Haptic feedback in teleoperation in Micro-and Nano-Worlds.

International audienceRobotic systems have been developed to handle very small objects, but their use remains complex and necessitates long-duration training. Simulators, such as molecular simulators, can provide access to large amounts of raw data, but only highly trained users can interpret the results of such systems. Haptic feedback in teleoperation, which provides force-feedback to an operator, appears to be a promising solution for interaction with such systems, as it allows intuitiveness and flexibility. However several issues arise while implementing teleoperation schemes at the micro-nanoscale, owing to complex force-fields that must be transmitted to users, and scaling differences between the haptic device and the manipulated objects. Major advances in such technology have been made in recent years. This chapter reviews the main systems in this area and highlights how some fundamental issues in teleoperation for micro- and nano-scale applications have been addressed. The chapter considers three types of teleoperation, including: (1) direct (manipulation of real objects); (2) virtual (use of simulators); and (3) augmented (combining real robotic systems and simulators). Remaining issues that must be addressed for further advances in teleoperation for micro-nanoworlds are also discussed, including: (1) comprehension of phenomena that dictate very small object (< 500 micrometers) behavior; and (2) design of intuitive 3-D manipulation systems. Design guidelines to realize an intuitive haptic feedback teleoperation system at the micro-nanoscale level are proposed

Using Haptic Virtual Reality to Increase Learning Gains and Construct Knowledge of Unobservable Phenomena

This project is designed to be a compilation of ten haptic virtual reality labs using the software zSpace. The labs will follow the NYS Living Environment Standards as well as the Next Generation Science Standards for living environment as well as physical/general science topics for middle school students. The project will be a list of available laboratories along with their appropriate fit into the curriculum and a description of how they fit New York State curriculum standards for the appropriate discipline. The goal of these laboratory assignments is to increase learning gains in students by allowing them to experience scientific phenomena that can often be unrelatable and unobservable

Ultrasonic mid-air haptic technology in context of science communication

This dissertation charts opportunities and challenges of engaging people with learning about science through the use of mid-air haptic technology. To that end, research has been carried out at the intersection of three multidisciplinary fields: Science Communication, Haptics, and Human-Computer Interaction. For science communication to be effective, different tools are required for different audiences. For example, when a child pours cold milk into hot tea and sips a warm beverage, we can raise awareness of the haptic experience; triggering interest and facilitating learning about thermal equilibrium. Not every scientific concept may be explained through changing temperature, and not everybody likes tea, but the principle of haptic experience facilitated public engagement with science remains a valid basis to examine. Science communicators seek new technological solutions and innovative modalities of communication, some of which include haptic technology and touch interaction. Ultrasonic mid-air haptic technology is a novel tool, which enables the creation of programable, invisible, cutaneous tactile sensations on an airborne interface between humans and the digital world. Mid-air haptic sensations may bring many benefits when used in science communication, but these have not yet been systematically studied

¿Son las analogías una herramienta eficaz para la enseñanza? Una revisión sistemática

Introducción. En la enseñanza suele utilizarse como herramienta la comparación de dos situaciones que comparten una estructura relacional similar. Este recurso se denomina razonamiento analógico y ha sido ampliamente estudiado, aunque los conocimientos al respecto no se encuentran sistematizados. Objetivo. Realizar una revisión de los artículos empíricos referidos a la enseñanza mediante analogías y, específicamente, indagar los resultados en cuanto a su efectividad. Metodología. Se utilizó el método PRISMA-NMA para realizar una revisión bibliográfica sistemática. Las bases de datos utilizadas fueron Dialnet, DOAJ, Pubmed y ScienceDirect, introduciendo los términos de búsqueda: razonamiento analógico + enseñanza y pensamiento analógico + enseñanza, en español e inglés. Luego de aplicar los criterios de inclusión/exclusión se obtuvieron 19 artículos que contenían un total de 24 elementos muestrales. Resultados. Se encontró que estos trabajos refieren con mayor frecuencia al nivel superior y a las ciencias exactas. Además, el principal uso dado a las analogías fue la enseñanza de un concepto novedoso. Principalmente las analogías utilizadas fueron provistas por las personas investigadoras y se expusieron de manera explícita los análogos y sus puntos de comparación. Discusión. La mayoría de los estudios obtuvieron resultados positivos, lo que indicaría la utilidad de este recurso para la enseñanza. Resulta llamativo que, al contrario de lo sugerido por especialistas, la proveniencia de los análogos y el grado de explicitación de la analogía parecen no afectar su efectividad. Se encuentran como áreas de vacancia otros usos menos estudiados de las analogías y su utilización en otros niveles educativos y áreas disciplinares

