Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 3 august 2018

Ditch the joystick? Swiss develop jacket that pilots drones

By JAMEY KEATEN Macchini, a robotics expert
Associated Press on the EPFL team, show-
LAUSANNE, Switzerland cased how a prototype
(AP) — Ever dreamt of fly- glove allows for some extra
ing without flapping wings, controls.
airplanes, hand-gliders or "To control the height and
wing suits — just soaring the yaw of the drone, you
free over the landscape can use your body," said
with arms outstretched like Macchini, while wearing
Superman? the jacket and glove in a
Thanks to virtual reality and drone testing lab. "But for
advanced motion sensors, high level controls — like
drone pilots can now expe- controlling the speed and
rience something close to taking off and landing —
that imaginary sensation. we designed and proto-
Scientists, engineers and typed a data glove ... to
robotics experts at a Swiss increase the speeds and
university have developed decrease the speeds, take
a jacket that allows users to off and land, and just take
fly drones hands-free: the Robotics expert on the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne, EPFL team, Matteo Macchini, some interesting positions
drone is controlled simply right, displays the fly controls in a virtual reality scenario as he controls the flight of a drone that you might find on the
by moving one's torso. in foreground, while observed by a fellow member of the team, July 23, 2018, in Lausanne, fields."
The team at Ecole Poly- Switzerland. Experts pinpointed and
technique Federal de Lau- Associated Press mimicked how the torso
sanne hopes the technolo- The teams at the came up the torso system is easier The system relies on an in- works by affixing light-
gy could one day be used with the idea after chal- to learn and more precise creasingly commonplace weight, round infrared
by rescuers, farmers, Holly- lenging the belief that joy- than a joystick. motion sensor that clicks markers about the size of
wood camera crews and sticks and hand-operated In mid-July, the team pub- into the back of a flexible, marbles on the body of a
beyond. controls are the only or lished a paper in the Pro- black, Velcro-strapped subject sitting in the middle
"Our aim was to design main way that mankind ceedings of the National jacket. Adjustable metal of a ring of infrared cam-
a control method which can fly. Academy of Sciences in bars can be used to prop eras, and collecting the
would be easy to learn Instead, they figured that the U.S. explaining the de- up the arms to reduce fa- data.
and therefore require less the body's own move- velopment. tigue of pilots seeking an "To develop this system, to
mental focus from the users ments, if properly mirrored, The flying isn't all that de- out-stretched arm sensa- have the opportunity to
so that they can focus on could do the main work — veloped yet — don't ask for tion. It is incredibly easy to make as many tests as we
more important issues, like freeing up not only the eyes loop-de-loop acrobatics — use, if a bit dizzying at first, want, we started in virtual
search and rescue," said to look around like those but the system appears on in the VR world of EPFL's reality," said Miehlbradt in
Jenifer Miehlbradt of EPFL's of an eagle searching for track. The jacket isn't fully campus. Geneva, while demonstrat-
Translational Neuroengi- prey, but also unencum- autonomous yet, and the The team uses drone test- ing the infrared monitoring
neering Laboratory. ber hands and fingers that drones require a second ing labs to fly the drones systems. She cruised eas-
"Using your torso really gives could do other things. operator to regulate the in virtual worlds. During a ily through orange-colored
you the feeling that you are In fact, their studies showed speed. demonstration, Matteo target clouds in the VR
actually flying," she said. world using her body.q
Reports: Google working on

censorship-ready search for China

firmed the work in separate Google co-founder Sergey In June, Google invested
reports Wednesday, also Brin was born in the Soviet $550 million in JD.com, a
citing unnamed sources. Union in 1973 and lived Chinese e-commerce plat-
Google did not reply to a there until age 6 when his form that is second only
request for comment. family fled. He has said his to Alibaba in the country.
According to The Inter- experience with a repres- The companies said they
cept, Google created a sive regime shaped his and would collaborate on retail
custom Android app that the company's views. solutions around the world
will automatically filter out Pichai, who became CEO without mentioning China,
sites blocked by China's in 2015 when Google be- where Google services in-
so-called "Great Firewall." came part of parent Al- cluding Gmail and You-
In this April 28, 2016, file photo, visitors gather at a display Google has not offered phabet, has said he wants Tube are blocked.
booth for Google at the 2016 Global Mobile Internet
Conference (GMIC) in Beijing. search services in China Google to be in China serv- In December, Google an-
since it largely exited the ing Chinese users. nounced it was opening
The Associated Press December following a country in 2010. Since Google exited, Baidu an artificial intelligence lab
Google is reportedly work- meeting between Google Google had previously has become the dominant in Beijing.
ing on a mobile version of CEO Sundar Pichai and a complied with censorship search engine in China. Fei-Fei Li, a Stanford re-
its search engine that will top government official. controls starting in 2006 as Its shares are down about searcher who joined
comply with strict censor- It cited internal Google it sought a toehold in the 7 percent since Tuesday's Google as its chief artifi-
ship controls in China. documents and unnamed booming Chinese econo- close on speculation about cial intelligence scientist
The Intercept reported that people familiar with the my. But it faced unrelenting Google's return. in January 2017, said in a
the work has been ongo- plans. pressure from human rights Google has been making blog post at the time, "AI
ing since the spring of 2017 The New York Times and groups and some share- small inroads into the coun- and its benefits have no
and was accelerated in Wall Street Journal con- holders to leave. try recently. borders."q