Designing robots to help in a disaster View the video Dennis Hong first spied Japan’s ruined nuclear power plant from a bus wrapped in plastic. A hefty layer of protection guarded the seats, floors and handles from radioactive dust. Hong wore a face mask and gloves to limit his own exposure. More than three years earlier, after an earthquake and tsunamis battered Japan’s eastern coast, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station blew, blasting radiation into the sea and sky. “It’s like a disaster site frozen in time,” Hong says. Workers toiled day and night to save the plant, but they had to get out as radiation levels rose. Ideally, robots could take over for human crews. Hong, a UCLA roboticist, is one of several engineers racing to make robots that can come to the rescue in disasters. Engineers have built impressive-looking humanlike bots that can play trumpet and even compete against each other in slow-moving soccer games. So DARPA kicked off a contest to create robots that someday could do the job. On the scene D.
SystemsWiki Systems Theory Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research.[citation needed] The term does not yet have a well-established, precise meaning, but systems theory can reasonably be considered a specialization of systems thinking; alternatively as a goal output of systems science and systems engineering, with an emphasis on generality useful across a broad range of systems (versus the particular models of individual fields). A central topic of systems theory is self-regulating systems, i.e. systems self-correcting through feedback. Overview[edit] Contemporary ideas from systems theory have grown with diverse areas, exemplified by the work of biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy, linguist Béla H. The systems view is a world-view that is based on the discipline of SYSTEM INQUIRY. Examples of applications[edit] Systems biology[edit] Systems engineering[edit]
Systems - A Journey Along the Way Systems A Journey Along theWay Welcome to a journey in the realm of systems. The journey is still unfolding as this web site continues to evolve over time. Yet, even with the endless changes, there continues to be a connection, in one fashion or another, with systems. And, I continue to find that the lens which provides a systems perspective is the most revealing of understanding found to date. The real intent here is not to study systems as a discipline, though more an intent to study lots of things and employ a systems perspective to foster understanding. Every attempt will be made to avoid the major failing of "system science." Enjoy the journey! System The word system probably has more varied meanings than any other word in use today. A system is an entity which maintains its existence through the mutual interaction of its parts. The key emphasis here is "mutual interaction," in that something is occurring between the parts, over time, which maintains the system. Emergence Threat System
Scientific Blogging: programmable sheet self-folds into a boat- and into a plane-shape. Sign In | Support | Create Your Own Channel programmable sheet self-folds into a boat- and into a plane-shape. About this Video Submitted By: Editor on June 28, 2010 About the Video: courtesy of Robert Wood, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Daniela Rus, MIT.Movie: A programmable sheet self-folds into a boat- and into a plane-shape. Hosted At Magnify | 426 views Rate this Video Magnify it! This video hasn't been rated yet. Who should see this video? Comments (0) Add your comment Tags Popular: None [Sign In To Tag] Your tags: Report a Problem What type of problem are you reporting? Please enter your email address: (required) Enter a description of the problem: (required) Embed Email Share this Video Link
Strategic Thinking Approaching Business with Systems Thinking Businesses promote and sell products and services, which includes solutions to a problem or benefit of a product. In a lot of businesses, expertise is an key capability that leads to the ability to provide optimum service. That is why some companies create functional teams within their corporate structure to ensure that expert service is provided. The team of workers should be strategically placed so that their expertise can be appropriately utilized. Another reason is to make each employee accountable and responsible for their specific role. Why You Should Embrace Systems Thinking When a business uses a systems thinking approach to doing business, it makes the system more efficient and cost-effective. Systems thinking combined with human interaction with customers is exemplary of a wide range of things working efficiently for the same goal. Working together for a common goal is pretty much what systems thinking is about.
interview with Heinz von foerster SEHR, volume 4, issue 2: Constructions of the MindUpdated 26 June 1995 interview Stefano Franchi, Güven Güzeldere, and Eric Minch stanford humanities review: The primary goal of this special issue of SHR is to promote a multidisciplinary dialogue on Artificial Intelligence and the humanities. heinz von foerster: I don't know where my expertise is; my expertise is no disciplines. My personal history has been different. shr: What kind of education did you receive in school, after you were too old to remain under the piano listening to grownups? hvf: Later, there were two phases in my education. This, then, is Heinz von Foerster's background as a human being: a very broad basis which is associated with dancing, with music, with philosophy, with mathematics, with physics, and with a particular touch of the thinking of the Vienna Circle people, including Wittgenstein and Carnap. hvf: I would say Wittgenstein was an essential. shr: What prompted you to leave Vienna and come to the United States?
