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Dogs and Wolves Share a Sense of Fair Pay

Posted on July 1, 2017  Comments (0)

Dogs and wolves share sense of fair play

The scientists tested similarly raised dogs and wolves that lived in packs. Two animals of each species were placed in adjacent cages, equipped with a buzzer apparatus. When the dog or wolf pressed it with their paw, both animals got a reward on some occasions. Other times, the dog or wolf doing the task got nothing while the partner did.

The key finding was that when the partner got a high value treat, the animal doing the task refused to continue with it.

photo of a Gray Wold looking at the camera

Gray Wolf by Gary Kramer (USFWS), public domain

This is a similar result as that found with Capuchin monkeys that don’t like being paid less than others.

The question of social status or hierarchy also played an important role in the experiments with dogs and wolves of higher rank taking umbrage more quickly.

The human impact on dogs isn’t entirely absent though. Pet dogs are less sensitive to being treated unfairly – probably because of their experience with us!

It is fun to see these results mirror aspects of our psychology. It is fun to see how these experiments test out animal’s responses.

Related: Goats Excel at Learning and Remembering a Complex Tasks – Rats Show Empathy-driven Behavior – Insightful Problem Solving in an Asian Elephants – How Wolves Changed the Yellowstone Ecosystem

Autonomous Delivery Robots Launched in Europe and USA

Posted on July 9, 2016  Comments (4)

Starship Technologies is launching a fleet of autonomous delivery robots on the pavements of the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland as part of the testing program. A similar program will be announced for the United States shortly.

The largest European food delivery company Just Eat, leading German parcel delivery company Hermes, leading German retailer Metro Group, and innovative London food delivery startup Pronto will test the delivery robots developed by Starship Technologies, a company launched in 2014 by Skype co-founders.

a starship robot at Branderburg Gate, Berlin

Starship delivery robot, Branderburg Gate, Berlin, Germany

As part of the program, dozens of robots will be deployed in five cities to run first test deliveries and introduce the innovative devices to the general public.

“By launching partnerships with major companies we will enter the next phase in our development. While Starship has been testing the robots in 12 countries in the last nine months, we will now develop know-how on running real robotic delivery services,” said Ahti Heinla, co-founder, CEO and CTO of Starship Technologies.

Robots developed by Starship Technologies are meant for delivering packages, groceries and food to consumers in a 2-3 mile radius. The robots can drive autonomously while being monitored by human operators in control centers. Introduced to European and American cities since the end of last year, the robots have already driven close to 5,000 miles and met over 400,000 people without a single accident.

Frank Rausch, CEO of Hermes Germany, said: “We are very proud to be Starship’s exclusive logistics partner in Germany. At Hermes we believe that parcel delivery’s main goal is to fully satisfy the customers’ needs in receiving their online shopping orders as fast and convenient as possible. Nobody likes to spend hours waiting for the courier just to have a parcel delivered. Therefore, individually scheduled delivery services will become increasingly important within the coming years.”

The test programs will run in London, Düsseldorf, Bern and another German city to start, before moving to several other European and American cities. Starship Technologies will also continue testing in Tallinn, Estonia where its R&D facilities are located.

Related: Using Drones to Deliver Medical Supplies in Roadless Areas (2014) – Self Driving Cars Have Huge Potential for Benefit to Society (2014) – Autonomous Helicopters Teach Themselves to Fly (2008) – Toyota Develops Thought-controlled Wheelchair (2009)

Bitbeam: Open Source Hardware Prototyping Platform

Posted on April 19, 2016  Comments (1)

Bitbeam is an open source construction toy/hardware prototyping platform. A collection of LEGO Technic compatible parts (beams) which can be combined to construct whatever contraption the user has thought up.

The Bitbeam project aims to define a set of parts which the users themselves can produce using increasingly available technologies for local fabrication like 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC mills.

view of various piece of 3d printed items

Tapster is a robot that automates mobile application checking on a smartphone. It is built using bitbeam.

The latest post on the Bitbeam web site is from 2013 but it seems it is still an active project (it would be nice if they update the site).

Please add a comment if you now of updated information or of similar open source projects.

Related: Open Source Ecology: Using Open Engineering to Create Economic Benefit – Arduino Introduction Video Tutorial – 3D Printing at Home: Today, Challenges and Opportunities – Introduction Video on 3D Printing – Lego Mindstorms Robots Solving: Sudoku and Rubik’s Cube (2009)

Lexus Has Built a Working Hoverboard

Posted on June 24, 2015  Comments (7)

Toyota continues to do some fun and interesting research while they produce great cars (and make a lot of money doing so that allows them resources to do interesting research). Some past posts on their engineering exploits: Toyota Develops Thought-controlled Wheelchair (2009), Toyota Engineering Development Process, Innovation at Toyota, How to Develop Products like Toyota, Toyota IT Overview.

Toyota is teasing with the hoverboard announcement but it seems they have actually created it (though it isn’t ready to be in stores this year.

Liquid nitrogen cooled superconductors and permanent magnets combine to power the Lexus Hoverboard.

Sadly they haven’t bothered to hire a decent web designer. They have a pretty but broken website, with essentially no information. It is sad when interesting stories are keep to nearly no information using poorly designed websites created by people obviously more concerned with old fashion paper design thinking than how the web can be used to be clear and useful (not just pretty).

