This week we look at a new manipulation technology that is being added to robots to allow them to become more able helpers in the home. We discover a new process for turning the methane that leaks from landfills into jet fuel. We investigate a new way for sending messages from space back to Earth. Finally we try and answer the age old question “why do colder alcoholic drinks taste more refreshing and warmer drinks more alcohol filled”.
Manipulation Technology
Parents of young children spend about 300 hours each year cleaning up after their kids. Teams at Carnegie-Mellon working with Google DeepMind and University of Washington are developing a solution to this time sink. They have developed a quardradped robot that moves much like a dog that may soon be able to take over the unending task of cleaning up after the kids.
Quadrupedal robots already lead search and rescue missions, survey construction sites and move parts around factories. The ability to navigate a complex environment with a low center of gravity and light weight are important factors in future household use. The piece that was missing is the dexterity and versatility skills necessary to be efficient at tasks in everyday life.
The team attached two custom designed lightweight manipulators to the front legs of the robot. This new robot could open doors, pour drinks, plug a phone in to charge and clean up after toddlers.
Four commercially available sensors were used in the development of the robot. A few 3D printed parts helped to bring specific aspects of the robot’s manipulation capabilities to life. The team is working on adding more tasks into the capabilities through the addition of advanced perception and intelligent planning knowledge.
The robots were introduced to a class of preschool students at an Early Education center at Carnegie Mellon. The kids loved interacting with the robots. Commercial versions are expected to be available within three years.
Jet Fuel from Landfill Emissions
A team at the University of Sydney have developed a chemical process using plasma that could create a sustainable jet fuel from the methane gas emitted from landfills. Globally landfills emit significant amounts of methane and CO2. Currently these gases are captured from many landfills and used for electricity generation. Jet fuel however is a much more commercially valuable product.
The process uses a non thermal plasma which is an electricity driven technology. It can excite gas at a low temperature and atmospheric pressure. Tiny bubbles of gas filled with energized particles facilitate the conversion of the gas into products like jet fuel. No heat or pressure is required thus using less energy.
The gas captured from the landfills is almost the perfect mixture for this process to work. Aviation is proving difficult to electrify however a sustainable jet fuel using emissions from landfill would reduce overall emissions, particularly of methane which is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas than CO2.
Messages from Space
The NASA Psyche Mission is on its way to study an asteroid named Psyche, a giant metal rich potato shaped asteroid. Psyche transmits messages traditionally via radio waves however it also has a new infra red laser based communication system on board. In early April this year NASA was able to send Engineering data from Psyche, currently 226 Million Kilometers away, back to Earth using the new laser based system.
This is the longest that an optically based message has been sent to Earth from Space. There are still issues to overcome such as clouds on earth interfering with transmissions (radio waves have no problem penetrating clouds).
The goal of the program is to find out if an optically based data intensive communication system can be established between Earth and Mars. The next test will be carried out in June when Psyche will be at the maximum distance between the orbits of Earth and Mars.
1 Million Rides
Waymo, the Google self driving car startup, has announced that they have now passed 1,000,000 rides in their driverless cars without a safety driver. Waymo full self driving is currently in 4 cities in the US. They are taking bookings at the rate of 5 per minute or 50,000 per week.
A limited area of LA is now being added to the network.
One by one US cities are starting to embrace full self driving. There are still errors however they are rapidly corrected with software updates. A full self driving future is on its' way.
Why do warm drinks taste more alcoholic than cold drinks
A team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have studied how factors like temperature and alcohol content affect the molecular behaviors in a range of drinks and what impact that this has on taste (finally someone is asking the important questions).
After measuring the surface tension of a range of alcoholic beverages (from beer to baijiu - a Chinese style whisky) the team used MRI and computer simulations to observe combinations or clusters of water and ethanol molecules. These tests were conducted at a range of temperatures before a taste test.
The team had expected surface tension to evenly decrease as the alcohol content of the drinks increased however it actually changed in a series of discrete steps. The steps or jumps happened when the clusters of water and ethanol molecules changed from compact pyramid structures to long chainlike ones. The team found (after much testing and retesting) that colder and less alcoholic liquids had a greater proportion of pyramid clusters and were associated with a more refreshing flavor.
The colder drink had a more stimulating taste. The warmer drinks and those with higher alcohol content had more chain like structures and their flavor was more pungent and ethanol heavy. The counter argument is that ethanol heavy drinks have a burning flavor that stimulates the same taste receptors that sense heat. This makes it difficult to isolate exactly which factor is responsible for the changes in taste. I am sure the team will continue testing and retesting in the search for knowledge.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
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Till next week.