This blog need to be revived again. After slumbering into darkness for several years, it need some juiced. So, i decided to put some of my thought about some of the things that i feel like sharing or comment. This is only from my point of view, and it might be differs from others. But let not hate each other if we have different opinion. Love and peace to all.
Recently, there have been many earthquake happen all around the world. Some scientist, relate the increase of natural disaster phenomenon with the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the earth atmospheres as explained by the global warming crisis. Because there changes in the percentage of other gasses in our atmosphere, it effects the earth temperature, the air pressure, humidity and many more making the earth become unstable which lead to the natural disaster that occurs all around the world such as, typhoon, hurricane, earthquake and etc.
Tsunami sign in Japan
Earthquake is a natural disaster in which will lead to the lost many people. Earthquake that happen out far from the city or land which is in the middle of the ocean might not be directly affected us but the outcome of it may be disastrous. Earthquake with bigger rector scale can form a tsunami that can be dangerous and harmful to us. Other than earthquake that can form a tsunami, a volcanic impact, meteorite impact, landslide or explosion that happen in the large volume of body of water such as the ocean or lake.
Countries, that are prone to be affected by tsunami such as Japan and American has this warning system that in general are called the Tsunami Warning System (TWS). Developed countries will surely have the advance warning system compared to the poorer country. But with the advancement of the internet, all people can receive the warning alert if there is any earthquake or tsunami is happening.
Tsunami warning sign in Sri Lanka
Tsunami can be disastrous as we have seen in 26th December 2006 that take millions of life and destroyed thousands of home and building. The biggest tsunami incident recently is the 11th March 2011 in Japan. As a human being, we cannot stop the natural disaster from happening but equip with a better technology, we can predict the incoming tsunami, the size, the speed, and anything related to the tsunami. With these, we can have an early system warning that can help reduce the damage and the life loss due to tsunami. The warning alert is for the people that lived near the shore line to evacuate the danger zone of tsunami before the impact, basically three to one hour prior the impact. TWS, not only warns people about the incoming tsunami, but TWS also helps government and non-government organization (NGO) prepared for the after impact of tsunami.
Below is the flow of how the Tsunami Warning System interacts with each component by transmitting data and communicating from sensory system under the ocean floor, buoy transmitter to the satellite and finally to the station.
Ever since I was a kid, robots has been fascinates me. The best thing about robot is, it was make to help and assist us (human) in many ways. My first memory of robot is from a cartoon series called “Voltron: Defender of Universe” and Transformers. It is interesting to see a human piloting and controlling a robot to fight the enemy. The other best thing about Voltron is it has five separate robots in a tiger form and it can combine and transform into a single huge robot in a humanoid form. It would be awesome if this kind of robot is already built for military purpose. Different from Voltron, transformers are robot that has an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) which they can think and do stuff without being controlled by human. Transformers on the other hand, are extraterrestrial being or life form in which their origin is unknown. Here on earth we know that we (human) can build a robot but who is the one that build transformers in the first place?
Voltron (Opening Intro) - Brings back the nostalgic memories
Transformers (Intro and Outro) - Most anticipated cartoon during my childhood
Now, the part from cartoon, comics, manga or television series and movies involve with robots, some of the technology is there and can be develop with enough resource and knowledge. The histories of robotics engineering are long before the industrial revolution. Its way back around 350 B.C. where a brilliant Greek mathematician, Archytas of Tarentum builds a mechanical bird called “the pigeon” that is propelled by steam. It is an interesting history to look at.
Source: Terminator Salvation (Movie)
Before we discuss any further let’s discuss a bit about the definition of robot and types of robot. The definition of robot is a bit blurry where there is no single correct definition of robot. The definition itself is broad where it can be defined as a programmable, self-controlled device consisting of electronic, electrical, or mechanical units. In other words, robot is a machine that helps us doing the hard jobs that we can’t do such as being sent deep into the ocean floor or to the mars (Rover) or just helping us in assembling cars and other products that needed to be manufactured.
The word ‘Robot’ actually a new word created in 20th century which comes from the Czechoslovakian word ‘robota’ or ‘robotnik’ meaning slave, servant, or forced labor. There is no mistake with Czechoslovakian word, as robots are used as forced labor for humans.
Source: I,Robot (Movies)
We already discuss a little bit about robots. Now what is Artificial Intelligent? The word artificial brings the meaning of man-made and artificial intelligent is something to do with machine (man-made) that can analyzed, think and make decision on their own. The best example is Transformers. Scientist are currently trying to create an A.I. that can act and think like human but the one thing that separates us from machines is we have emotion that is intangible for the machine to imitate or impersonate. For more reading on scientist creating an A.I that almost has a similar function to human brain can be found here.
Other interesting topic regarding robots is that Japan is currently at the top in the robotic technology. They already build a robot that can imitate human expression. The latest technology on robotic from Japan is a robot that can be ride like the one we see in anime such as Gundam, Robotech, and etc. This robot was built by Kogoro Kurata for fulfilling his childhood dream of riding a robot from such anime. The robot weight four tonnes and is 13ft tall which cost £900,000. The robot can also be controlled by an iPhone. For more information can visit the link here.
Source: http://techocular.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/tsunami-early-warning-system/
