Skeletons That Walk on the Wind

October 26, 2007

Every once in a while I come across something that is not really technology, in the emerging sense, but is so cool that I have to tell someone about it. Lucky you.

This time it’s work from Dutch visual artist Theo Jansen, who has built animal-like skeletons called Strandbeests that harness the wind to walk. See, for example Animaris Geneticus Ondula and Animaris Rhinoceros.

Jansen, born in 1948, studied physics at the University of Delft, Holland, but instead of finishing his degree, turned to painting. He did that for about seven years and then, in 1980, started a flying saucer project. The UFO was filled with helium and floated over the town of Delft.

“It was hazy weather. The people saw was a black disk coming through the sky,” Jansen told me. “The population was in a commotion.”

After that, he couldn’t paint anymore. The technical inspiration that had disappeared at the university came back and he began building machines. In the 90s, he started playing around with hollow tubes that are used as conduits for electric wire.

“I promised myself to spend one year on the conduits just to see what happens. That was 16 years ago and it became really an addiction,” he said.

The result was Strandbeest, a herd of small and large (some 14 feet tall), multi-leg creatures that scuttle across the beach near his workshop in Eisenberg. Although the hollow conduit he uses is made for electrical wire, no wire or electronics are incorporated into the beasts. They are all comprised of the plastic tubing, pistons, and rubber bands. Wind drives them forward. A small tube hanging down about an inch off the ground sucks in water when the contraption approaches the shoreline, stopping the animal in its tracks.

Jansen uses a computer to digitally simulate leg and joint movement. The head often functions as sail. Engineered to survive on the beach, the creatures balance their time between sand and surf.

“They will know where the dunes are and where the sea is. When the storm is coming up, they go to the dunes and beach themselves,” he said.

Eventually, Jansen would like to raise a herd of these colossal critters and watch them live out their existence on the beach.

Scientists Like Making Videos, Too

October 25, 2007

Where there were only podcasts and YouTube, now there are pubcasts and SciVee.

SciVee is a new YouTube-like website developed by the Public Library of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Created by scientists for scientists, the site allows academics to upload videos that correspond to research published in peer-reviewed journals (hence: pubcasts) and also puts a lab cam on experiments, dissections (eewwww), explanations, and other sciency “tions.”

I like the “howitsmade” videos and also the videos that demonstrate something. But the pubcasts leave me feeling the way I do after a long day of listening to talks at a scientific conference: dumb and fuzzy brained.

The thing is, published articles ≠ pubcasts. Video is dynamic, made for motion and animations, and smiling. If you really want to “move science beyond the printed word,” as the site says, then think about the medium and think about the audience. In a word: production.

Now, I’m not saying, hire a director. But what I am saying is move around a little bit, tighten up the text, use less jargon, and get to the heart of the matter, and get there fast. You’ll improve your video, get your “most viewed” hits up there, and add to the viewer’s understanding. And that last bit is really what’s it all about, right?

The Softer Side of Science

October 22, 2007

What do seaweed and a computer network have in common? They have an inherent pattern that optimizes the use of material while covering as much area as possible. Artist Jeffrey Nickerson demonstrates the concept behind these patterns in his piece “Range,” which is on display as part of Digital ’07, a digital print competition and exhibition hosted by Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. The theme of this year’s show, which is being held at the New York Hall of Science, is “pattern finding.” You have until January 27, 2008, to check it out.

Not only are the pieces beautiful (see here), but they explore science and technology, including chaos and string theory, fractals, genetics, and mathematical data-sets.

For example, Peter N. Gray uses information from DNA structure, sequences, and single nucleotide permutations to create his works.

Mark Fischer visualizes the sounds of a Minke whale recorded in the north Pacific using wavelet transforms (left).

Charles Thurston creates images derived from digital noise patterns to show the interplay between randomness and coherence.

If you attend the show, write back and tell me what you thought.

Everything's Coming Up Green

October 16, 2007

This past Friday was a busy day. In the afternoon, I attended the IEEE’s International Symposium on Wearable Computers (see October 14 post). After that, I zipped over to the MIT Museum for the MIT Energy Night—a showcase of about 40 different research projects and startup companies focused on energy.

It was rainy and kind of cold and I was already hungry when the cab pulled up to the museum, and so I didn’t stop for very long to admire the Chevrolet Volt parked on the sidewalk. Apparently it had arrived rock star-like in a shiny red semi-truck that sat idling curbside all night.

Inside, the place was shoulder to shoulder with people, drawn not only by the promise of free food and beverages, but also by the plethora of energy concepts. Suffice it to say, I was too hungry and thirsty to stand in line for sustenance, and so I wandered around with my friend Bob Buderi, founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge, MA-based Xconomy.

