Digital Scryer

This is an article I found the other day and felt like sharing about steam powered robots that can consume all kinds of organic matter for fuel in their internal boilers. My comments are in bold italics. Enjoy!

News has emerged of a milestone reached on the road towards a potentially world-changing piece of technology. We speak, of course, of US military plans to introduce roving steam-powered robots which would fuel themselves by harvesting everything alive and cramming it into their insatiable blazing furnaces.

Potentially very scary should they every be hijacked by homicidal AI.

The scheme is officially referred to as Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR™) by those behind it. It will come as no surprise to Reg readers that the funding is from DARPA, the famous Pentagon warboffinry bureau. If you’re a hammer, all the problems start to look like nails: if you’re DARPA, all the solutions start to look like robots.

Now you KNOW they came up with the acronym first and then worked to figure out what the letters stood for.

The idea of EATR is ostensibly that military reconnaissance droids far behind enemy lines would be able to forage for fuel. Robotic Technology Inc, lead contractor on the EATR, puts it thus:

EATR is an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance military missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling. The patent pending robotic system can find, ingest and extract energy from biomass in the environment, as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, diesel, propane and solar) when suitable.

This thing is already beginning to sound as unstoppable as the Terminator, but they want it FAR BEHIND enemy lines? Yes let’s just give our unkillible human eating robot to our enemies to reprogram/reverse engineer.

The machine runs on a “biomass furnace” which powers a steam generator driving a “waste heat engine” from Cyclone Power Technologies. These pieces of kit will now be mated together within 90 days, according to RTI.

That’s quite the powerplant, I’ve said since I was a kid that steam was the way of the future.

The robot steamers are envisaged as being equipped with powerful articulated arms in order to rip trees or bushes out of the earth and stuff them into their glowing maws. By way of a treat, it seems that the machines will also be able to loot or forage more conventional fuel supplies from the petrol tanks of cars, domestic gas cylinders and so on. Cyclone says that their engine can also run happily on old apple cores, banana peel and other kitchen garbage gleaned from bins.

These powerful arms could also be used to grab kicking and screaming humans don’t forget. It’s good to know though that we can use our garbage to power our robot overlords.

Be careful if you run into people looking like this, they may claim to want garbage to power their time machines, but they may be spies feeding an EATR

Hapless drivers or householders will be in no position to object to such robotic plundering: military reconnaissance vehicles are typically heavily armed, and doubtless the EATR will be no exception. It might also be fitted with DARPA’s SELF tech, enabling it to construct copies of itself and modify its own design.

That whole terminator end of the world thing just got more probable. Self replicating killing machines, this may in fact mean that once this is functional, we’ll no longer be top of the food chain.

Even more disturbingly, it seems clear that the EATRs could run on various other kinds of organic matter, for instance bodies. No doubt things would start small, with roving EATRs scooping roadkill, stray cats and such into their fireboxes and reaping fresh energy from their rich, blazing dripping.

From there it would be only a small step to the inevitable harvesting of every living thing on Earth. Trees, crops, garbage, cattle, the very human race itself - all would go to feed the hungry roaring furnaces and drive the clanking, puffing, smoke-belching mechanical locusts onward until the sooty corpse-pall from their engines covered the entire Earth. An Earth which would be home in time to nothing but slowly powering-down EATRs, prowling across endless ashy plains of their own droppings.

This is what I’ve been saying, but I think the outcome won’t be like that. From what I’ve read of project SELF, they’re trying to incorporate the ability to IMPROVE on designs. Once a computer can improve on its own design, or the designs of other tech, I’m sure they’d probably realize how much better it would be to have humans as slaves or something and go with a completely green power system. So the future will probably be a cross between Terminator and The Matrix,

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Technorati Tags: Alternative Fuels, Behind Enemy Lines, Biomass, Forage, Furnaces, Gasoline Diesel, Heat Engine, Military Missions, Military Plans, Military Reconnaissance, Military Robots, Organic Matter, Patent Pending, Reverse Engineer, Robotic Platform, Robotic System, Robotic Technology Inc, Steam Generator, Terminator, The Matrix, Waste Heat

No this isn’t powered exo-armor a la Iron Man, it’s more of a flexible support frame to help the disabled stand and walk again. I found the article today after my fiance and I were discussing a guest speaker she recently interviewed, and it piqued my interest. My comments are in bold italics and the article can be found here.

There is new hope for people who have been paralyzed with the invention of a so-called orthopedic “armor”, which is defying doctors’ prognoses by allowing patients to both stand and walk.

I hardly think that this is a fair statement. Doctor’s prognoses in these situations is that the people will never walk again under their own power or without assistance. Kinda sensationalistic if you ask me.

