Students Show Off Their Robots - YouTube

Professor Oussama Khatib enthusiastically tossed black T-shirts to class participants crowded in the basement of an engineering building that displayed in bold white letters a mashup of their names and the name of the course. Suited up and ready to play, they were ready for the games to begin.

"I know there's going to be a lot of excitement," Khatib said to the packed room. "You've been working day and night. Thank you."

Gathered in teams of three or four, the students took turns showing off their creations – robots that play games, make art, help land a toy helicopter.

"Every year students come with all of these wonderful ideas," Khatib said. "They are so creative in conceiving a project that's exciting, interactive, dynamic."

Experimental Robotics is a spring quarter class for students who have basic knowledge of robotics. By the end of the course, they are expected to be able to design and build their own 'bot.

The day of final presentations brings friends and classmates together to cheer on the accomplishment of creating a machine that completes a task – or tries to. The game-day vibe is made complete with a table filled with snacks and soda.

Nanotube Springs Stretch Skin-Like Sensor - YouTube

Using carbon nanotubes bent to act as springs, Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor.

The sensor can be stretched to more than twice its original length and bounce back perfectly to its original shape.

It can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds. The sensor could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics and touch-sensitive computer displays.

Stanford University:
http://www.stanford.edu/

The Invasion of the Diablos Rojos: Humboldt Squid

MEXICAN fishing fleets call them diablos rojos, or "red devils" - and when Stanford University graduate student Julie Stewart wrestles the first Humboldt squid aboard our research vessel, the Fulmar, in California's Monterey Bay, it becomes obvious why.

This beast is angry, and has flashed from white to a deep maroon. It's nearly 1.5 metres long, including the tentacles, which flail in Stewart's hair until she can offload the catch into a cooler filled with seawater. That only gives the squid ammunition, as it can now fire a powerful jet of water and ink at anyone who strays into its sights.

"Ink in your eye stings," warned Stewart earlier. She is also careful to avoid the animal's sharp beak, which can deliver a nasty bite. Within a minute or so, Stewart and her colleague John Field of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have attached an electronic device to one of its fins. It's time to return the devil to the depths.

We are out on the Fulmar on this bright December day to learn about the animals' movements. When the device detaches and surfaces, it should send a radio signal to reveal its location, and transmit data revealing how the animal has been migrating up and down in the water. This is key to understanding why the Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) has invaded the waters off central California, and how it may affect the region's valuable fisheries.

While the total size of the invading horde is still unknown, observations from autonomous submersibles and sonar indicate that they often swim in dense schools of at least 100 individuals. "We've seen densities as high as eight per cubic metre," says William Gilly, Stewart's supervisor at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove.