Archive for January, 2011

High Speed Robot Hand

Friday, January 28th, 2011





This video shows the manipulator dribbling a ping-pong ball, spinning a pen, throwing a ball, tying knots, grasping a grain of rice with tweezers, and tossing / re-grasping a cellphone!

Based on the video, the hand uses high-speed actuators with harmonic drive gears. The hand can close in 1/10th of a second! Personally, I find the tweezers grasping the grain of rice the most entertaining — very anthropomorphic.

If you’d like to learn more about this (and other) robots from the Ishikawa Komuro Lab, see their website.

Save Darfur

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

by Danielle Brouse

The Darfur region is a drought-prone area of western Sudan. By area, Darfur is roughly the size of Texas and is divided into three states that had a collective population of approximately 6 million people before the crisis in Darfur began in 2003. The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched attacks against government military installations as part of a campaign to fight against the historic political and economic marginalization of Darfur. In May 2006, the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement with one of the rebel movements. However, the Sudanese government continued to fight the two other groups) that refused to sign the agreement. The Sudanese government has obstructed the deployment of an international peacekeeping force, avoided serious negotiations with the rebel groups, refused to prosecute any individuals responsible for crimes against humanity committed in Darfur, and most recently expelled thirteen international humanitarian aid groups from Darfur. These actions continue to leave many civilians in Darfur unprotected and dispossessed of their basic human rights.

Want to know more? Go to… http://www.savedarfur.org/

2011: The Year Before Heaven

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

The music project known as The End released a new album 2011: Year Before Heaven.



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