Thoughts from the Shelf

This week news broke of a Japanese technology company that has launched a prototype robot for the home, designed to immobilise intruders by entangling them in a Robocop style net.

The security robot can be commanded from a user’s mobile phone to capture unwanted intruders. The prototype robot can be controlled using images that are streamed in real time to the user’s mobile phone.

The prototype T-34 that was revealed this week can move at up to 6 MPH, and is equipped with sensors that can detect the movement of intruders. When activated the robot then calls the users mobile to alert them of the intrusion.

“Security sensors often set off false alarms but examining the location with the robot will lead to more efficient operations,” – Tmsuk Co and security firm Alacom Co.

Seems a rather nifty way of detecting intruders in your home when you are not there that is for sure, I do however feel that any able bodied intruder would be able to outrun the robot at a mere 6MPH.

Perhaps another 30 BHP and we will be there.

I a return to regular posting on The Shelf we are re visiting the topic that we have become synonymous with reporting on. New Technologies.

A UK based company has today announced that through a unique satellite design, it can dramatically lower the cost of high resolution space imagery.

The satellite would be able to map the surface of the Earth a resolution that has only previously been found in virtual globe programs, at 60cm/pixel.

Similar systems have previously been built at huge expense, with the cost of putting up a conventional satellite nearing the $500 million mark. With a unique design the company has estimated this system could be launched for as little as $70 million.

The company that launches this system, SSTL, has recently been bought by EADS Astrium, Europe’s largest space firm.

“This is an exciting development for us; we’ve been studying the idea for over a year now,” - Philip Davies, business development manager with SSTL

He went on to say that. . .

“You could produce extremely good maps with the data from this spacecraft. In terms of the satellite, we are looking at about one-tenth of the cost of a normal satellite.”.

Commercial mapping is a fast growing industry with the emergence of Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, TomTom sat nav systems and Nokia maps to name but a few.

To date the image data that has fed these systems is partially funded by the US government. The development of the system from SSTL changes the face of this, where relatively small businesses could launch their own systems, holding exclusive image rights.

As well as loosening of control of image rights, there is also a commercial savings that can be made, with imagery costing as little as $0.15 per sq km as opposed to $20.

In the battle for the next Smartphone The Shelf takes a look at how the iPhone 3G has pushed the RIM Blackberry, as each tries to become the default handset for salesmen and business people around the world.

With the launch of the 3G iPhone it became clear that the RIM Blackberry needed something new to pervail in this highly lucrative sector. Now, dubbed the ‘iPhone killer’, the Blackberry Bold aims to target more that just a business user, it has been designed for ordinary people, and is Research In Motion’s most ambitious attempt yet.

This new device has all the trademarks of Blackberry devices that have preceded it, but as well as that RIM has gone a step further making the Blackberry Bold the best entertainment device they have ever made.

As with the iPhone the handset comes with a camera and GPS, email, good look and usability, and web browsing and multimedia capabilities.

“The Bold has been designed with this almost entirely in mind: loading music for instance, has been made really easy - it will pull songs straight from your existing iTunes library; surfing the web is more satisfying than on other BlackBerrys, because the Bold uses the 3G mobile phone network as well as Wi-Fi to get online; and the interface has been given a makeover.”

The BlackBerry Bold does look a lot better than any of its predecessors, and it does more than the iPhone, but the design of it is still suited to the business user and not the consumer.

The iPhone 3G is however better for the consumer thanks to superb multimedia capabilities, but if future firmware updates give Apple’s iPhone the ability to edit documents on the go, it could become the business choice as well.

The BBC iPlayer has been provided with a recent upgrade courtesy of an Adobe Flash upgrade. The upgrade has provided the iPlayer with a reason to encode its video content at a higher bit rate for its popular iPlayer VOD service.

At 800kbps and in H.264 format, the BBC promises better and sharper images which will be ideal for large size, HD ready screens and simultaneously, the BBC will start using AAC+ for audio.

This development also means that both the iTouch and the iPhone will be provided with better quality content via the iPlayer.

The move away from VP6 compression technology is due partly to the fact H.264 and AAC+ are fairly open platforms compared to the aforementioned one which was developed by On2.

Version of the iPlayer that are to be developed in the future will also detect which bit rate to stream automatically, enabling the new iPlayer to cater for a wide range of broadband speeds throughout the country.

“The advantage for the audience will be a noticeable improvement in audio and video quality. Furthermore, it should become easier for the media to simply work across a broader range of devices. While it’s not a magic bullet, it certainly is a significant step in the right direction.” - BBC director of future media and technology Erik Huggers

The Shelf has previous highlighted how Internet Service Providers had suggested that they should not carry sole responsibly for paying for the extra costs that come as a result of the popularity of the iPlayer’s success. (Titled ISPs vs BBC iPlayer)

Well, after this ISPs could be even more miffed, since it means that in effect, the bandwidth consumed by the average iPlayer user could jump by nearly 60 percent overnight piling pressure on them.

The future of robotics could see robots taking an active role in law enforcement and the provision of social order according to predictions by AI Professor Noel Sharkey from Sheffield University.

After a two month long study of the evolution of robotics it was predicted that in the future robots that have the ability to access large amounts of data instantaneously to identify people could play an active role on UK streets.

The core prediction made focus around the computing power that could be made implemented into portable units, allowing for near instant facial recognition, body scanning for foreign objects such as weapons, and even detection of explosive substances. It is thought that these units could then be dispatched to public places, providing extra levels of security that are not currently possible.

It was also thought that any such robots would be armed, and with super human strength would be able to make arrests and break up groups with anti-social behaviour.

It was predicated that robots of this type could be in place within 30 years. It is thought that is likely to be more likely to be 60 years be enough advancements are made to replace other enforcement roles such as traffic ticketing.

At the time of robotic ticketing it is predicted that advancements will have been made enabling autonomous police cars, which would be capable of immediate number plate recognition. They could then stop cars to make arrests for a variety of misdemeanours as well as bring joyriding to an end.

Te 80 year prediction says that robots will be made from inorganic materials and have human face expressions and will patrol calmer streets armed with bionic tools. They will be able to take DNA tests and use respiration, heart rate and temperature as lie detector technologies.

“Hollywood movies and TV shows such as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles have been dismissed as fantastical over the years, but this report, based on existing research and current technological developments, suggests that robots will play a much bigger role in society over the next 75 years than previously anticipated.”

“These robot developments could be extremely beneficial in the protection of citizens and police in the hands of benevolent governments. But in the wrong hands, as warned in the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, robot law enforcement could be a major blow to individual privacy and basic human rights.”