Thought controlled computing, and gaming!

After talking about automation in class i got interested and searched the web for something related to the Olympics. Visitors to the Vancouver Olympics this year are in for a special treat. A canadian company has created the largest thought-controlled computing installation, and is letting visitors try it out! It is an experiment that allows people to use their brainwaves through a special pair headphones to contol the lighting at three major Canadian land marks, one being Niagra Falls! Talk about Automation! "The headsets have an external probe that touches the wearer's forehead, to measure baseline brain activity." It measures the brain's electrical output and alpha waves, realated to relaxation, and beta waves, related to concentration. When you relax or concentrate it sends a signal to change the lighting accordingly.

"As consumers get more comfortable with going beyond the keyboard and the mouse to interact with their computers, companies are looking for more ways to make the experience better." Posted by Priya Ganapati, on february,3,2010 @ Gadget Lab Blog, a blog for people to interact about gadgets and technology. She thinks harnessing brain waves or other biological data are slowly emerging as a third option, especially in gaming.

There is a company called Neuro Sky, and they make special head phone.They are said to translate gamer's brain waves into action. Microsoft is working on alternate forms of input, my boyfriend told me about Project Natal. I youtubed it and saw that they say they will add gesture recognition to xbox 360 systems late this year. Check out this video about Natal on youtube..Its amazing! Cant wait to see what we have in 5 years!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jqG28KTepY

The automated world

So, we have been in the automation age for quite some time now. Most businesses require its use to be successful. The purpose of it has changed, however, from increasing productivity and reducing costs, to increasing quality and flexibility in their process. Take example the car industry. When you have employees install an engine part, say a crank case, you have an error range from 1-1.2%, but if you have the process automated, you now have an error rate of .0001%.

WHen it comes to a new type of flexibility in the automation process, it gets a little tricky. When a company wants to say switch products on their assembly line, it usually requires almost completely tearing down and rebuilding the production lines. Automated guided vehicles have helped tremendously with this issue.

When it comes to being a business owner, and you are making a product over and over again, the obvious choice is automation. Sometimes you have to ask yourself the question of morality though: If you have a bunch of robots working for you, where do the people that once did that machine's job go? The unemployment issue goes hand-in-hand with automation. If robots were as smart as humans, would employers not care about humans anymore? You can read more about this subject at how stuff works. I am anxious to see what happens in the near future with this.

Smart Homes

We are closer to the life that was promised in the Jetson's than ever before. Smart home technologies are already becoming a part of common household life, and the future of these emerging technologies looks bright indeed!

Already we are seeing the automation of security systems that can make a call for you in case of emergencies, robotic vacuum cleaners, video game systems that also allow users to surf the Internet, and other such innovative technologies. Future home automation will push the technology further and perform such functions as alerting a maintenance man when an appliance needs to be fixed, allowing people to use advanced computing functions on their televisions, and remembering what temperature each person prefers to shower at and maintaining that temperature for them. The toilet will even be able to clean itself!

We are also getting closer to the days when different household systems will be able to communicate between each other. Some day the refrigerator will not only be able to tell when certain items are getting low, but it will also be able to communicate with the microwave, stove, or oven to suggest recipes based on what items are currently stocked in the fridge.

With the ever increasing hectic schedules that people have, it will be nice to be able to come home and get a little help from the house itself in performing daily chores.

For more information on some of the smart home technologies visit:
http://articles.castelarhost.com/smart_home_technology.htm

Anna's 4th Post

Our lecture on Wednesday made it really apparent that automation is revolutionizing almost every aspect of our life. All of the videos in class were really interesting and showed examples of automation. My favorite examples are considered to be in the robotics category.

We learned about the components of robotics, which include structure, power source, actuation, sensing and locomotion. My favorite example was the robot dog, which was the machine with four legs that was able to sense its surroundings and adjust to keep its balance. It was able to move up steep hills and on snow, rocks, sand and grass. The robot dog's team kicked it over and it was still able to maintain its balance. It was so life like that I felt bad for it when they kicked it, but then I reminded myself that it was only a robot. Above is a picture of the robot dog.

