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You may remember the explosion in North Korea a few days back. I pretty much ignored it. I then I found these before/after satellite pics

Ouch. I can’t find the train tracks though!

Robotic traffic cones swarm onto highways

(from New Scientist)

Herds of robotic traffic cones could soon be swarming onto a highway, closing down lanes and slowing the traffic.

The new road markers have been developed by Shane Farritor, a roboticist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in a bid to help reduce the $100 billion per year that the Department of Transportation estimates is lost to the US economy through accidents and delays caused by highway lane closures.

The self-propelled markers take the form of robotic three-wheeled bases for the brightly coloured barrels that are set out to demarcate road repair zones. Farritor says they can open and close traffic lanes faster and more safely than humans.

The markers are delivered to the roadside by a specially equipped truck, from which an operator controls their deployment using a laptop computer. Each fleet of robots is made up of a lead robot or “shepherd”, which is equipped with a Global Positioning System satellite navigation receiver, plus a number of less expensive “dumb” units.

The laptop screen displays an image of the road, captured by a camera mounted on top of the truck. Using software developed by Farritor’s team, the operator marks on the screen where the barrels should be placed.

Dead reckoning

From this the software calculates the GPS coordinates of the point where the shepherd should be placed, and this is sent to the shepherd via a radio link. The shepherd takes up its position, and also tells the other markers, by radio, where to go. They then use dead reckoning – counting how many times their wheels turn, for instance – to work out their position.

Each robotic base has two electric motors, powered by a 12-volt lead-acid battery, which drive two 20-centimetre-diameter wheels. This allows the robot bases to turn on the spot, and travel at up to 1.3 metres per second – about walking pace.

The shepherd checks its “sheep” are in the right place using a laser-based radar (or “lidar”) system to correct any positional errors. The lidar also has a safety role. If a marker is detected consistently straying out of position, the shepherd moves it out of harm’s way and shuts it down.

On a test track, Farritor and his team used a swarm of six markers to form wedge-shaped lane barriers. He says they were able to achieve an accuracy close to that of humans.

Cost cutting

“Our tests proved these robots can work in teams to provide traffic control,” he says. “Deploying and retrieving highway markers on open roads is hazardous so the robots will reduce risks for workmen,” he adds.

Farritor says the next steps will be to improve the graphical positioning software on the PC and to cut the cost of the cones so the idea can be commercialised.

The prototypes cost $700 each, but the team aims to reduce that to $200 by using cheaper motors. “At that price I believe the savings will mean it will still be affordable if one dies in the line of duty,” he says.

Andrew Howard, head of road safety for the AA Motoring Trust in the UK, welcomed the idea. “They could be a big help on lanes that are shut during quiet times and reopened during peak traffic periods,” he says.

This is one hell of a film. When the fights are supervised by the same bloke who did the Matrix, they are guaranteed to be good.

And it doesn’t even take itself seriously…

Find a copy and see it.

Today I watched all 7 Police Academy films in a single 11hr sitting (apart from breaks for food etc). Actually I think that was the right choice – the first one is actually funny most of the way through, and the others carry on nicely in that style, although with less success than the first. But they aren’t that bad! When they show odd films from the series at Xmas, they get low ratings – and probably justifiably so, because the lack of charactaristion shows. By themselves, the films (especially the later ones) are little more than a series of individual skits. Over the course of the films though, there are little moments now and then that help show new depths to the characters, and they also help to bind the films together into more of a cohesive whole. If they showed one a day, for a week, people who caught the first, would probably tune in for the 2nd, and then the 3rd…

Anyway at under £28 for all 7 films and 11hrs worth of entertainment, I think it was money well spent!

Mr Cadbury and Ms Rowntree met on a coach journey, it was After Eight.

She was from Quality Street; he was a Fisherman’s Friend.

On the way they stopped at a Yorkie Bar, he had a Rum and Butter and she had a Wine Gum.

He asked her name, “Polo – I’m the one with the hole”, she said.

“I’m the one with the Nuts”, he thought.

Then he touched her Milky Way. They checked in and went straight to the bedroom.

Mr Cadbury turned out the light for a bit of Black Magic.

It wasn’t long before he slipped his hand into her Snickers and felt the contrast of her Double Decker.

Then he showed her his Curly Wurly.

But Ms Rowntree wasn’t keen as she already had a few Jelly Babies, so she let him take a trip down Bourneville Boulevard.

He was pleased as he always fancied a bit of Fudge.

It was a Magic Moment as she let out a scream of Turkish Delight.

When he came out his Fun Sized Mars Bar felt a bit Crunchie.

She wanted more but he decided to take a Time Out.

However, he noticed her Pink Wafers looked very appetising.

So he did a Twirl and had a Picnic in her Sherbet.

At the same time he gave her a Gob Stopper.

Unfortunately Mr Cadbury had to go home to his wife, Caramel.

Sadly, he was soon to discover he had caught V.D. It turns out Ms Rowntree had a Box of Assorted Creams….

She had been with All Sorts!

Apparently us homo sapiens have lost the finer art of communication over the years. We need to use more grunting, more exagerrated facial expressions, and more waving of random objects. And more grooming.

See this BBC News article, or go directly to the source. (Needs Acrobat Reader)