Stanford

After the devastating January earthquake in Haiti, which left hundreds of thousands dead, many more injured, and more than a million homeless, the country's infrastructure lay in ruins. But because Haiti's cell phone network inexplicably survived, text messaging quickly became a way for people to put out pleas for assistance.

Not long after the disaster, the country's largest cell network provider set up the shortcode 4636, allowing Haitians to text a call for help. But with thousands of texts flooding the system, and a need for many of them to be translated into English, relief workers needed … Read more

For years, one of the dreams of robot enthusiasts and researchers has been a single robot capable of performing a wide variety of tasks. But while single-purpose robots are everywhere, the general-purpose vision has remained pretty much a fantasy.

Now, however, groups of roboticists at 11 institutions around the world will get a chance to take part in a beta project (see video below) that could change that dynamic forever. On Tuesday, Willow Garage, a Menlo Park, Calif., robotics firm, said that in June it will offer each of the 11 teams a two-year loan of a Personal Robot 2 (PR2), a sophisticated machine that is fully programmable and that has two arms, a "rich sensor suite," a mobile base, and 16 CPU cores. Also included is the free, open-source Robot Operating System (ROS) framework that controls the PR2 and that comes with software libraries for perception, navigation, and manipulation.… Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Microsoft may be known for PowerPoint, but Bill Gates' college tour has just one slide in it.

In his effort to convince students to devote more time and energy to society's big problems, Gates points to one chart--the decline in death rates of children during the past 50 years. In 1960, roughly 20 million kids younger than five died each year, a figure that has dropped to less than 9 million due in large part to vaccines.

Already Gates said, more people are focusing on global health, something he said is making a difference.

"I … Read more

Watching a self-parking car turn the wheel as it backs into a parallel parking spot is a delightfully eerie experience. Sitting in Stanford's driverless Audi TTS as it races up straight-aways and shuffles the steering wheel through turn after turn on a dirt oval makes you believe there's a ghost in the machine.

Stanford's Center for Automotive Research invited us out to a test day, where Professor Chris Gerdes and his team of graduate students sent the driverless TTS, named Shelley, around and around an oval track in an open field. Besides the sheer entertainment value, the team used the laps to collect data on how well the car stuck to its programmed path.

The car is a 2009 Audi TTS, a sport-tuned version of the standard Audi TT, featuring a 2-liter turbocharged direct injection four-cylinder engine, dual clutch transmission, and Audi's Quattro all-wheel drive. Normally that engine produces 265 horsepower, but as the students involved in the project are automotive enthusiasts, they chipped it to 320 horsepower.

High-tech gear sits under the back hatch of Shelley, although it uses surprisingly little computing power. The main processor is a 1.6GHz Pentium 3 housed in a ruggedized case sending commands to individual boards that control steering, braking, transmission, and acceleration. Unlike the DARPA competitors built by Stanford's AI lab for the Grand Challenge and Urban Challenge, Shelley doesn't take in external sensor input to see the landscape. Rather, it uses GPS and an inertial sensor to know where it is in the world.

… Read more

A group of scientists from IBM and Stanford University announced Wednesday a chemistry breakthrough that could change the nature of plastics and plastics recycling.

Using organic catalysts, the team has developed a new method for producing and breaking down plastic polymers.

"Additionally, the team has developed a new strategy for the synthesis of high molecular weight cyclic polyesters and the generation of new families of biocompatible polymers for biomedical applications," according to IBM.

In terms of real-world application, the science could lead to plastics becoming endlessly recyclable rather than junk in a landfill.

As IBM points out, many … Read more

Do you sleep with your iPhone? A recent survey found a lot of people who do.

Among 200 Stanford University students questioned about their iPhone habits, 75 percent said they fall asleep with their iPhones snuggled next to them. But they're just as attached to their phones in the daytime.

When leaving for school in the morning, 69 percent said they're more likely to forget their wallets than their iPhones. The phone has also pushed aside other devices--84 percent of the students said they use it as their watch and 89 percent use it as an alarm.

But … Read more

What's more annoying? Batteries or people who sneeze without covering their mouths? Batteries or Jay Leno?

I choose batteries. They always give out at the least opportune moments and I'm always stunned by how much they cost at the local supermarket, or, indeed, the local Apple store.

So I have not been able to resist hitching up my pants with joy on hearing that some very clever engineers at Stanford are working to make your T-shirt, your pants, or, indeed, your favorite purple undies become, well, Energizers.

I am indebted to the fine minds at Engadget who tossed the news my way that Yi Cui of Stanford's Department of Engineering is leading a team that may revolutionize your intimate relationship with your iPhone, BlackBerry, or any other highly personal gadget.

Professor Cui and his team have already turned paper into power with the ingenious (to me, at least) use of ink infused with carbon nanotubes. (I have embedded some evidence.)

Now, they have taken the same principle and applied it to your wardrobe.… Read more

If you're anxious to develop your own iPhone app, don't know where to start, and find high-pedigree university instruction appealing, consider learning the art of the iPhone from Stanford University. You won't need a high-school degree to take the class--the school's Computer Science Department has begun posting material from its second 10-week iPhone Application Programming course in iTunes U.

The last time this course was released in iTunes it was downloaded more than 4 million times, and there is no reason not to expect the same reaction this year. You will be given access to the … Read more

A group of researchers from Stanford University have figured out a way to transform ordinary copy paper into storage units for electricity.

This week a group led by Yi Cui, professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford, demonstrated (see video) the use of an ink consisting of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. Once dipped in the ink and then baked, ordinary paper turns into a black paper that can act as a battery or supercapacitor. The paper retains its ability to hold a charge regardless of whether it's bent, crumpled, or rolled.

The ink looks identical to common … Read more