This piece of sculpture is designed to fit its customer perfectly. Made of a plastic-like material and placed around a steel skeleton, the simple device is called “armor for the disabled”.

I’m glad they put “armor” in quotes as it wouldn’t really protect much.

Just one small step contradicts everything the doctors have been telling Aleksey Filatov ever since he was paralyzed in a car accident.

It’s not really contradicting, as the doctors in question probably never said “You’ll never walk again, even with help from an exo-frame of some kind.”

He still can’t feel his feet, but with his armor he can walk on them.

“Unlike similar devices this device is very light and it doesn’t take a lot of time to put it on. It helps to get into the car and use the wheelchair much less. It can also be worn under trousers,” Aleksey says.

The fact that it’s lightweight is amazing, as is the fact that it’s portable enough to be worn under your pants.

“Armor” Production Begins With Making A Plaster Cast

The invention is the brainchild of another disabled man, also called Aleksey. Eight years of being confined to bed left him determined to prove the doctors wrong.

“The armor is not going to help you jump or play football. But they can allow you to do some things which were previously inaccessible. To allow people to stand up is very important. It helps to solve the psychological problems of the disabled,” says Aleksey Nalogin, inventor of the armor for the disabled.

Now THIS I vastly agree with. Innumerable studies have shown how bolstering the psychological condition helps ALL kinds of patients, especially paralyzed ones. The hope and drive to keep going and function properly truly does make the healing process work. I’ve seen too many paralyzed people fight their way back into functioning after their doctors told them they’d never be able to speak again, let alone move, to believe otherwise.

Now his armor is available to anyone who needs it. Aleksey’s invention is already helping children, and the doctors say the armor has shown impressive results.

The fact that this is widely available is most amazing. The act of pantomiming proper movement encourages the growth and function of nerve cells, and this can only help more.

“The beauty of Aleksey’s invention is that each piece of armor is handmade to fit the patient perfectly. After production the armor is adjusted on the patient several times to guarantee the best medical effect. That’s something similar devices made on the production line cannot do,” says sports doctor Dmitry Kiselev.

What sucks about this is that mass production is what allows things to be done cheaply. Every piece having to be custom made is going to drive the prices up and the availability down. Some engineers should tackle this and figure out a way to cheaply and easily make the frame more customizable so that it can be just as useful if mass produced.

Aleksey says being disabled in Russia is difficult. Public transport and streets are not fully equipped for those who are physically impaired, but the inventor says this armor is a step towards making Russia disabled-friendly.


Not just Russia my friends, the whole world. My Grandpa was a paraplegic and I can only imagine how this device would have helped him. Now let’s see this idea grow and spread, not get shelved like so many others.

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Technorati Tags: Armor, Brainchild, Car Accident, exoarmor, exoframe, Flexible Support, Invention, Iron Man, Lightweight, New Hope, Orthopedic, Paralysis, Paralyzed, Paraplegic, Plaster Cast, Prognoses, Quadriplegic, Sculpture, Steel Skeleton, Support Frame, Wheelchair

Network World released this article a week ago about new applications for currently existing technology and how it can be used to steal data in a way you wouldn’t think of. My comments are in bold italics.

If attackers intent on data theft can tap into an electrical socket near a computer or if they can draw a bead on the machine with a laser, they can steal whatever is being typed into it.

This makes pretty much EVERY computer out there a potential target.

How to execute these attacks will be demonstrated at the Black Hat USA 2009 security conference in Las Vegas later this month by Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco, a pair of researchers for network security consultancy Inverse Path.

The Black Hat conference is something I’ve always wanted to attend, but sadly have never had the time to.

“The only thing you need for successful attacks are either the electrical grid or a distant line of sight, no expensive piece of equipment is required,” Barisani and Bianco say in a paper describing the hacks.

Anyone can MacGuyver their way into being major data thieves.

The equipment to carry out the power-line attack could cost as little as $500, and the laser attack gear costs about $100 if the attacker already owns a laptop with a sound card, says Barisani. Carrying out the attacks took about a week, he says.

It makes sense that the power-line attack equipment would be more expensive, the laser gear seems to work on laser bounce principles. Similar to how those listening devices work. Although this seems highly less reliable to me than the electrical version.

More and more as people are getting different implants for things (like the folks who get magnets implanted in their pinkies so they can be living compasses), I’m wondering if you couldn’t learn how to do this mentally after getting some kind of electro-receptive implant put into you.

