The Expensive Yellow Dog

Boston Dynamics has been conducting some of the most public robotics research in the world as of the last few years. Im sure many recognize this 4-legged walking robot dog from videos on things like twitter and such, but its actually the real deal. For a mere $75,000, you can be the next owner of the Boston Dynamics Spot Robot Dog.

The company has recently delved into more commercial and private based researched involving robotics. Previously, most robotics research was done for private and military companies, without a lot of applicable use for smaller businesses and private homes, but Boston Dynamics hopes to change that, with Spot the dog being their first project in the space.

The technology this simple dog aims to develop are in the realm of motion and stability for moving robots. The dog has been designed to walk on surfaces of all types, slopes, and roughness. It can walk up a hill, over a pile of rocks, through a re-bar filled surface, all without getting tripped up, and rather quickly too. With this, we move towards a time where challenging or dangerous tasks that humans used to perform can now be done be robots that used to be otherwise impossible. Wheel and track based robotic systems didn’t give these older robots much mobility, making robotic solutions expensive and not very successful. Now however, I believe a whole new era of robotics has opened up, and im excited to see where it goes.

 

Source: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-dog-now-available

Folding@Home: How We Can Help Fight COVID-19

Folding@Home is a brand new platform that has been launched, and is publicly available for download in an effort to learn more about and help combat COVID-19. At a basic level, the platform combines the power of the many personal computers that exist throughout the world into one powerful system. As Folding@Home describes it, “Together, we have created the most powerful supercomputer on the planet, and are using it to help understand SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and develop new therapies.” This system allows for personal computers to run simulations while they are sitting idle, helping to fast-pace the research efforts that require so much money and hardware to do.

Personally, I see this as an amazing use of the astronomical quantity of personal computers that are often doing nothing. The idea is very similar to bitcoin mining. One simply downloads the required software, and lets it run while they are away from the computer. The only major difference, bitcoin mining makes money, and running protein simulations fast-tracks COVID cures and therapy. With the impact COVID-19 has had on all of our lives, this is a great way to contribute to helping life return to normal.

I think this concept is actually a little late to the forefront. While it became a popular platform for bitcoin mining, and has now moved to COVID research, I think there are many other applications where this concept could be used. There are lots of important tasks that can be carried out with this kind of computing power, and I’m excited to see where the idea leads in the future.

Source: https://foldingathome.org/

Google’s Stadia Technology Potential for At-Home Work

In 2019, Google released their new Google Stadia streaming service, allowing people to play video games on any device, in any place. As tech radar states, “Stadia grants you access to a growing digital game library that works anywhere you go.” The technology allows users to play video games on googles remote hardware, and simply stream the video to whatever device you are using, allowing people with low end hardware to play the newest games at the best quality. As a video game fan myself, this is very exciting, as I know how costly hardware upgrades can become to keep up with new game requirements. This post however aims more at what this technology can provide to people other than just in regards to video games.

In recent times, we have seen a huge rise in the number of people who work/study at home or on the go, especially with the impact of COVID-19. This is why I think Google’s Stadia technology can be implemented into other things, such as intensive software programs that people often find themselves using for projects and work. Applications like Adobe Premier, CAD, and many others often have costly hardware specification requirements to use them at their maximum and most efficient potential. With the rise in at-home work and study, many people might not have access to the hardware required to do proper work. With this in mind, I think the technology of cloud-based computing and streaming has massive potential to make remote work much more viable, and cost efficient. Employees and students could use this technology to stream software applications on any device, anywhere they are granted they have an internet connection. This would eliminate the need for personal, or institutional investment to equip employees and students with the proper hardware needed.

As well, this has the potential to improve the way we work in-house at companies and in school as well. Facilities could be able to scale-down the large technology infrastructures they currently have, saving space, and the need for in-house IT services.

All in all, I think Google’s Stadia technology has the potential to make a massive impact on something other than just gaming, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for it.

Source: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/google-stadia