Tag: autonomous drones

The Future of Security: Privacy Clothing and Drone Shields

surveillanceWith the recent developments being made in the fields of domestic surveillance, unmanned aerial vehicles, and metadata-mining algorithms, it’s quite understandable how many people are afraid for their privacy and their freedom. And with things expected to get worse, thanks in part to mind-machine interfacing and brain scanning, it was only a matter of time before some began to develop countermeasures.

Not too long ago, I came upon a drone art campaign over at DeviantART that addressed the issue of a surveillance-society. In addition to some wonderful artwork, the campaign also showcased a new fashion line known as “Stealth Wear”. Created by Adam Harvey, these “anti-drone garments” were a form of metalized fabric that protect against thermal imaging surveillance, a technology used widely by UAVs/drones.

Stealth-Wear5As it turns out, Harvey and his associates are hardly alone in this venture. Predicting the rise of mind-reading surveillance machinery, a group of designers in Italy began working on a series of thought-blocking accessories designed to maintaining private thoughts in an era when national security agencies and marketers want to get inside our heads.

Designers Lisa Kori Chung and Caitlin Morris, both researchers at Fabrica, started work on the project after they began thinking about the relationship between clothing and privacy – how it both protects and conceals. They researched current surveillance techniques, including facial recognition software, as well as brain scanning technology that’s beginning to accurately recognize emotions and thoughts.

anti-surveillance_wear2Chung and Morris explained the conclusions they reached after extensive researcher, as well as their concept for a fashion-based solution, in a recent interview:

We imagined what it would be like for these things to converge, if clothing played a role in intellectual and emotional privacy as well as the physical privacy it’s always been associated with.

Predicting how the technology might continue to evolve, they created three accessories – a hat transmits sound through bone conduction, a collar that sends a tiny electric shock, and a mask that flashes bright lights. As they explain it, the accessories do not block scanners, but allow a person to distract a surveying machine from seeing whatever it is they want to keep private from it:

Aside from the realistic constraints of long-distance scanning, the premise of detecting people’s general thoughts and moods based on a low-resolution brain scan is a possibility that’s already proving very realistic. We looked into recent studies where researchers were able to detect precise emotions in subjects, and that data is already being used for information on brand recognition and advertising.

anti-surveillance_wear1Each object has a detailed, almost Baroque design inspired by other protective objects. Each one is designed to draw attention away from telltale indicators like the person’s facial structure towards the art itself, along with its special, surveillance-busting features. As they explain, the merger came from existing security concepts, but was altered to look artistic:

We were fascinated by examples of devices intended for security, but designed to look ornamental–such as window bars, fences, the printing inside security envelopes. We wanted to build on this, and to design these technology-heavy pieces as beautifully crafted accessories. It’s an aesthetic that’s missing in a lot of future-wear, but the awareness of craft and textile is an important part of our connection to objects, especially objects that are increasingly technical.

In addition, new technologies are emerging that are designed to counter unmanned aerial drones – something which is expected to become far more common – by alerting people to their presence. It’s known as the Drone Shield, a project that started out in May as an Indiegogo lark, but has since morphed into a serious business affair intended to protect people and businesses from unwanted intrusion.

drone_shieldWith the growing popularity of hobbyist and commercial-grade drones, privacy and security are becoming much more than an abstract concern for a wide-range of interests. Many believe it’s only a matter of time before these kinds of simple drones are engaged for corporate espionage – like taking photos or landing on a roof and hacking into a Wi-Fi network. Or even a physical attack.

Designed by two engineers – Brian Hearing and John Franklin, both of whom spent most of their careers working in the defense and intelligence industry – the UAV detector is a small portable or mountable box that listens for drone noise and sounds an alert if one is close. Using a microphone tuned to pick up background noise, the box analyzes noise and identifies the characteristic acoustic signatures of different kinds of UAVs.

drone_shield1The company has sold about 130 devices for $100, and recently begun distributing a smaller $59 portable version. But according to Brian Hearing, the co-inventor, this is just the beginning:

The goal is to give you enough warning time to either go inside and shut your blinds … or for commercial uses, it’s to call the cops or alert your security… Our longer-term plan is to improve the product so it’s ready for enterprise sales; turn some of our pilot installations into long-term customers, and expand overseas. We’re envisioning installing one of our devices every place you have a security camera.

