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This Robot Collects Fingerprints
Roland Piquepaille writes "When police officers found suspicious packages today in an airport or a train station, they destroyed them immediately, along with potential fingerprints on them. A new robotic device, dubbed RAFFE (short for "Robot Accessory for Fuming Fingerprint Evidence), developed by scientists from the University of Toronto (U of T) and the University of Calgary, offers a solution to this problem. Mounted on an ordinary robot, it will reveal fingerprints by releasing Super Glue on the object. Then it will take pictures of these fingerprints. The Calgary Police Service is already using RAFFE for field tests. This overview contains more details and extra references."
Mounted on an ordinary robot
Great, the T-1000 series try to extinguish humanity by smothering us with Super Glue fumes.
Squirt gun - age 7
Remote control vehicle - age 10
Camera - age 14
Dammit, I could have invented this thing 10 years ago!
(Oh, admit it. You thought the same thing.)
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
I'm Canadian and I'm always really happy when I hear of advances in science from our great nation. I'm tired of hearing Canada being labled as a safe-haven for terrorists, and it makes me proud to know that our universities are continuing to contribute to the capture and conviction of terrorists all over the world. By securing the lives of law enforcement officials everywhere, Canada has contributed to making everyone safer, and in turn, improving the quality of life in America. I also can't wait to see an episode of CSI (or CSI Miami) with this little techno-wonder in action!
Wouldn't it be much cheaper to hire the homeless or students to take the prints?
The glue is heated up and the fumes adhere to the skin oils in the fingerprint. They don't dunk the object in a tank of glue.
Trolling is a art,
It isn't exactly the super glue, it is the cyanoacrylate fumes released from heating the glue. It turns the finger prints white, then they can be photographed.
The reason they don't have a human doing this work, is because it is a dangerous assignment, investigating a suspecious package. Normally the robot would just destroy the package, finger prints and all. Now they can make images of the prints before destroying the package.
I wonder how this is going to hold up in court? Are digital photographs of the fingerprints (I assume that's how the pics are taken) submittable as evidence in a court of law?
I think it's a terrific idea, but the first time it's used, there's going to be a huge fight about the guarantee of authenticity of the prints.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
This introductory sentence makes it sound like there was some *specific* event today at the airport or bus station involving suspicious packages and police officers.
Though gramatically correct, it is a matter of practice in written/spoken English to use the present tense when generalizing as in: "When police officers find suspicious packages today in an airport or a train station, they destroy them immediately, along with potential fingerprints on them."
I wouldn't even have bothered pointing this out, but that blurb made me scurry over to http://news.google.com for a look-see. Good story though.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Why do people keep calling remote controlled devices robots?
A robot is an autonomous object responding to its environment.
A remote controlled device is under direct control.
We call them
Remote Controlled Cars
Remote Controlled Planes
these are clearly not "ROBOTS".
Why are the more esoteric remote controlled devices called robots?
"Sir..." "What?" "The robot appears to have glued its fingers together, sir..." "Darnit! Do we have any nail polish remover?"
No. At the very least it is littering.
If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
Two members of the bomb squad, like a modern day odd couple and their lovable sarcastic robot friend who squirts super glue on them. Hijinx... ready.... GO!!!1
It's a glue dispensing robot, which means that it will be followed where-ever it goes by kids in Slipknot t-shirts pestering you for change.
On the plus side, it will make it rather easy for these rampant glue-junkies to be brought to justice, making the streets safer for us all.
My Webcomic: Asylum on 5th Street
They already have! It's called a GLOVE ;)
Smart criminals don't assemble packages/leave home without them.
Sinepaw.org: Grape Winos
(Yeah, I RTFA. It's a joke :-)
glued itself to the bomb!
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Fingerprinting an exploded bomb is commonly done though, and I wouldn't doubt DNA testing also being done. Whatever it is - the casing, schrapnel, components... discrete parts usually remain allowing fingerprinting, even on 1000lb bombs.
Of course figerprinting a live bomb it is great (easier to find parts that may have prints, and reduces the uncertainty 'just in case'), but fingerprinting exploded bombs is done and is very successful.