Wildly oscillating molecules of unanticipated momentum: nanoscientific imaging, embodied technology and the moving image

Historically, science filmmakers have created new forms of image-based scientific data through techniques such as stop-motion and timelapse, predominantly using optical instrumentation. These techniques enable direct observation via the lens of cameras and microscopes without further augmenting the human senses. However, these optical imaging techniques cannot capture suprasensible phenomena &amp;mdash; those that cannot be directly perceived without further translation. These phenomena are the subject of much modern scientific study and their observation and representation must be technologically mediated on multiple levels via instrumentation, hardware and software. My project explores technological mediation through cinematographic, scientific and video editing techniques that engage with suprasensible nanoscale phenomena. I have experimented with audio, visual and tactile presentations of nanoscientific data to create several experimental moving image works. My experimental practice has been informed by theorists in the areas of postphenomenology and technological mediation (Don Ihde, Robert Rosenberg, Peter-Paul Verbeek and Helena De Preester); in the moving image (Vivian Sobchack and Laura Marks); and in philosophy of science and technology (Lorraine Daston, Peter Galison and James Elkins). My practice is also informed by the work of artists such as Semiconductor, Paul Thomas, Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski. My research contributes to the processes of making scientific moving image artworks, and provides new applications and aesthetics of scientific data. The research offers up new&amp;nbsp;understandings for science artists of the visualisations and data that they work with from scientific instruments, and also a set of techniques for making moving images with the Atomic&amp;nbsp;Force Microscope. The project consists of a series of interconnected science-media experiments, some of which are resolved into moving image installations. They were produced both in scientific laboratories (at&amp;nbsp;the Micro Nano Research Facility at RMIT University) and in spaces of media making (behind a camera or in video and audio editing software). The experiments were also at times carried out in collaborations with scientists and a sound designer. I use the term &amp;ldquo;experiment&amp;rdquo; due to the scientific nature of the work, and in homage to the lineage of experimental filmmakers and artists who have inspired me. &amp;ldquo;Experimental&amp;rdquo; to me as a filmmaker means multiple, normally inductive, iterations of a particular work and finding ways to challenge media practices. The term implies a practice that reflexively is about practice, process and technique. &amp;ldquo;Experimental&amp;rdquo; to me as a scientist means multiple iterations grounded in rigorous documentation and repeatability with revising of hypotheses as the work progresses. As a researcher, I combine these notions of the experimental to serve the interdisciplinary endeavour. To my interdisciplinary mind an experiment can be part of moving toward proof of a hypothesis, or, toward an unknown outcome. Even given the traditional methodological approaches of each&amp;nbsp;discipline, both art and science can proceed using either impetus. In my research, the oscillation between science and art has provided much of the rhythm and forward movement of the work. Moving between seeking an outcome hypothesised through prior experience, and playing or &amp;ldquo;just trying something&amp;rdquo;, has become a dialogic call and response within my practice. This process has uncovered the research questions, which grapple with the role of nanoscientific visualisations in moving image practice. Throughout the dissertation, where I write &amp;ldquo;moving image work&amp;rdquo;, I refer to the individual resolved creative outcomes of my project. However, the terms &amp;ldquo;practice&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;project&amp;rdquo; also include the processes of audiovisual experimentation, the use of scientific instruments, and the manipulation of scientific data that were key to the development of the research

