Tag Archives: DARPA

DARPA’s Living Foundries and advanced nanotechnology via synthetic biology

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This is not a comfortable topic for a lot of people, but James Lewis in a May 26, 2012 posting on the Foresight Institute blog, comments on some developments in the DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projeect Agency) Living Foundries program (Note: I have removed a link),

Synthetic biology promises near-term breakthroughs in medicine, materials, and energy, and is also one promising development pathway leading to advanced nanotechnology and a general capability for programmable, atomically-precise manufacturing. Darpa (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has launched a new program [Living Foundries] that could greatly accelerate progress in synthetic biology by creating a library of standardized, modular biological units that could be used to build new devices and circuits.

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If Darpa’s Living Foundries program achieves its ambitious goals, it should create a methodology, toolbox, and a large group of practitioners ready to pursue a synthetic biology pathway to building complex molecular machine systems, and eventually, atomically precise manufacturing systems.

DARPA opened solicitations for this program Sept. 2, 2011 and made a series of award notices starting May 17, 2012 stretching to May 31,2012. Here’s a description of the program from the DARPA Living Foundries project webpage,

The Living Foundries Program seeks to create the engineering framework for biology, speeding the biological design-build-test cycle and expanding the complexity of systems that can be engineered. The Program aims to develop new tools, technologies and methodologies to decouple biological design from fabrication, yield design rules and tools, and manage biological complexity through abstraction and standardization.  These foundational tools would enable the rapid development of previously unattainable technologies and products, leveraging biology to solve challenges associated with production of new materials, novel capabilities, fuel and medicines. For example, one motivating, widespread and currently intractable problem is that of corrosion/materials degradation. The DoD must operate in all environments, including some of the most corrosively aggressive on Earth, and do so with increasingly complex heterogeneous materials systems. This multifaceted and ubiquitous problem costs the DoD approximately $23 Billion per year. The ability to truly program and engineer biology, would enable the capability to design and engineer systems to rapidly and dynamically prevent, seek out, identify and repair corrosion/materials degradation.

Accomplishing this vision requires an approach that is more than multidisciplinary – it requires a new engineering discipline built upon the integration of new ideas, approaches and tools from fields spanning computer science and electrical engineering to chemistry and the biological sciences.  The best innovations will introduce new architectures and tools into an open technology platform to rapidly move new designs from conception to execution.

Performers must ensure and demonstrate throughout the program that all methods and demonstrations of capability comply with national guidance for manipulation of genes and organisms and follow all guidance for biological safety and Biosecurity.

Katie Drummond in her May 22, 2012 posting on the Wired website’s Danger Room blog makes note of the awarded contracts (Note: I have removed the links),

Now, Darpa’s handed out seven research awards worth $15.5 million to six different companies and institutions. Among them are several Darpa favorites, including the University of Texas at Austin and the California Institute of Technology. Two contracts were also issued to the J. Craig Venter Institute. Dr. Venter is something of a biology superstar: He was among the first scientists to sequence a human genome, and his institute was, in 2010, the first to create a cell with entirely synthetic genome.

In total, nine contracts were awarded as of May 31, 2012. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) was awarded two, while  Stanford University, Harvard University, and the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution were each awarded one.

The J. Craig Venter Institute received a total of almost $4M for two separate contracts ($964,572 and $3,007, 321). Interestingly, Venter has just been profiled in the New York Times magazine in a May 30, 2012 article by Wil S. Hylton with nary a mention of this new project (I realize the print version couldn’t be revised but surely they could have managed a note online).  The opening paragraphs sound like a description of the Living Foundries project for people who don’t specialize in reading government documents,

In the menagerie of Craig Venter’s imagination, tiny bugs will save the world. They will be custom bugs, designer bugs — bugs that only Venter can create. He will mix them up in his private laboratory from bits and pieces of DNA, and then he will release them into the air and the water, into smokestacks and oil spills, hospitals and factories and your house.

Each of the bugs will have a mission. Some will be designed to devour things, like pollution. Others will generate food and fuel. There will be bugs to fight global warming, bugs to clean up toxic waste, bugs to manufacture medicine and diagnose disease, and they will all be driven to complete these tasks by the very fibers of their synthetic DNA.

This is is not a critical or academic  analysis of Venter’s approach to biology, synthetic or otherwise, but it does offer an in-depth profile and, given Venter’s prominence in the field of synthetic biology, it’s a worthwhile read.

