Wednesday, June 7, 2017

RETHINKING: A Robot Inside You



Dear Friends:

When I was very young, I liked to create fiction stories about near impossible events. One day, I wrote a tale imaging myself navigating inside my own body. 

Psychology teaches us that we have different levels of memory as human beings. Behind our conscious memory, there are two other spheres of memory that store events of our lives that we don’t remember when we are awake. My story navigating inside my own body started with the possibility to enter to my brains to see events that I don’t remember when I am awake.

In that moment, I said to myself: “If I can invent a very smart “digital vehicle” to enter to my body and I can navigate inside it, probably I will know “secret factors” of about my fears, my pains, my body reactions to different symptoms, and more about the affective links with my parents.

My fantasy tale was based in my observation of how babies react in front to events that we don’t perceive with our adult organs of the senses (eyes, ears…)

From that times, I knew that the babies learn about things that happen around them without a directly communication with adults. They know better than us, what fear and hunger are. And they can store images from good and bad experiences they lived in their first days of life.

By the way, I always remember the terrible experience of a small baby of the times of end of the World War II, when her mother was fleeing with her hidden in a potato basket from East Germany because the Russians don’t wanted the German babies could exit to a free zone. (Till now, she didn’t recover the “memories” of the long trip in a potato basket with war, hunger and coldness.)

The fact is that my passion for fantastic fiction stories of my young years was not completely wrong.

The time passed, and the medicine, psychology and the engineering advanced a lot in the knowledge of human body.

Today these three disciplines together with the micro-electronics and robotics are developing “micro-robots” to navigate across our bodies like the fantastic “digital vehicle” of my youngster tales.

A week ago, in Singapore, in one of first keynote the ICRA (International Conference on Robotics and Automation), the scientist Louis Phee commented his experience with small robots he introduces in the bodies of his patients.

Louis Phee is member of the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He developed a flexible robotic system to removes gastric and colon tumors using natural orifices of the human body.

The small surgical robot according to the Singapore speaker is inside a capsule that is ingestible through an oral administration. And this “surgical robot” can fix our internal organs without the necessity of a classic surgery.

This is not the first time that a scientist presents special experiences with micro-robots that can navigate inside our bodies in the scientific conferences of the IEEE.

Every year, at ICRA, a lot of robots linked with humans are presented to the scientific community for researchers, engineers and medical experts of different part of the world.

The advance in this direction is the result of the intensive work of different disciplines together: robotics, medicine, engineering, psychology.

Now in 2017, IEEE held its annual ICRA conference in Singapore from May 28 to June 3 with a rich agenda of conferences, workshops and very interesting presentations of research papers focused in the links between robotics and humans.

At ICRA 2017, the first subject of the research papers presentation was Motion and Path Planning (108) papers.

Next, it came Learning and Adaptive Systems with 108 papers, followed by Aerial Robotics (82 papers), Medical Robots and Systems (62 papers), Soft Material Robotics (51 papers), Biologically-Inspired Robots (50 papers). (The list continues…)

………………………………………………………………………………………………
TO REMARK:

- Medical Robots and Systems: 62 papers

- Soft Material Robotics (need for the developing of robots directly linked with humans): 51 papers

- Biologically-Inspired Robots: 50 papers
- …
………………………………………………………………………………………………

Returning to the presentation of Louis Phee, in his speech, he said: “I will share my experiences in developing a novel flexible robotic system that removes gastric and colon tumors using natural orifices as points of access.”

“I will discuss the technical and medical challenges faced to push the research to successfully test the robot on human subjects.”

“The challenges faced in the translation of the robotic technology to be used in a clinical setting were entirely different from the research phase.“

“By sharing my experiences, I hope to inspire more researchers to translate their research and inventions to actual useful products.”

As we see through ICRA 2017 and Hannover Messe 2017 (“RETHINKING: Robots In The Room”, by D.Trassens, Monday, May 1, 2017”), robots and humans are walking together to build a new horizon of life that will surpass “barriers” and “barriers” that blocked the human beings for centuries to achieve new frontiers.


