May
20, 2001 - Brainy
'Bots - NASA's own "Bionic Woman" is
applying artificial intelligence to teach robots how
to behave a little more like human explorers. Ayanna
Howard may never set foot on Mars or lead a mission to
Jupiter, but the work she's doing on "smart"
robots will help to revolutionize planetary
exploration nonetheless...
May
23, 2001 - Water-Witching
From Space - Science NASA, Farmers will
soon have a new tool for getting the most out of their
fields. NASA's Aqua satellite will provide crucial
information about the water in the ground and the weather
on the horizon. Back in the old days, when farmers wanted
to find water in the ground, they hired a fellow called a
"dowser" who held a forked stick and went
"water-witching." When the forked stick
"dowsed," or dipped toward the earth --
supposedly under the influence of hidden water -- that's
where water would be found. Or so they said. But now NASA
has a better way to find moisture in the Earth...
May
24, 2001 - Some
Internet Robots - Robots that Manipulate -
"The Mercury Project - The first Internet robot
(September 1, 1994- March 31, 1995). Allowed web users to
remotely control an IBM robot to view and excavate buried
objects via bursts of compressed air. Developed at the
University of Southern California for the Mosaic web
browser. An archive of the site includes background,
milestones, and operator logs..."
May
17, 2001 -
Satellite
radio is ready, but cars that can accommodate it aren’t
- By Gregory L. White, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL,
Detroit, Satellite-radio companies are finding it
easier to launch satellites into space than to get
their businesses off the ground. SATELLITE-RADIO
TECHNOLOGY was supposed to be delivering hundreds of
channels of CD-quality music to as many as a million
cars this year, revolutionizing radio the way cable
did TV. It hasn’t worked out that way...