Brain-controlled robotic arm means drinking coffee by yourself for the first time in 15 years

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The video shows a woman getting herself a cup of coffee for the first time in 15 years. She’s tetraplegic (aka quadraplegic) and is participating in a research project funded by DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) for developing neuroprostheses.

Kudos to the researchers and to the woman for her courage and persistence. The May 17, 2012 news item on Nanowerk provides some background,

DARPA launched the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program in 2006 to advance the state of upper-limb prosthetic technology with the goals of improving quality of life for service-disabled veterans and ultimately giving them the option of returning to duty. [emphasis mine] Since then, Revolutionizing Prosthetics teams have developed two anthropomorphic advanced modular prototype prosthetic arm systems, including sockets, which offer increased range of motion, dexterity and control options. Through DARPA-funded work and partnerships with external researchers, the arm systems and supporting technology continue to advance.

The newest development on this project (Revolutionizing Prosthetics) comes from the BrainGate team (mentioned in my April 19, 2012 posting [scroll down about 1/5th of the way) many of whom are affiliated with Brown University.  Alison Abbott’s May 16, 2012 Nature article provides some insight into the latest research,

The study participants — known as Cathy and Bob — had had strokes that damaged their brain stems and left them with tetraplegia and unable to speak. Neurosurgeons implanted tiny recording devices containing almost 100 hair-thin electrodes in the motor cortex of their brains, to record the neuronal signals associated with intention to move.

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The work is part of the BrainGate2 clinical trial, led by John Donoghue, director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science in Providence. His team has previously reported a trial in which two participants were able to move a cursor on a computer screen with their thoughts.

The neuroscientists are working closely with computer scientists and robotics experts. The BrainGate2 trial uses two types of robotic arm: the DEKA Arm System, which is being developed for prosthetic limbs in collaboration with US military, and a heavier robot arm being developed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) as an external assistive device.

In the latest study, the two participants were given 30 seconds to reach and grasp foam balls. Using the DEKA arm, Bob — who had his stroke in 2006 and was given the neural implant five months before the study —- was able to grasp the targets 62% of the time. Cathy had a 46% success rate with the DEKA arm and a 21% success rate with the DLR arm. She successfully raised the bottled coffee to her lips in four out of six trials.

Nature has published the research paper (citation):

Reach and grasp by people with tetraplegia using a neurally controlled robotic arm

Authors: Leigh R. Hochberg, Daniel Bacher, Beata Jarosiewicz, Nicolas Y. Masse, John D. Simeral, Joern Vogel, Sami Haddadin, Jie Liu, Sydney S. Cash, Patrick van der Smagt and John P. Donoghue

Nature, 485, 372–375 (17 May 2012) doi:10.1038/nature11076

The paper is behind a paywall but if you have access, it’s here.

In the excess emotion after watching that video, I forgot for a moment that the ultimate is to repair soldiers and hopefully get them back into the field.

A step closer to artificial synapses courtesy of memristors

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Researchers from HRL Laboratories and the University of Michigan have built what they claim is a type of artificial synapse by using memristors. From the March 29, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

In a step toward computers that mimic the parallel processing of complex biological brains, researchers from HRL Laboratories, LLC, and the University of Michigan have built a type of artificial synapse.

They have demonstrated the first functioning “memristor” array stacked on a conventional complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuit. Memristors combine the functions of memory and logic like the synapses of biological brains.

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The researchers developed a vertically integrated hybrid electronic circuit by combining the novel memristor developed at the University of Michigan with wafer scale heterogeneous process integration methodology and CMOS read/write circuitry developed at HRL. “This hybrid circuit is a critical advance in developing intelligent machines,” said HRL SyNAPSE program manager and principal investigator Narayan Srinivasa. “We have created a multi-bit fully addressable memory storage capability with a density of up to 30 Gbits/cm², which is unprecedented in microelectronics.”

Industry is seeking hybrid systems such as this one, the researchers say. Dubbed “R-RAM,” they could shatter the looming limits of Moore’s Law, which predicts a doubling of transistor density and therefore chip speed every two years.

“We’re reaching the fundamental limits of transistor scaling. This hybrid integration opens many opportunities for greater memory capacity and higher performance of conventional computers.  It has great potential in future non-volatile memory that would improve upon today’s Flash, as well as reconfigurable circuits,” said Wei Lu, an associate professor at the U-M Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science whose group developed the memristor array.

