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Search and Rescue Robots
An anonymous submitter sent in: "Interesting article on the New York Times [need an acct, blah] about the various robots currently in use to search the rubble of the WTC. Not a very technical article (expectedly). Seems to be all telepresence stuff. No mention of any autonomous devices, which is as I'd expect. Too bad we don't have a few platoons of those sony bipeds with firefighter/s&r programming to make that first response."
My cock is semi-flaccid. Also, I like to eat Oatmeal. This is the truth. Ask the Taliban. They like to watch. Fuck off.
I don't think those sony walking computers would be very suited for the rescue there. I see it as a big acomplishment for them to be able to go up stairs, let alone crawl over stuff. Give those guys enough shielding and send them into a radio active area, sure.
I hope the battery of those robots work longer than the one inside my notebook. *sigh*
I piss on Mecca. I menstruate on the Koran. I shit on Mohammed.
the BBC has this piece on laser mapping of the rubble.
J-aims
--
Yo, whatever happened to peas? Join T( H)GS
the BBC have a piece here that doesn't require all that messing about with an account.
J-aims
--
Yo, whatever happened to peas? Join T( H)GS
http://archives.nytimes.com/2001/09/27/technology/ circuits/27ROBO.html
Short on technical data ? try non-existing techincal data, unless you count using treads there was absolutely NO description of anything in these babies.
It would be good for rescue operations (not for body-search ones) if the robots were equipped with a speaker/mic besides the teleprescence equipment. This way, if they found somebody alive the ppl topside could comunicate with them.
Give them some hope.
Are this things tethered ? or wireless ? the article shows that small tracked one without any cables sticking out, but its not operating. Cos I guess all the steel and iron would fuck up wireless comms its not like line-of-sight or some office walls between the robots and the operator. And a very powerfull tx/rx module would require a lot of juice.
--
T
"If you can't improve the silence, don't speak."
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break any window. killa cop.
puncture all tires. litter
sloburbia. open hydrants. burn
bldgs. scatter nails. glue
locks. dose h20. clip phones.
plant indo. graffititall. t.p.
streamers. cyanide the vents.
burn down bldgs. cancel
technokratz. destroy private
props. kill the rich. disrupt
public service. send bomb
threats. create panda moanium.
spread rumors. break clocks.
smash tvs. sabothe gears.
d e s t r o y a l l s y s t e m s.
pullallalarms. pranks. tricks.
splatter billboards. sink ships.
clog drains. turn itall off.
shutitall down. busta meter.
j a m it. runamok. tiltit.
The worst terrorist attacks in recorded history occurred just over 2 weeks ago, and you folks are discussing the various robots currently in use to search the rubble of the WTC?? My *god* people, GET SOME PRIO
Hmmm, on second thought, this is probably appropriate. My bad; carry on, discuss this issue amongst yourselves.
Malewaste Lover
Climdon smulan@frech.as
I'm a pig
I like piss
I like smelly uncut cocks
I like a mans ass to be self lubricating
Don't shower, soap or shave
Don't take your filthy boots off
Don't whine or tell me your problems
Be a fucking man
Let your stinking balls hang out
Show me your filthy cock
I want to spit on ya
I want to piss my pants and rub my jeans in your face
I want you to eat my dirty hole
I want you to drink from my man size tool
Grab your cock and work it
I am
When the time is right
When the air is filled with sweat and piss
When your filthy cock can't take any more
I will grunt like a cave man
And squirt my fucking hot load
The quality of the news postings are sinking deeper and deeper.
I am not very happy that the propaganda machinery of President Bush is working and everyone is suddenly shouting for war (when you think war is something 'cool' you are a BIG IDIOT).
I hope that not all Americans are like this, because I'm slowly losing respect.
The politics of President Bush is reminding me more and more of Hitler (seeking scapegoats and destroy them).
Taliban surely sucks, but you should use your brain and not your butt when you're thinking about how to treat this situation.
I can't believe you wasted your precious time formulating that pathetic plea for pity.
Mark my word -- the Taliban will be turned to ashes. They will be skewered from eye socket to bunghole, and then placed on a spit so that their flesh could be roasted by the searing gale of flatus which issues forth from the haunches of Asmoday.
Exacerbating the terrorists' tortures, which include being hollowed out and used as prophylactics by thorn-cocked Gulbuth The Rampant, is the fact that they will be forced to endure such suffering in sight of the Paradise they were expecting.
