MIT gurus use polyethylene to suck heat away from your next CPU
Man, MIT is making all of these other places of higher learning look silly. For what seems like the fortieth time this month, scientists at the university have revealed yet another breakthrough that might just change the way we compute in the future. Polyethylene, which is about as common a polymer as they come, could very well become a vital part of the way your next processor is cooled, as MIT boffins have figured out how to cause said polymer to “conduct heat very efficiently in just one direction, unlike metals, which conduct equally well in all directions.” If you’re still struggling to figure out why this matters, have a listen at this: “this may make the new material especially useful for applications where it is important to draw heat away from an object, such as a computer processor chip.” In fact, even Intel is taking notice of the development, though no one’s saying outright when exactly this stuff will leave the lab and hit Dell’s supply chain. There’s no time like the present, guys.
[Thanks, Kevin]
MIT gurus use polyethylene to suck heat away from your next CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: cooler, cooling, cpu, heat, heat-conducting, insulator, MIT, polyethylene, polymers, processor, research, science, university, waste heat, WasteHeat
MIT’s MeBot makes telerobotics fun again
We know how you feel. Sure, telerobotics has changed your life for the better, allowing to interact with people as if you’re really there, coasting through the halls of an institution of higher learning, dropping knowledge on anyone within shouting distance. But something’s missing. You aren’t happy, you aren’t free. MeBot, developed at MIT’s Personal Robotics Group and prepped for presentation at the Human-Robot Interaction conference in Osaka, Japan, looks to solve this. It adds movement to the equation, hoisting an OQO aloft for a head and adding in gesticulating arms to the equation. The idea is to allow the teleoperator to be more engaged through “head” and “arm” movements, with the arms being moved by handheld controls, and the head movement created by tracking the face of the operator. We could obviously conceive of a more elaborate representation, but the off the shelf components like the OQO brain seem worthy of commendation. Check out some video of the bot in action after the break.
Continue reading MIT’s MeBot makes telerobotics fun again
MIT’s MeBot makes telerobotics fun again originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: bot, mebot, MIT, oqo, personal robotics group, PersonalRoboticsGroup, telepresence, telerobotics
MIT jumps straight to wirelessly powering multiple devices
Ah, wireless power. One of those mythical mysteries that are far more likely to remain “something to strive for” rather than “the next big thing.” Oh sure, we’ve got Palm’s Touchstone and the Powermat, but until we can hang a 50-inch plasma from our bedroom ceiling and power it up without a single wire, we’ll remain firmly unsatisfied. Thankfully for those of us in that camp, MIT exists, and a few of the school’s best and brightest are toiling around the clock in order to develop a technology that would power not one, but multiple devices sans cabling. Thanks to the wonders of coupling resonance, we’re told that the “overall power transfer efficiency of the wireless system could be increased by powering multiple devices simultaneously, rather than each device individually.” In theory, the system could be implemented by “embedding a large copper coil in the wall or ceiling of a room,” but there’s obviously no set time frame for release. We’ll be looking for you geeks at CES next year, okay?
MIT jumps straight to wirelessly powering multiple devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: charge, charging, coupling resonance, CouplingResonance, discovery, electricity, energy, MIT, Physicist, power, research, science, university, wireless power, WirelessPower
MIT’s Flyfire paints images in the sky using micro helicopters, is apparently top-secret
Micro helicopters, the kind that fit in the palm of your hand (and sometimes spread holiday cheer) are huge fun — and hugely frustrating. Have you ever tried to get one to hover in place next to another? Impossible! MIT thinks it can do that, not with just two but thousands of the little beggars all hovering in harmony as part of a project called Flyfire. By using LED-equipped drones the project pledges to build free-floating 3D displays, endowing them with enough smarts and positional awareness to organize themselves into an airborne canvas. It sounds deliciously exciting and challenging, yet for some reason the school has decided you aren’t to know about it, pulling its concept video and website offline. We can only imagine there’s a government agency involved here, possibly trying to stem the virulent spread of robo-socialism, but we invite you to leave your own conspiracy theories in comments.