This work is being done as part of a DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) project titled, SyNAPSE, from the news item,

The work is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) SyNAPSE Program, or Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics. Since 2008, the HRL-led SyNAPSE team has been developing a new paradigm for “neuromorphic computing” modeled after biology.

While I haven’t come across HRL Laboratories before, I have mentioned Dr. Wei Lu and his work with memristors in my April 15, 2010 posting. As for HRL Laboratories, they were founded in 1948 by Howard Hughes as the Hughes Research Laboratories (from the company’s History page),

HRL Laboratories continues the legacy of technology advances that began at Hughes Research Laboratories, established by Howard Hughes in 1948. HRL Laboratories, LLC, was organized as a limited liability company (LLC) on December 17, 1997 and received its first patent on September 12, 2000. With more than 750 patents to our name since then and counting, we’re proud of our talented group of researchers, who continue the long tradition of technical excellence in innovation.

First Laser
One of Hughes’ most notable achievements came in 1960 with the demonstration of the world’s first laser which used a synthetic ruby crystal. The ruby laser became the basis of a multibillion-dollar laser range finder business for Hughes. In 2010 during the 50th anniversary of the laser, HRL was designated a Physics Historic Site by the American Physical Society and was selected an IEEE Milestones location as the facility where the first working laser was demonstrated.

HRL has organized its researchers in a number of teams, the one of most interest in this context is the Center for Neural and Emergent Systems,

Part of HRL’s Information and Systems Sciences Laboratory, the Center for Neural and Emergent Systems (CNES) is dedicated to exploring and developing an innovative neural & emergent computing paradigm for creating intelligent, efficient machines that can interact with, react and adapt to, evolve, and learn from their environments.

CNES was founded on the principle that all intelligent systems are open thermodynamic systems capable of self-organization, whereby structural order emerges from disorder as a natural consequence of exchanging energy, matter or entropy with their environments.

These systems exist in a state far from equilibrium where the evolution of complex behaviors cannot be readily predicted from purely local interactions between the system’s parts. Rather, the emergent order and structure of the system arises from manifold interactions of its parts. These emergent systems contain amplifying-damping loops as a result of which very small perturbations can cause large effects or no effect at all. They become adaptive when the component relationships within the system become tuned for a particular set of tasks.

CNES promotes the idea that the neural system in the brain is an example of such a complex adaptive system. A key goal of CNES is to explain how computations in the brain can help explain the realization of complex behaviors such as perception, planning, decision making and navigation due to brain-body-environment interactions.

This has reminded me of HP Labs and their work with memristors (I have many postings, too many to list here) and understand that they will be rolling out ‘memristor-based’ products in 2013. From the  Oct. 8, 2011 article by Peter Clarke for EE Times,

The ‘memristor’ two-terminal non-volatile memory technology, in development at Hewlett Packard Co. since 2008, is on track to be in the market and taking share from flash memory within 18 months, according to Stan Williams, senior fellow at HP Labs.

“We have a lot of big plans for it and we’re working with Hynix Semiconductor to launch a replacement for flash in the summer of 2013 and also to address the solid-state drive market,” Williams told the audience of the International Electronics Forum, being held here [Seville, Spain].

ETA June 11, 2012: New artificial synapse development is mentioned in George Dvorsky’s June 11, 2012 posting (on the IO9.com website) about a nanoscale electrochemical switch developed by researchers in a Japan.

US DARPA competition for $2M robotics project prize

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The presolicitation proposer’s webcast takes place April 16, 2012 according to this notice,

Robotics Challenge Virtual Proposer Day
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is sponsoring a virtual Proposers’ Day Workshop for the potential proposer community, for the Robotics Challenge program. The virtual workshop will be held on April 16, 2012 via a live webcast from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM EDT.

The goals of the Proposer Day are: (a) to introduce the science and technology community (industry, academia, and Government) to the Robotics Challenge program vision and goals; (b) to engage investigators that may have capabilities to develop elements of interest and relevance to the Robotics Challenge goals; and (c) to encourage and promote teaming arrangements among organizations that have the relevant expertise, research facilities, and capabilities for executing research and development responsive to the Robotics Challenge program goals. Aside from traditional robotics researchers, a successful team will likely combine cutting edge advancements and expertise from the areas of mechanism design and control systems, embedded controls, biophysics, machine-human interface, modeling & simulation, gaming and autonomy. The Proposers’ Day will include overview presentations by various government personnel (both internal and external to DARPA) and a Q&A session.