The legions of fang-wombed hags will take their pleasure on their shattered carcasses for most of this afternoon. Tomorrow, their flesh will be melted from their bones like wax in the burning embrace of the Mother of Cowards. The day after that, they'll be sodomized by the Fallen and their bowels shredded by a demonic ejaculate of burning sand. Then, on Sunday, Satan gets them all day. I can't even imagine what he's got cooked up for them.
I dont give a fuck if you respect Americans or not. We are all like this. Anyone who says they aren't is a dickless pansy. Get used to it. American owns you.
http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/09/27/technology/c ircuits/27ROBO.html
This trick has been seen on slashdot before. It should be a FAQ. Editors should automatically use the archive subdomain in NYT links rather than the www subdomain.
-matt
Glass the taliban. America rules.
I bet you even didnt know who Taliban was, before this happened. You're just another 'lemming' who follows the masses.
This is a really interesting opportunity for some high-tech to be applied to a real non-military situation. Robin Murphy came here to UCSD and talked a few months ago, and she actually brought (and we got to drive) the tracked one with the flippers in front.
Those things are not easy to drive. One of the most difficult things is getting a perspective on where the robot is in relation to it's surroundings (very rough rubble). This is an ongoing research area for many robotics teams, and one we have been working on also.
The submitter mentioned something about autonomous robots, I think they don't fully understand the difficulty of the problem which robotics researchers are working on. Navigating uneven building wreckage autonomously is an incredibly difficult problem, in general. Especially under the conditions of the WTC rubble. There may be some small parts of the process which can be automated, but I doubt it would be useful in this situation anyway. They were using the robots as probes to discover what was inside areas where it was dangerous for people to be there, so a human is already "in the loop". The real use of these systems is for remote visualization (i.e. show me what's in there) in hard to reach areas.
They didn't specify what types of cameras are being used, but this is a mostly visual problem from my understanding. Most robots have standard rectilinear camera views that are forward facing, unfortunately operation of these platforms is difficult becuause of the restricted field of view and inability to see on the left, right and behind the robot. Multiple cameras helps, but adds significant complexity and disjoint views. A technology which really makes this easier is an Omni-directional Video sensor (which has a 360 deg. field of view around the sensor). These are ideal for "immersed" applications like this, and they literally give the operator a view of the entire space around the bot (except for directly overhead) and allow you to determine the robot's orientation relative to obstacles easily. The same data can also be unwarped and used to create a perspective or panoramic view of the area in real time. A pair of these and stereo software (which also has been done in our lab, [shameless plug over]) can provide a full depth-map of the area. The ODVS has the difficulty of limited resolution (same CCD, larger fov) but this can be supplemented by a Pan/Tilt/Zoom rectilinear camera.
Really the interesting part of research in this direction is the remote operation and visualizations that help the perator navigate through the area to achieve it's goal. This is what my thesis is on, actually.
More info: UCSD CVRR Lab The Page of Omnidirectional Vision and our source of ODVS. Also check Vstone (in Japanese, may need to run that last one through babelfish or something).
Mobile Robots are cool. We even have one that pulls cables for us in the drop-ceiling of our lab... we're slowly working on a web-page for that new one.. I have a cool video for it already but it's HUGE (100M or so). Anyway, I'll shut up.
Brett
__ No registration required to read this message. They did it in the Matrix.
those yappy little Aibos! Small, mobile, autonomous. Add a speaker and microphone, and you can talk to survivors while they pet the 'bot and watch it do tricks.
Better yet, the operators can cry, "Let slip the dogs of war!" or "release the hounds!" when they deploy them.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
I like bombs.
I hate Jesus.
They should have nuked us.
They should have nuked us all to bloody hell.
Bin Laden Will Prevail Against All Who Oppose!!!
You Piss On Mecca, I Burn a Flag.
You Shit on Mohammed, I Spill My Seed On The Rotting Corpse Of Christ.
As more churchs burn, I laugh.
You can also look at Wired's version here, with a few more pics than NYT.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
You mean the 1.5 foot tall ones with little nuts for hands? I don't think they could lift anything to look for a person under it...
[Yes, yes, I know, Vlad lost early on this season, but it's still a well known 'bot. And I still think Biohazard should have won the decision].
I'm also surprised that no one compared the robots to the search dogs they have working. [Can work longer hours, with just a battery change out, can be built faster than it takes to train a dog, can be sent into more dangerous areas without fear of killing it [as it was never alive], etc].
