Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is Internet- ("cloud-") based development and use of computer technology ("computing"). In concept, it is a paradigm shift whereby details are abstracted from the users who no longer need knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet.



The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents. Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

These applications are broadly divided into the following categories: Software as a Service (SaaS), Utility Computing, Web Services, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Managed Service Providers (MSP), Service Commerce, and Internet Integration.

Human Thoughts Control New Robot

Scientists have created a way to control a robot with signals from a human brain.

By generating the proper brainwaves—picked up by a cap with electrodes that sense the signals and reflect a person's instructions—scientists can instruct a humanoid robot to move to specific locations and pick up certain objects.

The commands are limited to moving forward, picking up one of two objects and bringing it to one of two locations. The researchers have achieved 94 percent accuracy between the thought commands and the robot's movements.

"This is really a proof-of-concept demonstration," said Rajesh Rao, a researcher from the University of Washington who leads the project. "It suggests that one day we might be able to use semi-autonomous robots for such jobs as helping disabled people or performing routine tasks in a person's home."

The person wearing the electrode cap watches the robot's movement on a computer screen through two cameras installed on and above the robot.

When the robot's camera sees the objects that are to be picked up it passes on the information to the user's computer screen. Each object lights up randomly on the computer screen. When a person wants something picked up and it happens to light up, the brain registers surprise and sends this brain activity to the computer and then to the robot as the choice object. The robot then proceeds to pick up the object.


A similar algorithm is used to decide where the robot will go.

"One of the important things about this demonstration is that we're using a 'noisy' brain signal to control the robot," Rao said. "The technique for picking up brain signals is non-invasive, but that means we can only obtain brain signals indirectly from sensors on the surface of the head, and not where they are generated deep in the brain. As a result, the user can only generate high-level commands such as indicating which object to pick up or which location to go to, and the robot needs to be autonomous enough to be able to execute such commands."

Robotics Timeline

* Robots capable of manual labour tasks
o 2009 - robots that perform searching and fetching tasks in unmodified library environment, Professor Angel del Pobil (University Jaume I, Spain), 2004
o 2015-2020 - every South Korean household will have a robot and many European, The Ministry of Information and Communication (South Korea), 2007
o 2018 - robots will routinely carry out surgery, South Korea government 2007
o 2022 - intelligent robots that sense their environment, make decisions, and learn are used in 30% of households and organizations - TechCast
o 2030 - robots capable of performing at human level at most manual jobs Marshall Brain
o 2034 - robots (home automation systems) performing most household tasks, Helen Greiner, Chairman of iRobot

* Military robots
o 2015 - one third of US fighting strength will be composed of robots - US Department of Defense, 2006
o 2035 - first completely autonomous robot soldiers in operation - US Department of Defense, 2006
o 2038 - first completely autonomous robot flying car in operation - US Department of Technology, 2007



* Developments related to robotics from the Japan NISTEP 2030 report :
o 2013-2014 — agricultural robots (AgRobots).
o 2013-2017 — robots that care for the elderly
o 2017 — medical robots performing low-invasive surgery
o 2017-2019 — household robots with full use.
o 2019-2021 — Nanorobots
o 2021-2022 — Transhumanism

Robotics in 2020

Robots will be commonplace: in home, factories, agriculture, building & construction, undersea, space, mining, hospitals and streets for repair, construction, maintenance, security, entertainment, companionship, care.

Purposes of these Robots:

* Robotized space vehicles and facilities
* Anthropomorphic general-purpose robots with hands like humans used for factory jobs - Intelligent robots for unmanned plants - Totally automated factories will be commonplace.
* Robots for guiding blind people
* Robots for almost any job in home or hospital, including Robo-surgery.
* Housework robots for cleaning, washing etc - Domestic robots will be small, specialized and attractive, e.g. cuddly


Properties of these robots:

* Autonomous, with environmental awareness sensors
* Self diagnostic self repairing
* Artificial brains with ten thousand or

International Robot Exhibition (IREX), organized by Japan Robot Association (JARA), is a biennal robot exhibition since 1973, which features state-of-the art robot technologies and products.

Bits vs. atoms

Engelberger and others at the show drew a sharp contrast between the explosive growth of the computer industry over the past few decades and the relative stagnation of the robotics field. While venture capitalists were lining up to fund computer start-ups, Engelberger, despite his impressive résumé, was unable to get financing for his robot that would help people live at home rather than go into a nursing home.

The robotics industry today is about as far along the road to widespread commercial acceptance as the PC industry was in the 1970s. The differences are that robotics don't have an equivalent of Moore's Law, the industry hasn't settled on standards, there's not much in the way of venture capital money and there's really no viable commercial application - killer or otherwise, said Paolo Pirjanian, chief scientist at Evolution Robotics .

On the show floor, several vendors displayed small demo robots that used sensors to navigate the show floor - literally technologies in search of an application. Unfortunately, the economics are such that it's extremely difficult to build a true robot that can interact with its environment at a cost that would attract consumers, Pirjanian said.

The vacuum cleaner is a good example. Electrolux tried to market a robotic vacuum cleaner called Trilobite that uses ultrasound to get around, but at $1,800 consumers weren't biting. The Roombas and e-Vacs are affordable - between $150 and $250 - but they lack the sophisticated capabilities that one would want in a robotic vacuum cleaner, such as obstacle avoidance, the ability to go up and down steps, and the ability to know where it had already vacuumed.

The Future Of Robots

Engineers built humanoid robots that can recognize objects by color by processing information from a camera mounted on the robot's head. The robots are programmed to play soccer, with the intention of creating a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots able to compete against a championship human team by 2050. They have also designed tiny robots to mimic the communicative "waggle dance" of bees.

A world of robots may seem like something out of a movie, but it could be closer to reality than you think. Engineers have created robotic soccer players, bees and even a spider that will send chills up your spine just like the real thing.
They're big ... they're strong ... they're fast! Your favorite big screen robots may become a reality.
Powered by a small battery on her back, humanoid robot Lola is a soccer champion.
"The idea of the robot is that it can walk, it can see things because it has a video camera on top," Raul Rojas, Ph.D., professor of artificial intelligence at Freie University in Berlin, Germany, told Ivanhoe.
Using the camera mounted on her head, Lola recognizes objects by color. The information from the camera is then processed in this microchip, which activates different motors.
"And using this camera it can locate objects on the floor for example a red ball, go after the ball and try to score a goal," Dr. Rojas said. A robot with a few tricks up her sleeve.



German engineers have also created a bee robot. Covered with wax so it's not stung by others, it mimics the 'waggle' dance -- a figure eight pattern for communicating the location of food and water.
"Later what we want to prove is that the robot can send the bees in any decided direction using the waggle dance," Dr. Rojas said.
Robots like this could one day become high-tech surveillance tools that secretly fly and record data ... and a robot you probably won't want to see walking around anytime soon? The spider-bot.