Tactile and self-healing robot is becoming a reality

Human skin is difficult to duplicate because it is not only flexible, tactile and self healing. However, the latest discoveries by scientists are giving such characteristics to robotic skin.

Do you think only the life of the skin is flexible and compressive, tactile, self-healing? Recent research shows that robotic skin can and may even perform better than human skin.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow in the UK used graphene to develop an electronic robot skin that is more tactile than human hands.

According to foreign media reports, Glasgow University professor Ravinder Dahiya said the newly developed robot skin is essentially a tactile sensor that scientists will use to create more lightweight prostheses and softer, more natural-looking robots on the surface.

This sensor is also the first step toward softer robots and more sensitive touch screen sensors.

This low-power smart robot skin is made of a layer of monatomic layer graphene. The power per square centimeter of skin is 20 nanoWatt, which is equivalent to the lowest quality photovoltaic cell available at the moment. While the skin‘s photovoltaic cells can not store the energy they generate, engineering teams are exploring ways to transfer unused energy to the battery for use when needed.

Graphene is a new type of nanomaterial found to be the thinnest, the largest in strength and the most conductive and thermally conductive. Due to its good strength, flexibility, electrical conductivity and other characteristics, it has great potential in the fields of physics, materials science and electronic information.

In terms of optical properties, some studies have shown that single-layer graphene absorbs only 2.3% of light in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths.

“The real challenge is how to get the sun through the skin that covers the PV cells.” Ravinder‘s comments on Advanced Functional Materials

Advanced Functional Materials.

“No matter what kind of light, 98% can reach the solar cell.” Dahiya told the BBC that the electricity generated by the solar cell is used to create the sense of touch. “Its touch is one order of magnitude better than the human skin.”

The skin gives the robotic arm the proper press feedback to give it better control over the force of the grasping object, even fragile eggs can be steadily picked up and lowered.

Dahiya said: “The next step is to develop a power generation technology that supports this research and use it to drive a hand-cranked motor, which will allow us to create a completely energy-conscious prosthesis.”

In addition, this superior performance robot skin is not expensive, Dahiya said, 5-10 square centimeters of new skin costs only $ 1. In fact, graphene can do much more than give the robot a keen sense of touch, it can also help robotic skin to heal.

According to futurism reports, Indian scientists are in journals

The latest research published by Open Physics found that graphene has a powerful self-healing function. Scientists hope that this feature can be applied to the field of sensors, so that robots and humans have the same skin self repair function.

The traditional metal robot skin less ductile, prone to cracks and damage. However, if the subnanometer sensor made of graphene can sense the crack, the robot‘s skin can prevent the crack from further expanding and even repair the crack. Research data shows that when the fracture exceeds the critical displacement threshold, automatic repair function will automatically start.

“We wanted to observe the self-healing behavior of virgin and defective monolayer graphene through the molecular dynamics simulation process while also observing the performance of graphene in the localization of sub-nanometer sensor fissures.” In an interview, the lead author of the paper Swati Ghosh Acharyya said: “We were able to observe the self-healing behavior of graphene at room temperature without any external stimuli.”

Researchers from India said the technology will be put to immediate use, perhaps the next generation of robots.

Technology giants facial recognition face sweep people face every day into the norm

Although in some areas, privacy concerns have prompted a slowdown in facial recognition technology. But in China, many people are used to scanning the face every day. From payment to visiting residential areas, student hostels, hotels and other places, often need to face scan. This technology has even been used to solve a chronic problem for decades, namely the frequent theft of the Beijing Temple of Heaven toilet paper. These public lavatories now have automatic paper dischargers that recognize the user‘s face and prevent frequent entrants.

More importantly, Alibaba‘s online payment service, Ant Financial, launches new features and its 450 million subscribers can access their online wallet through Selfie. China Construction Bank allows users to pay for facial scans on some vending machines, and drop-trips for car applications are also using face recognition technology to validate drivers‘ identities. Baidu has developed doors that require facial recognition to enter, and they can be used in offices or Ticketing attractions.

The Chinese preference for this technology has helped to create the world‘s first facial recognition “Unicorn,” Face ++ in Beijing, which raised $ 100 million in the third round of financing in December 2016, valuing more than One billion U.S. dollars.