While the device isn’t sensitive enough to detect military-grade drones high overhead, Hearing claimed it can catch hobbyist devices and (with the help of more expensive and sensitive microphones) commercial drones as well. Another company has tried to detect radio frequency communications of UAVs with a person on the ground, but these signals are easy to mask and as drones grow more autonomous, they will be fewer.

drone_commercialBut as Hearing explained, acoustics are another animal entirely because they are unique and difficult to fake or hide:

Acoustics are good because it’s very difficult to hide them. They sound really unique. There’s really not much else out there that sounds like it–it can tune out leaf blowers, weed whackers, and hair dryers.

Right now, Hearing and his co-founder John Franklin are improving the product to use higher-quality hardware and microphones and sell at a higher price than $100. Having raised the seed money they need through their Indiegogo campaign, they plan to grow their business and expand their current customer base to include major companies.

So in addition to major advances in the fields of biomedicine, nanotechnology and fabrication, the world of tomorrow may also be a place where surveillance wars are a constant, with companies and mischievous individuals constantly trying to get one-up on their competitors. And the rest of us, as usual, will be caught in the middle, looking to protect ourselves.

Sources: fastcoexist, (2), shprojects.com, droneshield

The Future is Here: AirMule’s Autonomous Demo Flight

airmule1Vertical Take-Off and Landing craft have been the subject of military developers for some time. In addition to being able to deploy from landing strips that are damaged or small for conventional aircraft, they are also able to navigate terrain and land where other craft cannot. Add to that the ability to hover and fly close to the ground, and you have a craft that can also provide support while avoiding IEDs and landmines.

One concept that incorporates all of these features is the AirMule, a compact, unmanned, single-engine vehicle that is being developed by Tactical Robotics in Israel. In January of 2013, the company unveiled the prototype which they claimed was created for the sake of supporting military personnel,  evacuating the wounded, and conducting remote reconnaissance missions.

airmule-1Now, less than a year later, the company conducted a demonstration with their prototype aircraft recently demonstrated its ability to fly autonomously, bringing it one step closer to carrying out a full mission demo. During the test, which took place in December, the craft autonomously performed a vertical take-off, flew to the end of a runway, then turned around on the spot and flew back to its starting point.

All the while, it maintained altitude using two laser altimeters, while maintaining positioning via a combination of GPS, an inertial navigation system, and optical reference to markers on the ground. These autonomous systems, which allow it to fly on its own, can also be countermanded in favor of remote control, in case a mission seems particularly harry and requires a human controller.

airmule-0In its current form, the AirMule possesses many advantages over other VTOL craft, such as helicopters. For starters, it weighs only 770 kg (1,700 lb) – as opposed to a Bell UH-1 empty weights of 2,365 kg (5,215 lbs) – can carry a payload of up to 640 kg (1,400 lb), has a top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph), and can reach a maximum altitude of 12,000 ft (3,658 m).

In short, it has a better mass to carrying capacity ratio than a helicopter, comparable performance, and can land and take-off within an area of 40 square meters (430.5 sq ft), which is significantly smaller than what a manned helicopter requires for a safe landing. The internal rotor blades are reportedly also much quieter than those of a helicopter, giving the matte-black AirMule some added stealth.

BD_atlasrobotPlans now call for “full mission demonstrations” next year, utilizing a second prototype that is currently under construction. And when complete, this vehicle and those like it can expected to be deployed to many areas of the world, assisting Coalition and other forces in dirty, dangerous environments where landmines, IEDs and other man-made and natural hazards are common.

Alongside machines like the Alpha Dog, LS3 or Wildcat, machines that were built by Boston Dynamics (recently acquired by Google) to offer transport and support to infantry in difficult terrain, efforts to “unman the front lines” through the use of autonomous drones or remote-controlled robots continue. Clearly, the future battlefield is a place where robots where will be offering a rather big hand!

