John Mathews is a professor of Electrical Engineering at Penn State University. He has conducted research at the Arecibo Observatory, the large radio telescope in Puerto Rico since 1969. And he believes that robots represent the most cost effective way for humans to explore the Solar

In 2011 sales of robots reached 166,028 units, an increase of 38% with the automotive industry the biggest purchaser. That year it was estimated that the world’s operational robot population reached somewhere between 1,153,000 and 1,400,000. That number was expected to grow by 1

Whether you believe that machines in this century will surpass human intelligence or just compete with us on an even playing field, we are witnessing the dawn of thinking, self aware robots that can make ethical decisions. Science fiction has depicted intelligent robots from HAL in &#

Have you heard of oscillating gel? Researchers at University of Pittsburgh and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have demonstrated that this material responds to mechanical and chemical stimuli something only previously displayed by living membranes such as human skin. F

People who study Biomimetics look at biological processes and try to mimic them in technology. After all nature has tooled around with DNA-inspired creations from the dawn of life on this planet nearly 4 billion years ago. And humans have learned from nature. Some modern examples of b

What do we mine? In our last blog focused on exploration we talked about metallic and rare earth minerals. We didn’t focus on coal, or aggregate (gravel and construction materials). Nor did we talk about the mining of bitumen (oil or tar sands). But much of what we extract in mi

Animals come in many shapes and forms. Insects and other arthropods share a common physical attribute. They wear their skeletons on the outside. We call them invertebrates. Humans and other mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, called vertebrates, have an internal or endoskel

In a controlled setting like a hospital doctors and other medical staff work with all the tools needed to save a patient. That is not necessarily the case in the field at a rescue site where victims found may require immediate intervention. Think about scenarios where surgical interve