The Off Topic Topic

[Savonarola]

I saw this in The IEEE Spectrum and thought that it too might appeal to a certain segment of Languish. 
Don't let anyone tell you the future won't be awesome:

Industrial Workers Will Soon Don Exoskeletons and Achieve Super Strength
Sarcos Robotics' full-body suits will let factory workers lift 90 kilograms without breaking a sweat
By Eliza Strickland



What's the most important thing for people to know about the full-body exoskeleton from Sarcos Robotics, which can turn an assembly-line worker into a superhero? "We're taking orders," says Sarcos CEO Ben Wolff.

The company has been working on this wearable robotics technology since 2000, when engineers in its Salt Lake City headquarters began cobbling together experimental supersoldier suits for the U.S. military. A 2010 proto type, which enabled the wearer to punch through wooden boards, earned the nickname "the Iron Man suit" in homage to the high-tech gear in the eponymous comic book and movies. But that bulky version kept the user tethered to the wall by a power cord—something that would presumably interfere with superhero activities—and the suit remained in R&D.

Now, finally, Sarcos is coming out with a commercial exoskeleton: the Guardian XO. Wolff says the sleek battery-powered suit will be ready at the end of 2019. It's intended not for the battlefield but rather for industrial settings such as factory floors, construction sites, and mines, where it can provide a substantial return on investment by boosting worker productivity and decreasing injuries.

Wolff says his engineering team made breakthroughs in power management that enabled them to build a practical and reasonably priced suit. "It's one thing to make a very expensive robot in the lab," Wolff says. "We're finally at the point where the exoskeleton's capabilities coupled with the economics make it a viable product."

The XO will be available in two models: Workers wearing the basic XO will be able to repeatedly hoist 35 kilograms without strain, while those wearing the heavy-duty XO-Max will easily lift a 90-kg load. Each model has a battery that lasts for up to 8 hours and can be quickly swapped out.


Strong and Safe: The Guardian XO, a powered exoskeleton from Sarcos Robotics, is intended to make industrial workers more productive and protect them from injury. A worker wearing the heavy-duty XO-Max can repeatedly lift a 90-kilogram load without strain.

Sarcos isn't the only company building wearables to augment the strength and endurance of industrial workers. Ekso Bionics, a California company best known for its medical-grade exoskeletons that enable paraplegics to walk, recently came out with the EksoVest, an upper-body exoskeleton that supports workers' arms as they perform overhead tasks. In 2017, Ekso began a pilot project with Ford Motor Co., and last year Ford expanded the trial to 15 factories around the world.

The time may now be right for exoskeletons to proliferate in the workplace, says Rian Whitton, an analyst with ABI Research who recently authored a report on the exoskeleton market. As the technology has matured over the past decade, he says, market conditions have become more favorable. "In the Western world and Japan, we're seeing a tightening of the labor market, especially when it comes to manufacturing," Whitton says. "There's a real incentive for companies to invest in their workforce and make people on the assembly line more productive."

The recent engineering advances in the Sarcos lab came from studying the human body's energy-conservation strategies. Consider the biomechanics of walking, for example. Not every muscle requires energy at every moment; there are parts of each step where gravity does the work. Translating that lesson to an exoskeleton, Wolff says, means the suit doesn't have to power up every joint continuously, and that means a longer battery life.

Sarcos didn't design the XO for any particular application, but rather wanted to help people perform all manner of tasks. A user manages an XO via a system that Wolff calls "get-out-of-the-way control." Sensors throughout the suit recognize how the wearer is moving his or her limbs, enabling the suit to instantly mimic the speed, force, and direction of these movements. "The suit moves along with you; you don't have to think about how to use it," Wolff says.

While industrial exoskeletons are designed to protect their users, potential buyers may have other safety concerns. At the standards organization ASTM International, Bill Billotte is vice chairman of a committee that's working on standards for exoskeletons. He says employers will need to think through some of the same questions that arose when collaborative robots started appearing on assembly lines. "If you have one person wearing an exoskeleton, but they're working next to other people who are not wearing exoskeletons, how do you make that work?" he says.

Companies that are ready to put their money down anyway will be signing on for a "robot as a service" package, in which Sarcos will deliver the Guardian XOs, install the docking stations, and frequently visit the client's facility for suit maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. The cost of an XO package, Wolff says, "is roughly the equivalent to a fully loaded, all costs included, $25 per hour employee." Wolff argues that companies will save money by investing in XOs, claiming that an exoskeleton will improve a worker's productivity by four to eight times, and will reduce injuries to boot. His message to manufacturing companies: "Think about putting this robot on your payroll."

Suck it Aliens, humanity wins again.

[Admiral Yi]

In the course of reading an Economist article about New Zealand's controversial program of eradicating invasive species, I learned that until the arrival of those invasive species, the only mammals that lived there were bats.

[The Brain]

In the course of reading an Economist article about New Zealand's controversial program of eradicating invasive species, I learned that until the arrival of those invasive species, the only mammals that lived there were bats.

How is it controversial to kill all living mammals in NZ except bats?

[Admiral Yi]

How is it controversial to kill all living mammals in NZ except bats?

Allegedly the poison used kills other animals, stays in groundwater, blah blah blah.  The writer of the article was not very sympathetic towards the antis.

[The Brain]

How is it controversial to kill all living mammals in NZ except bats?

Allegedly the poison used kills other animals, stays in groundwater, blah blah blah.  The writer of the article was not very sympathetic towards the antis.