Program Goals and Description:

The primary goal of the DARPA Robotics Challenge program is to develop ground robotic capabilities to execute complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments. The program will focus on robots that can use available human tools, ranging from hand tools to vehicles. The program aims to advance the key robotic technologies of supervised autonomy, mounted mobility, dismounted mobility, dexterity, strength, and platform endurance. Supervised autonomy will be developed to allow robot control by non-expert operators, to lower operator workload, and to allow effective operation despite low fidelity (low bandwidth, high latency, intermittent) communications.

DARPA intends to solicit innovative research proposals in the area of robotics for disaster response. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.

A secondary program goal is to make ground robot software development more accessible, and lower software acquisition cost while increasing capability. This will be accomplished by creating and providing Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) to some performers in the form of a robotic hardware platform with arms, legs, torso, and head, called the GFE Platform. Availability of the GFE Platform will allow teams without hardware expertise or hardware to participate.

A parallel secondary program goal is to make ground robot systems development (both hardware and software) more accessible, and lower acquisition cost while increasing capability. This will be accomplished by creating and providing GFE in the form of an open-source, real-time, operator-interactive, virtual test-bed simulator, called the GFE Simulator. The GFE Simulator will be populated with models of robots, robot components, and field environments. The accuracy of the models will be rigorously validated on a physical test-bed.

The creation of a widely available, validated, affordable, community supported and enhanced virtual test environment will play a catalytic role, similar to the role the Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) played for integrated circuits, allowing new hardware and software designs to be evaluated without the need for physical prototyping. This simulator will lower the barrier for companies to enter the robotics market by allowing them to quickly explore and test new designs at minimal cost with high confidence in the results. It will also catalyze disaggregation of robot software, hardware, and component suppliers, leading to increased competition, increased innovation, and lower cost.

DARPA anticipates that the GFE Simulator will also enhance Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. For example in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) competition, by allowing students to virtually prototype the design and control of robots, then compare experimental and simulated results – a fundamental lesson in the engineering skill of modeling.

Registration Information:
Participants must register for the Proposers’ Day workshop through the registration website by Friday, April 13th at Noon EDT.  The Proposer Day meeting is unclassified and open to the general public.

Here is the DARPA Robotics Challenge Notice webpage. You can find the 42-page document (DARPA-BAA-12-39 [DARPA Robotics Challenge]) listing all the proposal details and eligibility here. It looks like Canadians or Canadian teams and other can apply although I suggest you confirm this by contacting these folks directly at DARPA-BAA-12-39@darpa.mil.

There are some general details here in the April 11, 2012 news item on physorg.com,

DARPA’s Robotics Challenge will launch in October 2012.  Teams are sought to compete in challenges involving staged disaster-response scenarios in which robots will have to successfully navigate a series of physical tasks corresponding to anticipated, real-world disaster-response requirements.

The proposal due date is May 31, 2012, according to the 42-page DARPA-BAA-12-39 (DARPA Robotics Challenge) document.

Geckskin and Z-Man

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Z-Man or do I mean SpiderMan? They used to make reference to SpiderMan and/or geckos when there was some research breakthrough or other concerning adhesion (specifically, bioadhesion) but these days, it’s all geckos, all the time.

I’m going to start with the first announcement from the research team at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, from the Feb. 17, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these 5-ounce lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent “Geckskin,” a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall. Doctoral candidate Michael Bartlett in Alfred Crosby’s polymer science and engineering lab at UMass Amherst is the lead author of their article describing the discovery in the current online issue of Advanced Materials (“Looking Beyond Fibrillar Features to Scale Gecko-Like Adhesion”). The group includes biologist Duncan Irschick, a functional morphologist who has studied the gecko’s climbing and clinging abilities for over 20 years. Geckos are equally at home on vertical, slanted, even backward-tilting surfaces.

Here’s a picture illustrating the material’s strength,

A card-sized pad of Geckskin can firmly attach very heavy objects such as this 42-inch television weighing about 40 lbs. (18 kg) to a smooth vertical surface. The key innovation by Bartlett and colleagues was to create a soft pad woven into a stiff fabric that includes a synthetic tendon. Together these features allow the stiff yet flexible pad to “drape” over a surface to maximize contact. Photo courtesy of UMass Amherst

This image is meant as an illustration of what the product could do and not as a demonstration, i.e., the tv is not being held up by ‘geckskin’.

