NEXI - The Robot Express Facial Emotions

    Robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent made by man kind. A mechanism  that can move  automatically. It is refer to both physical robot and virtual software agents. Robot is an  electric machine which has some ability to interact with physical objects and to be given electronic programming to do a specific task or to do a whole range of tasks or actions. It may also have some ability to perceive and absorb data on physical objects, or on its local physical environment, or to process data, or to respond to various stimuli. Robot doesn't show emotions  because they don't have heart like humans. But there is robot that can be able to express human emotions with facial expressions, called NEXI.

    NEXI is a robot displays facial emotions developed by MIT (Massachusett Institute of Technology) Lab's Personal Robots Group in collaboration with Prof. Rod Grupen at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and two MIT robotic spin-off companies. 


    The head and face of NEXI were designed by by Xitome Design with MIT. The expressive robotics started with a neck mechanism sporting 4 degrees of freedom (DoF) at the base, plus pan-tilt-yaw of the head itself. The mechanism has been constructed to time the movements so they mimic human speed. NEXI's face has been designed to use gaze, eyebrows, eyelids and an articulate mandible which helps in expressing a wide range of different emotions. NEXI has a color CCD in each eye as well as an indoor active 3-D infrared camera in its head and four microphones to support sound localization. It has laser rangefinder which supports real-time tracking of objects, people and voices as well as indoor navigation and has hands that can be used to manipulate objects.

    The chassis of NEXI  is also advanced which it is based on the uBot5 mobile manipulator developed by the Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics UMASS (University of Massachusett) Amherst. The mobile base can balance dynamically on two wheels; Nexi has what amounts to a Segway-like body. The arms can pick up ten pounds; the plastic covering of the chassis can detect human touch.


    This project was headed by Media Lab's Cynthia Breazeal, a well known robotics expert famous for earlier expressive robots such as KISMET. She is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT. She named her new product as an MDS (mobile, dextrous, social) robot.

    This is the video posted on you tube the preliminary video demonstration of NEXI's facial expressions using pre-scripted movements.

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Metal Detecting Sandals

    When we talk about sandals, it is a footwear where the shoe  is held to the foot. It is made up of  straps or bands holding a sole to the foot. Could you imagine a sandal that can detect metals while you walk? Then its true, it is called a Metal Detecting Sandal.

   If you are playing treasure hunting or walk over something metal at the beach or anywhere then you can used Metal Detecting Sandal. It can find metals object up to 2 feet below the surface. If it detects metals, the anklet pack vibrates, flashes or buzzes. It also helps to keep others away from your treasure too, because they are much more subtle than the typical detector.

    The right sandal is a built in copper coil, that is powered by a single 9 volt battery which will last  for 6 hours of detecting time.

    
    Imagine? You can find treasures through wearing the Metal Detecting Sandal. Sounds crazy but cool.

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Midori Operating System

    Windows is the most popular operating system (OS) used. But Microsoft begins the search for a new  replacement software of Windows OS. This software is called Midori.

    That is true, MICROSOFT is working on a new generation of operating systems called Cloud-Based Operating System and rumors are there that MIDORI will be their first such operating system, which will eventually replace the Windows OS in a few years time.

    Midore is the code name Managed Code Operating System. The code name Midori was first discovered through the PowerPoint presentation CHESS: A systematic testing tool for concurrent software. It is an offshoot of Microsoft Research's Singularity operating system.

    The main idea behind MIDORI is to develop a lightweight portable OS which can be mated easily to lots of various applications. 

    At this point in time, we do not know how and when Midori will end up. Microsoft might very well be working on the successor of the Windows operating system, but if it is, it has failed to give any indication in this respect.

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Moonlight Laptops

    This laptop looks incredibly cool and it is called Moonlight Laptop designed by Teo Braun. This laptop is just a concept, but it is possible to make it today since all the technologies are already exists.

