Intercommunication is one of the most important details about the concept of micro-machines.
Coordinating the work of several machines is an overwhelming challenge. Instructions from a central unit can only go so far. In a more complex system there needs to be an independent thinking that leads into a pattern.
A way to understand that pattern is to look at the flying of ducks. All together they form a pattern but they are not controlled by any central command. They all have a similar “programming” that makes them work as a group.
Groups of machines should follow the same logic. However to increase their efficiency they must communicate with each other. So we might expect for great development in communication between machines in the coming years.
Another area where inter-machines communications is growing is automation of cars.
In the automotive sector, cars are slowly closing in to automated driving. You may read about this in previous articles, but the turning point resides in communication between the cars. For example, if one slows down, the one behind receives a signal to slow down immediately. This way it doesn’t have to wait for visual interpretation.
Let us take a moment to look at the batteries development. With the common use of mobile phones and laptops batteries become cheaper and more efficient. When electric cars were raised as a need, batteries were already much more developed. So there was a kind of technology transfer.
The same should happen with machine intercommunication. Automated cars and micro-machines use the same technology. This improves the chance for development. With cars automation on the horizon micro-machines intercommunication should be easier.
If we wider the horizon, the development of robotics will be highly dependent on machines intercommunication.
domingo, 28 de junho de 2009
sábado, 27 de junho de 2009
Micro-Machines II - Locomotion
Since we were kids we hear that an ant can carry up to 30 times its own weight. Of course we wonder “If there was an 100 kilos ant, could it carry 3 tons?”. The problem is that such a big ant couldn’t probably lift her own weight.
The movement of a small animal or machine is much simpler than a big one. Whether is on the surface, on water or on the skies a smaller creature can move better, change directions easily, accelerate and brake easily and even coordinate movements.
Also smaller animals don’t need so big neurologic networks as the processing of their locomotion is easier. So micro-machines should use simpler ones as well. Once, we pass the tiping point of building a small enough processor for little machines to move around it will just get easier and easier build even smaller and more efficient ones.
The agility of a flying system is measured in a way by it’s turning radius. In other words, for it to take a 180º turning how many meters differ from point A to B?
A jet fighter has a smaller turning radius than a jumbo plane, therefore is more agile, but an eagle has an even smaller arch and a fly beats them all. This makes the fly’s manageability outstanding. It’s also interesting to point out that small birds have very bizarre flying methods with very small wings. On the other hand bigger birds usually fly faster but not that much.
In conclusion, while there is a wish full goal for robots playing soccer in 2050, we can expect much sooner for highly efficient means of locomotion for smaller machines.
The movement of a small animal or machine is much simpler than a big one. Whether is on the surface, on water or on the skies a smaller creature can move better, change directions easily, accelerate and brake easily and even coordinate movements.
Also smaller animals don’t need so big neurologic networks as the processing of their locomotion is easier. So micro-machines should use simpler ones as well. Once, we pass the tiping point of building a small enough processor for little machines to move around it will just get easier and easier build even smaller and more efficient ones.
The agility of a flying system is measured in a way by it’s turning radius. In other words, for it to take a 180º turning how many meters differ from point A to B?
A jet fighter has a smaller turning radius than a jumbo plane, therefore is more agile, but an eagle has an even smaller arch and a fly beats them all. This makes the fly’s manageability outstanding. It’s also interesting to point out that small birds have very bizarre flying methods with very small wings. On the other hand bigger birds usually fly faster but not that much.
In conclusion, while there is a wish full goal for robots playing soccer in 2050, we can expect much sooner for highly efficient means of locomotion for smaller machines.
Micro-Machines
The futures of robotics is in micro-robotics.
Whatever a big machine can do, 10 smaller machines can do it better. Whether we are mining minerals, exploring space, performing surgery, fighting an army or building a skyscraper it’s usually more efficient to choose smaller machines.
If we compare a machine one meter tall, with two of half a meter we realize two things. Altough they may use the same amount of material it’s cheaper to build two smaller, because the second one uses the some molder as the first one. And the smaller ones are more flexible, adjustable, they can fit in narrower spaces and it is easier to do maintenaince without stopping their work.
If you are thinking: Then let us make4 machines ¼ of the size, or 8 machines 1/8 of the size and so on. So where does it stop?
The limits are: miniaturization, inter-communication and of course in some cases there is reasonable size for what you are doing.
For example if you are chopping down trees you better have one machine capable of grabing an entire tree.
Inter-communication is a very interesting topic that I intend to develop on another post.
Miniaturization is the work of every hardware and robotics developer. And it is a work with consistent results. Processing equipment is getting smaller and smaller, and nanotechnologies will allow them to get much smaller.
Two other problems related to micro machines are: energy and the coming back.
Energy is always a problem when we are talking about machines and robotics. It’s a challenge for any machine to carry enough energy so they must have a way of collecting them easily.
And of course when we are talking about mass production we should consider the need for them to come back for re-use and recycle.
But once we get around this challenges miniaturization of robotics should be entering an exponencial growing rate.
After all, bears do not form colonies as efficient as bees or ants.
Whatever a big machine can do, 10 smaller machines can do it better. Whether we are mining minerals, exploring space, performing surgery, fighting an army or building a skyscraper it’s usually more efficient to choose smaller machines.
If we compare a machine one meter tall, with two of half a meter we realize two things. Altough they may use the same amount of material it’s cheaper to build two smaller, because the second one uses the some molder as the first one. And the smaller ones are more flexible, adjustable, they can fit in narrower spaces and it is easier to do maintenaince without stopping their work.
If you are thinking: Then let us make4 machines ¼ of the size, or 8 machines 1/8 of the size and so on. So where does it stop?
The limits are: miniaturization, inter-communication and of course in some cases there is reasonable size for what you are doing.
For example if you are chopping down trees you better have one machine capable of grabing an entire tree.
Inter-communication is a very interesting topic that I intend to develop on another post.
Miniaturization is the work of every hardware and robotics developer. And it is a work with consistent results. Processing equipment is getting smaller and smaller, and nanotechnologies will allow them to get much smaller.
Two other problems related to micro machines are: energy and the coming back.
Energy is always a problem when we are talking about machines and robotics. It’s a challenge for any machine to carry enough energy so they must have a way of collecting them easily.
And of course when we are talking about mass production we should consider the need for them to come back for re-use and recycle.
But once we get around this challenges miniaturization of robotics should be entering an exponencial growing rate.
After all, bears do not form colonies as efficient as bees or ants.
domingo, 21 de junho de 2009
Economic Crisis - After the Storm, the Earthquake
While we are expecting for the financial turmoil to pass, we might be missing a bigger one coming our way.
Before the burst of the late 2008, we had high oil prices, economic development, controlled inflation and low interest rates.
The high oil price made inflation grow, and that was one of the elements that made life harder for families triggering the debt crisis.
So the “before” situation was: economic development with high oil prices. It was a “inflation” scenario.
The crisis situation was: economic recession with low oil prices. It brought us to a deflation situation.
But nothing tells us that economic development and oil prices go hand-to-hand. So, we have two other situations to consider:
The optimum Scenario with economic development and low oil prices - Of course this is only achievable with alternative energies.
And the worst possible Scenario with high oil prices and low economic development – This would be a stagflation scenario.
So the question is: what happens faster? The economy recuperation or the rise of oil price?
If the rise of oil prise goes extremely high again, most of world economies can not sustain the burst of inflation that will arise. And in reaction to the rise of inflation the European Central Bank will be forced to raise interest rates.
Such a situation will be unsustainable for the citizens and families who have to pay interests for their loans. The situation that we first tried to avoid could be coming our way.
The key point is oil price. If it goes above 80 dol. It’s a sign to be worried. The contingent reaction is investment in alternative energies. Investment in alternative energies is not something we should do only to protect the environment. It should be done to protect our economies.
Before the burst of the late 2008, we had high oil prices, economic development, controlled inflation and low interest rates.
The high oil price made inflation grow, and that was one of the elements that made life harder for families triggering the debt crisis.
So the “before” situation was: economic development with high oil prices. It was a “inflation” scenario.
The crisis situation was: economic recession with low oil prices. It brought us to a deflation situation.
But nothing tells us that economic development and oil prices go hand-to-hand. So, we have two other situations to consider:
The optimum Scenario with economic development and low oil prices - Of course this is only achievable with alternative energies.
And the worst possible Scenario with high oil prices and low economic development – This would be a stagflation scenario.
So the question is: what happens faster? The economy recuperation or the rise of oil price?
If the rise of oil prise goes extremely high again, most of world economies can not sustain the burst of inflation that will arise. And in reaction to the rise of inflation the European Central Bank will be forced to raise interest rates.
Such a situation will be unsustainable for the citizens and families who have to pay interests for their loans. The situation that we first tried to avoid could be coming our way.
The key point is oil price. If it goes above 80 dol. It’s a sign to be worried. The contingent reaction is investment in alternative energies. Investment in alternative energies is not something we should do only to protect the environment. It should be done to protect our economies.
A um palmo do piloto automático
O piloto automático dos automóveis parece-nos um sonho de ficção científica inalcançável, contudo essa realidade está mais próxima de nós do que seria de pensar.
Existem já diversas tecnologias nos veículos topo de gama muito próximas do objectivo de piloto automático.
A tecnologia mais conhecida é o Cruise Control que simplesmente mantém uma velocidade constante e tem muito pouco de inteligente. Para além de não controlar a velocidade nas descidas, não toma qualquer tipo de decisão.
Versões mais recentes do Cruise Control já detectam as descidas e travam para manter a velocidade, tal como podem ser regulados pela distância a outro veículo. Por exemplo, podemos definir para ir a 20 metros do veículo da frente. O único trabalho que o condutor tem de fazer é controlar a direcção.
Mas também para a direcção já existem sistemas avançados de controlo. O mais popular é um sistema que detecta quando o carro está a sair da berma e volta a colocá-lo na faixa. Por enquanto, este mecanismo apenas funciona para corrigir erros e não como um sistema autónomo, mas poderá vir a evoluir nesse sentido.
A meu ver a tecnologia mais importante que poderá fazer o grande salto para o piloto automático é a comunicação entre automóveis. Esta comunicação é utilizada para calibrar o GPS, mas também para indicar obstáculos. Será também importante para ajuste de velocidade, avisos de travagens e de mudanças de direcção.
Mas enquanto não alcançamos algo que possa ser chamado de piloto automático a Lexus possui já uma tecnologia muito interessante. Para além de todas as tecnologias que ajudam a controlar o carro como as mencionadas anteriormente, possui também uma tecnologia que detecta o estado do condutor. Assim, se este estiver distraído, adormecido ou inconsciente, tenta acordá-lo com travagens súbitas, luzes e sons incómodos e no limite abranda o carro e pára-o.
Olhando para estas tecnologias como um todo, podemos estar certos que estamos a caminhar para o piloto automático.
Contudo este apenas deverá ser utilizado em auto-estradas onde o trânsito é condicionado a certo tipo de veículos.
Dentro de localidades se programássemos os veículos para proteger a segurança dos peões acima de tudo, estes simplesmente andariam pela estrada despreocupadamente, tornando o transito inviável.
Assim, temos um carro de condução assistida (manual com algum apoio) nas localidades e totalmente automático em auto-estradas.
Existem já diversas tecnologias nos veículos topo de gama muito próximas do objectivo de piloto automático.
A tecnologia mais conhecida é o Cruise Control que simplesmente mantém uma velocidade constante e tem muito pouco de inteligente. Para além de não controlar a velocidade nas descidas, não toma qualquer tipo de decisão.
Versões mais recentes do Cruise Control já detectam as descidas e travam para manter a velocidade, tal como podem ser regulados pela distância a outro veículo. Por exemplo, podemos definir para ir a 20 metros do veículo da frente. O único trabalho que o condutor tem de fazer é controlar a direcção.
Mas também para a direcção já existem sistemas avançados de controlo. O mais popular é um sistema que detecta quando o carro está a sair da berma e volta a colocá-lo na faixa. Por enquanto, este mecanismo apenas funciona para corrigir erros e não como um sistema autónomo, mas poderá vir a evoluir nesse sentido.
A meu ver a tecnologia mais importante que poderá fazer o grande salto para o piloto automático é a comunicação entre automóveis. Esta comunicação é utilizada para calibrar o GPS, mas também para indicar obstáculos. Será também importante para ajuste de velocidade, avisos de travagens e de mudanças de direcção.
Mas enquanto não alcançamos algo que possa ser chamado de piloto automático a Lexus possui já uma tecnologia muito interessante. Para além de todas as tecnologias que ajudam a controlar o carro como as mencionadas anteriormente, possui também uma tecnologia que detecta o estado do condutor. Assim, se este estiver distraído, adormecido ou inconsciente, tenta acordá-lo com travagens súbitas, luzes e sons incómodos e no limite abranda o carro e pára-o.
Olhando para estas tecnologias como um todo, podemos estar certos que estamos a caminhar para o piloto automático.
Contudo este apenas deverá ser utilizado em auto-estradas onde o trânsito é condicionado a certo tipo de veículos.
Dentro de localidades se programássemos os veículos para proteger a segurança dos peões acima de tudo, estes simplesmente andariam pela estrada despreocupadamente, tornando o transito inviável.
Assim, temos um carro de condução assistida (manual com algum apoio) nas localidades e totalmente automático em auto-estradas.
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