Flame me later for the MSNBC link, but they had a good article on the use of dogs earlier this week:
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
heres an idea - why not register with FAKE info? Hell yeah, Im a 50 yr Afghan woman earning $500k/yr.
Hmm working my but of to get a grip on PROLOG.
When reading this I wonder if there might even be a future for this horrible but efficient (hmm borg tech?) AI language?
It's not an issue about people having my info, it's all the effort of typing something in. And quite frankly, whats the problem with pointing out a similar story? (that was published a week ago incidently)
J-aims
--
Yo, whatever happened to peas? Join T( H)GS
href="http://www.r.cs.kobe-u.ac.jp/robocup-rescue
you can build your own coordinated team of virtual robots to work in a simulated disaster zone + there are some search and rescue competitions using real robots. There's a download page for the simulators and disaster toolkits.
.sig
This isn't redundant- the two BBC stories are different pieces
A friend of mine works in the acoustics lab at a nearby university. Not long after the attack, they received a request to build a device that would allow rescuers to find people in the rubble by listening for breathing or cries for help that couldn't be heard otherwise. The team did get something together for this and went up to the site, but they never got to try it out.
This was a couple days after the attack and rescue workers had pretty much given up on survivors at that point (though the media continued to report otherwise). According to my friend, when he got there, the police and firefighters were concentrating the search on finding their own guys and had pretty much given up on finding anyone else.
He said that it took about 6 hours to get cleared to go onto the site itself, and then, after that, you were put in a queue to use the site for your task (searching, removing rubble, et cetera). They were bumped twice before being told they weren't going to be used, so the device never had a field test, but none of the team complained. They were in complete awe of the scene itself, and, while they ultimately felt helpless, they felt privileged just to be there and to speak with other crews and native New Yorkers. They managed to get some audio recordings of the area as well, thinking it might be important for historical reasons.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't be much help in the WTC situation, where everything is buried under tons of rubble, but there are some really amazing things being done in the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International International Aerial Robotics Competition. My school has had a team for a few years, and they kick ass. The goal: Autonomous flying robots with vision, image recognition, hazard avoidance, and more. This stuff is frickin cool.
sigs are for suckers
A former employer:
http://www.inuktun.com/vgtv.htm
I suppose if I mug you, and rape your wife that I and my friends could then press charges against you later if you try to testify against me? How consistent! At least China is backing its techs out that are improving Iraq's weaponry. Gee, thanks China. Maybe next you could adopt a policy to not directly aid violent imperialistic coutries that target civilians and wish to commit genocide in the future?
Usamah was born in 1957 in Riyadh. His father took many wifes, and young Usamah was born to one of the last and least respected of them. He was the 17th son of a reported 50 sired by Mohammed. Mohammed's brother and partner sired 50 more, making the bin Laden clan and influence huge. The fact that Usamah came to outshine them all is a testament to his innate genius.
Usamah as a young boy, on holiday in Sweden aged 14. His 'pale good looks' shone through already. Click here to view.
Earliest direct evidences of Usamah himself this reporter could track down are recollections by an old teacher, Brian Fyfield-Shayler. In 1969, whilst his decadent western peers were guzzling drugs and descending into an orgy of self, the callow bin Laden, just 13, was studying hard at Al-Thaghr, a school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia modelled on the English public school system. Mr Fyfield-Shayler said (in this respected news source) "I remember him as quiet, retiring and rather shy. He was very courteous - more so than any of the others in his class. Physically, he was outstanding because he was taller, more handsome and fairer than most of the other boys. He also stood out as he was singularly gracious and polite, and had a great deal of inner confidence. He was very neat, very precise and very conscientious."
There can be no doubt that Usamah, an ordinary and pious young man, was deeply affected by his family's involvement in rebuilding the two holy Mosques in Mekkah and Madinah. We have already heard that his early teacher thought him a confident but reflective individual, so we shouldn't be surprised if he felt great pride that his family was involved in raising the glory of Allah in such spiritually significant places.
Throughout the 1970's Usamah spent his time studying and working for the family business. Doubtless he kept an eye on current affairs ? the disgraceful behaviour of Israel and America during this period is remarkable ? but he was determined to get his degree and be a credit to his family. In 1979 he graduated from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in Civil Engineering.
