Credit: ACM

Today kicks off the three-day MobiSys 2009 conference in Krakow, Poland--a showcase of emerging mobile and wireless technology. And one paper that caught my eye comes from Washington State University and the U.S. Geological Survey. WSU Researchers will present a paper that shows how an air-dropped mesh sensor network can monitor volcanoes in real time.

Traditionally, scientists have had to use data loggers and permanent installations to send volcanic data back to observatories. But the WSU researchers dropped five mobile stations via helicopter, each 2 kilometers apart, on treacherous terrain on Mount St. Helens in Washington State. Despite rain, snow and over 120 mph winds, the stations formed a mesh network to successfully relay real-time data for a month and a half. Each mobile station is a three-legged structure, about a meter tall 3 kilograms. Inside is a battery-powered iMote2 platform, a GPS receiver, and sensors. The team used an accelerometer to detect seismic activity, an infrasonic sensor to capture low-frequency acoustic waves resulting from eruptions, and a lightning sensor that can detect strikes up to 10 kilometers away. Each node automatically increases the number of samples it takes once it detects an event. But a user can configure and control the sensors via the Web.

Lead researcher and assistant professor at WSU Wen-Zhan Song says that the rapidly deployable system, "has particular value during periods of volcanic unrest but is also useful for longer term monitoring."

Credit: Ford

In these difficult times for the U.S. motor industry, Ford is evidently hoping that it can win back customers with technology that could take some of the stress out of getting behind the wheel. The company's new Active Park Assist system automatically maneuvers a vehicle into even the tightest parking space.

Parallel parking on a crowded city street is no easy task. Take it from me: the streets of Boston make the "friendly bumper bump" a common affair (and I admit, I've been a perpetrator as often as I've been a victim). To simplify the task, many newer vehicles are equipped with an optional electronic parking assist system--something that my 2002 Honda Civic unfortunately does not have. The two most common systems use an array of sensors on the bumper to trigger a beep when you get too close to an object, and video cameras that send pictures to a navigation screen in the dashboard. Some of the pictures even suggest a steering direction.

Ford's Active Park Assist is similar to a Toyota feature called Intelligent Parking Assist that was first available on the 2007 Lexus LX, but in Toyota's system, the driver still has to identify the exact parking spot using a navigation screen, as well as operate the brake.

The video below is a demonstration of how Ford's system works. Here's a description from the press release:

-- The driver activates the system by pressing an instrument panel button, which activates the ultrasonic sensors to measure and identify a feasible parallel parking space.

-- The system then prompts the driver to accept the system assistance to park.

-- The steering system then takes over and steers the car into the parking space hands-free. The driver still shifts the transmission and operates the gas and brake pedals.

-- A visual and/or audible driver interface advises the driver about the proximity of other cars, objects and people and provides instructions.

-- While the steering is all done automatically, the driver remains responsible for safe parking and can interrupt the system by grasping the steering wheel.

Ford's system will be available in mid-2009 as options on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and new Lincoln MKT crossover, but the company says that by 2012, 90 percent of Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury models will be equipped with the technology.

Video by Ford

A European project called Sensopac, made up of 12 groups, came out today with advances in its robot hand. The hand mimics the flexibility and sensitivity of a human hand and is controlled by a neural-network-based program modeled on the cerebellum.

Scientists at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) made a robotic "skin" out of a thin, flexible carbon that changes its resistance depending on pressure. This allows the robot hand to tell the shapes of an object, the amount of force placed upon it, and the direction of that force. Thirty-eight opposing motors control the hand's joints, giving it a touch that ranges from light to forceful. The researchers modeled the robot hand by utilizing hundreds of MRI images of human hands.

As for the robot's learning ability, the team hopes to improve its understanding of movement and sensation through its neural network. When the robot picks up a cup, it will be able to sense the properties within and adjust its motions depending on whether the cup contains water or flour, for example.

Sensopac, which began in 2006, is a four-year project focused on creating an artificially intelligent robot with sophisticated hand manipulation and grasping abilities.