(Credit:
Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)

Robots climbing up your leg — are you cool with that? Chinese researchers certainly are, arguing they could become electronic pets, or even “mobile” phones.

Presented this week at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in St. Paul, Minn., Clothbot was developed by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As seen in the video below, the machine crawls up folds in clothing, slowing making its way up trouser legs or even the back of a shirt. It uses a pair of gripper wheels to create and cling to a fold in the cloth.

Weighing some 140 grams, it has a tail that helps it maneuver. Its destination and ultimate purpose, however, remain mysterious.

According to IEEE Spectrum, in their research paper “System and Design of Clothbot: a Robot for Flexible Clothes Climbing,” author Yuanyuan Liu and colleagues propose three applications: “a tiny pet climbing on human bodies,” “a movable phone on our shoulder which frees human hands,” and finally, “body inspection.”

And you thought the TSA was bad.

(Via IEEE Spectrum ) [Read more]

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Six scenarios where the iPad is trouncing the PC

Crave: gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. – CNET

If you need a bottle opened, but don’t have a bottle opener, Max’s belt buckle, or the side of a desk or table that you don’t really care about scuffing, but you also happen to have a chainsaw handy — because why wouldn’t you — you can follow in the footsteps of this master chainsawman and have that bottle opened rather quickly.

(via reddit)

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Business

This is part of a series of Wired Q&As with spaceflight experts leading up to SpaceX’s launch. You can read previous interviews here.

We may be at the dawn of a new, private era in space.

On May 19, if all goes well, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will lift off the launchpad, bringing the Dragon spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Until now, only the United States, Russia, Japan, and the European Union have accomplished such a goal. If SpaceX succeeds, it will become the first private company to do so.

Wired is interviewing experts in the spaceflight community to discuss the ways this historic launch will impact NASA and mankind’s presence in space. Is it a giant leap, or just a baby step?

Today we have Lawrence Williams, the former vice president for strategic relations at SpaceX, one of its founding executives and a current SpaceX shareholder. Before Williams left the company in 2012 to develop his own technology and aerospace business development firm, called Capture10, he helped transform SpaceX from a $ 10 million company into one with a $ 3.5 billion a revenue base.

Wired: Will this launch be a big game changer for how spaceflight is done?

Lawrence Williams: Essentially what SpaceX is doing is modeling what Russia has done with its Progress system. So what makes this a game changer? The United States will have its own capability, which we have not had. The space shuttle was a very different type of vehicle. Not having to rely on another country is important from a national security perspective.

There’s some criticism that this capability already exists, that it’s redundant. Well, it has not existed at this price point. A cargo flight to the space station on a Dragon capsule/Falcon 9 combination is around $ 100 million. They’re looking at doing a crewed mission for $ 120 million. The $ 20 million difference is to make principally the same vehicle but with $ 20 million worth of upgrades to accommodate passengers. Obviously, the non-recurring engineering cost to get there isn’t that small. That will take about $ 1 billion in additional investments.

By comparison Soyuz is about $ 63 million per seat, all-in. SpaceX is offering costs at one-third of that per passenger. As for Progress? It’s not very transparent and little unclear. Plus there’s kind of a subsidy built in with the Russian government. The amount of engineering development poured into Soyuz and Progress nearly broke the back of the Russian economy.

This is also a game changer in terms of proving it’s a commercially viable thing to do. It’s being done and procured on a commercial basis. So this launch is like a Netscape moment in many ways. SpaceX will open up the gates for a lot of new business opportunities. Venture capitalists are now looking to SpaceX in this way. They’re seeing a whole new vertical open up that they’ve never seen before.

Wired: How do you think this will this impact NASA?

Williams: NASA has definitely highlighted their interest in transitioning into a more commercial-like procurement process with spaceflight. A lot of people are watching closely to see whether or not it’s viable. But it’s essentially already proven.

I feel like with every launch of SpaceX, the naysayers all say this is the litmus test of whether or not the experiment has worked. To say everything is riding on this is not fair. This is not a make-or-break launch for either SpaceX or NASA’s commercial approach. The fourth launch of Falcon 1? That was a make-or-break moment, and SpaceX made it.