Crafting life : a sensory ethnography of fabricated biologies

Thesis (Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-326).This ethnography tracks a diverse set of practices I term "constructive biologies," by which I mean efforts in the post-genomic life sciences to understand how biology works by making new biological things. I examine five fields of constructive biology - synthetic biology, DIY (do-it-yourself) biology, hyperbolic crochet, sonocytology, and molecular gastronomy - investigating how they are enmeshed in sensory engagements that employ craftwork as a means of grasping biology. Synthetic biology is a community of bioengineers who aim to fabricate standardized biological systems using genetic components and manufacturing principles borrowed from engineering. DIY biology is a community of "biohackers" who appropriate synthetic biologists' terminologies, standards, and commitment to freely exchanging biomaterials in order to do hobbyist biological engineering in their homes. The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is a distributed venture of thousands of women who are cooperatively fabricating a series of yarn and plastic coral reefs in order to build a material simulation of oceanic morphologies and evolutionary theories. Sonocytology, a technique in nanotechnology research, uses scanning probe microscopes to "listen to" cellular vibrations and "feel" the topologies of cells and cellular components. Molecular gastronomy is a movement in which practitioners - physical chemists and biochemists who study food, and chefs who apply their results - use biochemical principles and laboratory apparatuses to further cooking and the culinary arts. In analyzing these fields, I draw on histories of experimental biology, anthropological accounts of artisanship, science studies work on embodiment and tacit knowledge in scientific practice, and sensory ethnography. Based on data gathered from participant-observation and interviewing, I argue for thinking about making new biological things as a form of "crafting," an analytic that illuminates five aspects of contemporary biological manufacture: 1) sensory cultivation, 2) ongoing participation with biological media and forms, 3) the integration of making biological things and practitioners' selfmaking, 4) the embedding of social relations, interests, norms, and modes of exchange in built artifacts, and 5) the combination of making and knowing. In this study, I argue that both biology the substance and biology the discipline are currently being remade, and that increasingly, life scientists apprehend "life" through its manufacture.by Hannah Sophia Roosth.Ph.D.in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HAST

Engineering derivatives from biological systems for advanced aerospace applications

The present study consisted of a literature survey, a survey of researchers, and a workshop on bionics. These tasks produced an extensive annotated bibliography of bionics research (282 citations), a directory of bionics researchers, and a workshop report on specific bionics research topics applicable to space technology. These deliverables are included as Appendix A, Appendix B, and Section 5.0, respectively. To provide organization to this highly interdisciplinary field and to serve as a guide for interested researchers, we have also prepared a taxonomy or classification of the various subelements of natural engineering systems. Finally, we have synthesized the results of the various components of this study into a discussion of the most promising opportunities for accelerated research, seeking solutions which apply engineering principles from natural systems to advanced aerospace problems. A discussion of opportunities within the areas of materials, structures, sensors, information processing, robotics, autonomous systems, life support systems, and aeronautics is given. Following the conclusions are six discipline summaries that highlight the potential benefits of research in these areas for NASA's space technology programs

Active Materials

What is an active material? This book aims to redefine perceptions of the materials that respond to their environment. Through the theory of the structure and functionality of materials found in nature a scientific approach to active materials is first identified. Further interviews with experts from the natural sciences and humanities then seeks to question and redefine this view of materials to create a new definition of active materials

Digital Techniques for Documenting and Preserving Cultural Heritage

In this unique collection the authors present a wide range of interdisciplinary methods to study, document, and conserve material cultural heritage. The methods used serve as exemplars of best practice with a wide variety of cultural heritage objects having been recorded, examined, and visualised. The objects range in date, scale, materials, and state of preservation and so pose different research questions and challenges for digitization, conservation, and ontological representation of knowledge. Heritage science and specialist digital technologies are presented in a way approachable to non-scientists, while a separate technical section provides details of methods and techniques, alongside examples of notable applications of spatial and spectral documentation of material cultural heritage, with selected literature and identification of future research. This book is an outcome of interdisciplinary research and debates conducted by the participants of the COST Action TD1201, Colour and Space in Cultural Heritage, 2012–16 and is an Open Access publication available under a CC BY-NC-ND licence.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/mip_arc_cdh/1000/thumbnail.jp

Reports to the President

A compilation of annual reports for the 1985-1986 academic year, including a report from the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as reports from the academic and administrative units of the Institute. The reports outline the year's goals, accomplishments, honors and awards, and future plans