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Next, you can read some of my last comments in the blog of the WSJ – Journal Community during the last few days.



Domingo A. Trassens
WORLD RETHINK
Rethinking the world with you
Twitter page:
(More than 16.6K tweets posted)
Wall Street Journal – Journal Community page:
(More than 9100 recommendations received from other members since the new Journal Community started in 2014 and 7900 in the previous JC.)



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MY BLOG COMMENTS


Iran always promoted terror. Now, it is also victim of terror.
06/07/2017 10:30:20 AM
2 Recommendations


Venezuela is acting like Argentina during the Kirchner era looking for money everywhere in the market of bond dealers.

Venezuela is a rich country that is going from an abyss to another abyss for corruption and idiocy.
06/06/2017 07:30:21 PM
3 Recommendations


Here the three dangerous ISIS men who were walked free across Europe and U.K. because nobody knew in the intelligence agencies before last Saturday about their terror operation.
06/06/2017 07:21:52 PM
2 Recommendations


(This is an opinion column that compares French President Emmanuel Macron with Ronald Reagan.)

French President Emmanuel Macron may be a political genius, but please don't applaud him before he makes the job.
06/06/2017 07:13:57 PM


(Gerald Seib wrote” "The president disrupted his party, the election process and Washington. Now, he is disrupting international affairs."

Mr Seib is the Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. He is responsible for the Journal’s news and analysis from Washington. His opinions have a lot of weight in the WSJ community.)

My comment: With disruptive techniques, it is not possible to drive a country ahead.
06/06/2017 10:20:00 AM
2 Recommendations


(This column is about the terrorist propaganda through the Internet despite some recent initiatives of Google, Facebook and other Internet players.)

The terrorists are embedded in the society and they use all the normal people use, also kitchen knifes to kill victims. Why not Internet?
06/06/2017 02:43:02 AM
1 Recommendation


(WSJ like other important newspapers follows the tweet war between Donald Trump and Mr. Khan.)

Now, Mr. Trump is fighting against the Muslim London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
06/06/2017 12:07:34 AM
1 Recommendation


(The writer of this story thinks that the constitution will save Brazil. Personally, I disagree.)

If Brazil's President Temer falls, the constitution will not save the country because the Brazilian problem is the corrupt people mentality.

In the majority of the Latino countries, the "constitution" is a “toilet paper” of the politicians.
06/06/2017 12:03:12 AM
2 Recommendations


How it is possible that Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane earned the British citizens and nobody really followed their steps in the country before? 

Sometimes, we cannot understand the immigration procedures of the Britons.

Basic questions: Why these guys come to a western country? What are the professions of these guys? How these guys make their living in London? What were their previous activities in their own countries? Who sponsored the entrance of these guys to U.K.?

Really, the British immigration authorities are naïve giving British papers to people who from distance look dangerous.
06/05/2017 11:22:54 PM
4 Recommendations


(During this week, Apple is holding a new series of conferences with important announcements at WWDC2017 in San Jose, California.

According to the information distributed to the journalists, Apple is introducing:
- New digital tablets: iPadPro, in 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch.
- A new device: HomePod, a music home device.
- New Mac computers with 18-Core Processors, 22 Teraflops of GPU performance.
- New computer operating system: macOS High Sierra.
- Updates its software for iPhone and iPad this fall: iOS 11.
- Update of its Apple Watch operating system: watchOS. )

My comment related to the WSJ article: “Apple enters in the battlefield of intelligent home devices with different focus from Amazon’s Echo. We have to see if HomePod will push a new "digital revolution" like iPhone or iPad.
06/05/2017 10:50:09 PM
2 Recommendations


(This story comments that ISIS is trying to push their sympathizers for more terrorist acts during Ramadan in the western countries.)

According to the ISIS call, its members and sympathizers will honor Allah during Ramadan killing innocent people and spreading blood across western countries. 

