Non-flat surfaces pose difficulties for robots operating in unstructured environments. Reconstructions of uneven surfaces may only be partially possible due to non-compliant end-effectors and limitations on vision systems such as transparency, reflections, and occlusions. This study achieves blind surface reconstruction by harnessing the robotic manipulator's kinematic data and a compliant tactile sensing module, which incorporates inertial, magnetic, and pressure sensors. The module's flexibility enables us to estimate contact positions and surface normals by analyzing its deformation during interactions with unknown objects. While previous works collect only positional information, we include the local normals in a geometrical approach to estimate curvatures between adjacent contact points. These parameters then guide a spline-based patch generation, which allows us to recreate larger surfaces without an increase in complexity while reducing the time-consuming step of probing the surface. Experimental validation demonstrates that this approach outperforms an off-the-shelf vision system in estimation accuracy. Moreover, this compliant haptic method works effectively even when the manipulator's approach angle is not aligned with the surface normals, which is ideal for unknown non-flat surfaces.

A study to test people's reactions to driverless cars has used a "ghost driver" to record their responses. The work, by the University of Nottingham, found that, in the absence of someone in the driving seat, pedestrians trust certain visual prompts more than others when deciding whether to cross the road. As part of the study, a car was driven around the university's campus over several days with its driver - research fellow David R. Large - concealed in the driver's seat. Mr Large, senior research fellow with the Human Factors Research Group at the university, said: "We wanted to explore how pedestrians would interact with a driverless car and developed this unique methodology to explore their reactions." Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram.

A hidden 17th Century garden that emerged during a heatwave has been shown in new drone footage. The European-style formal garden at the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire was designed in 1699 for the 1st Duke of Devonshire. It was grassed over 30 years later but substantial remains lie buried under just a thin layer of soil and grass, which has since been parched by the recent dry weather. While the historic design will not be fully restored any time soon, Steve Porter - head of gardens and landscape at Chatsworth - said he hoped the old garden, known as the Great Parterre, could be recreated with gravel once the grass had recovered. "Every time you look you almost see more of the detail, more of the scrolls of the beds and more of the paths and it sort of brings it all back to life and you realise just how intricate and just how amazing it would have been," he added. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

I was born/grew up in: I was born in Nova Scotia, but grew up in Parry Sound, Ontario. I now live in: I now live in Barrie, Ontario, and work remotely for a company headquartered in Toronto. I work now at a company called Cyclica. We are a biotechnology company that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help make medicines that are more effective for patients. I do research and develop methods for computational drug design.

General Electric's Research and Elscint (Hackensack, NJ), a manufacturer Johnson Controls (Milwaukee, WI) Development Center (Schenectady, of medical imaging systems, has has begun deployment of a knowledge-based NY) has developed an expert system begun offering its customers a service engineering application which is being used to increase the option based on expert systems. The to increase the productivity of the speed of design of new jet engines, MasterMind system delivers troubleshooting engineering design function. The system, called Engineous, on laptop or desktop computers. The General (Menlo Park, CA), is conveyor for further processing. It problems and recommends solutions objects have become rotated.