Another example of automation we saw was the chip in a paralyzed man's brain. The chip connected to the man's thoughts and allowed his brain to control movements. This technology is predicted to increase mobility for the those that are paralyzed greatly in the future. It reminded me of the movie Avatar, because the main character in that movie is paralyzed and is able to move through an Avatar's body. It is crazy to think that modern technology relates to science fiction movies.

Automation and Mass Production

According to Wikipedia automation is the use of control systems with other applications of information technology, to control industrial machinery and processes, reducing the need for human intervention.

The first demonstration of automation took place in 1908 when Henry Ford invented the first assembly line. He took the flow of work and put it in a order that could be timed out perfectly to flow from worker to worker. This process rapidly evolved from 1908-1913 and automation had became the standard of mass production. Automation in the beginning was mostly all about boosting up production. These days automation still plays a significant role in boosting up production but now the main focus is divided among a number of different goals. Like increasing flexibility in the assembly line function, while reducing costs, and increasing quality.

Automation has changed everything around us from the cars we drive to the cloths we wear. It is definitely responsible for increasing the quality of life in America. It helps create jobs but it also can take jobs away from people. As we saw in lecture about the decline in the farming community. Some things are made better by the skill of a human then ever could be replicated with a machine. The need for skilled workers and people with professional skilled trades will always exist. Along with the need to evolve the process of automation in order to better provide a quality of life for everyone.

Robotics and automation

In discussing robotics and automation during last class, I was compelled to consider possible future scenarios involving their use. The following are 3 possibilities:

1. Military - although robotics are currently in use in the military, due to significant funding and the desire to mitigate human casualties, use of robotics seems very likely to expand. Allowing house entries and street sweeps to be performed by robots, particularly in the midst of insurgent wars (like Iraq and Afghanistan), could have a dramatic impact on casualty rates. Here is an example of future military uses of robotics.

2. Household - home automation continues to develop and become more popular as prices continue to fall. Currently you can automate things like your thermostat, home security, window blinds, lighting, television show recording, etc. In the near future it seems likely that using technology such as RFID, we'll be able to set nearly every electric or electronic parameter in our home to adjust automatically to our very presence either within the home at large or specifically based on what room we are entering or leaving. The obvious benefit beyond simple ease is energy management. Thank god we won't have to endure the tedious task of flipping light switches for too much longer!

3. Entertainment - robotics have been used for entertainment devices for a very long time. I suppose one could even consider amusement park rides as examples of entertaining robotics. But as we saw in class in the robotic violinist video, the future holds even more abstract robotic abilities that will enhance human enjoyment. One such example, the Robonica Roboni-i, provides the user with an amazing amount of programmability. It engages in 7 games, which might not seem like a lot, but the future can be seen with a little imagination.

I personally look forward to the diaspora of robotics across all aspects of our daily lives. In particular, although I didn't mention it above, robotics holds amazing potential in the realm of medical procedures and cybernetic physical aids.

Automation

In class learning about how automation is affecting the people with their jobs made me very interesting. I remember my uncle telling about how its becoming harder and harder for people to get jobs because robots are replacing everyone. He was telling me how when people were the only thing working in factory such as Ford buliding a car was not accurate becauase every perosn had a different meaning for accurate which was a problem for the customers. Once robots start being made for the plant people startedto lose their jobs by the hundreds. In places like the car industries robots have just about taken all the position people could have in the industry.

Robots have been becoming more and involve in our lives and it seem they are not stopping at all. They are do jobs better than people cheaper than they can. I research and found out that in the 1950s you could hardly see robots in the work environment, but now there no where you go that you do not notice robots. In class we even see a video about robot being able help the paralyze move and possiblty help them stand up again. With robots improving every year I feel that soon robots will not need us to help them anymore.

Ford is a great example of how automation is taking control of the jobs people try to get. If you visit the Ford Rounge Plant you will notice their are more robots than people working. Automation show that robots cannot only do a better job than people, but can also save a lot of money in the long run. Ford would not be the only person saving money, but the customers will also save money when buying the cars and be better protected. Ford is just one of the many companies deeply involve with automation and the future automation may completely run most of the business.

site to robots is: http://marshallbrain.com/robots-in-2015.htm