In my opinion this launch shouldn’t have any impact on NASA, really, but I understand this is Washington, D.C., this is politics and this is a presidential election year. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Mitt Romney’s campaign say another Obama program is failing, and I think that’d be an unfair thing to do. All spaceflight is inherently risky. If that ever happens, the funny thing would be that this started under the former Bush administration. Obama just continued it. So if anything goes well or not, the Bush administration would deserve some credit, too.

Wired: How much closer does this bring us to a future where manned spaceflight is cheap and quick?

Williams: It’s a significant increment, and I think the Falcon 9 launch vehicle itself is big part of the equation. The effective amount of energy required to reach orbit is a major and expensive challenge, and doing it for a lot less money means we’re making great strides. Still, before it’s significantly cheaper, a lot of big challenges remain.

Each step in COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) is huge and docking with the space station is no exception. This doesn’t mean we’re right on the edge, the cusp of cheap spaceflight. But the first time a private entity is able to dock there? That’s a big step in that direction. That you could dock at a space station commercially suddenly gives you a destination to go to. It’s a lot more interesting than flying around in a capsule.

Wired: What happens if it doesn’t work?

Williams: I actually don’t know that it would change anything significantly if it doesn’t work. NASA needs this capability sooner rather than later, but they also have backup alternatives. I don’t think a failure would put the space station at risk.

COTS was meant to be proving ground for test flights. Docking is supposed to be the third flight in the process, but SpaceX got permission to combine a rendezvous and docking — two COTS objectives — into their second flight. It’s a major game changer if it works, but not a major game changer if it doesn’t.

We’ve been standing on the verge of something people say has been coming for a long time. I think the overhyping part is when people say this launch is make-or-break. People have suggested to me that, if it doesn’t work, SpaceX will go out of business. I can tell you that’s absolutely not true. They’re in a very good place and will continue to be regardless of what happens..

Image: NASA/Kim Shiflett [high resolution]

Wired Science

Have you been working this week?
Last week I was on tour with a rock band, and this week I’m playing rehearsals with a new show.

The last time we talked, you were feeling pretty down about your prospects. Are you still bummed?
I’m feeling bummed that there’s not more work, but I’m doing the things that I can do—subbing and networking. I can only go forward, it’s the only choice. Thinking any other way is only hurting me, it’s not helping me at all. It’s not that I’m not aware of the situation, I’m taking all the steps I can do to to address it. And if all I do is worry, what’s the point?

Do you keep an emergency fund for when work is light? 
Read the rest at The Billfold.

—

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The Awl

The web roundup for Thursday, May 17th. Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See anything that should be on SportsGrid? Send it to tips@sportsgrid.com. Photo via. Now, our starting five.

1. BRIAN DOWNING CHARGED WITH TWO COUNTS OF SEXUAL BATTERY. [CFT]

2. CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE FOR JUNE 13TH, BECAUSE THIS DREAM TEAM DOCUMENTARY WILL PROBABLY BE AMAZING.

3. MIKE LEACH SHOT A GIANT BEAR. [Twitter]

4. CUBS OWNERSHIP HELPING WAGE THIS CAMPAIGN AGAINST OBAMA? [NY Times]

5. NOT SPORTS RELATED, STILL IMPORTANT: A BRAWNDO DRINKING FOUNTAIN, SO YOU CAN FINALLY GIVE PLANTS WHAT THEY CRAVE. [Geekosystem]

WHAT’S ON TV TONIGHT: Eastern Conference semifinals, Game 3, Heat at Pacers (ESPN, 7 p.m.); Western Conference semifinals, Game 2, Clippers at Spurs (ESPN, 9:30 p.m.); Western Conference finals, Game 3, Coyotes at Kings (NBCSN, 8 p.m.); Phillies at Cubs (WGN, 8 p.m.); Community (NBC, 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 9:30 p.m. – season finale); 30 Rock (NBC, 8:30 p.m. – season finale); Awake (NBC, 10 p.m.); Trading Places (Cinemax, 10 p.m.); Apollo 13 (Encore, 9:50 p.m.); Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (REELZ, 10 p.m.)

AND FINALLY, TONIGHT: Community finishes up his third season tonight. In honor of that, see all the times noted “Cool”-sayer Abed (a big 30 for 30 fan in real life) has said “Cool” (via BuzzFeed). Cool. Coolcoolcool.

SportsGrid