New steps in surgery – Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery

By Damir Beciri
10 September 2009

dlr-mirosurgeConventional minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is per­formed through small incisions in the patient’s skin, pre­serving healthy tissue. The surgeon works with long slender instruments, and is separated from the operation area. This arrangement challenges the surgeon’s skills due to lost hand-eye-coordination and missing direct manual con­tact to the operation area. Therefore, many sophisticated procedures cannot… »

ASIMO can recognize three speakers simultaneously

By Damir Beciri
8 September 2009

asimoIn one of our previous articles we started to cover the features of ASIMO – one of the most advanced humanoid robots of today. Besides footsteps planning, ASIMO can understand three humans speaking simultaneously (to some degree). Hiroshi Okuno at Kyoto University, and Kazuhiro Nakadai at the Honda Research Institute in Saitama, both in Japan,… »

Green architecture – Charles Hostler Student Center in Beirut

By Damir Beciri
6 September 2009

charles-hostler-student-center2In this article we’re going to describe another great architectural achievement made for educational purpose. The Charles Hostler Student Center is in the campus of the American University of Beirut, and it provides a model for environmentally responsive design that meets the social needs of the campus and the larger region. It offers competitive and… »

Biomimicry of clams for more efficient anchors

By Damir Beciri
5 September 2009

roboclam-2Another great example of bio-mimetic robots is a solution many mariners, oil outfits, and the military have big hopes for. RoboClam, designed at the MIT, is meant to become the first “smart” anchor, a major departure from the prosaic piece of nautical gear that hasn’t changed much in centuries. Its present diminutive size is just… »

Hull Bio-mimetic Underwater Grooming (Hull BUG)

By Damir Beciri
3 September 2009

hull-bugAs researchers around the world work to uncover new materials to combat marine biofouling, the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) is supporting the development of novel approaches that are proving to be effective at biofouling prevention. In fact, the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Carderock (NSWCCD) estimates that biofouling reduces vessel speed by up… »

Wireless electricity – WiTricity resonant energy transfer

By Damir Beciri
3 Comments2 September 2009

witricity1Wireless power has been available for a century, ever since Nikola Tesla worked on its development. The genius’s Wardenclyffe Tower was to be an experiment in beaming electricity wirelessly across the world, eliminating the need for a wired power grid. Since then, wireless electricity has been developed mainly for usage at short distance and for… »

Green architecture – NASA’s Sustainability Base

By Damir Beciri
One Comment30 August 2009

nasa-sustainable-building-1The guys from NASA decided to work on green projects in order to set an example to other agencies around the world. After so many resources used for their missions, this is one of their first right steps. They decided to use their lunar base sustainable technology in order to make an environmentally friendly building… »

Live 3D teleconferencing from USC ICT

By Rob Aid
One Comment28 August 2009

3d-display-3d-conferenceThe potential utility of three-dimensional video teleconferencing has been dramatized in movies such as Forbidden Planet or the Star Wars. There were many tries to establish this technology but most failed at some point. A recent demonstration by CNN showed television viewers the full body of a remote correspondent transmitted “holographically” to the news studio,… »