No surprise! Islamic State is one of top promoters and planners of the terror incidents of the world today.
06/04/2017 11:36:31 PM
3 Recommendation


Can the Islamic State militants pray to the "Islamic" God, while they are spreading death and destruction?

This is Satan with all the armies of devils!
06/04/2017 07:24:05 PM
3 Recommendations


Terrorists don’t need heavy weapons to spread horror and death… This is good sample of the terrible moment we are living.
06/04/2017 07:19:32 PM
5 Recommendations


Low unemployment rate doesn't imply the best from the perspective of the workers. How many of them work for $7 or less money the hour today?
06/04/2017 07:01:41 PM
1 Recommendation


In the beginning, the news said: 1 incident. .. After that: 2 incidents... Now, all London is panic!

This is a dark panorama for the British people in times of elections.
06/03/2017 11:38:24 PM
9 Recommendations


U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley has a hard work to translating the messages of the President to the rest of the world.
06/03/2017 11:00:22 PM
1 Recommendation


Panic continues hitting U.K!
06/03/2017 10:36:21 PM
1 Recommendation


The bombing attacks and killings are not new in Afghanistan. Its government is weak.  Afghans don't know what is peace.
06/03/2017 04:22:43 PM
2 Recommendations


Europeans think different from Donald Trump and Donald Trump thinks different from the Europeans. We have to accept this reality.
06/03/2017 01:09:26 PM
2 Recommendations


(This story comments that in the big cities like New York the lunch is a dying tradition.)

The average worker has not money for going out for lunch to a restaurant today.
06/03/2017 01:03:33 PM
1 Recommendation


(U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis ask to China persuades North Korea  to stop its nuclear weapon program.)

My comment: I don't believe China will listen General Mattis. Chinese are partners of North Korea.
06/03/2017 12:55:43 PM
2 Recommendations

 
Till now the workers continue suffering the bad salaries.
06/02/2017 04:17:16 PM
2 Recommendations


Islamic State is spreading panic, destruction and death everywhere! Only devils can enjoy the pain of others.
06/02/2017 04:09:42 PM
2 Recommendations


Paris” matters less than it seems because it is only a “political game” of the leaders of the world that doesn’t solve real problems of cities and countries.
06/02/2017 10:32:16 AM
8 Recommendations


Now, China will be the "climate change" leader, but this doesn't imply it will solve its carbon emitter problems: Political game!
06/02/2017 10:28:18 AM
3 Recommendations


Paris and "climate change" are the new subjects of the political news. More "noise" that nobody will solve.
06/02/2017 10:07:59 AM
5 Recommendations


Islamic State is giving to the Philippine leader the opportunity to kill enemies.
06/01/2017 04:05:19 PM
1 Recommendation


Again President Trump changed his mind.
06/01/2017 03:59:05 PM
2 Recommendations


Prime Minister Theresa May is gambling because she believes that all will be fine for her in the elections.
06/01/2017 03:57:25 PM
2 Recommendations


The logic says that North Korea cannot survive without China’s support.

However, we don’t know if Russia could pay the cost of North Korea in exchange of a military base in South Asia
05/31/2017 08:35:03 PM


The new South Korean President has to realize that his good intention to talk with North Korea will not change the plans of the dictator of the neighbor country.
05/31/2017 05:53:20 PM
5 Recommendations


(This story talks about the new bombing attack against Kabul in the “green zone” near important embassies.)
Despite all the sacrifices of the allied troops during a long war, Afghanistan is a terror inferno.
05/31/2017 05:37:47 PM
1 Recommendation


(This story says German business people fear about the consequences of the Trump-Merkel discord.)

The Trump-Merkel discord will not change the preferences of the American drivers who like German cars like BMW, Audi, Porsche, Mercedes Benz or VM.
05/31/2017 05:29:12 PM
2 Recommendations

 
Europeans are sensitive U.S. partners. Through the first international trip of President Trump, they saw that Saudi Arabia was first.

However, among friends always there are some disagreements. This doesn't imply a "break" of relationships.

