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NASA tricks Artemis launch computer by masking data showing a leak

Plus it aborts ISS reboost. Not the greatest start to the week, was it?

Richard Speed Tue 21 Jun 2022 // 15:30 UTC

NASA engineers had to work fast to avoid another leak affecting the latest Artemis dry run, just hours after an attempt to reboost the International Space Station (ISS) via the Cygnus freighter was aborted following a few short seconds.
The US space agency on Monday rolled the huge Artemis I stack back to its Florida launchpad having worked through the leaks and problems that had beset its previous attempt at fueling the beast in April for an earlier dress rehearsal of the final countdown.
As propellant was loaded into the rocket, controllers noted a hydrogen leak in the quick-disconnect that attaches an umbilical from the tail service mast on the mobile launcher to the core stage of the rocket.

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Amazon shows off robot warehouse workers that won't complain, quit, unionize...

Mega-corp insists it's all about 'people and technology working safely and harmoniously together'

Katyanna Quach Wed 22 Jun 2022 // 21:51 UTC

Amazon unveiled its first "fully autonomous mobile robot" and other machines designed to operate alongside human workers at its warehouses.
In 2012 the e-commerce giant acquired Kiva Systems, a robotics startup, for $775 million. Now, following on from that, Amazon has revealed multiple prototypes powered by AI and computer-vision algorithms, ranging from robotic grippers to moving storage systems, that it has developed over the past decade. The mega-corporation hopes to put them to use in warehouses one day, ostensibly to help staff lift, carry, and scan items more efficiently.
Its "autonomous mobile robot" is a disk-shaped device on wheels, and resembles a Roomba. Instead of hoovering crumbs, the machine, named Proteus, carefully slots itself underneath a cart full of packages and pushes it along the factory floor. Amazon said Proteus was designed to work directly with and alongside humans and doesn't have to be constrained to specific locations caged off for safety reasons.

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Look to insects if you want to build tiny AI robots that are actually smart

Flying, swarming, decision making already in production in nature

Katyanna Quach Thu 16 Jun 2022 // 06:35 UTC

Roboticists could learn a thing or two from insects if they're looking to build tiny AI machines capable of moving, planning, and cooperating with one another.
The six-legged creatures are the largest and most diverse multi-cellular organisms on Earth. They have evolved to live in all sorts of environments and exhibit different types of behaviors to survive and there are insects that fly, crawl, and swim.
Insects are surprisingly intelligent and energy efficient given the size of their small brains and bodies. These are traits that small simple robots should have if they are to be useful in the real world, a group of researchers posited in a paper published in Science Robotics on Wednesday.

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Taser maker offers electric-shock drones to stop school shootings

For $50,000 annually plus building work, budget-strapped teachers can (maybe) zap gunmen, for the kids

Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Fri 3 Jun 2022 // 20:15 UTC

Rick Smith, founder and CEO of body camera and Taser maker Axon, believes he has a way to reduce the risk of school children being shot by people with guns.
No, it doesn't involve reducing access to guns, which Smith dismisses as politically unworkable in the US. Nor does it involve relocating to any of the many countries where school shootings seldom, if ever, occur and – coincidentally – where there are laws that limit access to guns.
Here's a hint – his answer involves Axon.

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World’s smallest remote-controlled robots are smaller than a flea

So small, you can't feel it crawl

Laura Dobberstein Fri 27 May 2022 // 07:15 UTC

Video Robot boffins have revealed they've created a half-millimeter wide remote-controlled walking robot that resembles a crab, and hope it will one day perform tasks in tiny crevices.
In a paper published in the journal Science Robotics , the boffins said they had in mind applications like minimally invasive surgery or manipulation of cells or tissue in biological research.
With a round tick-like body and 10 protruding legs, the smaller-than-a-flea robot crab can bend, twist, crawl, walk, turn and even jump. The machines can move at an average speed of half their body length per second - a huge challenge at such a small scale, said the boffins.

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Boeing's Starliner CST-100 on its way to the ISS 2 years late

A couple of thruster failures shouldn't affect the Calamity Capsule's second attempt at reaching space station

Richard Speed Fri 20 May 2022 // 14:34 UTC

Two and a half years after its first disastrous launch, Boeing has once again fired its CST-100 Starliner capsule at the International Space Station.
This time it appeared to go well, launching at 18:54 ET from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The RD-180 main engine and twin solid rocket boosters of the Atlas V performed as planned before Starliner was pushed to near orbital velocity by the Centaur upper stage.
After separation from the Centaur, Starliner fired its own thrusters for orbital insertion and is on course for the ISS. Docking is scheduled for approximately 19:10 ET today (23:10 UTC).

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Human-made hopper out-leaps rival robots in artificial jumping contest

Applications in lunar exploration and Earth-bound locomotion are possible

Lindsay Clark Sun 1 May 2022 // 16:00 UTC

Scientists with a grant have done what none thought possible – perhaps few even gave any thought to – and smashed the world record for the highest jumping robot.
With a design resembling two bicycle wheels held together with rubber bands, the engineered jumper can leap more than 30 metres high, 100 times its own height and could one day lead to applications in lunar exploration.
Designed by Elliot Hawkes, Santa Barbara assistant professor at the University of California, the human-made hopper outperforms any known mechanical device and equals the best biological bouncers – relatively speaking – according to a paper published in Nature this week.

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Amazon to spend 11 days of annual profit developing robot warehouse workers

Who will win? Staff unions or $1bn of venture capital?

Brandon Vigliarolo Thu 21 Apr 2022 // 20:37 UTC

Amazon today announced the creation of a $1 billion venture investment program with the aim to spur innovation in three areas close to its heart: fulfillment, logistics, and the supply chain.
The Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund (AIIF) will be bankrolled using 11 days of the US giant's $33bn annual net income from 2021 (or 58 days of non-AWS annual operating income.)
Given the historic vote by New York warehouse staff to form the Amazon Labor Union, and claims by others that Amazon workers suffer higher rates of injury, the first five investments announced from the money pool may come as little surprise.

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AI with an improvisational streak is under development

Robots need to learn to adapt to chaotic humans, says German researcher

Brandon Vigliarolo Tue 19 Apr 2022 // 14:30 UTC

A German doctoral student's research is moving us ever closer to an AI skill that, as of yet, has been unrealized: improvisation.
According to Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology, robots don't work the same way. They need exact instructions, and imprecision can disrupt a whole workflow. That's where Maximilian Diehl comes in with his research project that aims to develop a new way of training AIs that leaves room to operate in changeable environments.
In particular, Diehl is concerned with building AIs that can work alongside people and adapt to the unpredictable nature of human behavior. "Robots that work in human environments need to be adaptable to the fact that humans are unique, and that we might all solve the same task in a different way," Diehl said.

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SpaceX launches first totally private mission to the International Space Station

Saturday rendezvous planned for historic commercial orbit ride

Katyanna Quach Fri 8 Apr 2022 // 23:12 UTC

A retired NASA astronaut and three space tourists are right now tucked inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule above Earth for the first-ever purely commercial mission to the International Space Station.
Flames billowed from the sky as the four-person crew were carried into space by a Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 8 at 1117 ET (1517 UTC). They are expected to arrive at their destination on Saturday at 1054 ET (1454 UTC) if all goes to plan.
Michael Lopéz-Alegría, vice president of business development at Axiom Space and a former NASA astronaut, is flying on the first private flight. He is accompanied by Larry Connor, an American real estate magnate; Eytan Stibbe, an Israeli businessman and former fighter pilot; and Mark Pathy, Canadian CEO of investment firm Maverick.

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