Update: You can take your tinfoil hats off, the site and the video are both back online! We have the goods embedded after the break.
MIT’s Flyfire paints images in the sky using micro helicopters, is apparently top-secret originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: 3d display, 3dDisplay, display, drone, flyfire, helicopter, MIT, rc helicopter, RcHelicopter
Germanium lasers offer ray of hope for optical computing
Bandwidth scarcity, is there any more pressing global issue that we’re faced with today? We think not. Given the exponential growth in both computing power and software’s exploitation and expectation of greater resources, it’s no surprise that at some point we’ll have to look beyond simple electrical currents as the transporters of our data. One bold step taken in that direction has been the demonstration of an operational germanium-on-silicon laser by researchers at MIT. By tweaking the electron count in germanium atoms with the help of some added phosphorous, they’ve been able to coax them into a photon-emitting state of being — something nobody thought possible with indirect bandgap semiconductors. Perhaps the best part of this is that germanium can be integrated relatively easily into current manufacturing processes, meaning that light-based internal communication within our computers is now at least a tiny bit closer to becoming a reality.
Germanium lasers offer ray of hope for optical computing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: bandgap, bandwidth, electronic materials research group, ElectronicMaterialsResearchGroup, germanium, germanium laser, GermaniumLaser, indirect bandgap, IndirectBandgap, laser, lasers, microphotonics, MIT, optical, optical computing, OpticalComputing, optics, phosphorous, phosphorous doping, PhosphorousDoping, research, semiconductor, semiconductors, university
The Cornucopia: MIT’s 3D food printer patiently awaits ‘the future’
The traditional fast food business model just never had a chance, now did it? Marcelo Coelho and Amit Zoran, a pair of whiz kids doing their thang over at MIT, have developed what very well may be the next major revolution in food preparation. It may also be the only machine that keeps you alive when the Robot Apocalypse goes down, but we’ll try to stuff that to the rear of our minds for now. Essentially, the Cornucopia concept is a 3D printer that precisely mixes foods and flavors from a number of canisters in order to produce something that’s edible (and supposedly close to what you ordered). Able to deliver “elaborate combinations of food,” the machine also has a rapid heating and cooling chamber that purportedly allows for “the creation of flavors and textures that would be completely unimaginable through other cooking techniques.” Color us skeptical, but we’re guessing these government-issued MREs probably taste just as good — guess we’ll find out for sure if the project ever gets its date with reality.
The Cornucopia: MIT’s 3D food printer patiently awaits ‘the future’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: 3d, 3d printer, 3dPrinter, coking, concept, Cornucopia, design, food, food printer, FoodPrinter, MIT, Mitt Romney, MittRomney, printer, research, The Cornucopia, TheCornucopia, university
Ex-Seagate employee claims the company stole MIT research, tried to cover up its tracks
Sure, this ain’t the first time that Seagate’s allegedly run afoul of the law, but this tale will definitely have you breathlessly demanding more (you know, if patent infringement is exciting to you — which would actually be pretty weird). Way back in July 2000, Convolve (an M.I.T. spin-off formed to market the school’s hard drive noise reduction research) sued Seagate for using patented tech in its Sound Barrier Technology — with the end result being that Seagate drives no longer support automatic acoustic management. But that isn’t the exciting part. In a dramatic turn reported by The New York Times, a former Seagate employee named Paul A. Galloway has apparently provided “an eyewitness account” of what went down, including the theft of info obtained in a meeting between the two companies held in 1998 and 1999 and the destruction of blueprints relating to Convolve’s technology. As for the whistleblower, he claims that he was kept in the dark about the nature of the research he was working on, with Seagate even going so far as to take his computer with notes pertinent to the trial. All of this (and more) are detailed in an affidavit that is available (in PDF form) by hitting that source link — and, man, is it a page-turner!