Systems Analysis Interesting Web Sites List Systems Analysis Web Sites General Systems Analysis Links Systems and Systems Thinking Definition of a System A system definition courtesy of the Pentagon. This is the actual image used by Gen. Horizonwatching: A Smarter Planet --- aka a system! Systems and Systems Thinking Dr. Benefits of Systems Analysis Product Design by Business Week Systems Theory at work: Using a Complex Systems Approach to Study Educational Policy Horizonwatching: A Smarter Planet --- aka a system! MetaPlanning Victorian Data Processing Modern Systems Analyst Don Norman's website. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Web-based Information Systems Hospital begins process by re-examining patient experience Places to Intervene in a System Systems Analysis for Beginners To Combat Terrorism, a Systems Approach is Vital -- read the article. Systems Analysis: A Tool to Understand and Predict Terrorist Activities Systems Thinking at Wikipedia Systems Thinking from MIT VIDEO: Warriors of the Net An Example Systems Analysis Cafe
Innovator Under 35: Pieter Abbeel, 33 Instead of programming robots to handle each step of a new job, Pieter Abbeel, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley, has created robots that can observe humans demonstrating a task and then mimic them, or learn from pictures how to handle a piece of flexible material they've never seen before. His robots have learned to perform flying acrobatics, tie surgical sutures, and neatly sort socks. Abbeel's key innovation was to program the robots so that they can reliably infer the underlying intent of their instructors, filtering out the "noise"—irrelevant variations, or even slight mistakes, in the instructors' demonstrations. Each robot is usually shown around 10 demonstrations before it can extract general rules of behavior. Even without an instructor, it can sometimes work out what to do.
Cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human beings belong to a single community, based on a shared morality. A person who adheres to the idea of cosmopolitanism in any of its forms is called a cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. A cosmopolitan community might be based on an inclusive morality, a shared economic relationship, or a political structure that encompasses different nations. In a cosmopolitan community individuals from different places (e.g. nation-states) form relationships of mutual respect. As an example, Kwame Anthony Appiah suggests the possibility of a cosmopolitan community in which individuals from varying locations (physical, economic, etc.) enter relationships of mutual respect despite their differing beliefs (religious, political, etc.).[1] Various cities and locales, past or present, have or are defined as "cosmopolitan"; that does not necessarily mean that all or most of their inhabitants consciously embrace the above philosophy. Etymology[edit] Definitions[edit]
Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener Biografie[Bearbeiten] Frühe Jahre[Bearbeiten] Im September 1906, im Alter von 11 Jahren, trat er in das Tufts College ein, um Mathematik zu studieren. Von Harvard wechselte er nach Cambridge, England, um unter Bertrand Russell und Godfrey Harold Hardy weiterzustudieren. 1914 war er in Göttingen bei David Hilbert und Edmund Landau. Massachusetts Institute of Technology[Bearbeiten] Wiener starb auf einer Vortragsreise 1964 in Stockholm. Zu seinen Doktoranden zählt Norman Levinson. Rechenmaschinen[Bearbeiten] Der Name Wiener steht in engem Zusammenhang mit der Entwicklung von Rechenmaschinen, so entwickelte er 1940 einen Lösungsweg für partielle Differentialgleichungen. Kybernetik[Bearbeiten] Wiener verfolgte stets einen realistischen Ansatz, so auch in seiner letzten Schrift: God & Golem, Inc.; A Comment on Certain Points Where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion. Philosophie[Bearbeiten] Siehe auch[Bearbeiten] Literatur[Bearbeiten] Schriften[Bearbeiten] Weblinks[Bearbeiten]