rescue

Robots in development can reach out and touch someone

Robotic prostheses may have a way to go before they work exactly like human limbs, but researchers are making great strides. A team out of Georgia Tech is working on new technology that could give these robotic limbs something akin to a sense of touch.

Thanks to tactile-sensing material that covers the entire prosthesis and software that integrates the gathered data, this robotic arm can maneuver through clutter and distinguish between hard and soft objects as it grips, pushes, and pulls more intuitively.

"Up until now, the dominant strategies for robot manipulation have discouraged contact between the robot's … Read more

Catch a wave with Kymera electric body board

If paddling out to that wave is getting a little too tiring, this electric body board puts you right in the water while pulling you along effortlessly.

Kymera is a lightweight, motorized jet board that can send you crashing through waves to help a struggling swimmer. Mainly intended for lifeguards and search and rescue teams, it's designed to be placed in the water more quickly and easily than personal watercraft.

The focus of a $250,000 Kickstarter campaign, Kymera weighs 48 pounds with the rechargeable lithium polymer battery pack, and 29 pounds without it. … Read more

Disk monitoring and deletion protection utility

Disk Drill for Mac is a useful utility that creates a recovery disk volume with copies of your important files. If you delete a file by accident, you can then recover it from that vault. If the file is recently deleted, you can probably even recover it from the original volume. In addition, Disk Drill for Mac also monitors the state of your hard drive and notifies you of potential failures or capacity limitations. Disk Drill for Mac is a slimmed-down version available for free, with the Pro edition available for $89.99. With the free version, disk scanning and … Read more

iPhone apps that can help in an emergency

Emergencies come in all shapes and sizes. It might be a tornado that's bearing down on your location, a finger that gets burned on a hot stove, or even just a fender bender in a parking lot.

To paraphrase the Boy Scout motto: be prepared -- with apps!

The iTunes App Store is home to countless apps that can help you in an emergency. I've rounded up six to get you started.… Read more

Set up fake calls or texts to escape boring situations

Chances are, you've been there: a boring meeting or social event that you're desperately seeking an escape from. The person or people you're talking with won't take the hint that you're not interested. You hope someone will call so you can have a pretend conversation about needing to be somewhere else right away. Or maybe you're wishing for a text that demands your immediate attention. Whatever the situation, you can now plan your own escape routes with this Android app. Here's how:

Step 1: Install Log Me. Once installed, run the app.

Step … Read more

PAWS dog rescue camera could save your life

A U.K. firm has developed a camera system that relays video and audio information from rescue dogs, helping man's best friend to lend a paw in emergency situations, the BBC reports.

The system is called PAWS--a heart-melting backronym that stands for "Portable, All-terrain Wireless System" and takes the form of a harness that's saddled on to the brave rescue hounds.

The Beeb has a video of the system in action, complete with adorable dog. Developed by Wood & Douglas, the harness features a camera that sits atop the dog's bonce, and relays video and sound back to a monitor.

Read more of "PAWS dog rescue camera could save your life" at Crave UK.… Read more

Flying bot could save firefighters' lives

Highly sophisticated robots are being used in a variety of ways: think tsunamis, earthquakes, and land mines, to name a few. In the case of wildfires, though, they wouldn't survive long in the heat of battle.

So a team of graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Cincinnati is testing a tiny new aerial system designed to fly above fires to calculate the scope of damage and the anticipated path the fire will take.

"What we are designing is a complete system," says Kelly Cohen, associate professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics, in a news release. &… Read more

Japan building new power suit, rescue robots

Japan is preparing to spend about 1.1 billion yen ($14 million) on a five-year project to develop rescue robots that can be used in disasters like the quake and tsunamis that slammed the country in March.

The machines will come in three types: exoskeleton suits to boost human strength, robots that can rescue people from rubble, and robots that can search for people in water, according to a Nikkei Business Daily article.

Although similar devices have been developed in Japan, such as Tmsuk's two-armed Enryu debris mover, few have made it past the prototype stage and to see real use outside of robot exhibitions. … Read more

CNET to the Rescue: The last Rescue, and the end of Quicken for Mac

This week, the sharp editor of CNET How To, Sharon Vaknin, joins us again as we answer questions about Quicken, Google+, mousing on a Mac, and Facebook security.

This is the last CNET to the Rescue show for a while. The show is going into the shop and we're going to tune it up a bit, and will re-launch it shortly. I am leaving this show to launch another one here at CNET, hopefully also shortly.

If you have a tech question for CNET, e-mail how-to@cnet.com.

Thanks everyone for listening, watching, complaining, whatever...It's been a lot of fun. --Rafe

CNET to the Rescue: To fix a bad Windows PC, send it back

The face and voice of the new CNET how-to section, Sharon Vaknin, joins us today as we road-test the Nook and Greplin, gripe at sloppy PC vendors, and advise on the best setup for graphic design student.

If you have a tech question for CNET to the Rescue, e-mail rescue@cnet.com. No question is too basic, so if you've got a tech problem that's been getting under your skin, please drop us a line and we'll try our best to help you out.