA scientists, together with an of Indian scientist, are budding 3D printable apparatus that can hold liquids such as blood biological samples with no spill out into micro-gravity.

To understand, how to have an effect on team physical condition, how to formulate an enduring role to Mars furthermore afar, NASA told on 8 February. The innovative NASA’s mission, known as Omics in Space, plans to build up expertise to cram "omics" - in microbiology that are imperative to the health of humans. Omics comprises of exploration hooked on genome, microbiomes as well as proteomes.

NASA has by now deliberated omics by way of attempts such as the Microbial trailing 1 research that check up microbial multiplicity lying on the space station. However there is no method to route biological samples lying on the station, thus they enclose to be propel down to globe. It may possibly be months between the moment biological samples are taken as well as an examination is done, told Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA's (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and chief researcher meant for the Omics in Space mission.

He is a former pupil of Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu, told: This mission intends to widen an programmed structure meant for learn molecular biology by means of least team intercession.

This researcher proclaimed that this is one of the major achievements in microgravity. Astronauts amass a range of biological samples, takes account of their own saliva as well as blood, and microbes washed down from the hedges of the ISS. These biological samples could subsequently be jumble through water. Exclusive of the suitable apparatus, biological samples can dribble, glide or else structure air bubbles that could conciliate consequences.

Two years ago, NASA obtains a huge leap through progressive DNA hooked on space meant for the initial time. Astronauts make use of a small, hand-held succession utensil known as the MinION, founded by Oxford Nanopore Technologies. It is a corporation having its head office at Oxford, England.

NASA told the Space mission tactics to put up this sensation by means of budding a programmed DNA / RNA extractor that may put in order biological samples intended for a MinION apparatus. A significant component of this extractor is a 3D printable synthetic sealed unit required to haul out nucleic acids from the biological samples intended for the Minion progression.

Camilla Urbaniak, a Postdoctoral investigator on JPL in addition to co-investigator on Omics in Space, told this has been checked on our Planet. "We are obtaining what is on our planet to study DNA along with uniting the entire rung hooked on an programmed method," Urbaniak told. "What is innovative is a single stop store that could haul out and route the entire of these biological samples," Urbaniak said.