BEGINNING OF THE LEGEND
Usamah as a handsome young man in the Mujahideen. Shortly after young Usamah graduated, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up the failing Communist regime. The Mujahideen put out an international call for help, and Usamah was inspired to leave the dusty world of commerce for more noble pursuits. He packed himself and several family bulldozers off to Afghanistan, and later was quoted as saying "In our religion, there is a special place in the Hereafter for those who participate in Jihad. One day in Afghanistan was like 1000 days of praying in an ordinary mosque."
Usamah made a huge difference to the Mujahideen. At first he was an effective politician and strategist. He recruited thousands of Arab fighters in the Gulf, paid for their passage to Afghanistan, and set up camps to train them. He designed defences along the Pakistani border, driving a bulldozer himself and taking great risks from Soviet helicopter gunship strafings as a result. Such was the personal stake he felt that before long he had taken up a Kalashnikov and was fighting on the front personally. This personal touch emerged again in 1986 when he and a few dozen Arab helpers fought off a Soviet onslaught in a small town called Jaji, near the Pakistani border. This ignited the Afghani resolve, as it was the first example that the Russians could actually be beaten. Just twelve months later he turned the tide of the Afghanistan war with a brilliant offensive against Soviet troops in the battle of Shaban. The Mujahideen suffered heavy casualties in the vicious, heavy fighting, but thanks to bin Laden's superb generalship the Soviets were pushed out of the area for good and the end was in sight for the Communists.
Hamza Mohammed, a Palestinian volunteer in Afghanistan, recalls "He was a hero to us because he was always on the Front Line, always moving ahead of everyone else. He not only gave his money, but he also gave himself. He came down from his palace to live with the Afghan peasants and the Arab fighters. He cooked with them, ate with them, dug trenches with them. That was Bin Laden's way."
By the late 1980's Usamah had established himself as a legend across all Afghanistan. It was at this time that his close personal friendship with the Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar began. The Wahhabi brand of Islam they both share is somewhat similar to Protestantism, but in an Islamic context, and they are both very spiritual men. To this day they take reflective fishing trips in the backlands of their country, such is their binding friendship. Where the rest of the Islamic world has been corrupted by decadent Western ways, the Wahhabis stick to traditional Islam as taught in the Koran. They are amongst the very holiest and most pious of Muslims, their creed established in Saudi Arabia, to an extent, and also Afghanistan, which though not strictly a Wahhabi state is very closely modelled on one. A measure of his piety is that he selflessly rejected an offer from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to expand the Prophet's mosque in Medinah. This cosy little deal would have pocketed Usamah a lovely $90 million, but he refused as he correctly recognised it as an attempt to lure him from Jihad against the communists.
RETURN TO THE HOMELAND
Usamah today, careworn and wise with experience. Usamah returned to Saudi Arabia in the late eighties, a celebrity throughout the Muslim world. Convinced by the words of the holy Koran, Usamah soon set aside his own personal, selfish best interests and began to campaign for the Saudi government to introduce Shariah (Islamic Law) and reduce its terrible corruption, an offence to Allah in the land of Mekkah. Although this was to get him into trouble with the corrupt authorities on several occasions, the real shakedown occurred when King Fahd decided to allow Western troops in the Kingdom during the Gulf War. Usamah criticised the Saudi regime for this terrible decision, and was promptly hounded with a harassment campaign. Before long, in 1991, he fled to the Sudan, and shortly afterwards was declared an outlaw by the Saudi regime, which stripped him of his nationality and put a price on his head. His loyalty to the word of the Koran and his conscience had cost him his home, and reduced him to a common bandit as far as his old circles in Saudi Arabia were concerned.
In the Sudan Usamah managed to expand his business interests considerably, and he continued his Jihad bankrolling. Always keeping a careful eye on ethical considerations, he made sure to only bankroll just causes, putting money on the underdog and the concept of right V might:
Chechnya. Here the Russians have sought to destroy all hope of Chechnian independance, but as usual bin Laden is involved, helping fund the Chechen guerrila fighters against the superior enemy. A noble cause.
Muslim Bosnians against the Serb overseers. Despite the justness of this cause, the US interfered, arresting the fighters he sent to help the cause of freedom against oppression. Nonetheless, bin Laden had a big impact there, as he does everywhere.
Palestine. bin Laden has always been outraged by the plight of the Palestinians. At a young age he came under the tutilege of a Palestininian man, Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, who was once a confidant of Yasser Arafat but had become disenchanted with the PLO. Some Usamah became intertwined with Palestinian politics and the cause.