Face ++, a new visual services platform owned by Beijing-based Megvii Ltd., has licensed its software to drip travel and ant clothes. In many of China‘s most densely populated cities, banks often have long queues at their door and Face ++ smells the first business opportunity. The company said: “You have to wait a long time before we can handle the business we need, for which we provide face recognition for the financial technology department.” Now, Face ++ plans to focus on the retail industry.

Although the basic artificial intelligence research behind facial recognition technology in China is similar to that in Europe and the United States, China has gained a leading position in commercial applications. Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics human identification technology expert Leng Biao (transliteration) said: “Google is not fully pursued facial recognition technology, because it has a higher long-term desire, in fact, facial recognition technology has been very mature, but Chinese companies pay more attention Short-term gains, they face recognition technology as the forefront of the use of AI to get the fastest, the best way. “

Face recognition start-ups in China are also gaining positive feedback: the more widely used their technologies, the better they will become. As business applications in real life continue to increase, more and more data is fed back into the system, which in turn helps to improve deep learning. If all AI applications, access to data is crucial. The combination of China‘s vast population and loose privacy laws has made the cost of obtaining information treasures extremely low.

Leng Biao said: “China is not supervising the collection of people‘s photos and collecting data in China is far easier than in the United States. In the early days, you could even buy photos of other people for just $ 5.” Simmons & Simmons, Shanghai “Until 2009, the first law explicitly banning the abuse of personal information was introduced,” said Xun Yang, a lawyer for the Chinese government.

In view of this, Chinese companies are even more daring in introducing facial recognition technology than their Western counterparts. Eric Schmidt, parent of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, called facial recognition “horrifying” in 2011 and promised not to create user photo datasets. Until now, the commercial use of facial recognition technology in the United States has been limited to people tagging social media photos.

While Alphabet‘s smart home unit, Nest, also integrates facial recognition technology into its security camera, its capabilities are limited in Illinois because the state enforces strict biometric data collection laws. In addition, facial recognition technology may also be abused. Unlike fingerprints, facial recognition can be done passively, meaning that the user may not know at all that he is being tested. The Chinese government applied facial recognition technology to surveillance cameras at train stations to remind police of passengers who are forbidden to travel.

By complementing the government ID system, China‘s future biometrics (including facial recognition) market is expanding. China has the largest database of national identification photos in the world, with more than 1 billion photos, compared to 400 million in the United States. In addition, Chinese people have become accustomed to inserting ID cards into chip readers in order to set cell phone numbers, buy tickets and stay in hotels. China is also the first country in the world to embed radio frequency identification in ID cards.

British media said China will dominate the world electric car market

China will soon become the world‘s major electric car production base, more and more car manufacturers to develop the strategy of developing electric cars in the Chinese market. On the 15th, BMC Chinese network reported that Simon Morse, chief executive of Benchmark Mining Intelligence (a company that collects price data and evaluate the lithium battery industry supply chain), said China‘s lithium battery industry is becoming the strongest in the world. He recently said in an interview with the Chinese media that an ultra-large lithium battery factory is emerging and most of the new production capacity is concentrated in China.

Simon Morse said that while the ultra-large lithium battery plant started with Tesla, China‘s lithium-battery makers such as BYD, New Energy (ATL) and 70% of Lishen‘s new plant are located in China.

Lithium battery manufacturing base

He also said we also saw manufacturers in Japan and South Korea also building giant factories in China. China lithium battery production capacity in 2020 will account for 62% of the world.

According to the British benchmark mining intelligence said that China‘s lithium battery plant production is currently 16.4 GWh, by 2020 the total output will reach 107.5 GWh.

Demand for electric vehicles, the government stepped up the energy-saving lamp requirements and other factors have contributed to the development of the lithium battery market.

“The global market is experiencing rapid changes, with smaller batteries being converted to larger electric vehicles.” Morse said that “the increase of electric bikes in China is also an important factor. The replacement of petrol engine vehicles by electric vehicles will be a key change.”

He added that the electric car market has really enjoyed a significant period of development when an electric car capable of driving more than 230 miles (370 km) can be recharged at a reasonable price. He predicts these will be achieved in three years.

Morse said investing in lithium batteries and working with major technology companies to build a new electric vehicle will be important to China and will keep China in the lead.

“China may become the production base of the world‘s major Chinese electric vehicles and Western brands of electric vehicles, and China will firmly grasp this opportunity in the context of cooperation.”