Pretty much for the last 10 years Toyota has had pretty but web hostile design for their web sites. It is a shame they can’t hire people that know how to properly create good web sites. Thankfully they hire good engineers and use good processes to actually develop products.

Stop Sign Mistake Proofing

Posted on August 23, 2014  Comments (2)

This is a pretty cool example of using technology to prevent problems. The video shows a system that cascades a sheet of water and displays a stop sign directly in the path of trucks ready to crash into a tunnel (because the truck is too tall).

The driver had ignored several less obvious signals that they were headed for danger. This is an application of one of my favorite management (and industrial engineering) concepts: mistake proofing. As I have stated before, often it is really mistake making more difficult rather than mistake proofing. This truck driver ignored the first several warnings and actually could have ignored this one. This system doesn’t physically prevent the error (the options to do this I can think of would be impractical) but this does prevent the errors in any reasonable case it seems to me.

It does seem the process could be improved a big by doing the cool shower stop sign when the truck still has time to turn off without a huge delay. From the video it seems the truck progressed to a point where getting it out of the way created a major traffic backup.

Related: Practicing Mistake-Promoting Instead of Mistake-Proofing at Apple – Visual Management with Brown M&Ms – Poor Results Should be Addressed by Improving the System Not Blaming Individuals – Cutting the Boarding Time of Planes in Half

Skateboarding Cat

Posted on May 12, 2014  Comments (2)

A fun way to start out the week: skateboarding cat.

Related: Friday Fun, Cat Playing Ping Pong – Cat Using the Doorbell – Cats and Kids with iPads

Parrots Given “Names” by Their Parents and Use Them Throughout Their Lives

Posted on November 18, 2012  Comments (0)

Parrots learn their ‘names’ from their parents

Parrots, which have long amused us for their ability to imitate our vocal patterns, actually learn to caw their “names” from their parents, says a new Cornell study. The research offers the first evidence that parrots learn their unique signature calls from their parents and shows that vocal signaling in wild parrots is a socially acquired rather than a genetically wired trait.
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Previous research had shown that all wild parrots use unique “contact calls” that not only distinguish each bird individually, but also communicate their gender, and the mate and larger group they belong to.
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“Parrots can have extremely long periods [leading up] to independence, and this is thought to be related to their large brains,” explained Berg. The same goes for primates, he said, with humans in particular being “off the charts” when it comes to a lengthy stage of child dependence.

More research is required, to better understand the evolution of and interaction between these physical and behavioral traits, he said. “We still don’t have good explanations of how these behaviors help wild individuals survive and reproduce in nature,” he said.

The paper offers some possible explanations: Perhaps the parrots’ far-ranging journeys to “communal foraging sights” are what impress upon each parent the need to have their fledglings’ names sorted out — not unlike human parents’ need to call for their children by name at a crowded fair.

I enjoy learning more fun and cool stuff about the animals we share the world with. They are quite an interesting bunch of creatures.

Related: Crow Using a Sequence of Three Tools – Friday Fun: Crow Sledding, Flying Back Up and Sledding Down Again – Backyard Wildlife: Hawk – Friday Fun: Dancing Parrot

Friday Fun: Gibbon Plays with Tiger Cubs

Posted on November 9, 2012  Comments (0)

While this gibbon appears to be playing with the tiger cubs I am not sure the tigers see it as play.

Related: Monkey and Kitten Playing – Friday Fun: Kitten and Bunny – Sumatran Tiger and Cubs Filmed by Remote Wildlife Monitoring Cameras – Cat and Crow Friends

Capuchin Monkeys Don’t Like Being Paid Less

Posted on October 9, 2012  Comments (7)

Quite a fun video. Frans de Waal shows us a task he gave Capuchin monkeys to see if they responded to a sense of fairness. See the rest of the talk.

Frans de Waal is a Dutch primatologist and ethologist. He is the Charles Howard Candler professor of Primate Behavior in the Emory University psychology department in Atlanta, Georgia. His research centers on primate social behavior, including conflict resolution, cooperation, inequity aversion, and food-sharing.

Related: Rats Show Empathy-driven Behavior – Capuchin Monkeys Using Stone Tools – Dolphin Delivers Deviously for Rewards – overpaid executives harm companies – Crow Using a Sequence of Three Tools

New iPad Telepresence Robot for $2,000

Posted on August 18, 2012  Comments (2)

Double is a new telepresence robot that is on sale arrives fully functional as soon as you open the box – just insert your iPad. Touch the power switch to activate Double’s self-balancing sensors, keeping itself upright. At only 15 pounds, it’s easy to move around.

Touch to drive (using your iPad remotely). Adjust height also (to match standing or sitting colleagues). It runs for 8 hours on full charge and charges up in 2 hours.

Pre-order now at $2000 (saving $500 over list price). Delivery is expected in December 2012.

Related: Anybots, Remote Presence Robot – Build a Remote Presence Robot to Play with Your Dog While You Are Away – Robot Prison Guards in South Korea – Toyota Partner Robots – Moth Controlled Robot

Mother Polar Bear Giving Her Cub a Helping Paw

Posted on July 20, 2012  Comments (6)

Another reminder to thank your mother. See previous at cat mom playing the hero.

Related: Friday Fun: Mother Bear Rescues Cub From a Tree – Backyard Wildlife: Bears – Backyard Wildlife: Mountain Lion – The Cat and a Black Bear