There are other research teams around the world working on ways to imitate the properties of gecko feet or bioadhesion (my Nov. 2, 2011 posting mentions some work on robots with ‘gecko feet’ at Simon Fraser University [Canada] and my March 19, 2012 posting mentions in passing some work being done at the University of Waterloo [Canada] are two recent examples).

The University of Massachusetts team’s innovation (from the Feb. 17, 2012 news item),

The key innovation by Bartlett and colleagues was to create an integrated adhesive with a soft pad woven into a stiff fabric, which allows the pad to “drape” over a surface to maximize contact. Further, as in natural gecko feet, the skin is woven into a synthetic “tendon,” yielding a design that plays a key role in maintaining stiffness and rotational freedom, the researchers explain.

Importantly, the Geckskin’s adhesive pad uses simple everyday materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which holds promise for developing an inexpensive, strong and durable dry adhesive.

The UMass Amherst researchers are continuing to improve their Geckskin design by drawing on lessons from the evolution of gecko feet, which show remarkable variation in anatomy. “Our design for Geckskin shows the true integrative power of evolution for inspiring synthetic design that can ultimately aid humans in many ways,” says Irschick.

The research at the University of Massachusetts is being funded, in part, by DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) through its Z-man program. From the March 2, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

“Geckskin” is one output of the Z-Man program. It is a synthetically-fabricated reversible adhesive inspired by the gecko’s ability to climb surfaces of various materials and roughness, including smooth surfaces like glass. Performers on Z-Man designed adhesive pads to mimic the gecko foot over multiple length scales, from the macroscopic foot tendons to the microscopic setae and spatulae, to maximize reversible van der Waals interactions with the surface.

Here’s the reasoning for the Z-Man program, from the March 2, 2012 news item,

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s “Z-Man program” aims to develop biologically inspired climbing aids to enable soldiers to scale vertical walls constructed from typical building materials, while carrying a full combat load, and without the use of ropes or ladders.

Soldiers operate in all manner of environments, including tight urban terrain. Their safety and effectiveness demand maximum flexibility for maneuvering and responding to circumstances. To overcome obstacles and secure entrance and egress routes, soldiers frequently rely on ropes, ladders and related climbing tools. Such climbing tools cost valuable time to use, have limited application and add to the load warfighters are forced to carry during missions.

The Z-Man program provides more information, as well as, images here, where you will find this image, which is not as pretty as the one with the tv screen but this one is a demonstration,

A proof-of-concept demonstration of a 16-square-inch sheet of Geckskin adhering to a vertical glass wall while supporting a static load of up to 660 pounds. (from the Z-Man Program website)

In the very latest news, the University of Massachusetts team has won international funding for its (and Cambridge University’s) work on bioadhesion. From the University of Massachusetts at Amherst March 28, 2012 [news release],

Duncan Irschick, Biology, and Al Crosby, Polymer Science and Engineering, with Walter Federle of Cambridge University, have been awarded a three-year, $900,000 grant from the Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) in Strasbourg, France, to study bioadhesion in geckos and insects.

Theirs was one of only 25 teams from among approximately 800 to apply worldwide. HFSP is a global organization that funds research at the frontiers of the life sciences.

Crosby, Irschick and colleagues received international scientific and media attention over the past several weeks for their discovery reported in the journal Advanced Materials, of how gecko feet and skin produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to the 5-ounce animal carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. This led them to invent “Geckskin,” a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall. Irschick, a functional morphologist who has studied the gecko’s climbing and clinging abilities for over 20 years, says the lizards are equally at home on vertical, slanted and even backward-tilting surfaces.

Not having heard of the Human Science Frontier Program (HSFP) previously, I was moved to investigate further. From the About Us page,

The Human Frontier Science Program is a program of funding for frontier research in the life sciences. It is implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) with its office in Strasbourg.

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The members of the HFSPO, the so-called Management Supporting Parties (MSPs) are the contributing countries and the European Union, which contributes on behalf of the non-G7 EU members.

The current MSPs are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the European Union.

I wonder how much impact all the publicity had on the funding decision. In any event, it’s good to find out about a new funding program and I wish anyone who applies the best of luck!

