Sramana Majumdar

"Violence, Identity and Self-determination: Narratives of conflict from the Kashmir Valley" 4:15 PM, Monday 18 Nov Room 239, BYC Bryn Mawr College

Exposure Index

Tired of paper and pencil questionnaires about integration and intergroup contact? Try the new and improved EXPOSURE INDEX (click tab above on this page).

Driverless cars set to roam Milton Keynes from 2017, says Vince Cable

The town of Milton Keynes is planning a grand experiment on the future of transportation. The small two-seater autonomous vehicles appear to be an attempt to merge the flexibility of a taxi and availability of a trolley. As is mentioned in the article, the uncertainty associated with this project (and others like it) is in […]

AgriRover brings Mars rover technology to the farm

This prototype is designed for constant, high-resolution surveying and adjustment of soil properties – a farmer’s Roomba. This design came from a team in New Zealand, providing another indication of the increasingly international character to the unmanned vehicles industry.

SenseFly and Drone Adventures Toss UAVs Off the Summit of Matterhorn

Not only did these drones get good aerial photographs of very rough terrain, they used teamwork to do so. In labs, roboticists are developing the methods for dozens or robots to work together, but for now six UAVs coordinating flight patterns and dividing a job between them are an impressive sample of things to come.

Rise of the drone hobbyists

The drone industry owes much to the hobbyists and universities who developed much of the technology. Going forward, the industry will owe even more to the hobbyists for creating acceptance and familiarity amongst the wider public. The article mentions the recent story of a man who died in an accident involving his drone helicopter. The […]

At Drone Conference, Talk of Morals and Toys

At New York University this weekend, there was a drone conference focused on commercial and private use. Needless to say, privacy and other moral hazards were a major topic. Or, as the articles author described it, “the checkered reputation remained the day’s subtext.” Many of the visitors and speakers quoted in the article explicitly connected […]

Drone Pilot Fights for Right to Profit in the Unmanned Skies

The subject of drone regulation is very much up in the air. As the word “drone” covers anything from a bird-sized toy to something dozens of feet wide, the current blanket rules often seem arbitrary or unfair. This article describes a man who is arguing in court that the FAA has no authority on unmanned […]

‘Terminator’ Robots Kill Jellyfish, ‘Sliced Up’ To Eliminate Swarms

In what sounds like the start of a science fiction plot, a Korean university group is developing a swarm of robots designed to kill swarms of jellyfish. However, the technology, particularly the planned “cooperative strategies” part, has a lot of potential uses, such as fishing, trash/debris removal, and mitigating oil spills to name a few.

Nissan’s Autonomous Car Is Road Legal in Japan

Nissan can now test it’s mostly autonomous prototypes on roads in Japan. The system is not yet fully autonomous, but can handle much of the routine driving. The system as currently described sounds very similar to Tesla’s autopilot goal mentioned in an earlier post on this website.

Tesla To Build A Self-Driving Car Within 3 Years, CEO Musk Says

Following similar announcements by Mercedes and Nissan, Tesla Motors has announced it, too, plans to build driverless cars. Or at least MOSTLY driverless. Tesla’s plan is being described as an autopilot – presumably primarily useful for cruising along highways. This is both more easily achievable and probably more socially acceptable than an instantaneous jump to […]

Who’s afraid of driverless cars?

Among other comments, this article describes how people might take advantage of a driverless car’s superior collision avoidance.