Nao Next Gen: new version of the NAO robot

Last month Aldebaran Robotics has announced a new version of its humanoid robot, the NAO Next Gen.

NAO humanoid is at the forefront of robotics. Three years after the first marketed NAO, the company has sold nearly 2 000 NAO in the world especially in the field of research (300 universities in over 30 countries have purchased NAO).
Aldebaran Robotics has released the latest generation its programmable humanoid robots, for research, teaching and, more generally, to explore the field of service robotics.

A new processor 1, 6 GHz

After six years of research and dialogue with its community of researchers and users, NAO Next Gen is capable of a higher level of interaction, with increased computing power (Intel 1.6 GHz ® AtomTM mutlitâches suitable for calculations), better stability and higher accuracy.
Thus, the latest version of the robot NAO greatly expands the possibilities for research, teaching and application.
Speech recognition and visual

It also has two HD cameras for simultaneous reception of two video streams, greatly increasing the speed and performance of object recognition and face even in poor lighting conditions.

Next Gen NAO also has a new voice recognition, faster and more reliable. This program is coupled with a new feature called "word spotting", which is able to isolate and identify a specific word in a sentence or a conversation.

His way of moving on two legs, and what different types of soils has also been improved. In case of fall, the Next Gen Nao can only recover and continue its work.
It will be provided with an open source SDK that allows you to make it do what you want, even if it is above all to researchers that this type of product is aimed currently.


Aldebaran hopes with this new version, help children with autism and those with reduced autonomy.
It will still pay the modest sum of € 15 000 to € 20 000 to afford the hight-tech toy!

Waterproofing a swimming pool, a pool

The walls of concrete, formwork blocks are not sufficient to guarantee the absence of penetration or leakage of water.

CONSTRAINTS

• the singular points such as sewage, water inlets and windows are weaknesses for sealing
• by construction, a concrete structure has weak links such as wall / slab, porous areas, the construction joints
• the joints between the blocks and the angles are the weaknesses of the structure, which can cause leaks
• when the pool is full, the waterproofing mortar under pressure of the water
• when the pool is empty, the mortar waterproofing against the sudden-pressure due to surrounding terrain
• waterproofing mortar must also be compatible with the coatings used in swimming pool

SUBSTRATE PREPARATION

• the singular points such as windows, inlets and outlets of water ... should be treated in accordance with the technical documents used accessories
• in case of water supply, enlarge the hole infiltration to a minimum area of ​​3 x 3 cm
• then plug the hole with the mortar clogging weber.dry stop
• to achieve continuity in the waterproofing layer, make a groove in all the corners, using:
• to concrete: weber.rep fast or weber.rep area
• blocks of formwork: weber.rep fast or coated weber.dry

Useful Links:damp proofing

Steve Jobs

Everyone knows the stunning achievements of Steven John Work, said Bob Work ? Each time when he offers so long (for health reasons) towards Apple organization, see what he has to the history of processing ...

Born in California February 24, 1955, Steve Jobs was adopted soon after birth. He crosses paths computers at the age of 19, a computer club in Silicon Valley that was causing the PC, the " Homebrew Computer Club . " There he met Steve Wozniak, with whom he will commit in the video game publisher Atari.

He created the company " Apple "1 st April 1976 with his friend Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne. The company has the name " apple "to the fact that Steve Jobs is a vegetarian, and" Macintosh "in this variety of apple that he collected some money to be made ​​before building computers! The choice of the logo, the " bitten apple "is the first symbol of logic used in the strategy of Steve Jobs, that of a diet which was imposed at the time of this choice!

Young entrepreneurs install in the garage of Steve Jobs. There he built his first PC, the "Apple I". Made 200 copies and priced at $ 666, this is the first computer sold with a full menu, although you have to add a case, power supply, keyboard, and screen ... The keyboard and the distinguish the particular screen machines of the time programmed for use with switches and flashing lights for display. Steve Jobs had already considered the "ease of use" as a criterion for making his first computer!
For the record, the Apple I, was a MOS Technology 6502 processor running at 8-bit 1 MHz, the memory was 8 KB, expandable to 64 KB ROM and 256 bytes of a display of 40 x 24 characters.

Only four years later, Apple goes public, making its young patrons millionaire, well before the era of start-up in IT! Building on this success, in 1982 Apple released Lisa. This is the first PC is provided with a graphic user interface (windows and icons) for convenience of use, and of a computer mouse ! For the release of Lisa, Steve Jobs had acquired from Xerox patents untapped: those of the mouse and a graphical interface. Once again, Apple's CEO was put in the place of the user to design his new machine ...

History of Michael Jackson

Precocious genius or King of Pop for some, for other dangerous megalomaniac, Michael Jackson is undoubtedly the most controversial artist in history. Man of extremes in his success as shortcomings, it may arouse the passion that has ha ine. The only certainty: it leaves no one indifferent.
From his difficult childhood to his glory now, the life of Michael Jackson is an extraordinary succession of suffering, joy, fears, successes. A fairy tale that sometimes turns into a nightmare.
A life well-orchestrated and bullied by the head of the clan Jackson, Joe. Born in Gary, Indiana (USA) August 29, 1958, Michael and his eight brothers and sisters have a difficult childhood.
Joe is a violent father, tenacious, and the failure he met with his group the Falcons will push him to seek his fortune among his children. Influenced by the great black American singers ( Otis Redding , Little Richard , ...), he teaches by the power and rigor of the work, the love of music and dance to his tribe in 1960. Michael has only two years but quasi-military education begins for all.

The Jackson Five

The results are fast: in 1963, the Jackson Family, first family formation, foam balls and radios cro- chet s in the region. Michael shines forth by his natural grace and the shrill of his voice. A true manager, Joe to sign the first contracts of five brothers now named the Jackson Brothers.
The first click occurs at the Apollo Theater in New York where in 1967 the group won its first major competition. Children in the wake sign a contract with record label Steeltown Records.
After some 45 turns, the first Big Boy in January 1968, the Jackson Five take off. Television has a lot to. She plebiscite because of the stage presence of the young Michael and his inimitable dance steps.

The challenges of online learning

E-learning, or e-learning is a learning style based on the provision of educational content via electronic media  in the to develop skills while making the process of learning independent of time and place. The electronic medium is the Internet's most widely used because of the ease with which it can be used and the many benefits it offers. For example, at the college level, this means that projects previously presented to students through to a paper now available online. The student then has access to his project, via the Internet, and begins its journey. Several means of monitoring students are available on the market.


Although online learning shows definite advantages to improve teaching, many challenges still lie ahead. For example, the design of online projects inevitably leads to a modular approach. This means that the student must take a step and pass before starting another. So there is a path to follow and this modular approach leads to the fragmentation of content . This goes against a competency-based approach that aims to bring the learner to be able to mobilize all resources to address a set of complex situations. This holistic approach is more difficult to design a modular approach. The challenge is to harness the potential of e-learning to the learning process and access to knowledge are more effective. A second challenge is to build quality equipment with a process learning appropriate for the student. The online projects are built and hosted by software learning management (LMS). Given the novelty of e-learning, there is very little software available and affordable. In addition, several limitations are encountered especially in the management and monitoring of learning. For example, a learner has to complete a test consisting of 10 questions will have to complete all of them and succeed in full before continuing his journey. In the event that he would stop after five issues, he will have, in the prosecution of his work, to take the test early. This limitation on the monitoring of learners makes it difficult to stimulating growth of the latter.

Useful Link: Prince2 Courses