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    Researchers Expand Ability of Robots to Learn from Videos

    June 22, 2023, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    A team from CMU’s Robotics Institute used affordances to teach robots how to interact with objects.

    New work from Carnegie Mellon University has enabled robots to learn household chores by watching videos of people performing everyday tasks in their homes.

    The research could help improve the utility of robots in the home, allowing them to assist people with tasks like cooking and cleaning. Two robots successfully learned 12 tasks including opening a drawer, oven door and lid; taking a pot off the stove; and picking up a telephone, vegetable or can of soup.

    “The robot can learn where and how humans interact with different objects through watching videos,” said Deepak Pathak, an assistant professor in the Robotics Institute at CMU’s School of Computer Science...

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    Discovery of a Brown Dwarf Hotter than the Sun

    June 22, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Discovery of a space object hotter than the sun
    Phased radial-velocity curves of WD 0032−317. a, trailed UVES spectrum for the H𝛼 line of WD 0032−317 (blue represents lower fluxes, and yellow represents higher fluxes), folded over the orbital period (𝑃 = 8340.9090 s). The primary absorption is clearly seen in blue. The emission from the companion (in yellow) appears in anti-phase with the primary, and is visible only from the irradiated day side, between orbital phases ∼ 0.2–0.8. Its “inverted” shape, evident especially near quadrature, is the result of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects [40]. b, radial velocity curves (top panel) of the white dwarf (blue circles) and the irradiated companion (red diamonds), folded over the orbital period (𝑃 = 8340.9090 s)...
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    Scientists develop Magnetically Controlled Soft Medical Robot inspired by the Pangolin

    June 21, 2023, Categories  Physics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Pangolin the inspiration for medical robot
    The pangolin-inspired untethered magnetic robot. A Conceptual illustration of the pangolin-inspired robot operating in the small intestine. Robot is actuated with a low-frequency magnetic field and heated remotely with a high-frequency magnetic field. The pangolin’s body consist of individual overlapping hard keratin scales. The robot inspired by this overlapping design is shown on the right. Images of pangolins used under Standard licence from Shutterstock. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Tübingen

    Pangolins are fascinating creatures. This animal looks like a walking pine cone, as it is the only mammal completely covered with hard scales. The scales are made of keratin, just like our hair and nails...

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    Evidence of the Amino Acid Tryptophan found in Space

    June 21, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Evidence of the amino acid tryptophan found in space
    Credit: Jorge Rebolo-Iglesias. Background image: NASA/Spitzer Space Telescope (CC BY 4.0)

    Using data from the Spitzer space observatory, Dr. Susana Iglesias-Groth, a researcher from The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has found evidence for the existence of the amino acid tryptophan in the interstellar material in a nearby star-forming region. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

    High amounts of tryptophan were detected in the Perseus molecular complex, specifically in the IC348 star system, a star-forming region that lies 1,000 light years away from Earth—relatively close in astronomical terms. The region is generally invisible to the naked eye, but shines brightly when viewed in infrared wavelengths.

    Tryptophan is one of...

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