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Welcome to Cyber Dump number 44, your look at what's happening in this insane age of technology that we live in. As always, all source links mentioned are below.
- Youtube link
- Archive.org mirror
- Torrent
- Keybase mirror
DIY
Nathan Seidle, the founder of Sparkfun, has created a fascinating robot that can crack a specific type of safe. After being given the locked safe as a present, he took on the challenge of trying to open it, and along the way, figured out that some of the safeguards meant to protect against human safe crackers, leave the devices vulnerable to robots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fTz2D6x20U
AUTOMATION
This is probably a sign of things to come. Shoppers in Beijing now have an autonomous convenience store they can shop at.
Customers have to register their identities, and facial recognition cameras at the door determine whether someone can gain access. Once inside, they can use the WeChat app on their phones to scan items, and automatically pay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCiRqBlRrok
Researchers in Australia have also developed a digital farmhand robot, which can perform various tasks such as analysing, watering and seeding crops, to help farmers work more efficiently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xL8Db60YUk
ROBOTICS
Here's an interesting robot concept. Researchers at Harvard and the Wyss Institute have created battery and wire free folding robots, capable of complex and repeatable movements. Instead of a traditional power source, these move based on electromagnetic power transmission and resonance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdRyQOjphzU
AUGMENTED REALITY
Arcane Reality uploaded a ARKit demo of an augmented reality drone being controlled by an ipad. Pretty cool seeing it interact with physical reality.
This makes me think what it'll be like when multiple people wearing headsets or glasses can all see and interact with these things, and would that technically be a hologram?
https://twitter.com/ArcaneRealityVR/status/883426940715233281
AUGMENTED HUMANS
Another project by the Wyss Insitute, this one is a soft exoskeleton which helps partially paralyzed stroke patients to walk in a more natural gait, to help movement and balance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWLgfP2ndes
And on the topic of mobility, a company called SMART have also been developing a self-driving wheelchair to enable severely disabled people more freedom in their everyday lives.
Much like self driving cars, these can automatically detect people, move around and reroute on the fly. The devices are currently being tested in hospitals in Singapore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRo8FnS2XfY
VIDEOS
Two new videos this week. The first is a short documentary called Body Architects, where a science fiction writer meets various people who are augmenting their bodies, including the biohacking pioneers at Grindhouse Wetware.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ7IJb_aScY
The next video by 3Blue1Brown is an indepth look at how Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies work, and the mathematics behind it. Well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4
THIS WEEK ON NODE
This week I showed you a prototype for the Pi Zero Terminal 2. This time, I chose a different form factor, kind of similar to a Nintendo 2DS or Pocket Chip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO4amBc0Tbw
I've also restocked everything in the shop, and added the Pi Zero USB Dongle Case as well, so check it out if you want to pick up something unique, and help the channel out at the same time.
Alright, that's it for this week. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.
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