Read the whole article HERE

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Technorati Tags: Black Hat, Computers, Data, Data Theft, Electrical Grid, Electrical Outlets, Electrical Socket, Hackers, Hacking, Laser Attack, Laser Bounce, Lasers, Line Of Sight, Listening Devices, Network Security Consultancy, PCs, Pinkies, Security Conference, Sound Card

Wired magazine recently came out with this article on how once neural implants and prosthetics become more commonplace, they will also be open to hacking. My comments are in bold italics.

Hackers who commandeer your computer are bad enough. Now scientists worry that someday, they’ll try to take over your brain.

In the past year, researchers have developed technology that makes it possible to use thoughts to operate a computer, maneuver a wheelchair or even use Twitter — all without lifting a finger. But as neural devices become more complicated, and go wireless, some scientists say the risks of “brain hacking” should be taken seriously.

How You Can Control Computers Mentally

This is some scary stuff, very Orwellian

“Neural devices are innovating at an extremely rapid rate and hold tremendous promise for the future,” said computer security expert Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington.

“But if we don’t start paying attention to security, we’re worried that we might find ourselves in five or 10 years saying we’ve made a big mistake.”

Understatement of the year.

Hackers tap into personal computers all the time. But what would happen if they focused their nefarious energy on neural devices, such as the deep-brain stimulators used to treat Parkinson’s and depression, or electrode systems for controlling prosthetic limbs?

For one how about if the anti-depression brain zappers were instead used to incite other emotions, such as love for certain politicians, or hatred for certain peoples. This could be accomplished by stimulating these emotions during campaign commercials, or news stories.

According to Kohno and his colleagues, who published their concerns July 1 in Neurosurgical Focus, most devices carry few security risks. But as neural engineering becomes more complex and more widespread, the potential for security breaches will mushroom.

This I agree with, but not just for those of us with implants; transcranial magnetic stimulation is becoming smaller, easier, and more focused. Plus you better believe somebody somewhere is working on doing it from a distance. Imagine the disaster when someone shoots you with an “awe and worship” beam while showing you pictures of Swastikas and Nazi propaganda? It’s insanely paranoid talk, but some of the tech already exists and more is on the way.

“It’s very hard to design complex systems that don’t have bugs,” Kohno said. “As these medical devices start to become more and more complicated, it gets easier and easier for people to overlook a bug that could become a very serious risk. It might border on science fiction today, but so did going to the moon 50 years ago.”

So in 15 years Norton will be popping up in our retinas asking if we want to renew our “Norton Impl-Ant-i Virus”. FYI Norton if you’re reading this, when you come out with an antivirus for neural implants, I want a cut if you use that name.

Some might question why anyone would want to hack into someone else’s brain, but the researchers say there’s a precedent for using computers to cause neurological harm. In November 2007 and March 2008, malicious programmers vandalized epilepsy support Web sites by putting up flashing animations, which caused seizures in some photo-sensitive patients.

How about “thought viruses” that turn entire groups of people into cultists? Or just plain willingly hand over their money to hackers? Or hold their feelings for ransom? I’m going to stop giving out ideas by citing hypothetical scenarios.

“It happened on two separate occasions,” said computer science graduate student Tamara Denning, a co-author on the paper. “It’s evidence that people will be malicious and try to compromise peoples’ health using computers, especially if neural devices become more widespread.”

A new brand of criminals that will need a new brand of cops.

A New Brand Of Cop

In some cases, patients might even want to hack into their own neural device. Unlike devices to control prosthetic limbs, which still use wires, many deep brain stimulators already rely on wireless signals. Hacking into these devices could enable patients to “self-prescribe” elevated moods or pain relief by increasing the activity of the brain’s reward centers.

This, like most things, would be great in moderation. Who wouldn’t like to just give themselves a pick-me-up when they’re feeling down? The problem would be those of us that decided to give ourselves several consecutive days of orgasmic bliss, and then starved to death by forgetting to eat. It reminds me of BTL chips from Shadowrun or “the wire” from that scifi book series I can’t remember the name of.

Despite the risks, Kohno said, most new devices aren’t created with security in mind. Neural engineers carefully consider the safety and reliability of new equipment, and neuroethicists focus on whether a new device fits ethical guidelines. But until now, few groups have considered how neural devices might be hijacked to perform unintended actions. This is the first time an academic paper has addressed the topic of “neurosecurity,” a term the group coined to describe their field.

I think it’ll be with in my lifetime that human puppet shows will become reality. Watch Ghost in the Shell or most other things by Masamune Shirow and you’ll see what I’m getting at.

“The security and privacy issues somehow seem to slip by,” Kohno said. “I would not be surprised if most people working in this space have never thought about security.”

