Internet

Internet:

The Internet, a network of computers covering the entire planet, allows people to access almost any information located anywhere in the world at any time. Its effects on business, communication, economy, entertainment and even politics are profound. The Internet may not have changed the world as much as the plow, but it's probably on par with the steam engine or automobile.

 

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the research and development arm of the U.S. military, created ARPANET in the late 1960s. This network of computer-to-computer connections was intended for military and academic research. Other computer networks began to cross the globe in the next few years, and by the late 1970s computer scientists had created a single protocol, TCP/IP, that would allow computers on any network to communicate with computers on other networks. This was, essentially, the birth of the Internet, but it took 10 or so years for various other networks in the world to adopt the new protocol, making the Internet truly global.

The Internet is such a powerful invention that we've probably only begun to see the effects it will have on the world. The ability to diffuse and recombine information with such efficiency could accelerate the rate at which further world-changing inventions are created. At the same time, some fear that our ability to communicate, work, play and do business via the Internet breaks down our ties to local communities and causes us to become socially isolated. Like any invention, the good or ill it accomplishes will come from how we choose to use it.

 

Metallic Cheetah by DARPA and Boston Dynamics

Metallic Cheetah(A DARPA and Boston Dynamics project)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Boston Dynamics have unleashed an amazing robot, a 4 legged metallic robot that runs even faster than the Olympic Champion Usain Bolt.

 

 

Record:

A terrifying legged robot has beaten its own speed record of 18 Mph by running at the top speed of 28.3(45.3 km/h) over 20 meters in a Lab trial. The galloping bot is officially faster than the fastest human - Usain Bolt who reached 27.3 mph (43.9km/h) in 2009, setting the top limit of human speed.

 

 

Designers behind the robot hope to see Cheetah max out at speeds as fast as 70 miles-per-hour. The DARPA’s goal is to create legged robot that don’t sacrifice speed for mobility on rough terrain.

"The robot has a ways to go before it can come close to matching the speeds of its living and breathing cheetah kin (the Cincinnati Zoo's cheetah, Sarah, was recently clocked at 61 mph), but that really isn't the point," DARPA said in its release.

One day, the agency hopes to let Cheetah loose in the natural and man-made environments where defense personnel operate, allowing the robot to contribute to emergency response, humanitarian assistance, and other missions.

DARPA plans to test a prototype in the field next year, pulling Cheetah off of its current treadmill regimen and running it through natural terrain.

Powered by an off-board hydraulic pump, the robot has increased its speed since DARPA last released results in March, thanks to improved control algorithms and a more powerful pump.If this progress isn’t impressive (and frightening) enough, Boston Dynamics also today announced plans to unleash Cheetah from its treadmill tether. Sometime next year, they anticipate unveiling Wildcat, a “free running outdoor Cheetah robot” that can hit those high speeds on myriad types of terrain.

Cheetah, which is one robot in a long line of impressive Pentagon-sponsored robotics feats, has clear military applications, including emergency and disaster response. But DARPA doesn’t seem to be stopping there. Last year, the agency noted that Cheetah robots might also be useful in “advanced agriculture and vehicular travel.”