Lab-made skin to create robotic clones of man
London: Researchers have claimed success in developing synthetic skin for robotic clone of humans, which resembles real people.
Researchers at Disney Research , Zurich, and Walt Disney Imagineering R&D have developed a new computational design process for cloning human faces that could greatly simplify the creation of synthetic skin for animatronic characters.
Animatronics are machines which seem animate rather than robotic. The figure is designed with exact dimensions and proportions of a living creature. It is mainly used in movie making, theme parks and other forms of entertainment .
The Zurich researchers have invented a computational method for automatically designing synthetic skin to match real individuals.
"With our method, we can simply create a robotic clone of a real person," researcher at Disney Research, Zurich Dr Bernd Bickel said.
The process starts by scanning 3D facial expressions from a human subject. Then, a novel optimisation scheme determines the shape of the synthetic skin as well as control parameters for the robotic head that provide the best match to the human subject.
This processing increases the realism of the resulting character, resulting in an animatronic face that closely resembles the human subject. Animatronics aims at creating physical robots that move and look like real humans.
"The custom digitally designed skin can be fabricated using injection molding and modern rapid prototyping technology. We 3D print a mold and use elastic silicon with properties similar to human skin as base material," Bickel added.
"This innovative research builds upon our heritage in 'Audio-Animatronics' pioneered by Walt Disney himself . Physical face cloning enables us to create personalized animatronic figures based on real individuals with a level of fidelity and realism never before possible," director of Disney Research, prof Markus Gross said.
Potato juice can help cure stomach ulcers: Study
LONDON: Potato contains unique antibacterial molecules that can treat stomach ulcers, a new study has claimed. Scientists from Manchester University have discovered that a key molecule in potato can both cure and prevent the bacteria that lives in the stomach and causes stomach ulcers and heartburn, the Daily Mail reported.
Unlike with antibiotics, the stomach bacteria cannot develop resistance to the 'potato juice' which also does not cause any side-effects .
Scientists carried out the test on different types of potatoes — discovering Maris Piper and King Edward varieties worked the best.
The process to extract the as yet unnamed molecule has now been patented, with hopes it could one day be sold as a supplement similar to probiotic yoghurt drinks.
"We see this potato juice as a preventative measure to stop stomach ulcers developing that people would take as part of a healthy lifestyle," Ian Roberts, professor of microbiology at the Faculty of Life Sciences, who worked on the discovery was quoted by the paper as saying.
Unlike with antibiotics, the stomach bacteria cannot develop resistance to the 'potato juice' which also does not cause any side-effects .
Scientists carried out the test on different types of potatoes — discovering Maris Piper and King Edward varieties worked the best.
The process to extract the as yet unnamed molecule has now been patented, with hopes it could one day be sold as a supplement similar to probiotic yoghurt drinks.
"We see this potato juice as a preventative measure to stop stomach ulcers developing that people would take as part of a healthy lifestyle," Ian Roberts, professor of microbiology at the Faculty of Life Sciences, who worked on the discovery was quoted by the paper as saying.
Mystery of how giant stars formed cracked
LONDON: An Indian-origin scientist and his team claimed to have solved the puzzle of how giant stars, 300 times the size of the Sun were formed, laying the theory that they are the result of collisions of two stars into a single ultramassive star.
Researchers from the Bonn University in Germany found that the four stars discovered by Nasa in 2010, part of the giant star cluster R136 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is about 160,000 light years from Earth, could be the size they are thanks to a few mergers and acquisitions, the Daily Mail said.
Until the discovery of these objects in 2010, observations of the Milky Way and other galaxies suggested that the upper limit for stars formed in the present day universe was about 150 times the mass of the Sun. This value represented a universal limit and appeared to apply wherever stars formed.
Researchers from the Bonn University in Germany found that the four stars discovered by Nasa in 2010, part of the giant star cluster R136 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is about 160,000 light years from Earth, could be the size they are thanks to a few mergers and acquisitions, the Daily Mail said.
Until the discovery of these objects in 2010, observations of the Milky Way and other galaxies suggested that the upper limit for stars formed in the present day universe was about 150 times the mass of the Sun. This value represented a universal limit and appeared to apply wherever stars formed.
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