Archive for April, 2010

Data Mining helps win a Pulitzer

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

2010 Pulitzer Prize winners for Journalism: Awarded to the Bristol (VA) Herald Courier for the work of Daniel Gilbert in illuminating the murky mismanagement of natural-gas royalties owed to thousands of land owners in southwest Virginia, spurring remedial action by state lawmakers.

Gilbert spend over 13 months to get to the bottom of the issue, and this investigation also  involved data mining knowledge to catch the irregularities. His work uncovered millions in delinquent payments to landowners thanks to a Virginia law that allowed natural gas companies to set up a complicated royalty system that often never meted out money to its rightful owners. It resulted in making changes in this law which are currently being reviewed.

About Pulitzer Prize:
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of these, each winner receives a certificate and a US$10,000 cash award.

[EditorandPublisher]

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The silent rising army of the machines!

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

The world robot population is on the rise. Today we the robot population stands at 8.6 Million. We should observe a calm but steady rise in the numbers. The data is illustrated below.

Currently the robots play a major role as industry robots and service robots. The industry robots includes welding systems, assembly manipulators, and other heavy, expensive operation oriented machines. The service robots consists of professional service robots like surgical systems, poultry robots, etc and personal service robots like vacuum cleaners, etc.

By 2011, the world’s industrial robot population is expected to rise to 1.2 million. Which areas will these robots cater to, and how the machine-to-human balance will change, remains to be seen. Though the robots are not readily visible, and are yet to become a part of our everyday life, the machines are rising in numbers.

[IEEE Spectrum]

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Introducing Simon.

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

Simon is know to learn new tasks faster. Lets take a peek at how he does it in the following video.

Its easy to imagine such machines at home to aid residents. Having a machine in kitchen to help to cook or next to a closet to arrange/ handle clothes management. These machines are a clear sign of what to expect in the near future.

[Read more at PC World]

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Tiny robots making medical treatment a dream come true!

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

A recent break through at Technion University have unveiled a tiny robot, made using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, purportedly able to crawl through a person’s veins in order to diagnose and potentially treat artery blockage and cancer. The robot which is bigger then a WBC or RBC but small enough to enter a vein or artery and can unblock or diagnose is of immense help.

How does it function? Does it have any control system in place  either onboard or external? The robot neither has any control engine nor onboard mechanism, instead it is being propelled forward by a magnetic field wielded on it from outside the patient’s body.

But many important questions still remain unanswered.

  • Has this robot reached human trails? (This looks production ready)
  • What would be the cost of such a device? (Say will this reduce operation costs or increase them)
  • Does this robot has a fail safe system in place if it goes haywire?
  • Whether such diagnoses is being considered safe or is being authorized/approved by any medical administration board?

Today, we would safely conclude this truly looks futuristic, but we still are in early stages of such treatment development and have a long way ahead.

[The Inquirer]

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