3D-printed robotic tentacle with improved agility
Washington: Scientists have developed a new approach to 3D printing and used it to create an octopus-inspired soft robotic device with unprecedented level of agility.
Cornell University engineers developed a method to re-create the arrangement of muscles of the robotic tentacle, using an elastomer and 3D printer.
“The research was groundbreaking since until now, 3D printing methods could not directly print a soft robotic device with as much agility and degree of freedom as the new method provides,” said Rob Shepherd, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and senior author of the study.
The research team developed the mechanical design using a digital mask projection stereolithgraphy system for the 3D printing of soft actuators.
“Based on the demonstration reported here and the possibilities for improved materials, this nascent printing process for soft actuators is a promising route to sophisticated, biomimetic systems,” researchers said.
The research was published in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. (PTI)
Yahoo’s new email app works without a password
New York: You would no longer need a password to access your Yahoo mail account thanks to a new update called Yahoo Account Key, the company has announced in a blog post.
Instead of the traditional password punched in at sign-in, the app will use what’s called the Yahoo Account Key feature.
Account Key uses push notifications to provide a faster way to sign into email using your mobile device.
Once a user has linked the Yahoo account with the smartphone app, they will receive a push notification upon trying to sign in on the web. The user just has to verify or deny the access on the phone.
“Passwords are usually simple to hack and easy to forget. Account Key streamlines the sign-in process with a secure, elegant and easy-to-use interface that makes access as easy as tapping a button,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.“It’s also more secure than a traditional password because once you activate Account Key – even if someone gets access to your account info – they can’t sign in,” it emphasised.
The app has been fully redesigned, Yahoo said, to make it “fast and responsive”.
Yahoo introduced the changes as it turned 18 this month. The new Yahoo Mail app is available in the Apple App Store as well as Google Play to all global users now. (IANS)
Elderly Thai sentenced to extra 18 months for toilet graffiti
Bangkok: An elderly Thai man already jailed for royal defamation was on Friday sentenced to a further 18 months in prison under controversial lese majeste laws for graffiti scrawled in a Bangkok toilet last year, his lawyer said.
Ophas Chansuksei, a 68-year-old pin-badge vendor, is currently serving an 18-month prison term handed down in March over graffiti deemed critical of the monarchy as well as the junta that seized power from an elected government in May 2014.
On Friday, a military court in the capital sentenced him to a further 18 months over similar graffiti scribbled in another toilet on the same day last October in a shopping mall in eastern Bangkok. “Investigators separated his case into two because he wrote on two separate toilet doors,” said his lawyer Sasinan Thamnithinan from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
Ophas was originally sentenced to three years but the prison term was halved because he admitted to the crime and will start the new sentence once the existing one ends in January, she added.
Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is protected by one of the world’s toughest royal defamation rules under which anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
Both local and international media must heavily censor themselves when reporting on these cases because even repeating details of the charges could mean breaking the law. Lese majeste cases have skyrocketed under military rule.
The vast majority of recent convictions have been brought over comments made online — including a record 30-year sentence for one man over the content of six Facebook posts. (AFP)
