Open Access Publishing Fund Established

 General  No Responses »
Oct 242012
 

Mason announced the establishment of the Open Access Publishing Fund (OAPF) to provide financial support to Mason scholars and researchers who wish to publish in open access (OA) journals.  Establishment of the $25,000 fund is in direct response to faculty interest in open access journal publishing.

Support for the article processing fees required by some OA journals will be available to faculty, postdoctoral fellows and registered graduate students.  More information and application forms will be posted to the University Libraries’ homepage (library.gmu.edu).  The OAPF will operate on a first-come, first-served basis, concluding once all the funds have been awarded during the fiscal year.

 Posted by at 4:47 pm

New book: Microrobotics

 General  No Responses »
Aug 162012
 

The book, Microrobotics: Biologically Inspired Microscale Robotic Systems was recently added to the Safari Books collection. Published in March, 2012, this book looks at the emerging field of microrobotics which has the potential for use in many fields. It discusses the theoretical and experimental aspects of microrobotics, modeling and control of microrobots and different types of microrobots.

 Posted by at 2:18 pm

Robot always Wins!

 General, News, Research, Robotics  No Responses »
Jun 282012
 

Japanese scientists have developed a robot that always wins the game “Rock-Paper-Scissors.” The robot, known as the “Janken” robot (“Janken” is the Japanese name for the game), was developed by scientists at the University of Tokyo’s Ishikawa Oku Laboratory. The robot wins by making its move one milliseconde after his opponent. The robot uses high speed vision to recognize the shape of its opponent’s hand and then makes a move. The researchers believe that “This technology can be applied to motion support of human beings and cooperation work between human beings and robots etc. without time delay.” View a video of the Janken robot in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nxjjztQKtY&feature=player_embedded

For more info: Visit the researchers’ website: http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/fusion/Janken/index-e.html
Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-rock-paper-scissors-janken-robot-20120627,0,2959226.story

 Posted by at 9:30 am

Robotic Finger IDs Materials Better Than Human Finger

 News, Research, Robotics  No Responses »
Jun 202012
 

Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have announced the creation of a robotic finger, called BioTac, that is capable of sensing textures and identifying materials with greater accuracy than a human finger. The robotic finger consists of a liquid core wrapped with a soft, flexible skin that vibrates when the finger slides over a textured surface. To identify the material, software is used to match the vibrations with materials it has on file. USC researchers trained the finger on over 100 common materials, including paper, wood, sponge, etc. When trying to identify unknown materials, the robot had a 95% success rate. Funding for the project was provided by NIH and DARPA.

For more info: http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/newsroom/news_release.php?id=2755
Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-06/19/robot-finger

 Posted by at 8:56 am

Stroke Victims Use Thoughts to Control Robotic Arm

 News, Research, Robotics  No Responses »
May 172012
 

In a research recently published in Nature, researchers detailed a project in which two stroke victims controlled the actions of a robotic arm using their thoughts. The victims, both long-standing quadraplegics, used implanted neural inferaces to control the actions of the robotic arm while performing reaching and grasping tasks in three-dimensions.

The VA, NIH and a number of private foundations provided support for this research.

Read the research (GMU only): http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7398/full/nature11076.html
For more information: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/science/bodies-inert-they-moved-a-robot-with-their-minds.html?_r=2&hpw

 Posted by at 10:13 am
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