Why electric cars

Ford Motor Company just announced the development of electric vehicle strategy in China. Ford Motor Co. plans to move 70% of its electric-powered vehicles to China by 2025.

Reported that Tesla in 2016 $ 70000000000 of sales of 1 billion dollars in China, the company president said that in a few years China will account for the company‘s global sales of the largest share.

The president of Volkswagen recently said that the design of their new I.D. electric car was designed with the Chinese market in mind. The company plans to secure an annual sales of 1 million electric cars in China by 2025.

at the same time. Chinese electric car maker BYD has an impact in the U.S. market when they sell electric buses and electric trucks to customers. BYD is backed by U.S. investors Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway.

Automotive industry analysts believe that the development of China‘s electric car market, mainly for two reasons. One is the expansion of the surplus population in the Chinese population who want to drive luxury electric vehicles such as Tesla because they are more durable, powerful and good-looking.

Another reason is the population distribution. More and more Chinese population have entered super-large cities, enjoying better education and training there and farmers entering employment in mega-cities. These people need the means of transportation outside the railroad and the bus, while the small electric cars are better suited for their use in crowded cities.

Mainland into the world‘s largest dumping of electronic waste

UNU recently released the world‘s first “regional e-waste inspection” research report, referring to 12 Asian countries and regions constitute the largest consumer electronics group, accounting for nearly half of the market, including mainland China, including East Asia and Southeast Asia, the number of electronic waste from 2010 Growing by 63% between 2015 and 2015, and the total volume of e-waste and per-capita production are growing rapidly, exceeding the population growth rate and putting pressure on the environment.

The report pointed out that technological innovation to speed up the frequency of new product launches, especially the replacement of portable electronic products faster and faster, leading to the continued increase in e-waste in Asia. UN researchers point to the alarming rise in the number of e-waste countries in countries that are not environmentally responsible for managing their e-waste management infrastructure.

Mainland into the world‘s largest dumping of electronic waste

The researchers warn that the widespread dumping of inappropriate and illegal electronic garbage in most Asian countries has not legislated on electronic junk. It is worth noting that the amount of e-waste produced in mainland China topped that of 6.68 million tons in 2015.

The report argues that the lack of treatment of the concept of electronic waste, disposal sites and recycling mechanisms, the status quo, resulting in consumers, dismantlers and recyclers as the main body of illegal dumping, once legislation or improper management, it will lead to the proliferation of e-waste.

According to data from mainland China, the mainland is the largest dumping site in the world. 30% to 40% of the global e-waste is shipped to Asia, of which 70% to 80% are sent to the Mainland, causing serious pollution to the local environment.

To this end, the mainland authorities have improved the e-waste regulations, weak recovery techniques and lack of a sound recycling system since 2016, including clarifying the responsibilities of management units, implementing the responsibility of recycling electronic and electronic manufacturers, reusing resources and treating electronic waste Enterprises, the introduction of relevant policies and regulations to improve e-waste recycling rate and harmless treatment.

Reported that e-waste generally refers to the abandoned unused electrical and electronic equipment, electronic waste contains a large number of harmful chemical elements, such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury and heavy metals, if not properly collected, the pollutants exposed to environmental pollution and Residents‘ health poses a threat. The digital age is aggravating the proliferation of e-waste. All countries in the world pay more attention to e-waste disposal, and regard e-waste recycling and dismantling technologies as emerging industries.

Mainland Express garbage waste and pollution can not be ignored

According to the data released by the State Post Bureau, the volume of express delivery in 2016 was 31.35 billion pieces, up 20% or 20% over 2015 and has increased by more than 50% every year for six consecutive years. Behind the bright statistics, How to reduce the pollution of packaging garbage and effectively recycle it has become an urgent environmental issue.

Express packaging consumables consumption is even more staggering, according to an average of 0.2 kg of parcel crates calculated in 2017 to increase at least 627,000 tons of crates, can be stacked 310,000 football fields, just in 2015 alone packaging tape length, on 425 laps around the earth. However, the mainland for express packaging, in addition to express waybill, the lack of rules and requirements, all by the business or consumers to handle.

The overall increase in express delivery is the main cause of the surge in packaging rubbish. For the electricity supplier, it is a consensus to reduce the amount of packaging materials used. However, in order to avoid disputes and returns caused by the damage caused by the transportation of goods, even the “third and third floors” Increasing the protection will push up the cost, most still holding the “rather not less” mentality, resulting in a lot of packaging materials even more than the weight of the product itself.