Yemen. Usamah has long had links to the Yemen Wahhabi cause. He has also been involved in the struggle there - the bombing of the USS Cole was possibly an example of this (unlike the WTC, this bombing fits bin Laden's MO - the target was military, not involving innocent civilians.
Everyone of these causes was Just and right, and it is no wonder that Usamah's reputation only grew and prospered during this period ? and no wonder that an assassination attempt was made at this time, though he escaped with only some injuries.
AFGHANISTAN ONCE MORE
In 1996 Usamah moved permanently back to Afghanistan. In despair at the terrible situation in both Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, he sought a more traditional and devout setting. After Saudi Arabia decided to imprison Islamic scholars and hundreds of Mujahideen youths, after the rape of the Holy Land by the West and the occupation of the two Holy Places by American troops, Usamah decided to make a stand. He issued his first Bayan, or statement, 'A Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places'. This document was seminal, and simple ? a lucid warning instructing the Americans to leave the land of the two Holy Places or face military attack from the Mujahideen, the same Mujahideen that defeated the largest superpower in the world under his tutelage some few years before in Afghanistan.
"Muslims burn with anger at America. For its own good, America should leave [Saudi Arabia]."
Usamah is still in Afghanistan to this day. Despite the total lack of any evidence (The US claims to have evidence, but with it's usual broohaha is prepared to go to war rather than publically release it. It is so convincing they will give it to allies but not to the Taleban, from whom they expect an extradition with no evidence at all) relating him to the recent WTC attacks, he is castigated worldwide for this devilish act. Usamah may be no friend of the United States, and with good reason, but he has no record of attacking innocent civilian targets. He is an honourable man and an honourable fighter, with a long, proud record of fighting for the oppressed (but right) underdog.
So why must he die?
Because he must be martyred. It is my belief that Usamah has reached his peak. Already approaching his 50's, he can't continue his brave fight against Western imperialism forever. Already he is weakening, his judgement is failing and his body shrivels. Every Muslim who dies in Jihad is guaranteed a place in Heaven, and Usamah, in dying, can both guarantee his own elevation and strike a blow against the western imperial forces trying to paint him as some sort of extremist. If he martyrs himself, a thousand new and young Usamahs will be inspired by his legend and continue the good fight, and the truth about bin Laden will spread around the world, and so the simple peoples of this globe will hear of his valiant life and fight. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics, western opinion was outraged, and President Jimmy Carter embargoed all exports to the Soviet Union. Contrary to popular belief, the USA did not funnel military or financial support to the Mujahideen, however. In this interview bin Laden recalls "Personally neither I nor my brothers saw evidence of American help", so we see that the Americans were all mouth but had no guts. Now that America has, with it's usual hypocricy, decided to attack Afghanistan, it is clear that Usama must take risks to ensure maximum damage is applied to the enemy.
WHAT USAMAH MUST DO
Firstly he must provide tantalising glimpses of himself, drawing the Americans into Afghanistan. He must make sure the common people of Afghanistan understand that the Americans are out to culturally reprogram the Afghanis, one of the last pure peoples of the Earth. He must extract maximum damage upon the enemy in exchange for his own life. No superpower, however strong, can, once entered, come out of Afghanistan with honour. Hopefully the plight of Afghanistan and the indiscriminate killing of civilians that will occur there will reignite the Wahhabi cause throughout the Arab world, but especially in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. There is a great, noble chance here for the Middle East to be reawakened in its old image.
Usamah made Afghanistan in his own image, it is thanks to his influence that it has steered a course away from the brutality and violence of communism, towards the status of a pure Muslim state. The Taliban, unlike the governments of Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia, is not corrupted by Western influence, and will not hand him over. The West knows it has a resolute enemy. Even in the unlikely even that they did decide to hand him over, they would be unnable to, and surely the Afghans would revolt and a new revolution would be needed.
The likelihood is that they shall be true to the tenets of Islam, and not hand over Usamah. Then, the US and other Western allies will be forced to invade Afghanistan, where they will meet a bloody end. Usamah must sacrifice himself in the process, for it is the best way of guaranteeing his place in heaven and exacting maximum pain upon the enemy.
It is my fervent hope that bin Laden realise his death is called for, that his own death is a weapon he can use far more powerful than any bomb. The legend will burn out brightly.
I should point out that that doesn't always work.
The links to the lidar story for example.