Int Automate

Based on open source technology and programming, LUZ is a lighting project that product designer Marina Mellado designed and targeted to those people who are physically and psychologically affected by the lack of sun or daylight.

"Luz is a one meter diameter ring of light. It connects two LED stripes RGB SMD5050 to an Adafruit TCS34725 sensor ( which I use to get the temperature of colour (K) and the light intensity (Lux) Values ) and an Arduino Uno."

The electronic system is programmed to modify gradually the light-color sensibility of the lamp depending on the weather conditions when the sensor is positioned by the window.

Check the video below to see the lamp in action:
http://vimeo.com/98864471

Source:
http://blog.arduino.cc/2014/11/21/global-emotional-light-with-arduino/

Bionic bugs could help save humans trapped after disasters Researchers at North Carolina State University fitted cockroaches with electrical backpacks (pictured) complete with tiny microphones to detect the faintest of sounds.

Lockheed Martin to provide array electronics for TPS-59 air- and missile-search radar
TOBYHANNA, Pa., 16 June 2014.Radar experts at the Lockheed Martin Corp. Mission Systems and Training segment in Syracuse, N.Y., will provide array electronics for the AN/TPS-59A version 3 transportable long-range search radar system under term of a $35.7 million contract awarded Friday by the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Tobyhanna, Pa.
The AN/TPS-59A(V)3 is a long-range 3-D ground-based air surveillance radar. The system is for anti-air warfare to a maximum range of 300 nautical miles, and tactical ballistic missile surveillance to a range of 400 nautical miles.
The radar, the latest version of the TPS-59 fielded in 1985, can detect and track air-breathing targets like aircraft and cruise missiles as far away as 300 miles, and can detect tactical ballistic missiles as far away as 400 miles. It offers 360-degree coverage to elevations of nearly 200 miles.
For this contract Lockheed Martin will concentrate on the TPS-59 radar's array electronics. the radar's 54 transmitters are laid out in 54 rows, each of which operates independently of the others.
Related: Lockheed Martin to upgrade computers in Marine Corps TPS-59 deployable air search radar
The radar handles azimuth scanning by the antenna's mechanical rotation, while handling electronic scanning in elevation by with phase-controlled solid-state row transmitters and row receivers.
The radar uses a scanning pencil-beam to provide wide, accurate coverage. It can track targets as small as one meter wide at ranges to 400 nautical miles. It is designed to provide land forces such as the U.S. Marines with tactical air surveillance, and can contribute to the Navy Cooperate Engagement Capability (CEC).
Lockheed Martin won a $7.5 million U.S. Marine Corps contract last fall to upgrade computers for the AN/TPS-59A(V)3 radar. Lockheed Martin is upgrading the radar system's obsolete Oracle Sun Netra T5220 carrier-grade ruggedized computer servers, the operations console computers, and re-integrate the system's proprietary software.
Engineers are replacing the Oracle Sun Netra T5220 rugged server with the Oracle Sun Netra T4-1 carrier-grade server, which the Marine Corps will procure through the Marine Corps Common Hardware Suite (MCCHS) and provided to Lockheed Martin as government-furnished property.
Related: Navy chooses 6U VME single-board computers from Curtiss-Wright for shipboard radar
The Netra SPARC T4-1 server is powered by the eight-core and four-core SPARC T4 processor with integrated on-chip cryptographic support for wire-speed encryption capabilities. This server offers 16 DIMM slots, which can support 256 gigabytes of memory, four hot-pluggable 2.5-inch drives plus DVD, integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet networking, and built-in PCI Express Generation 2 expansion.
The server runs the Oracle Solaris operating system and virtualization software such as the Oracle Solaris Zones and Oracle VM Server for SPARC technology.
For the contract announced Friday, Lockheed Martin will do the work in Syracuse, N.Y., Oldsmar, Fla., and Moorestown, N.J., and should be finished by July 2017.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training online at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/mst, or the Army Contracting Command-Tobyhanna at www.tobyhanna.army.mil/organization/contracting.

Japanese scientists create creepy robot newsreader with human face

Anyone watching the morning news over their breakfast cereal may take a while to realise that this word-perfect anchor is not your average newsreader – she is a robot.
Kodomoroid, an android created in Japan, is able to read the news, recite tongue-twisters, speak multiple languages and interact with people.
Designed as a “child” robot, it can use a variety of voices and switch from a deep male base to girlish tones in seconds while operators put in text.
On Tuesday, scientists also unveiled a woman robot called Otonaroid and Telenoid, which is just a mannequin head with pointed arms that serves as a “cuddly” companion.
The two life-size machines have silicon skin and artificial muscles, giving them an eerily human appearance.
Anyone visiting the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo will be able to meet them and interact with the robots, which will act as guides.
They can even make jokes and Kodomoroid said it dreamed of having a television show.
Hiroshi Ishiguro, an Osaka University professor and robotics expert, is using them for research on how people interact with robots and on what differentiates humans from machines.
He said: “Making androids is about exploring what it means to be human, examining the question of what is emotion, what is awareness, what is thinking.”
There were some glitches during Tuesday’s demonstration, with the lips sometimes not moving while the robot spoke.
Mr Ishiguro said that while Japan leads the world in playful companion robots, it was behind the US with military robots.
Hiroshi Ishiguro (L) and Miraikan museum director Mamoru Mori (R) pose with the robots Otonaroid (R) Kodomoroid (L)In over 20 years developing androids, Mr Ishiguro has made a point of mimicking the human appearance, even sending robotic doubles of himself to give overseas lectures.
Other robotics scientists say human appearance is pointless, not to mention unsettling, and robots can look like machines by taking the form of a television screen, for example.
One company recently released a robot reminiscent of C-3PO that will go on the market for less than 200,000 yen (£112,000)
“Robots are now becoming affordable - no different from owning a laptop,” said Mr Ishiguro.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/japanese-scientists-create-creepy-robot-newsreader-with-human-face-9562776.html

The campaign has raised more than $1.5 million as of publication of this post, well over the million-dollar goal. More than 38,000 people have contributed to that total.

At the expense of being labeled a crotchety old man (at the ripe old age of 36), let me state here for the record that I think this project is a bunch of smoke and mirrors and will fail hard. The Solar Roadways project has been kicking around since 2006 and has been collecting thoughtful detractors all the way (while failing to raise any kind of meaningful investment capital to implement their plans). Treehugger’s Lloyd Alter was pointing out the project’s flaws way back in 2009 and Jeremy Elton Jacquot did it even earlier than that in 2007. Lloyd’s post has a bunch of links to other writers’ takedowns of the concept.



The main arguments against Solar Roadways boil down to:

• The panels would cost too much both as a solar panel and as a road surface.
• They won’t produce enough energy relative to conventional solar panels.
• There is no shortage of space to mount solar panels, so no need to embed them in the road.
• They are a maintenance nightmare compared to conventional road surfaces.

In short, they are a (bad) solution in search of a problem. Even if they could do everything they purport to do, there is no need for them.

I think it’s unfortunate that thousands of people are throwing good money after this bad project, and I want to help shed a little light on the situation. In that spirit, I decided to run through the "Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways!" video second-by-second with some commentary.

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/blogs/solar-roadways-dont-believe-the-hype-on-this-boondoggle-of-a-project