Reduce the junk delivery, it is clear that e-commerce‘s sense of social responsibility is the key. However, environmental packaging costs are too high, express packaging production, the use of a lack of standards, which indirectly affect the proliferation of express packaging rubbish. Plastic bags point of view, an indecomposable 0.08 yuan, but the price is 4 to 5 times its decomposition, so that companies often can not afford to buy less.

Consumer awareness of environmental protection is not a problem, some e-commerce and courier companies initiated packaging recycling points, points to give ideas, to increase consumer willingness to recycle, there are local governments to promote APP, to provide online booking for recycling, someone on call. However, in addition to cartons, tapes, crates, bags and other packaging materials recycling and reuse is not ideal.

In order to solve the express packaging garbage problem, a number of couriers have stood up to respond, in addition to strengthening the recycling packaging and waste classification propaganda; reusable canvas bags or plastic transit box instead of the traditional woven bags; for cartons, stalls, shipping orders, stickers with Decompose materials to reduce waste generation.

The industry believes that if we want to solve the problem of packaging garbage, we must first solve the problem of cost increase. We need different subjects to share the cost of environmental protection, including national policy support, subsidies for enterprises and logistics, and consumers for part of the costs.

By 2020 China‘s biomass heating will replace about 30 million tons of coal

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued with the National Energy Board, “on the promotion of biomass heat for the development of guidance”, “opinions” clearly the biomass heat as an important measure to deal with air pollution and accelerate the biomass heat in the region Civil heating and small and medium-sized industrial park heating in the application of building a distributed green low-carbon clean and environmentally friendly heating system.

In accordance with the planning goal, by 2020, China‘s biomass cogeneration capacity will exceed 12 million kilowatts, the annual utilization of biomass molding fuel about 30 million tons, biomass gas annual utilization of about 10 billion cubic meters of biomass for Heat total direct replacement of about 30 million tons of coal.

It is reported that as a green low-carbon clean and renewable energy heating economy, biomass heating mainly through biomass cogeneration and biomass boiler heating in two forms, directly on the user side to replace fossil fuels, and at Replacing county and rural coal-fired heating has a huge effect.

For the first time in history, Chinese scientists successfully achieved counterfactual quantum communication

Compared with the traditional methods of communication, quantum communication with high security as the future direction of communications development, often reported quantum communications are based on the principle of entanglement, today to introduce a more weird form – Anti-Fictitious Communication: There is no quantum communication between two recipients for the quantum communication. The effect of not sending the quantum state of the particle transmission is also called the quantum Zeno effect.

According to a recent report by the Physiotherapist Organization Network, researchers at China University of Technology successfully implemented direct counter-factual quantum communication, transmitting a black-and-white bitmap from one location to another without sending any physical particles, For the first time. The research was designed and experimented by the cooperation between China University of Science and Technology Shanghai Branch and Hefei Branch and Tsinghua University Chinese scientists, and successfully implemented counterfactual communication with a nested quantum Zeno effect.

Quantum Zeno effect occurs in unstable quantum systems that are repeatedly measured. In the quantum world, observing or measuring systems can cause changes in the system. In this case, unstable particles will never decay when observed repeatedly. The quantum Zeno effect creates a virtually frozen system with a high probability. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

New carbon material sets energy storage record, expected to promote the development of supercapacitors

Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, November 23 (Reporter Zhang Jiaxin) Under the guidance of machine learning, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States have designed a record-breaking carbon-based supercapacitor material that stores four times the energy of the current best commercial material. Supercapacitors made with this new material can store more energy, thereby improving regenerative braking systems, power electronic devices and auxiliary power supplies. The relevant paper was published in the latest issue of Nature Communications.

The researchers said that they have created a carbon material with enhanced physicochemical and electrochemical properties, pushing the energy storage boundaries of carbon-based supercapacitors to a new level. This is the highest storage capacity of porous carbon ever recorded and is a “real milestone.”

Commercial supercapacitors have two electrodes, an anode and a cathode, which are separated and immersed in an electrolyte. At the interface between the electrolyte and the carbon, the double layer reversibly separates the charge. The preferred material for making supercapacitor electrodes is porous carbon. These pores provide a large surface area for storing electrostatic charges.