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Motional to add new features to its robotaxi service

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Ride-hail passengers in Las Vegas can now take an autonomous ride in a Motional IONIQ 5 robotaxi at night

“Las Vegas is a city that really comes alive once the sun goes down, so extending our service to match rider demand is a critical step forward in the evolution of our vehicle,” says Akshay Jaising, Motional’s vice president of commercialization.

“We’re happy we can now spend more hours everyday introducing passengers to our technology, and helping them travel safely and comfortably where they need to go.”

Night driving is one of three passenger-friendly service upgrades making their way to Motional’s fleet of all-electric IONIQ 5 robotaxis, which have been carrying public passengers in Las Vegas since August. [Read more…] about Motional to add new features to its robotaxi service

Safety Features of Self-Driving Cars

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Self-driving cars are one of the most revolutionary technological advancements of our time. As with any new technology, safety is paramount for these vehicles. To ensure the safety of their passengers and those around them, self-driving cars have various features designed to keep everyone safe.

With advances in technology, self-driving cars will be safer than human operated vehicles. In the US, 30,000 lives are lost each year in motor vehicle accidents, often due to fatigue, human error, and drunk driving.

Autonomous vehicles function without these behaviors, potentially saving thousands of lives. Here is a look at some of the advanced safety features of self-driving vehicles. [Read more…] about Safety Features of Self-Driving Cars

The most valuable information for sleeping resources about Bamboo sheets and honey hybrid mattress

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Most Valuable Products that Overcome Diseases which affects the human body due to inferior sleep

A lot of people feel disturbed during sleeping by the use of different types of mattresses and sheets. Most diseases come into the human body due to inferior sleep. [Read more…] about The most valuable information for sleeping resources about Bamboo sheets and honey hybrid mattress

Keep Yourself Safe While Cycling With These Useful Tips

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A couple of decades ago, you could argue that bicycle accidents weren’t a thing. But fast-forwarding to 2022, an increasing number of people are biking to work. And while there are many reasons for this uptick in bicycle fatalities, one of the most common is dooring. [Read more…] about Keep Yourself Safe While Cycling With These Useful Tips

Baidu Apollo awarded China’s first licenses to test autonomous vehicles at night and in special weather conditions

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Baidu Apollo has received China’s first batch of qualifications to test autonomous vehicles at night and in special weather conditions on public roads in Beijing.

A total of 53 such test qualification notices along with five general public road test licenses were granted to Baidu Apollo at the Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone launch event on April 13, 2021. The Pilot Zone encompasses 225 square kilometers, six highways, and urban expressways that cover a total length of 143 kilometers.

The ability to transport users during peak rush hours, nighttime, and bad weather scenarios – such as rainstorm conditions – poses an immense challenge in regards to the perception, prediction, planning and control capabilities of autonomous vehicles. [Read more…] about Baidu Apollo awarded China’s first licenses to test autonomous vehicles at night and in special weather conditions

Motiv Space Systems and Nasa to develop robotic arm for extreme cold environments

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Motiv Space Systems has agreed a partnership with Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab to develop COLDArm, a “first-in-kind” robotic arm that will be built to survive the extreme cold of the Moon’s South Pole, ushering in a new era of extended space exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

COLDArm (short for Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm) is a vital component of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) a NASA program to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon, including its South Pole – a region known for extremely cold temperatures in the dark of night.

In fact, that’s the biggest design challenge faced by the space robotics engineers at Motiv and JPL: the extreme cold. To date, there aren’t that many space components that are expected to last a lunar night or to operate during a lunar night, but all of that is changing. [Read more…] about Motiv Space Systems and Nasa to develop robotic arm for extreme cold environments

A Short History of Night Vision Devices

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Night vision devices (often called night scoped by the general public) are used to intensify our sight when the lighting conditions are very poor. You can choose from many types of such devices. You’ll find a complete review on many sites that can help you find out more about the present-day technology.

An infrared imaging system, also called an “active” night vision device, will focus the infrared light on a certain scene. Since infrared is not in the light spectrum that humans can notice, the beam that is produced is not detectable. The technology of image-converting is what transforms said illuminated scene by the infrared into an image we can see.

A thermal imaging system doesn’t work very differently as this one can convert the pattern of heat that is emitted by people, animals or objects, into an image we can distinguish.

The night vision devices that were initially created for wars, but are now available in stores for the general public, are known under the “passive” night vision system name. Such a system has the role of amplifying an image that was picked up in a minimal light (for example, starlight), into an image we can see.

The view that we get using such a device is anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 times brighter than the image our eyes could see without any such device.

Said devices for night vision were initially created for and only used by the army since being able to see in the dark gives you a big advantage over the enemy and can be used as a tactic to have the upper hand. Wars in which night vision devices were used are the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War.

These devices have also started to be used by the police forces. By the late 1990s, these items were being available for the public for the first time as well. They started by being used in high-end cars and are now available for most everybody to be used when they please.

How did it all start?

The research for devices that can work during the nighttime started in the United States, in the 1940s. The country managed to create a technology program by the end of the decade and in the 1950s it created an infrared viewing system. This falls into the “active” technology category because it made use of a directed beam of infrared light.

Although this beam was not noticeable by the naked eye, a person having the equivalent technology could manage to pick up the beam easily. The types of viewers that were used during the mid-1950s and 1960s are now known as “Generation 0” technology.

ITT Corporation started being the producer of night vision devices for the US military in 1958. The Department of Defense would later found its own laboratory in 1965 with the aim of improving the technology that was already existing. In the same decade, scientists created the first passive night vision system that could be considered workable.

Such a device bore the name “Starlight” as they had the ability to pick up and amplify the images that could only be seen by starlight. It came to be known as a “Generation I” device and, obviously, gave the best results under the moonlight.

New developments and commercialism

After being used in the Vietnam War, the technology started to develop more, creating devices that were smaller and less bulky and were called “Generation 2” devices. During the 1970s and the 1980s, the U.S. military worked continuously on developing and refining this technology and passive “Generation 2” devices appeared.

By the end of the 1980s “Generation 3” technology was being developed. These products had better resolutions even when the light was really low. The US Army used them in the Persian Gulf War and the troops had the advantage of seeing in the dark, but also through smoke or dust.

At the end of the 1990s, the Department of Defense cut much of the funding for the development of night vision and the shift of the producers moved to the consumer market.

In a short period of time, night vision devices went from just an idea to one important part of any combat to being used by everyday citizens.

Can robots save the e-commerce holiday season?

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It’s getting close to Christmas and that means it’s time for e-commerce fulfillment managers to start getting worried about the availability of labor for the holiday season.

According to a recent article in Supply Chain Dive, “this year’s peak season promises additional challenges in recruiting new hires as the pool of available labor shrinks”.

As the article points out, the US unemployment rate hit a 50-year low in September 2019. [Read more…] about Can robots save the e-commerce holiday season?