DARPA/Google and Regina Dugan

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One of my more recent (Nov. 22, 2011) postings on DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) highlighted their entrepreneurial focus and the person encouraging that focus, agency director Regina Dugan. Given that she’s held the position for roughly 2.5 years, I was surprised to see that she has left to joint Google. From the Mar.13, 2012 news item on physorg.com,

Google on Monday [March 12, 2012] confirmed that Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency chief Regina Dugan is taking a yet-to-be-revealed role at the Internet powerhouse.

Dugan’s Wikipedia entry has already been updated,

Regina E. Dugan was the 19th Director of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). She was appointed to that position on July 20, 2009. In March 2012, she left her position to take an executive role at Google. She was the first female director of DARPA.

Much of her working career (1996-2012) seems to have been spent at DARPA. I don’t think I’m going to draw too many conclusions from this move but I am intrigued especially in light of an essay about a departing Google employee, James Whitaker. From Whitaker’s March 13, 2012 posting on his JW on Tech blog,

The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus.

Technically I suppose Google has always been an advertising company, but for the better part of the last three years, it didn’t feel like one. Google was an ad company only in the sense that a good TV show is an ad company: having great content attracts advertisers.

He lays out the situation here,

It turns out that there was one place where the Google innovation machine faltered and that one place mattered a lot: competing with Facebook. Informal efforts produced a couple of antisocial dogs in Wave and Buzz. Orkut never caught on outside Brazil. Like the proverbial hare confident enough in its lead to risk a brief nap, Google awoke from its social dreaming to find its front runner status in ads threatened.

Google could still put ads in front of more people than Facebook, but Facebook knows so much more about those people. Advertisers and publishers cherish this kind of personal information, so much so that they are willing to put the Facebook brand before their own. Exhibit A: www.facebook.com/nike, a company with the power and clout of Nike putting their own brand after Facebook’s? No company has ever done that for Google and Google took it personally.

Larry Page himself assumed command to right this wrong. Social became state-owned, a corporate mandate called Google+. It was an ominous name invoking the feeling that Google alone wasn’t enough. Search had to be social. Android had to be social. You Tube, once joyous in their independence, had to be … well, you get the point.  [emphasis mine] Even worse was that innovation had to be social. Ideas that failed to put Google+ at the center of the universe were a distraction.

That point about YouTube really strikes home as I’ve become quite dismayed with the advertising on the videos. The consequence is that I’m starting to search for clips on Vimeo first as it doesn’t have intrusive advertising.

Getting back to Whitaker, he notes this about Google and advertising,

The old Google made a fortune on ads because they had good content. It was like TV used to be: make the best show and you get the most ad revenue from commercials. The new Google seems more focused on the commercials themselves.

It’s interesting to contrast Whitaker’s take on the situation, which suggests that the company has lost its entrepreneurial spirit as it focuses on advertising, with the company’s latest hire, Regina Dugan who seems to have introduced entrepreneurship into DARPA’s activities.

As for the military connection (DARPA is US Dept. of Defense agency), I remain mindful that the military and the intelligence communities have an interest in gathering data but would need something more substantive than a hiring decision to draw any conclusions.

For anyone who’s interested in these types of queries, I would suggest reading a 2007 posting, Facebook, the CIA, and You on the Brainsturbator blog, for a careful unpacking of the connections (extremely tenuous) between Facebook and the CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency). The blog owner and essayist, Jordan Boland, doesn’t dismiss the surveillance concern; he’s simply pointing out that it’s difficult to make an unequivocal claim while displaying a number of intriguing connections between agencies and organizations.

Morpho butterflies detect heat for GE

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One wonders if Morpho butterflies are going to decide that they need to protect their intellectual property. Yet another scientific group has found a way to exploit the nanostructures on the Morpho butterfly’s wing.  From the Feb. 13, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

GE [General Electric] scientists are exploring many potential thermal imaging and sensing applications with their new detection concept such as medical diagnostics, surveillance, non-destructive inspection and others, where visual heat maps of imaged areas serve as a valuable condition indicator. Some examples include:

  • Thermal Imaging for advanced medical diagnosis – to better visualize inflammation in the body and understand changes in a patient’s health earlier.
  • Advanced thermal vision – to see things at night and during the day in much greater detail than what is possible today.
  • Fire thermal Imaging – to aid firefighters with new handheld devices to enhance firefighter safety in operational situations
  • Thermal security surveillance – to improve public safety and homeland protection
  • Thermal characterization of wound infections – to facilitate early diagnosis.