Ex-Seagate employee claims the company stole MIT research, tried to cover up its tracks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: convolve, LawSuit, legal, m.i.t., MIT, sbt, seagate, sound barrier technology, SoundBarrierTechnology
MIT’s Copenhagen Wheel turns your bike into a hybrid, personal trainer
You really can’t fault MIT’s branding strategy here. Debuting at the biggest climate change conference since Kyoto, its Copenhagen Wheel is a mixture of established technologies with the ambition to make us all a little bit greener and a little bit more smartphone-dependent. On the one hand, it turns your bike into a hybrid — with energy being collected from regenerative braking and distributed when you need a boost — but on the other, it also allows you to track usage data with your iPhone, turning the trusty old bike into a nagging personal trainer. The Bluetooth connection can also be used for conveying real time traffic and air quality information, if you care about such things, and Copenhagen’s mayor has expressed her interest in promoting these as an alternative commuting method. Production is set to begin next year, but all that gear won’t come cheap, as prices for the single wheel are expected to match those of full-sized electric bikes. Video after the break.
Continue reading MIT’s Copenhagen Wheel turns your bike into a hybrid, personal trainer
MIT’s Copenhagen Wheel turns your bike into a hybrid, personal trainer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: bicycle, bike, bluetooth, climate change, ClimateChange, copenhagen, copenhagen conference, copenhagen wheel, CopenhagenConference, CopenhagenWheel, eco friendly, ecology, green, hybrid, hybrid bike, HybridBike, iphone, MIT, regenerative braking, RegenerativeBraking, senseable city, senseable city lab, SenseableCity, SenseableCityLab, wheel
MIT gestural computing makes multitouch look old hat
Ah, the MIT Media Lab, home to Big Bird’s illegitimate progeny, augmented reality projects aplenty, and now three-dimensional gestural computing. The new bi-directional display being demoed by the Cambridge-based boffins performs both multitouch functions that we’re familiar with and hand movement recognition in the space in front of the screen — which we’re also familiar with, but mostly from the movies. The gestural motion tracking is done via embedded optical sensors behind the display, which are allowed to see what you’re doing by the LCD alternating rapidly (invisible to the human eye, but probably not to human pedantry) between what it’s displaying to the viewer and a pattern for the camera array. This differs from projects like Natal, which have the camera offset from the display and therefore cannot work at short distances, but if you want even more detail, you’ll find it in the informative video after the break.
[Thanks, Rohit]
Continue reading MIT gestural computing makes multitouch look old hat
MIT gestural computing makes multitouch look old hat originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: bidi, bidi screen, BidiScreen, camera, computer input, ComputerInput, embedded, embedded optical sensor, EmbeddedOpticalSensor, gestural computing, gestural interface, GesturalComputing, GesturalInterface, gesture, gestures, input, media lab, MediaLab, minority report, MinorityReport, MIT, mit media lab, MitMediaLab, motion, motion sensing, MotionSensing, optical, optical sensor, OpticalSensor, research
Harvard and MIT researchers working to simulate the visual cortex to give computers true sight
It sounds like a daunting task, but some researchers at Harvard and MIT have banded together to basically “reverse engineer” the human brain’s ability to process visual data into usable information. However, instead of testing one processing model at a time, they’re using a screening technique borrowed from molecular biology to test a range of thousands of models up against particular object recognition tasks. To get the computational juice to accomplish this feat, they’ve been relying heavily on GPUs, saying the off-the-shelf parallel computing setup they’ve got gives them hundred-fold speed improvements over conventional methods. So far they claim their results are besting “state-of-the-art computer vision systems” (which, if iPhoto’s skills are any indication, wouldn’t take much), and they hope to not only improve tasks such as face recognition, object recognition and gesture tracking, but also to apply their knowledge back into a better understanding of the brain’s mysterious machinations. A delicious cycle! There’s a video overview of their approach after the break.
[Thanks, David]
Harvard and MIT researchers working to simulate the visual cortex to give computers true sight originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: brain, computer vision, ComputerVision, face recognition, FaceRecognition, gesture, gesture recognition, GestureRecognition, gestures, harvard, image processing, image recognition, ImageProcessing, ImageRecognition, MIT, object recognition, ObjectRecognition