[Eddie Teach]

Lifting 90 kg is a lot, but calling it "super strength" is a bit of a stretch.

[Josephus]

Everyone I've met is still here. I'm the glue that holds us together!

[dps]

In the course of reading an Economist article about New Zealand's controversial program of eradicating invasive species, I learned that until the arrival of those invasive species, the only mammals that lived there were bats.

How is it controversial to kill all living mammals in NZ except bats?

I'd really hate to see the Maori exterminated along with the other humans there.

[Caliga]

He just tapered away in his posting, till the point he just stopped.  Records show his last post was July 2018.  Before that October 2017, and before that July 2017.

Too bad.  He was a likable guy.

[Caliga]

I've never had either Bertolli Alfredo with Aged Parmesan Cheese Sauce or French's Crunchy Toppers Crispy Jalapenos.  I don't belong here and I can't go back home.   

I've never heard of the Kentucky one either (the Crispy Jalapeno thing).

[Josquius]

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/orlando-williams-japanese-restaurant-norwich-1-5845867

'I haven't turned my house into a Japanese restaurant', Norwich man claims


With a large illuminated sign at the front, a dedicated Facebook page and phone number, it has all the hallmarks of a restaurant.

But owner Orlando Williams today insists that his seven-bed house on Earlham Road in Norwich is not operating as a Japanese eatery.

Unhappy neighbours claim he has been running a restaurant inside the property since October last year without permission.

It has led to Norwich City Council investigating the premises over a possible breach of planning regulations.

But former restaurateur Mr Williams denies the allegations against him.


That is despite the installation of a large illuminated sign outside his house which reads "Orlando's".

The word "Sakura" is also printed above the front door, which is the same name as his previous Japanese restaurant on Ber Street.

When asked about the signage, Mr Williams said: "All I do, I have my name on my house.

"There is no restaurant there."

In response to being asked about whether his property had been used as a restaurant, he added: "What you are saying to me is wrong."

A Facebook page for the Sakura restaurant shows its location as the property on Earlham Road. The advertised restaurant number is also for Mr Williams.

When the number was called, a person who answered confirmed the restaurant was at the Earlham Road address.

Neighbours living around the property claim they were not informed about plans to turn the house into a restaurant.

Becky Greengrass, 45, said she only became aware when Mr Williams invited her husband to the launch party last year.

She said: "When my husband told me I was just dumbfounded. I could not believe it. We are all up in arms because he didn't get planning permission for it.

"We thought surely we should have been notified.

"Then there is the god awful sign that has been put up. The amount of friends who drive past and ask me 'what the hell has opened up next door to you'..."

Peter Wright, 67, who lives nearby, said he had already complained to the city council.

He said: "We just can't understand what is going on. He has no planning permission to be a restaurant.

"I was a bit peeved off because it is a nice residential area around here."

Neighbour Andrew Unwin added: "The restaurant appeared from nowhere. It's hardly in keeping with this residential area and there appears to be no planning permission granted."

Norwich City Council said it has made numerous visits to the property, but has not been able to establish whether or not it was being used as a working restaurant.

A council spokesman said the investigation was ongoing into possible planning related enforcement.

"We're continuing to look into this," the spokesman said.

Today (Thursday, January 10), the city council's planning committee will decide on an application to turn the same property into a five-bedroom bed and breakfast.

The application has been recommend for approval.

There's a saga starting here and for some reason it really has me giggling

[Oexmelin]

Intergalactic radio signals picked up by Canadian telescope:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46811618

Astronomers have revealed details of mysterious signals emanating from a distant galaxy, picked up by a telescope in Canada.

The precise nature and origin of the blasts of radio waves is unknown.

Among the 13 fast radio bursts, known as FRBs, was a very unusual repeating signal, coming from the same source about 1.5 billion light years away.

Such an event has only been reported once before, by a different telescope.

"Knowing that there is another suggests that there could be more out there," said Ingrid Stairs, an astrophysicist from the University of British Columbia (UBC).

"And with more repeaters and more sources available for study, we may be able to understand these cosmic puzzles - where they're from and what causes them."

The CHIME observatory, located in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, consists of four 100-metre-long, semi-cylindrical antennas, which scan the entire northern sky each day.

The telescope only got up and running last year, detecting 13 of the radio bursts almost immediately, including the repeater. The research has now been published in the journal Nature.

"We have discovered a second repeater and its properties are very similar to the first repeater," said Shriharsh Tendulkar of McGill University, Canada.

"This tells us more about the properties of repeaters as a population."

FRBs are short, bright flashes of radio waves, which appear to be coming from almost halfway across the Universe.

So far, scientists have detected about 60 single fast radio bursts and two that repeat. They believe there could be as many as a thousand FRBs in the sky every day.

There are a number of theories about what could be causing them.

They include a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field that is spinning very rapidly, two neutron stars merging together, and, among a minority of observers, some form of alien spaceship.

[KRonn]

I've seen this reported. 1.5 billion years away! Many possible causes but even if from aliens then it'll be a while before we all have a meet up with a proper AAR follow up.  

[Syt]

Apparently AdBlock doesn't work on YouTube anymore. I have to watch a 2:40 hiphop video now. G4 Boyz "More Ice".

[Liep]

Apparently AdBlock doesn't work on YouTube anymore. I have to watch a 2:40 hiphop video now. G4 Boyz "More Ice".

uBlock works still.