Immediately, I felt overwhelmed. Most of the presenters were academics, who had enlarged their research results (graphs, charts, equations, illustrations) into giant, full-color posters propped up on easels. Color: good. Content: way over my head. I saw poster titles like “Carbon Nanotube Enhanced Double Layer Capacitor,” “High-Temperature Characterization of 2D Tungsten Photonic Crystals,” and “High Amperage Energy Storage Device.” I’m pretty sure the research reflected in these posters was noteworthy and interesting. But as a hungry, thirsty, somewhat weary non-scientist, I didn’t know what to focus on.

Who does? It occurred to me that if one evening’s energy event in Cambridge, MA, could be so jammed-packed, confusing, and utterly bewildering, then what must the world be undergoing? It seems like every time we turn around, someone is talking about, researching, promoting, negating, or blogging about energy. It’s all the rage and somewhat reminiscent of the Internet boom in the 90s. Then, everyone was hopping on the dot com bandwagon, launching a startup. Now, it seems that everyone is hopping on the gas-electric sports wagon, promoting the next big solution.  Bob turned me onto this idea, referring to it as the “dot clean.”

The question is, what will shake out? And when?

In an October 14 article from NY Times, Nelson D. Schwartz quotes Kevin Landis, a tech-oriented mutual fund manager as saying,  "Alternative energy isn't where the Internet was in 1999…. It's where the Internet was in 1980."

What do you think?

After Bob left, I gave in to the idea of waiting in line for food and got into a good energy discussion with an MIT student named Elan. Among other things, he was advocating nuclear energy. What about the war? Waste? I asked. He brushed it off, said load the waste onto a rocket ship and fly it into the sun. Better than burying under a mountain, I say.

Well, by then I realized that standing in line was futile, because the hors d’oeuvres and beverages were gone. So I said goodbye to Elan and walked over one my favorite restaurants in Cambridge to refuel: the Middle East.

Wearing Your Computer On Your Sleeve

October 14, 2007

This past Friday, I spent a blustery and rainy fall afternoon at the IEEE’s International Symposium on Wearable Computers. It was held in Boston at the Hyatt Harborside, which I wouldn’t even mention, but the view of the harbor—steel gray water dolloped in white caps—and city skyline was freakin’ amazing. You couldn’t help noticing the view from the demonstration room, where many of the attendees had set up tables to show off their electronics.

I made a bee line for the folks from Georgia Tech cuz I recently did a news story about their Gesture Watch. Sure enough, grad student Jungsoo Kim was there wearing the watch and showed me in person how it worked. His colleagues were there as well, including Travis Deyle, who was showing off his Hambone bio-acoustic gesture device and PhD student Tracy Westeyn, who has what looks like a cute little stuffed dog, but is actually a child’s toy designed to monitor developmental progress.

I really liked Leah Buechley’s electronic textile kit, called LilyPad Arduino, which contains swatches of fabric that have built-in circuits or sensors. The pieces can be sewn into cloth and connected and powered with conductive thread. Leah, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, was wearing a top made with the components. When she moved her arm, an LED on her chest changed color.

There is a whole lot of work going on in the area of conductive fibers right now. If you’re going to wear them in clothing, you have to make them durable and washable. A couple of the demonstrations were on that topic alone.

And don’t worry about getting zapped, said Buechley “because the amount of power that is running through the wearable is really low.  “My kit is powered with a single AAA battery.  Just like you can't get shocked by touching both ends of a AAA battery, you can't get shocked by any LilyPad construction,” said Buechley.

While browsing the demonstration tables, I couldn’t help but notice the prevalence of head-mounted displays. Ok, maybe “prevalence” is too strong. Only three guys were wearing them. But these devices are SO conspicuous that seeing just one creates an indelible impression. It got me wondering why, with all of the shrinkage going on in computer technology, these devices are still so bulky. It seems like somebody could make them smaller and less noticeable. But then, maybe bulky is good, ya know, sort of geeky cool. After all, people already walk around with those chunky Bluetooth headsets that make it seem as if an electronic crustacean has latched onto the ear.

What do you think? Should head-mounted displays be seen or unseen?

The afternoon ended with a gadget show, in which attendees had one minute to demonstrate devices they had created, bought, or modified. My favorite was the brain sensor in an Altoids can, but there were some other devices like a barely visible camera mounted in a pair of eyeglasses that did face expression recognition and another gadget allowed for touchless control of an iPod. Just wave your hand to fast forward, select or play.

I left in the rain wishing that I could just wave my hand to fast forward my taxi through Red Sox playoff traffic.