 

And be sure to check this video of the AirMule demonstration, showing the vehicle take-off, hover, fly around, and then come in for a landing:


Sources: gizmag.com, tactical-robotics.com

The Future is Here: Brain to Brain Interfaces!

?????????????????And I thought the month of February was an already exciting time for technological breakthroughs! But if a recent report from Nature.com is any indication, February will go down in history as the biggest month for breakthroughs ever! Why just last week, researchers in Natal, Brazil created the first ever electronic link between the brains of two living creatures.

The creatures in question were rats, and the link between their brains enabled one to help the other solve basic puzzles in real time — even though the animals were separated by thousands of kilometers of distance. The experiment was led by Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University, a pioneer in the field of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), and a team of neurobiologists who’ve been working in the field for some time.

BMIHere’s how it works: An “encoder” rat in Natal, Brazil, trained in a specific behavioral task, presses a lever in its cage which it knows will result in a reward. A brain implant records activity from the rat’s motor cortex and converts it into an electrical signal that is delivered via neural link to the brain implant of a second “decoder” rat. The second rat’s motor cortex processes the signal from rat number one and – despite being thousands of km away and unfamiliar with what rat one is up to — uses that information to press the same lever.

MMIBack in 2011, Nicolelis and his colleagues unveiled the first such interface capable of a bi-directional link between a brain and a virtual body, allowing a monkey to not only mentally control a simulated arm, but receive and process sensory feedback about tactile properties like texture. And earlier this month, his team unveiled a BMI that enables rats to detect normally invisible infrared light via their sense of touch.

However, this latest experiment really takes the cake. Whereas brain-machine interfaces have long been the subject of research, generally for the sake of prostheses, a brain-to-brain interface between two living creatures in something entirely new, especially one that enables realtime sharing of sensorimotor information. And while it’s not telepathy, per se, it’s certainly something close, what Nicolelis calls “a new central nervous system made of two brains.”

Obviously, this kind of breakthrough is impressive in its own right, but according to Nicolelis, the most groundbreaking application of this brain-net (or n-mind) is yet to come:

These experiments demonstrated the ability to establish a sophisticated, direct communication linkage between rat brains, so basically, we are creating an organic computer that solves a puzzle. We cannot predict what kinds of emergent properties would appear when animals begin interacting as part of a brain-net. In theory, you could imagine that a combination of brains could provide solutions that individual brains cannot achieve by themselves.

neural-networksNaturally, there are some flaws in the process, which were made evident by the less-than-perfect results. For starters, the untrained decoder rats receiving input from a trained encoder only chose the correct lever around two-thirds of the time. Those results could not be the result of random odds, but they are also a far cry from the 95% accuracy where the signals were reversed, going from the untrained decoder to the trained encoder. As any student of science knows, one-way results are not the basis of a sound process.

And I imagine the people who are lobbying to make biosoldiers illegal and limit the use of autonomous drones will be on this like white on rice! Hence why we can probably look forward to many years of research and development before anything akin to human trials or commercial applications of this technology seem realizable.

And of course, there is a video demonstrated the mind link at work. a word of warning first though. If you’re an animal lover, like me, the video might be a little difficult to take. You be the judge:


Source: IO9, nature.com

DARPA’s New Sub-Hunting Robot

robot_sub-hunterWhen it comes to planning for the next possible conflict, military planners are often forced to take into account emerging trends in technology, and find both uses and countermeasures for them. And when it comes to future wars at sea, possibly fought in the Straight of Hormuz or the Sea of Japan, a number of startling developments are being taken into account, and solutions drawn up!

One such “solution” is the new robot sub-hunter being jointly created by the Science Applications International Corporation and DARPA – the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. That unmanned maritime robot, called the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vehicle, or ACTUV, doesn’t exist yet and won’t for years. But the SAIC’s plan does have the backing it needs, and presents an idea that is likely to inspire fear in submariners everywhere!

knifefish-drone-640x353For one, the unmanned vehicle will be capable of operating for periods ranging between 60 and 90 days, significantly longer than any aerial drone is capable of staying airborne. What’s more, SAIC is designing the ACTUV to be way more autonomous than contemporary drone aircraft. Once powered up, all a ship need do is release the drone and allow it to rely on its long-range acquisition sonar and other advanced sensors to scan for submarines, while at the same time steering clear of any nearby surface ships.