“The iridescence of Morpho butterflies has inspired our team for yet another technological opportunity. This time we see the potential to develop the next generation of thermal imaging sensors that deliver higher sensitivity and faster response times in a more simplified, cost-effective design,” said Dr. Radislav Potyrailo, Principal Scientist at GE Global Research who leads GE’s bio-inspired photonics programs. “This new class of thermal imaging sensors promises significant improvements over existing detectors in their image quality, speed, sensitivity, size, power requirements, and cost.”

GE has provided a video and description that illustrates this newest biomimicry work. First the description then the video (from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoaILSCzlTo&feature=youtu.be)

This is a thermographic video of a Morpho butterfly structure in response to heat pulses produced by breathing onto the whole butterfly structure (video part 1) and onto its localized areas (video part 2). Nanostructures on Morpho butterfly wings coated with carbon nanotubes can sense temperature chances down to .02 degrees Celsius, at a response rate of 1/40 of a second. This is a demonstration of how new bio-inspired designs by GE scientists could enable more advanced applications for industrial inspection, medical diagnostics and military. This video was filmed by Bryan Whalen in the Electronics Cooling Lab at GE Global Research.

This newest work seems to have its origins in a DARPA-funded (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) GE project. From the Aug. 12, 2010 GE news release,

Scientists at GE Global Research, GE’s technology development arm, in collaboration with Air Force Research Laboratory, State University at Albany, and University of Exeter, have received a four-year, $6.3 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop new bio-inspired nanostructured sensors that would enable faster, more selective detection of dangerous warfare agents and explosives.

Three years ago, GE scientists discovered that nanostructures from wing scales of butterflies exhibited acute chemical sensing properties. [emphasis bold] Since then, GE scientists have been developing a dynamic, new sensing platform that replicates these unique properties.  Recognizing the potential of GE’s sensing technologies for improving homeland protection, DARPA is supporting further research. [emphasis mine]

For anyone who’s particularly interested in the technical details, Dexter Johnson offers more in his Feb. 13, 2012 posting about this research on the Nanoclast blog for the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

DARPA and the Panopticon

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Before I get to DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) new spy satellite, here’s a brief description of the Panopticon from the Wikipedia essay,

The Panopticon is a type of institutional building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.

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Although the Panopticon prison design did not come to fruition during Bentham’s time, it has been seen as an important development. It was invoked by Michel Foucault (in Discipline and Punish) as metaphor for modern “disciplinary” societies and their pervasive inclination to observe and normalise. Foucault proposes that not only prisons but all hierarchical structures like the army, schools, hospitals and factories have evolved through history to resemble Bentham’s Panopticon. The notoriety of the design today (although not its lasting influence in architectural realities) stems from Foucault’s famous analysis of it.

Building on Foucault, contemporary social critics often assert that technology has allowed for the deployment of panoptic structures invisibly throughout society. [emphasis mine] Surveillance by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in public spaces is an example of a technology that brings the gaze of a superior into the daily lives of the populace. Furthermore, a number of cities in the United Kingdom, including Middlesbrough, Bristol, Brighton and London have recently added loudspeakers to a number of their existing CCTV cameras. They can transmit the voice of a camera supervisor to issue audible messages to the public. Similarly,critical analyses of internet practice have suggested that the internet allows for a panopticon form of observation. ISPs are able to track users’ activities, while user-generated content means that daily social activity may be recorded and broadcast online.

And now,  DARPA’s new satellite as described by Nancy Atkinson (Universe Today) in a Dec. 21, 2011 news item on Physorg,

“It sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake” could be the theme song for a new spy satellite being developed by DARPA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s latest proof-of-concept project is called the Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE), and would provide real-time images and video of any place on Earth at any time — a capability that, so far, only exists in the realm of movies and science fiction. The details of this huge eye-in-the-sky look like something right out of science fiction, as well, and it would be interesting to determine if it could have applications for astronomy as well.

It’s not here yet (from the physorg.com news item),

The MOIRE program began in March 2010 is now in the first phase of development, where DARPA is testing the concept’s viability. Phase 2 would entail system design, with Ball Aerospace doing the design and building to test a 16-foot (5 m) telescope, and an option for a Phase 3 …

You can read more about the MOIRE program here and about Universe Today here.

