atnmbl: The Autonomobile is Coming

I've been wondering for a long time why the GMs and Chryslers of the world are so clueless about roboticizing our vehicles. Are they just stupid? Or are they locked into an irrelevant mindset, unable to think outside the box-on-wheels?

I think it's too late for the Big Auto industry. But there is plenty of opportunity for creative designers and engineers, to integrate new technology to create something that the public really wants, and that can improve the quality of life for all of us.

An example is this: atnmbl.

It's an encouraging design exercise for an automonous vehicle. The designers started by completely revisiting the driving experience. Think of all the things you can't do while driving: reading, sleeping, cooking a meal, enjoying a cocktail, playing a video game, logging onto Facebook, and much more.
Their conclusion was this: during driving, your entire life goes on
hold.
Then they started asking, what SHOULD the driving experience be like? Their conclusion was that not having to drive would be the biggest improvement of the experience.
Once they determined that driverless driving was a design goal, they researched the state of technology. Programs like DARPA's Grand Challenge have shown that, with GPS, machine vision and the latest sensor suites, the task of driving CAN be handled automatically. The proof-of-concept has been done, the earliest (very expensive) prototypes have been built and tested, and now it's just up to Moore's Law to make it affordable.
So, given that driverless vehicles are both desirable and possible, what would one actually look like?
Design firm Mike and Maaike (pronounced MYY-kuh) reached the conclusion that an automous vehicle would look more like a dwelling than a teardrop, or an insect, or a crouching tiger. They came up with a vehicle they call atnmbl, short for Autonomobile. The atnmbl has panoramic windows, an entertainment center, and a wide, comfy couch suitable for up to seven passengers.


The atnmbl not only focuses on efficiency of task, it redefines that task. If you aren't having to put your life on hold to drive, then speeding dangerously to your destination is not important. Acceleration and top speed requirements are reduced, because they just aren't important anymore.
What's important is that you are free to go about your business while you travel. You don't even have to worry about parking; the atnmbl can drop you off at your destination, and go park itself. Or, it can go take someone else somewhere. This eliminates the biggest waste that cars represent: vast parking lots filled with cars that are used twice a day.
If you own your atnmbl, you can offer it for hire at a price that is automatically negotiated for you. Or, you can just hire one by TXTing or calling from your cellphone.
Some models might be equipped with a microwave, so you can warm your breakfast on the way to work. Some might be equipped with a self-cleaning bath/shower, so you can drag yourself from bed directly to your commute. Or you could hire a long-distance sleeper model in the evening, spend a few hours enjoying the entertainment, retire for bed, get up and shower in the morning, and step out at your destination fresh and ready to go.
Some people will simply SEND an atnmbl to pick up their groceries for them; without drivers, and being completely solar-powered, it will be cheap to do so. Your children will be able to travel in perfect safety without you, because there's a reliable driver built into the vehicle.

Some features:

• fully electric powered plus solar assist
• driverless navigation via GPS, Lidar, radar, accelerometers
• wrap-around seating for 7
• voice recognition and remote for real-time control/ input
• large display for info, searches, browsing, communication
• open-source software with downloadable apps for carpool and car-share
through social networking, pre-loaded trips, city tours, virtual
drivers, etc.
• live trip info on mini display
• electric door, standing height entryway
• electronically tinted windows
• all wheel drive with motors in each wheel
• very few mechanical parts (drive by wire)
• bar

DIY 3D Printing Uses low cost materials

Mark Ganter, Duane Storti and Ben Utela, from the University of Washington Department of Mechanical Engineering in Seattle, Washington, have developed a low-cost replacement for the materials their 3D printers use. AND, they've published their recipes.
Now materials costs drop from as high as $30 a pound to mere pennies. The result is that the UW has been able to open its rapid-prototyping shop to a wider variety of projects.
What's the new material? Powdered clay, mixed with sugar, maltodextrin or sometimes PVA. The fabjects are fired in a kiln just like any ceramic material.
Check out the recipe if you've built or are considering building a 3D printer.