    The concept laptop comprised with duel-curved screens, a 16:9 and a 4:3, to replace the conventional scree and keyboard. The 4:3 is a touch screen and can work as a mouse and can run mini OS or can be adjoined to the larger 16:9 screen.The frame is sensor controlled and lights up in dark and has a pair of long legs to lift the laptop and for proper placing of the keyboard.

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Bluetooth Virtual Laser Keyboard

    Bluetooth Virtual Laser Keyboard is one of the technology innovations. It is a revolutionary accessory keyboard that operates in total darkness. This tiny device laser-projects a keyboard on almost any surface, then you can type away accompanied by simulated key click sounds. It really is true future magic at its best. It can be used in  PDA, Cellular Telephones, Laptops (MAC compatible) and  Tablet PC using bluetooth. You'll be turning heads the moment you pull this baby from your pocket and use it to compose an e-mail on your bluetooth enabled PDA or Cell Phone. It is like an ordinary keyboard with 63 keys and full size QWERTY layout.

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Combimouse

    Mouse and Keyboard are one of the accessories for computers and laptops. Would you think that there is a Keyboard and Mouse in one? It sound strange but thats the fact.  It is called Combimouse, acombination of mouse and keyboard.

     Combimouse is still in the prototype stage. The left side of the Combimouse is designed to remain still and it features a scroll wheel built into the botton of the keyboard. While the right side of it is designed to move around like normal  mouse. The keyboard works like a standard keyboard as well. When the user grips the right unit it automtically switches to mouse mode.

    This is invented by Australian PC World.

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8GB Video Watch

    When we say watch, it is a timepiece to be worn on a person. It is expensive depending on the quality.


    Have you seen watch that is not a normal watch but at the same time you can stream videos? Yes, it is not possible.The 8GB Video watch was made of stainless steel with a 8GB of Internal Flash memory and a full color 1.8 inch TFT  LCD screen with a 160*128 video resolution. It has a digital time display, a built in quality speaker as well as a earphone jack, built in mic, built in rechargeable lion battery, built in USB 2.0 port, MTV video format, record format (wav), FPS (20) and the operating system can be Window98/SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista/. It has a multiple OSD language to choose from namely English, Chinese, Portuguese, French, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian and Polish.  The music format is MP3, WMA and WAV and can be converted to AVI, MP4, WMV, ASF, MPG, MPEG, DAT, RM and MOV. The time format was Time/Date/Day and 24 hour style time. The watch face dimension was 45*55*13mm(L*W*D).  

    It is an unbelievable, right? But it is true. You can Buy watches with those specifications and for sure it is so expensive.

     

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Risk and Benefits of Cellular phones

    We all know that cellular phone is one of the cheapest means of communication. We can communicate our love one's, relatives, especial person etc. all around the globe in low cost. We can easily access to the outside world by sending a text message or by making a call.

    Text is one way to communicate, we don't need to go to the postal office to send mails and wait for how many days to receive expected mails. We just simply type the message, send it and just for a few a second a message will be receive to the recipient. If you wish to hear the voice to someone you miss or anyone else, or want to clarify and have important things to discuss, then you make a Call. Calling is a little bit expensive compare to sending a text message. The cost in making calls is depending on the range of time you've talk. We can also send money via text message like the G-cash, Smart Padala and etc.

  
    See how technology plays an important role to us. But too much using of Cellular phones caused harm to our health. We are exposing in Radiation when using cellular phones. Radiation can cause biological changes in cells when they are outside in our body. It can cause cataract, memory loss, hair loss, skin reddening and blistering, cell brain cancer and sometimes death.

    Too much using of cellular phones is not good. We need to think also our health. As what other say Health is wealth.

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Guidelines in Buying Laptop

    When we talk about laptops,it is a small personal computer designed for portability.The interface hardware needed to operate the laptop are built in to a single unit. 
    Buying a Laptop, you should first look the specification namely:
        1. Processor 
        2.Operating System (OS)
        3. Memory Hard Drive
        4. Graphic Cards
        5. Optical Drive
        6. Screen size
       7. Ports and Slots (USB port for joystick,headphones, speakers, etc.)
        8.  (softwares that is not a trial version, webcam)

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