I love robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and it's positive aspects for humanity and high technology in general. This
page will contain more or less various things I find interesting about this topic. Now this page will contain things in fiction
as well as in reality and maybe even some hypothetical possiblities. This is not meant to offend or convince anyone of anything.
If, while reading any part of this page, one feels uneasy or outraged please accept my apology and leave.
Bipedalism (the ability to stand on two legs) was and still is incredible difficult in the field of robotics. Even in nature,
this ability is suprisingly uncommon. Chimpanzees and some dogs as well as other animals can be trained to do it, but not
for prolonged periods of time as the strain is too great. For years, robot scientists have tried to find a way to create
bipedal robots with no success. It is much simpler to balance a robot with four legs or even easier, with wheels or tracks
similar to a tank. With four legs in particular, a robot can easily increase it's speed and/or mobilty (again look to nature
for proof of this, with the mobilty of dogs or the speed of a cheetah for good examples.) I recognized imediately the importance
of Honda's acomplisment of a bipedal robot ASIMO upon hearing of it. I later came to learn that the Japanese are far ahead
in the field of robotics than America was (America being among the first to found the field of robotics in the first place).
Years later on Wikipedia.org, I learned that the Japanese (specifically a company called Sakakibara Kikai Co.) again created
a bipedal robot however, the particular size of the robot is what astonished me. Standing at 3.4 meters (almost 11 feet high)
its apperance is similar to Star Wars famous AT-ST "Chicken Walkers" or the famous Japanese anime Gundam's Mobile
Suits. It's not hard to imagine after seeing this mech dubbed the Land Walker in action, what applications such a machine
can be used for. However, besides the obvious combat application that is heavily implied by the soft bullet shooting air
guns installed to the sides of the Walker, countless other more peaceful uses are very possible as well. I remain hopeful
of the future and the possiblities brought by both of these captivating robots.
I have known about radiation and its effects on the environment and people since grade school biology. I learned and belived
for years that once exposed to radiation (specifically the fallout from a nuclear attack or nuclear waste material) an area
would be completely unusable and essencially off limits for a ridiculous amount of time (something like 100 million years
or some other incredible amount). In 2003, while attending college Biology 101, I learned in detail about Bovine encephalopathy
(Mad Cow Disease) and the protein, (not virus), that causes it. Like most other incurable dieases I've heard of, all standard
and obvious treatments were a bust. But what really caught my eye about this protein is that, as a video about the disease
was playing, researchers stated that not only is the diesase resistance to all treatments, but it was also incredibly fire
proof and completly resistant to radiation. This blew me away as I have always assumed that and the proper levels, anything
biological can be killed by radiation. The researcher then stated that the protein is for all practical purposes, immortal.
Fast forward to 2004, I played a video game called Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes. In this game, their is dialog between
the main character Solid Snake (voiced by David Hayter screenplay writer for X2: X-Men United) and a supporting character
Nastasha Romanenko (voiced by Renee Raudman). In one of their conversations, Nastasha (who is a nuclear radiation specialist
in game) mentions to Snake that scientists years ago tried to reduce the effects of an area being unusable due to long term
exposure to radiation by using genetically engineered bacteria to break down the hazardous material. However in the game,
talks between governments and agencies broke down and the funding was never approved for this project. With this, I was wondering,
the funding needed for such a project in real life would be enormous, if not just for the genetic engineering required for
the bacteria to become radiation resistant and the number of bacteria required to be effective in any given area. And then
I thought about the encephalopathy protein (called Prion) that can be harvested and is already significantly radiation resistant.
The cost to genetically "program" the Prion to break down hazardous material must be significantly less expensive
and time consuming than to make a bacteria with all of Prion's natural abilities, essencially from "scratch". If
someone would attempt to do this and if all hopes are met, this horrible, dibilitating disease causing protein can finally
be used for something that will benefit humanity and animals as well, while simultaniously reducing the time needed to reclaim
land that has been used as nuclear waste deposits or fallout from nuclear testing and perhaps even be a solution to the world's
nuclear waste storage problems. Just something to think about.
The Japanese are conducting tests to create a Space Shuttle made of a special type of Paper. No idea how long it will take
before a field test can be performed, probably not soon. Origami to the extreme.
