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What kind of personality does your Roomba have? None, I suppose. But what kind should it have? Researchers in the Netherlands from Delft University of Technology, Delft, and Philips Research, Eindhoven, gathered a focus group together to decide what kind traits your vacuum should have if the technology were available to give it a personality.
The busy Dutch team were asked to rate a notional future robot vacuum cleaner’s personality traits for desirability, and it was determined that the robot should be calm, friendly, like routines, but definitely not be talkative *. The next part of the study involved a group of human actors, who were asked to act like a robotic vacuum cleaner displaying the desired characteristics which had been determined in part one.
The actors’ routines were rated and they were found to be good vacuum cleaners. If you want to be entertained, you only need to add a cat. Link
They say that something can’t be created out of nothing, but that’s what researchers may have done- sort of. Quantum theory states that even in a vacuum some particles do exist. Testing this, scientists in Sweden claim to have made sparks in a vacuum.
According to quantum theory, empty space is, well, not that empty after all. Rather it is full of virtual particles – particles that quickly blip in and out of existence. Theory states that a mirror can absorb energy from some of these virtual photons, and re-emit it as actual photons. Of course, this only works if the mirror is traveling through the vacuum at nearly the speed of light, making it difficult to prove, to say the least.
This robotic vacuum concept is so much cuter than the Roomba. This concept is a mother dog that lies around while the pups scurry around the house sucking up dirt and other stuff from your floors. When the puppies are full up on dust and debris, they come back to the mommy dog and nuzzle up to their own power nipples for a charge and to offload the dirt the collected to mom. The quartet of little vacuums has smiling faces, will follow a remote around, and will occasionally sing. This really needs to be picked up and made into a real product. link
Police in Lincoln, Nebraska arrested William Logan Jr. on a misdemeanor theft charge. Logan was caught on a surveillance camera using a vacuum to suck change out of coin laundry appliances.
Photos show a man entering the laundry room with a backpack, which contained a vacuum. The man pries open the coin tray, plugs in the vacuum and sucks out the change.
On Tuesday morning, detectives said they made contact with William Logan Jr., 40, and his father at the residence they share. Logan’s father immediately recognized his son in the surveillance images, according to Lincoln police.
Authorities said Logan was able to get about $20 in quarters from the machines at an apartment on Holdrege Street. According to police, Logan no longer has the vacuum.
Logan was previously convicted of stealing a Christmas tree from the Salvation Army. Link -via J-Walk Blog
New Scientist has a list of attempts to discern the limits of human endurance and survival. It answers (or tries to) these questions:
1. What’s the human speed limit?
2. How long can we concentrate for?
3. How long could you survive in a vacuum?
4. How much can we remember?
5. How cold can you get and live?
6. How long could you survive without food and drink?
7. How long could you go without sleep?
8. How many gs can you pull?
9. How high can you go?
10. How much can a human lift?
11. How much radiation can we take?
12. How long could you hold your breath?
In response to the third question “How long could you survive in a vacuum, Valerie Jamieson writes:
It is possible to recover from shorter spells in a vacuum, however. In 1966 a NASA technician was testing a spacesuit in a vacuum chamber when the pressure dropped to the level you would experience at an altitude of 36,500 metres. He passed out after 12 to 15 seconds. The last thing he recalled was the saliva boiling off his tongue; that’s because water vaporises at low pressure. He regained consciousness within 27 seconds when the chamber was repressurised to the equivalent of an altitude of 4200 metres. Although he was pale, he suffered no adverse health effects.
Link via The Presurfer | Photo: NASA
This BBC News video shows inventor Jem Stansfield climbing the outside of the BBC building with hand-held mounts that adhere to the wall thanks to the suction created by the vacuum cleaner engine on his back.
Via Geekologie
