University of Washington Professor Shwetak Patel and other researchers have built an app that turns smartphones into thermometers without adding new hardware. The app, FeverPhone uses the phone’s touchscreen, battery temperature sensors and a machine-learning model to estimate people’s core body temperatures. When the researchers tested FeverPhone on 37 patients in an emergency department, the app estimated core body temperatures with accuracy comparable to some consumer thermometers. The study, however, did not include people with severe fevers above 101.5°F. The researchers used
A team of researchers at the University of Tokyo are developing interchangeable robot arms that can be worn like a backpack. The team lead and a professor at the university, Masahiko Inami, in an interview said that the device was inspired by traditional Japanese puppetry and a short story by novelist Yasunari Kawabata. In the story, a man borrows a young woman’s arm and proceeds to spend the night with it. The arms are also inspired by the idea of jizai, a Japanese term that roughly defines autonomy and the freedom to do as one pleases. The Jizai Arms system consists of a backpack-li
A new real-life transformer developed at Caltech’s Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) can reconfigure its body to achieve eight distinct types of motion and assess the environment to pick the most effective combination of motions to manoeuvre. The new robot called M4 – short for Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot – can roll on four wheels, turn its wheels into rotors and fly, stand on two wheels like a meerkat to peer over obstacles, walk by using its wheels like feet, use two rotors to help it roll up steep slopes on two wheels, tumble, and do much more. With such
The indigenously-developed Tactical Aerial Platform for Advanced Surveillance (TAPAS) 201 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is now ready for user evaluation trials, said the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO). Hailed as the Indian version of the US’ Predator drones, TAPAS 201 can carry different combinations of payloads such as Medium Range Electro Optic, Long Range Electro Optic, Synthetic Aperture Radar, Electronic Intelligence, Communication Intelligence and Situational Awareness Payloads to perform missions during day and night. The
A flying car developed by Alef Aeronautics has got a legal approval from the US government. The company has received a Special Airworthiness Certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In a statement, the company said that the FAA is working on its policies for electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, as well as governing interactions between eVTOLs and ground infrastructure. Alef's Special Airworthiness Certificate, thus, limits the locations and purpose for which Alef is permitted to fly. The flying car is 100% electric, can be driven on roads
Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered plane, VSS Unity, successfully took three customers and three crew members to the edge of space on June 29. The vessel took off along a support plane, Eve, and separated in mid-air, firing its rocket to climb almost vertically towards the edge of space. At the peak of the flight, with the rocket shut down, the crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness before the Unity shifted into re-entry mode and began its gliding descent back to Earth. The entire flight lasted about 75 minutes. Unity touched down safely at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The pl
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has successfully conducted a test flight for cloud seeding, the premier institution said in a statement issued on June 22. Cloud seeding involves using many chemical agents such as silver iodide, dry ice, common salt, and other elements with the aim of enhancing the probability of rains. The Computer Science and Engineering Department of IIT Kanpur initiated the cloud seeding project a few years ago. The test flight on June 21 went up to an approximate height of 5,000 feet. It landed on the IIT Kanpur lab airstrip after successfully completing the r
Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) has started the deliveries of Armado – a modular type vehicle that can be upgraded or configured to suit a wide variety of operational roles – to the Indian armed forces. Armado, an Armoured Light Specialist Vehicle (ALSV) designed and developed by Mahindra & Mahindra, can be used in counter-terrorist operations such as patrolling high-intensity areas, special forces operations and quick reaction teams. Its other uses include being a weapon carrier, a reconnaissance vehicle, a border security vehicle and being used in raids in open or desert terrains.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has helped the Uttar Pradesh Police arrest 87 suspected cheats who appeared as dummy candidates in the Village Development Officer recruitment examination conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC) on June 27. With the use of advanced AI based face recognition software, the UP Police made the arrests across the state. Those arrested included people who appeared fraudulently in place of actual aspirants for solving the exam. The system reportedly did real-time Aadhaar-based cross-verification of candidates. Maximum of th
Scientists have created a tiny pangolin-inspired magnetic robot that can move around a human body and perform minimally invasive medical procedures. The tiny robot works like an animal and swims around the human body. So far tested on practice tissue, it was found to be capable of heating up hard-to-reach places, such as the stomach and intestines, delivering cargo to tissues and stopping bleeding. The heat could be used for performing cancer treatment or mitigating bleeding. Scientists have long aimed at creating magnetic soft robots made out of soft metals that could navigate around t