Hacking YOUR Future

You click in the areas you want to work, such as "People" "People and Data" "Ideas" etc. and it helps find the appropriate career for you.
It says I'm supposed to be a snail farmer, or maybe an earthworm or (stretching it,) frog farmer. Wow! It really picked up on those hidden desires!
Here's the link: http://www.act.org/wwm/index.html

A Robotic Book Scanner

In Vernor Vinge's "Rainbow's End" a corporation is rapidly scanning the contents of the Ted Geisel library at UCSD using innovative technology: The machines grind the books up, chopping them into tiny bits, and vacuums up this book dust. Each tiny book particle is photographed as it is disposed of, and all of the images taken by the system are later stitched back together by powerful vision software.

The video above shows us an alternative to such destructive techniques. The robot turns the pages itself and GENTLY scans two pages at a time.

I think the librarians would favor this approach much better!

Doing Face Art with RoboRealm

This video is one of what I'm calling "Face Art". My webcam is taking a view of me and my surroundings and then RoboRealm - a video processing program designed as a vision platform for robotics - is performing a bunch of transformations to the video. Things like motion detection, frame averaging, histogram processing, mirroring, and so on.

It's fun, and not difficult to set up.

Sorry, no sound. I have some ideas for that, but can't get to it right now.

El Arbol de la Plaza

Sony BMG disabled embedding, because they want their artists to struggle in obscurity, I guess.

But here's a link to the video. I encourage you to watch it!
VIDEO @ YOUTUBE




Wow, what is that?

It's really scary. So surreal. Those airplanes in the sky - and that clown - really freak me out!
But for some reason, I really like it.

--UPDATE--
The artist is Vicentico, from Argentina.
The song is, as the post title says, "El Arbol de la Plaza".
Here are the lyrics:

El árbol de la plaza del barrio viejo no crece más
Se ha quedado quietito todo pelado por qué será
La tierra está tan seca en cualquier momento se va a quebrar
Pareciera que el cielo se fue olvidando cómo llorar

Hay que llamar a la tormenta a ver si llueve
Para salvar al arbolito que se muere

Si es que está en nuestras manos traer las nubes y hacer llover
Y vuelvan a la vida todas las hojas que hay por crecer
Bailen toda la noche que acá tocamos hasta amanecer
Que siento el aguacero venir llegando a calmar la sed

Hay que llamar a la tormenta a ver si llueve
Para salvar al arbolito que se muere

Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Si el agua moja la plaza
La muerte se vuelve a su casa
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Que si no se lloran las penas
Se convierten en condena
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve

El árbol de la plaza del barrio viejo no crece más
Se ha quedado quietito todo pelado por qué será
La tierra está tan seca en cualquier momento se va a quebrar
Pareciera que el cielo se fue olvidando cómo llorar

Hay que llamar a la tormenta a ver si llueve
Para salvar al arbolito que se muere

Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Si el agua moja la plaza
La muerte se vuelve a su casa
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Si no se lloran las penas
Se convierten en condena
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve

Y si después de la lluvia sale la luna
Y la tierra iluminada
Abra un sendero para seguir
Andemos como soldados por el camino que el árbol vuelve a vivir
Que el árbol vuelve a vivir

Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Que el agua moje la plaza
Así la muerte se atrasa
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Que si no se lloran las penas
Se convierten en condena
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Que baile la gente que baile en la plaza
Así la muerte se atrasa
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Ahora ya siento llegar la tormenta
Así que la banda apriete con fuerza
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve
Que baile la gente que baile en la plaza
Así la muerte se atrasa
Llueve, llueve y nadie se mueve.


You can visit Vicentico's website on MySpace.

Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene

Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene from pro on Vimeo.
Scientists at the University of Washington are pushing the boundaries of what can be done with video by computers. They can use a series of still images taken of the same scene a video was taken, and extract some of the superior qualities of the still images to enhance the video. Lighting, resolution, texture and camera movement can all be enhanced.

Other things the software can be used for include the ability to edit a few frames of video to remove unpleasant objects, and have the computer propagate those edits through the whole video. Examples shown include removing a "no parking" sign from the foreground of a flower shop, and removing an unsightly scar from a tree.
These researchers are making progress toward what I'm looking for: the ability of a computer to watch my videos for me, and create an artificial reality populated with the people and places in those videos.

Watch the video to get an idea of all the capabilities that these researchers are working on.