Portable x-ray machine

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It’s all about the adhesive tape according to the researchers at Tribogenics. Yes, they can create x-rays by unrolling scotch tape in a vacuum. Neal Ungerleider’s Dec. 8, 2011 article for Fast Company,

Tribogenics’ products rely on a counterintuitive discovery: X-rays are generated when unrolling Scotch tape in a vacuum. In a Nature article, UCLA researchers Carlos Camara, Juan Escobar, Jonathan Hird, and Seth Putterman detailed how Scotch tape can generate surprisingly large amounts of X-rays thanks to visible radiation generated by static electricity between two contacting surfaces. The research encountered challenges thanks to the fact that Scotch tape and generic brand adhesive tapes generated slightly different energy signatures; the composition of Scotch tape adhesive is a closely guarded 3M trade secret. …

Fox [Dale Fox, Tribogenics’ Chief Scientist] told Fast Company that “every other X-ray source in the world uses a high-voltage transformer connected to a vacuum tube. In contrast, we’ve harnessed the power of the immense voltages in static electricity to create tiny, low-cost, battery-operated X-ray sources for the first time in history. It’s like the jump the electronics industry took when it moved from vacuum tubes to transistors.” According to Fox, Tribogenics has already developed X-ray energy sources the size of a USB memory stick. While Tribogenics representatives declined to discuss pricing for upcoming products, the firm “very comfortably” promised that the cost would be less than 10% than that of any existing X-ray technology.

This technology can be traced back to DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) in 2007 when the agency funded the company’s first research, according to the company website. There have been other military funds as well, the US Army Telemedicine and Advanced Research Center in 2010.

The company describes itself this way (from the home page),

Tribogenics patented technology enables portable, compact x-ray solutions for applications in precious metal, mining, military, medical imaging, security and other industries. By miniaturizing X-ray sources and eliminating the need for high voltage, we can create products and solutions unattainable using existing X-ray technology. Tribogenics revolutionary X-ray solution emerged from DARPA and TATRC-funded initiatives at UCLA and was developed by prominent scientists.

Ungerleider notes that the company has not launched any commercial products yet but this one sure looks interesting,

… ultra-portable X-ray machines show the greatest potential for becoming a disruptive medical technology. Tribogenics’ methods have revolutionary ramifications for catheterized radiation therapy, which currently poses significant radiation risks for patients, doctors, and nurses. According to Fox, the company’s products eliminate the need for radioactive isotopes.

If you are interested in this technology, I would suggest reading Ungerleider’s article for additional details.

DARPA’s Shredder challenge solved

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Out of a field of almost 9,000 registered teams, the San Francisco-based “All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S.” team won the $50,000 prize. Here’s a brief description of the challenge (highlighted in my Nov. 28, 2011 posting), from the DARPA Shredder Challenge page,

Today’s troops often confiscate the remnants of destroyed documents in war zones, but reconstructing them is a daunting task. DARPA’s [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] Shredder Challenge called upon computer scientists, puzzle enthusiasts and anyone else who likes solving complex problems to compete for up to $50,000 by piecing together a series of shredded documents.

The goal was to identify and assess potential capabilities that could be used by our warfighters operating in war zones, but might also create vulnerabilities to sensitive information that is protected through our own shredding practices throughout the U.S. national security community.

There were five puzzles in all and, as of my Nov. 28, 2011 posting, the fifth was the only one that had not been solved. By Dec. 2, 2011 all the puzzles had been solved. From the Dec. 5, 2011 news item on physorg.com,

The ‘All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S.’ team, which won the $50,000 prize, used custom-coded, computer-vision algorithms to suggest fragment pairings to human assemblers for verification. In total, the winning team spent nearly 600 man-hours developing algorithms and piecing together documents that were shredded into more than 10,000 pieces.

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The Shredder Challenge represents a preliminary investigation into the area of information security to identify and assess potential capabilities that could be used by war fighters operating in war zones to more quickly obtain valuable information from confiscated, shredded documents and gain a quantitative understanding of potential vulnerabilities inherent to the shredding of sensitive U.S. National security documents.

While the contest is now closed, it’s still possible to try this puzzle for fun. You can find out more about the various puzzle solutions and the winning team’s submission here.