In 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,… »

In 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… »

Another 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… »

As 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 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… »