And then there is the advanced technology powering the drone’s sonar arrays. Unlike other ships, the ACTUV’s sensors create an acoustic image of its target to know it has the right one. Once the ACTUV thinks it’s got something, it pings nearby Navy ships through a satellite link, which they can either confirm or deny, either giving the ship the green light to hunt or instructions to search elsewhere.

And last, but not least, the ACTUV can operate alongside its surface fleet, remain in constant communication with a mothership as well as naval aircraft as they deploy sonar charges to help it hunt subs. This is a level of coordination that is rarely seen in aerial drones, which are either sent into action far from the front lines or controlled remotely by infantry in the field to offer fire support.

X-47BAh, but there’s one thing: the drone isn’t armed. Primarilyy developed to help Naval ships with hunting silent subs and/or cheap diesel-electric models, the ship may be capable of operating autonomously, but cannot take action to end lives. This feature may be the result of the Pentagon’s recent decision to limit the killing powers of UAV and autonomous drones, which amounted to ensuring that a human being will always be at the helm wherever the death of human beings is involved.

What’s more, the drone is designed with all kinds of futuristic and present-day scenarios in mind. While silent subs – ones that use advanced drive systems to generate little to no noise (a la The Hunt for Red October) – are one likely scenario, there is also the possibility of the US Navy running into the cheap diesel models which are technologically inferior, but can be much quieter and harder to track than anything nuclear. Russia is known to sell them and Iran claims to have them, so any military analyst worth his salt would advise being prepared to meet them wherever they present themselves.

And of course, the SAIC was sure to create a video showing the ACTUV in action:


Source: Wired.com

The Future is Here: Roboy the Robotic Child!

roboy_splashThe field of robotics has been heated up in recent years. With autonomous killing machines being developed by the USAF, mind-controlled prosthesis for the disabled, juggling robots by Disney, a headless Kenshiro Robot and even 3D printable android, it seems like only a matter of time before Asimov’s Three Laws will need to be applied. Either that, or we might have a Robopocalypse on our hands.

But when you see this latest project in robotics, you might find it hard to imagine an apocalyptic scenario resulting. Forget Terminator, this seems more like something from the realm of Pinocchio or AI. That’s the feeling I get from Roboy, a concept that began back in May of 2012 when the University of Zurich’s Artificial Intelligence Lab committed to creating a fully humanoid robot by March of 2013.

For those doing the math, yes, that is roughly nine months. As if his size and proposed aesthetics weren’t enough, the creators even committed to a timeline that mirrored the time it takes to birth and actual child. And just to complete the illusion, they hope to cover the finished product in a soft, artificial skin. Talk about infanto-centric (assuming that’s even a word)!

But of course, the real breakthrough of Roboy is in the design itself, which borrows from the Kenshiro humanoid and the earlier Ecce model that both rely on artificial muscles to move. At this point, the robot is near completion and should be released next month during the Robots on Tour event in Zurich, Switzerland, providing everything arrives on schedule. At the moment, the long-term purpose of Roboy is to act as a prototype for service robots that will help elderly people remain independent for as long as possible.

I smell another movie reference there, one involving and old man and his friendly robot side-kick. Can you guess which one I am referring to here? Correct, it’s Robot and Frank! And with all the developments in robots happening right now, I’d say we need to do our homework and see all these movies, and reread Asimov’s Robot series while were at it!

And while you’re doing that, be sure to check out this video of the Roboy’s design in action:


Source: news.cnet.com, ailab.ifi.uzh.ch

Criminalizing Transhuman Soldiers

biosoldiersIt seems to be the trend these days. You take a predictions that was once the domain of science fiction and treat it as impending science fact. Then you recommend that before it comes to pass, we pre-emptively create some kind of legal framework or organization to deal with it once it does. Thus far, technologies which are being realized have been addressed – such as autonomous drones – but more and more, concepts and technologies which could be real any day now are making the cut.

