| New Platform to Save Companies Money; Improve Corporate ...
April 5, 2007 - Boise, ID. Apprize360 Intelligence today announced the launch of its latest software solution, Apprize360. The Internet-based solution assists companies with improving internal information sharing and capturing known information about a company’s customers, competitors, and related market trends from its employees. According to a March 2007 study completed by the research firm Provizio, U.S. companies waste $2,500 per employee per year because they do not have an internal information sharing process. Experts estimate that 60% to 70% of all competitive and market information a company needs to know to make proactive business decisions is already held inside the company within the minds and experiences of its employees. Harnessing this information can be vital to winning in an aggressive business environment.
Congress and the Singularity
"Nanotechnology: The Future is Coming Sooner Than You Think" is the title of a report [PDF] published this month by Representative Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress. The paper, authored by Dr. Joseph Kennedy, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, says: Enhanced abilities to understand and manipulate matter at the molecular and atomic levels promise a wave of significant new technologies over the next five decades. Dramatic breakthroughs will occur in diverse areas such as medicine, communications, computing, energy, and robotics. These changes will generate large amounts of wealth and force wrenching changes in existing markets and institutions. And that's just the beginning of a surprisingly stark assessment of nanotechnology's transformative potential.
Robots Lead To Surgical Breakthroughs
According to medical experts, the future of surgery is bright, though it may soon trade its traditional human touch for a more precise robotic one. Robotic surgery isn't itself new, but "Haptic" robots -- which draw their name from the Greek word for touch -- are taking surgical technology to a new level. Currently, with traditional robot surgery there's no sense of touch, meaning surgeons are expected to rely entirely on vision while using the tools. But we may soon be seeing those days come to a close, and it's expected to be a change for the better in the medical industry. Where Haptic robots go beyond existing ones is that they provide a sense of touch for the user, allowing the doctor to be more precise and gentle while using the machine, as well as take on tasks that were previously out of the question.
NASA, DoD in underwater astronaut doc-bot trial
American surgeons will carry out a realistic simulation of zero-gee robotic surgery next month, the Associated Press reports. The US Department of Defense (DoD) "Raven" robo-surgeon is being developed with the intention of treating injured soldiers on far-flung battlefields where no human doc may be available. It reportedly weighs no more than 50 pounds, and can be "dismantled, transported and set up by non-engineers". Naming a device designed to cut up wounded soldiers after a carrion-eating bird of ill omen seems like an odd call, but there you go. .
FIRST time out for robotics rookies
When "Baby Jag" takes her first tentative steps tomorrow at the Hershey Centre, her creators will be holding their collective breath. Baby Jag's debut at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition is a story of how students and staff at John Fraser Secondary School - despite lacking money and experience - were determined to design and build a robot and pitch it against some of the best in North America. The rookie John Fraser team, which will compete against 61 other entries from Canada and the United States at the three-day event, almost didn't qualify. Computer engineering teacher Kim V. McEwen said the team knocked on corporate doors hoping to find a sponsor who could help kick-start the project. At first, there were no takers.
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