By the way, it is good that Europeans assume more directly their own responsibilities.
05/30/2017 08:45:58 PM


When Muslims are minority, they act friendly with Christians. But when they are majority, they put their beliefs in the top of all and they advance against the Christian cross like in the time of Crusaders. 

And the facts are the Muslim population is growing more than the Christian.
05/30/2017 08:24:20 PM
11 Recommendations


Today, Egypt is not a safe land for Christians. And the situation is getting worse.
05/30/2017 06:55:01 PM
14 Recommendations


(According to this story, France’s Special Forces are focused to kill French militants of the Islamic State in the Middle East and other battlefields.)

France goes abroad to clean the domestic terror.
05/29/2017 10:14:52 PM
7 Recommendations


Nobody can think about a peaceful dialogue with the North Korean dictator.
05/29/2017 08:19:20 PM
7 Recommendations

 
(Despite the incident generated by Russian hackers against Emmanuel Macron during the French presidential campaign, the new French President received Vladimir Putin in Paris with all the honors that France gives to foreign leaders. But Macron used the meeting to remark the differences of both leaders in public.)

My comment: This was a smart movement of Macron playing with President Putin.
05/29/2017 08:11:04 PM
2 Recommendations


Angela Merkel is trying to redefine the Atlantic ties with a new German role due to the differences with Trump administration.
05/29/2017 08:05:22 PM


Airline companies have to update their technology and information systems according to the requirements of the operations. Today technology is available.
05/28/2017 10:58:24 PM
1 Recommendation

 
(US Defense Secretary General Mattis announced a new strategy to annihilate the ISIS militants in the ground.)

The only way to annihilate a terrorist group is killing all militants one after the other, but the problem in Syria like in Iraq are the innocent people that is in the middle.

The annihilation operations have to kill terrorists like mice or ants. Militants alive always comeback to crime, and sometimes become heroes of their followers.

And terrorists who flee from the battlefield are potential new attackers in other geographies.
05/28/2017 06:51:35 PM
15 Recommendations


U.K. reduces the threat level, but this doesn't imply the country is safe than before the bombing attack.

A terrorist organization is not only 11 guys. Surely, ISIS has more people working in the underground in United Kingdom.
05/27/2017 11:47:50 AM
4 Recommendations


(After gunmen attacked a bus driving Coptic Christians, Egypt launched air-strikes against the bases of terrorists in Lybia.)

My comment: Despite the air-strikes against the terrorists in Libya, the Christians will not live safe in Egypt from now.

Surely, the attacks will continue because the religious intolerance is growing in Muslim countries. 05/27/2017 11:26:27 AM
10 Recommendations


After a long civil war, the efforts to stop the Taliban didn't produce effective results. The terror rules Afghanistan.
05/27/2017 11:03:40 AM
1 Recommendation


(Hewlett Packard recovered the “PC Crown” that during the last years was in the hands of Lenovo, a Chinese PC maker that in 2005 bought the IBM PC unit with the famous ThinkPad notebooks.)

My comment: HP is a company with stronger background than Lenovo, but some years ago the Chinese climbed the PC market with the help of IBM.

Till now we didn't see how Chinese reacts when their businesses decline.
05/26/2017 09:52:25 AM
2 Recommendations


Beijing believes that China has the complete ownership of the South China Sea.
05/25/2017 04:23:38 PM
1 Recommendation


The IPO of Saudi Aramco is the new strategic game of the Saudis.
05/25/2017 04:05:15 PM
2 Recommendations


The majority of the profiles of the bomb attackers are similar: extremists with roots in Muslim countries, but who grew or work in a western country.
05/24/2017 09:59:36 PM
4 Recommendations

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SOURCES:

1) External Sources: ICRA 2017 newsletters for the international press registered in the conference about IEEE robotics.

2) Apple newsletters with the announcements of WWDC 2017, San Jose, California.

3) Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and a series of newspapers from Germany, U.K., France, Canada and Japan.

4) Own Sources: My own research for previous publishing projects like TTT of Comlab Corp and others.

Domingo A. Trassens

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