It all began last year when the organization known as Human Rights Watch and Harvard University teamed up to release a report calling for the ban of “killer robots”. It was soon followed when the University of Cambridge announced the creation of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) to investigate developments in AI, biotechnology, and nanotechnology and determine if they posed a risk.

X-47BAnd most recently, just as the new year began, a report funded by the Greenwall Foundation examined the legal and ethical implications of using biologically enhanced humans on the battlefield. This report was filed in part due to advances being made in biotechnology and cybernetics, but also because of the ongoing and acknowledged efforts by the Pentagon and DARPA to develop super-soldiers.

The report, entitled “Enhanced Warfighters: Risks, Ethics, and Policy”, was written by Keith Abney, Patrick Lin and Maxwell Mehlman of California Polytechnic State University.  The group, which investigates ethical and legal issues as they pertain to the military’s effort to enhance human warfighters, received funding from the Greenwall Foundation, an organization that specializes in biomedicine and bioethics.

In a recent interview, Abney expressed the purpose of the report, emphasizing how pre-emptive measures are necessary before a trend gets out of hand:

“Too often, our society falls prey to a ‘first generation’ problem — we wait until something terrible has happened, and then hastily draw up some ill-conceived plan to fix things after the fact, often with noxious unintended consequences. As an educator, my primary role here is not to agitate for any particular political solution, but to help people think through the difficult ethical and policy issues this emerging technology will bring, preferably before something horrible happens.”

US_Army_powered_armorWhat’s more, he illustrated how measures are necessary now since projects are well-underway to develop super soldiers. These include powered exoskeletons to increase human strength and endurance. These include devices like Lockheed Martin’s HULC, Raytheon’s XOS, UC Berkeley’s BLEEX, and other projects.

In addition, DARPA has numerous projects on the books designed to enhance a soldiers abilities with cybernetics and biotech. These include VR contact lenses, basic lenses that enhance normal vision by allowing a wearer to view virtual and augmented reality images without a headset of glasses. There’s also their Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS), which is a computer-assisted visual aid that instantly identifies threats by augmenting their visual faculties.

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 90And in the cognitive realm, there are such programs as Human Assisted Neural Devices (HAND) that seeks to strengthen and restore memories and the Peak Soldier Performance (PSP) program that will  boosthuman endurance, both physical and cognitive. But of course, since post-traumtic stress disorder is a major problem, DARPA is also busy at work creating drugs and treatments that can erase memories, something which they hope will give mentally-scarred soldiers a new lease on life (and military service!)

And of course, the US is hardly alone in this regard. Every industrialized nation in the world, from the EU to East Asia, is involved in some form of Future Soldier or enhanced soldier program. And with nations like China and Russia catching up in several key areas – i.e. stealth, unmanned aerial vehicles and aeronautics – the race is on to create a soldier program that will ensure one nation has the edge.

bionic_handsBut of course, as Abney himself points out, the issue of “enhancement” is a rather subjective term. For example, medical advancements are being made all the time that seek to address disabilities and disorders and also fall into the category of “enhancement”. Such ambiguities need to be ironed out before any legal framework can be devised, hence Abney and his associates came up with the following definition:

“In the end, we argued that the best definition of an enhancement is that it’s ‘a medical or biological intervention to the body designed to improve performance, appearance, or capability besides what is necessary to achieve, sustain or restore health.”

Working from this starting point, Abney and his colleagues made the case in their report that the risk such enhancements pose over and above what is required for normal health helps explain their need for special moral consideration.

These include, but are not limited to, the issue of consent, whether or not a soldier voluntary submits to enhancement. Second, there is the issue of long-term effects and whether or not a soldier is made aware of them. Third, there is the issue of what will happen with these people if and when they retire from the services and attempt to reintegrate into normal society.

It’s complicated, and if it’s something the powers that be are determined to do, then they need to be addressed before they become a going concern. Last thing we need is a whole bunch of enhanced soldiers wandering around the countryside unable to turn off their augmented killer instincts and super-human strength. Or, at the very least, it would be good to know we have some kind of procedure in place in case they do!

What do you think of when you hear the word "super soldier"? Yeah, me too!
What do you think of when you hear the word “super soldier”? Yeah, me too!

Source: IO9.com