Flying insects are able to navigate their environments efficiently, processing visual stimuli to avoid obstacles and land safely on a variety of surfaces. Over the past decade or so, research teams worldwide have been trying to replicate these capabilities in autonomous micro air vehicles (MAVs) using mechanisms similar to those observed in insects.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-neuromorphic-micro-air-vehicles.html
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KOTA KINABALU: In a bid to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the Sabah government has issued several new restrictions today including a 14-day quarantine at the nearest quarantine centres for all individuals arriving from abroad.
State Secretary Datuk Safar Untong said in line with the decision of the National Security Council yesterday, the state government would implement the move from tomorrow until March 31 for all individuals entering the state by air, sea, river and land.
“In addition, the inter-district public jetties will be closed to the public.
“The state government has decided that inter-district public jetties in Kudat, Sipitang, Kota Kinabalu, Lahad Datu, Sandakan and Tawau will be closed from March 22 to 31, except for emergency cases,” he said in a statement here today.
He said the state government had also ordered all districts to impose roadblocks with immediate effect.
“Thus far, only 17 districts have implemented roadblocks to reduce the movement of vehicles carried out by the Royal Malaysia Police and the Road Transport Department,” he said. — Bernama
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https://www.thesundaily.my/local/covid-19-sabah-imposes-new-restrictions-XA2165642
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Volvo is recalling more than 736,000 vehicles worldwide because the automatic emergency braking system may not detect obstacles and stop the vehicles as designed.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-volvo-recalls-vehicles-automatic-malfunction.html
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There may be many overlooked organic and inorganic materials that could be used to harness sunlight underwater and efficiently power autonomous submersible vehicles, report researchers at New York University. Their research, publishing March 18 in the journal Joule, develops guidelines for optimal band gap values at a range of watery depths, demonstrating that various wide-band gap semiconductors, rather than the narrow-band semiconductors used in traditional silicon solar cells, are best equipped for underwater use.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-optimal-materials-harvesting-sunlight-underwater.html
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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), commonly known as drones, are widely used in mapping, aerial photography, rescue operations, shipping, law enforcement, agriculture, among other things. Despite great potential for improving public safety, use of drones can also lead to very undesirable situations, such as privacy and safety violations, or property damage. There is also the highly concerning matter of drones being harnessed to carry out terrorist attacks, which means a threat to public safety and national security.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-drone-safety.html
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Whether networked vehicles that warn of traffic jams in real time, household appliances that can be operated remotely, “wearables” that monitor physical activity, or industrial plants that detect possible production errors in time and notify technical support, the number of intelligent products that communicate wirelessly with other devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) age has increased rapidly in recent years. However, not all of these devices are compatible with each other because they use different wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (low energy) or ZigBee, depending on the requirements and application. More than that, many devices often have the same radio frequencies and interfere with each other. This delays data transmission, data can be lost, energy consumption increases and battery life decreases.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-cross-technology-internet-significantly.html
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The U.S. government is coming out with new regulations aimed at changing automotive passenger safety standards that could be barriers to autonomous vehicles.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-passenger-safety-autonomous-vehicles.html
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SINGAPORE: The new border restrictions on travellers including those from Asean do not include Singapore’s sea and land crossings with Malaysia, meaning Malaysians and Singaporeans can commute from both sides as usual.
Singapore’s Co-chair of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on Covid-19, Lawrence Wong, said while the order applies to the whole of Asean, a separate arrangement has been worked out for Malaysia through the bilateral joint working group.
Special considerations have been put in for Malaysia because of the close proximity and high interdependency between both countries.
“We do need precautions to be taken, given the high volume of people and vehicles moving in and out of these checkpoints,” he said today when announcing the additional measures that Singapore would be taking on the Covid-19 situation starting midnight on Monday.
Effective March 16, 2020, 2359 hours, all travellers entering Singapore with recent travel history to Asean countries, Japan, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom within the last 14 days will be issued with a 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN).
Wong, who is also the National Development Minister, said that on land crossing alone 200,000 people move across the checkpoints daily and the imposition of a 14-day SHN requirement would be very difficult and very disruptive for both countries.
“So the 14-day requirement will not be practical for these travellers and we need to look at other precaution like checking their health. So discussions are ongoing between the two sides,” he said.
The latest travel order applies to Singapore residents, long-term pass holders, and short-term visitors as well but not those transiting in Singapore without leaving the transit area.
In addition, they will have to provide proof of the place where they will serve the 14-day SHN, for example a hotel booking covering the entire period, or a place of residence they or their family members own.
They may also be swabbed for testing for Covid-19, even if asymptomatic because of the risk of community transmission in the countries of their origin and evidence of cases that have been imported from these countries into Singapore.
In addition to the SHN requirement, from March 16, 2020, 2359 hours, all short-term visitors who are nationals of any Asean country will have to submit requisite information on their health to the Singapore Overseas Mission in the country they are resident before their intended date of travel.
The submission will have to be approved by Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) before travel to Singapore, and the approval will be verified by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at the Singapore checkpoints.
Short-term visitors who arrive in Singapore without the necessary approval will be denied entry into Singapore and they are therefore advised to secure the approval before making definitive travel bookings. — Bernama
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https://www.thesundaily.my/local/malaysia-gets-special-consideration-in-singapore-s-new-travel-restrictions-BI2129074
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One of the most challenging tasks for drivers is parallel parking, which is why automatic parking systems are becoming a popular feature on some vehicles. However, the cost of designing and implementing such computing-intensive systems can significantly increase a vehicle’s price, creating a barrier to adding the feature in many models.
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Recent research indicates it’s possible to infiltrate—and steal—vehicles manufactured by Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia due to flaws in the way their chip-enabled mechanical keys were encrypted.
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