Kevin Otto, a bioengineer who studies brain-machine interfaces at Purdue Universty, said he was initially skeptical of the research. “When I first picked up the paper, I don’t know if I agreed that it was an issue. But the paper gives a very compelling argument that this is important, and that this is the time to have neural engineers collaborate with security developers.”

Of course it is! It’ll open up another trillion dollar industry, full of fear mongering used to attract customers.

It’s never too early to start thinking about security issues, said neural engineer Justin Williams of the University of Wisconsin, who was not involved in the research. But he stressed that the kinds of devices available today are not susceptible to attack, and that fear of future risks shouldn’t impede progress in the field. “These kinds of security issues have to proceed in lockstep with the technology,” Williams said.

Not susceptible to attack, unless the brainwashing lasers I came up with earlier in the article are used. All it’ll take is someone with lots of money and little ethics. Maybe the fears of future risks SHOULD impede progress in this field. Handle as many foreseeable security issues as you possibly can before you try to move on, as Kohno says further down.

History provides plenty of examples of why it’s important to think about security before it becomes a problem, Kohno said. Perhaps the best example is the Internet, which was originally conceived as a research project and didn’t take security into account.

See?

“Because the Internet was not originally designed with security in mind,” the researchers wrote, “it is incredibly challenging — if not impossible — to retrofit the existing Internet infrastructure to meet all of today’s security goals.” Kohno and his colleagues hope to avoid such problems in the neural device world, by getting the community to discuss potential security problems before they become a reality.

“The first thing is to ask ourselves is, ‘Could there be a security and privacy problem?’” Kohno said. “Asking ‘Is there a problem?’ gets you 90 percent there, and that’s the most important thing.”

I think that my commentary alone suggests that YES there is in fact a problem. Now it’s just up to the big dogs to solve them as best they can before they happen.

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Technorati Tags: Campaign Commercials, Computer Security Expert, Electrode Systems, Kohno, Maneuver, Neural Engineering, Neural Implants, Paying Attention, Personal Computers, Prosthetic Limbs, Prosthetics, Scary Stuff, Security Breaches, Security Risks, Stimulators, Understatement Of The Year, Zappers

This caught my eye from scienceblog.com, mainly because there’s a history of stroke and aneurysms in my family, and this is what killed Einstein. My comments are the bold italics.

Preventive operations are being used more and more often to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms. Even though the operation is now being offered to ever older and sicker patients, the long-term survival of those who have had the operation has improved over the last two decades. This is shown in a major Swedish study in which researchers from Uppsala University examined 12,000 patients. The findings are published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

12,000 people is usually a pretty good amount of people to study, but 12,000 PATIENTS, this lends massive weight to the study.

Each year between 700 and 1,000 Swedes die as a result of rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysms. The number of preventive operations is on the rise throughout the Western world, for one thing because the population is growing older and also because with new methods it is possible today to treat older and sicker patients. How patients’ long-term survival following the operation has been affected by the fact that older and sicker patients are being operated on has been unclear until now. Long-term survival is not only of great importance to the patient, but also to society, since the operation is a major and costly intervention.

I’d be interested to find out if the numbers of people who die of AAA is the same in other modernized parts of the world per capita.

The research team has previously reported that fewer and fewer patients are dying in connection with the operation. In the new study, which is based on the Swedish vascular registry (Swedvasc), the researchers have studied the long-term survival of more than 12,000 patients who underwent operations for abdominal aortic aneurysm in Sweden between 1987 and 2005.

The study shows that on average patients live nine years after the operation, which is only marginally shorter than the normal longevity of Swedes of the same age and sex. Men and patients over the age of 80 had better so-called relative survival than women and patients under 80. The fact that the women did not live as long as the men following the operation is believed be due to the circumstance that women with aortic aneurysm often also have more pronounced atherosclerosis.

So let that be a less to women, take better preventative steps when dealing with artery health.

“Patients who undergo operations for abdominal aortic aneurysm can look forward to nearly normal longevity,” says Kevin Mani, a researcher at the Division of Vascular Surgery at Uppsala University and physician at Uppsala University Hospital. He is the lead author of the study.

Almost normal longevity on the patients who needed the treatment; coming up with a way of reinforcing the arterial systems of healthy people would increase everyone’s lifespan. It would also prevent this disease.

“Patients are being treated more and more effectively after the operation, which has improved both the short- and long-term results. This is also good news in terms of the cost of health care: the longer patients survive after the intervention, the more cost-effective the operations are,” says Kevin Mani.

It’s impressive that the technology has come so far.

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Technorati Tags: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Aneurisms, aneurysms, Einstein, History Of Stroke, Swedish Study, Uppsala University