Important Innovations

Tip for a Restaurant Robot Robots are on duty in restaurants from China to Boston.  They work as chefs, cooks, waiters, hosts, even entertainers.  The robots are delivering a lot of good food and entertainment value.  The question is:  do you have to leave them a tip??  The tip is up to you.  But the point is, robotics is at a tipping point for the restaurant industry. Boston's Restaurant Robots In Boston, 4 MIT engineers and Michelin-starred Master Chef Daniel Boulud just opened a robotic restaurant.  It's called Spyce and is a fast casual restaurant primarily for the lunchtime, office worker crowd.  The robots prepare all the meals.  The owners claim the robots cook your made-to-order meal in three minutes.  The robots specialize in cooking grains and vegetables.  It's an example of the growing use of robotic technology in restaurants. China's Robot Restauran t  In Harbin, China 20 robots serve diners at the Robot Restaurant.  They cook, wait tables and

Wednesday Series Innovation Addressing Pressing World Needs:  Defeating Cancer It's a cancer fighting robotic army.  Miniscule robots, the size of a blood cell, swarming the human body to detect, precisely deliver drug therapies and defeat cancer.  Mind-blowing, exciting research programs are underway worldwide.  Two research programs are leading the way:  Chinese University of Hong Kong and Philips Innovation Center in Germany.  Both are developing "body bot" armies.  It's important innovation addressing the pressing world need of defeating cancer. Army of Cancer Fighting Mini Robots Both Philips and Chinese University of Hong Kong have aggressive research and testing programs underway.  The robots are microscopic.  Their motion is controlled by magnetic fields.  They swarm inside the human body to detect and treat disease. Chinese University Body Bots The Chinese scientists have developed mini-robots by coating tiny particles of algae with bio

DARPA's ARES Program Flying trucks for US combat troops in the midst of battle.  The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, has an ambitious program well underway to rapidly supply and also evacuate troops in volatile circumstances with flying trucks.  The code name is ARES, Aerial Reconfigurable Enabled Systems.  Vehicles that drive and fly nimbly and with speed.  ARES is part of DARPA's Transformer program which has been very successful in the development of flying cars. ARES Awesome Military Technology DARPA's flying trucks are dual-function vehicles for high speed vertical takeoffs and landings.  They hover and land with two tilting fans.  The vehicles are capable of high speeds during flight.  To reduce ground threats, DARPA researchers focus on unmanned, autonomous aerial logistics systems. Aerial threat evasion from, for example surface to air missiles, is being built in.  Also resistance to IED (Improvised Explosi

MIT's Groundbreaking Robot Fish for Marine Exploration It's called SoFi, the robo fish.  SoFi is a soft robot developed by a research team at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). True to MIT's robotic legacy, SoFi is highly advanced and has achieved underwater firsts.  In fact, it's considered the most advanced robot of its kind. Swim with the Fish - SoFi the Explorer The little robot recently swam untethered alongside of unsuspecting fish off Fiji's Rainbow Reef.  It reached depths of 50 feet for as long as 40 minutes at a time.  That's a first.  What makes this important innovation is that it's a groundbreaking new way to study marine life, up close and personal.  Equipped with cameras, Sofi can shoot footage safely in places, at close range, that humans can't get to. The swimming robot explorer opens up underwater worlds not seen.   Fish Tale SoFi is a biomimetic bot that closely resembles a f

Beneficial Innovations:  Flying & Driving Drones, Supersonic Flights & the Hyperloop Tube MIT roboticists are advancing development of flying-driving drones.  They believe it facilitates the next generation of flying robotic cars.   The concept is vertical takeoff and landings.  The robot car is your driver.  Cruising speeds up to 200 miles per hour.  And, if it's electric, you help save the planet.  No carbon emissions.  Terrafugia, founded by MIT PhD. Carl Dietrich has a concept flying car, the TFX with vertical takeoffs and landings.  The company created the world's first FAA and NTSB approved flying car The Transition with a team of MIT engineers. MIT researchers call their flying, driving drones the "flying car".  They've developed 8, quadcopter drones.  They're powered by 4 motors and 2 small motors attached to the wheels at the base.  They can swarm in groups without colliding.  The drones enable the scientists to test various concep

Dancing, Rockin' Robots Robots taught to dance.  It's one of the most intriguing projects now underway at the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA.  The purpose:  provide robots with much more agility and maneuverability. Dancing for a Military Purpose DARPA's mission is to develop breakthrough innovation that provides the US military with overwhelming technological advantages. It developed the internet, GPS, cloud computing and has led the way in advancing robotics.  Now, DARPA wants to expand robotic freedom of motion through dance.  Specifically to provide robots with more flexibility in military situations. Dancing Algorithms Robot mobility has progressed very slowly.  Their motion is pre-programed, mostly linear and lacks fluidity.  DARPA researchers are increasing robotic motion through computer algorithms transcoding the lexicon of dance. It's providing the robots with a much higher level of maneuverability,

Hypersonic Travel It's called the Phantom Express or XS-1.  A space plane that launches satellites at a minute's notice.  The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency - DARPA - is spearheading the concept.  Boeing is building it for test flights in 2020. Hyper-Hypersonic The Phantom Express flies at hypersonic speeds up to Mach 10 or 7,600 miles per hour.  It climbs to an altitude of 12,250 kilometers (7,611 miles) and higher.  It's an experimental space plane/booster.  The vehicle does vertical takeoffs and horizontal landings. DARPA designed it to launch small satellites for the US military. Robotic and Reusable XS-1 is unmanned, robotic and reusable.  It's neither a traditional aircraft nor a conventional satellite launch system.  It's a hybrid of both.  DARPA's mission for XS-1 is to cut satellite launch costs by a factor of ten.  Also, to greatly cut wait times between launches. Mission Possible Phantom Exp