Researchers from the University of Tehran unveiled the new generation of their humanoid robot called Surena III. The robot stands 1.9 meters tall (6.2 feet) and weighs 98 kilograms (216 lb). It is also equipped with numerous sensors that includes a Kinect-based 3D vision module, and is powered by 31 servomotors. Surena III is capable of walking up and down ramps and stairs, and along irregular surfaces up to a speed of .2m/s (about 8 inches a second).
So perhaps the robot won’t be running any marathons anytime soon, but it’s still pretty remarkable. Plus, the robot was designed for other purposes besides speed.
Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/meet-surena-iii-university-of-tehran-unveils-its-new-humanoid-robot/
Project Oxford is Microsoft’s collection of machine-learning application programming interfaces (APIs). Now the tech giant can add emotion recognition to its API portfolio.
Note: This one was also a little off. I tried to give it an easy one (surprise). But apparently, Project Oxford thinks that I am judgy and filled with scorn.
Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/microsoft-creates-emotion-recognition-tool-upload-your-image-and-give-it-a-try/
British astronaut Tim Peake made this timelapse of lightning storms from the International Space Station. He says it was recorded as he flew from North Africa over Turkey towards Russia.
Is It Ok To Hold In Farts…?
The Olympics are over, but Americans are STILL breaking records. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams just broke Scott Kelly’s record of 520 cumulative days spent in space. When Williams returns to Earth on Sept. 5, he will have racked up 534 days in space. To celebrate this amazing achievement, here are some of the best images taken during his four spaceflights.
STS-101 Atlantis:
During May 2000, Williams made his first spacewalk during space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-101 mission. On this 10-day mission, Williams’ first spacewalk lasted nearly seven hours. He is pictured here outside the space station.
Expedition 13:
Williams experienced his first long-duration mission in 2006, when he served as flight engineer for Expedition 13 space station mission. During his time in orbit, he performed two spacewalks, saw the arrival of two space shuttle missions and resumed construction of the orbiting laboratory during his six-month tour. While on one of those spacewalks, Williams took this selfie.
Expedition 21/22:
Williams returned to space for another six-month mission in 2009 as a flight engineer on Expedition 21 and commander of Expedition 22. During that time, he hosted the crews of two space shuttle missions. The U.S.-built Tranquility module and cupola were installed on station. Here is an image of the then newly installed cupola.
Expedition 47/48:
This time around, Williams has been onboard the space station since March 2016, where he served as flight engineer for Expedition 47 and now commands Expedition 48. With over 7,000 retweets on Williams’ photo of an aurora from space, his Twitter followers were clearly impressed with his photography skills.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
The techniques used to find and study exoplanets
I, for one, welcome our new service-robot overloards.
[how-to guide by Simone]
Flying Through an Aurora, another astounding image captured by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst http://space-pics.tumblr.com/