Self Assembling Robot – Thumbs up

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a robot that is designed to fall apart upon impact and reassemble itself. The robot is made up of smaller components that are each capable of movement on their own and have their own processing units. After falling apart, each component sends out a signal to those nearby, allowing the parts to find each other. Once they have found each other, they line themselves up to connect with each other, at which point one of the processing units takes control of the entire robot. There’s a slideshow showing how the individual pieces, as well as the assembly process work on the New York Times website here.

While the robot shown in the slideshow seems very bare bones, I think there’s a lot of potential for this technology in a lot of places. Military robots could reassemble themselves after taking fire. The modular nature of the robots allows the people using them to scale them up and down in size, and also easily make repairs if one of the modules broke.  I look forward to seeing what further research into these robots could bring about in the coming years.

Time Warner Cable – Thumbs Down

Time Warner Cable has introduced a plan that will force customers that use large amounts of bandwidth to pay higher monthly rates.  The plan includes a pricing tier, with packages allowing for 10, 20, 40, 60, and 100 gigabytes (GB) per month.   Overage charges are expected to be $1/GB, capped at $75 per month – so if you go, say, 100 GB over your plan, you’ll still (only) be charged $75.

The internet provider is planning on introducing these pricing schemes in Rochester, NY, and Greensboro, NC, later this summer as a pilot program, so for now, most of the country is safe.

Why does Time Warner Cable think I should be penalized for using the Internet to its fullest extent?  Why do they want to charge me more for providing the same level of service?

This plan strikes me as utterly ludicrous and logic-defying.  Websites and Internet applications are becoming increasingly bandwidth intensive.  Netflix, for example, now allows users to stream high definition movies and TV shows directly to their computers – someone streaming a few high definition movies per week could easily exceed Time Warner Cable’s 100GB/month ceiling.   Soon, the needs for the average consumer will no longer be met by a basic 20GB/month plan from Time Warner Cable.

Ostensibly, this plan is intended to provide cheaper service to “casual” users (read: your grandmother) and to slow the growth of bandwidth consumption.  Time Warner Cable seems to be in denial about the nature and direction of Internet applications – as bandwidth intensive applications, such as multimedia streaming, videoconferencing and gaming proliferate, users everywhere are going to be needing more bandwidth.  This plan seems to be a coverup for their lack of foresight in neglecting to add additional bandwidth capacity.

The good news is that Time Warner Cable has somewhat eased off.  The pilot was originally supposed to be introduced into Austin and San Antonio as well, but plans to impose the program on those two cities have been pushed back until October.  Unless you live in Rochester or Greensboro, you’ll be fine for now.  Just don’t get too used to streaming your favorite episodes of Battlestar Galactica in high definition every week.