World’s Most Popular Software Hacked in 5 Minutes

A tiny robot, inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, may someday take on surgical tasks as delicate as pushing through a human eye to reach the hair-sized veins inside.

Two engineers recently demonstrated how a device weighing as much as a penny and no larger than a tennis ball can perform such delicate procedures with far more precision than a human. They described their work in the August issue of Nature Machine Intelligence.

The device was able to outperform a human in a test that involved tracing a square smaller than the tip of a ballpoint pen. The so-named miniature remote center of motion manipulator or mini-RCM, was 68% more accurate than a tool controlled by hand.

In a second test, the device successfully punctured a mock vein twice the size of a human hair, simulating a procedure that involves puncturing an eye to reach the blood vessels at the rear in order to inject a medication. Such surgeries have been done on an experimental basis with other robots, but are considered too risky to be performed exclusively by hand.

An article on Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering describes how Robert Wood, an engineering professor at Harvard, and Hiroyuki Suzuki, a robotics engineer at Sony Corporation, built the robot.

For years, miniaturized tools and cameras have enabled doctors to perform minimally invasive surgeries. Now, large robots are assisting surgeons by handling multiple tools with great precision. The downside is the size of these robots and their tools, and the cost. There’s also research suggesting that for many types of procedures these robots – costing $2 million and more – get no better results than traditional laparoscopic surgery.

Te mini-RCM, although still just a prototype, holds promise for reducing the size and cost of medical robots and has potential utility as a precise tool for teleoperated microsurgery.

“The Wood lab’s unique technical capabilities for making micro-robots have led to a number of impressive inventions over the last few years,” says Suzuki . ”I was convinced that it also had the potential to make a breakthrough in the field of medical manipulators as well.”

“This project has been a great success.”

Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

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Entry level software developers average $63,000 to start. Entry level network administrators start at an average of $45,800. Pay for desktop support techs averages $42,000.

With starting salaries above the national average of $40,200 (according to Indeed) and strong employer demand, what’s surprising is there aren’t more candidates clamoring for a job.

What holds back many otherwise skilled individuals is the lack of work experience and the computer degree so many hiring managers demand. Although employers are loosening the degree requirement, they still want to see evidence the candidate can do the job. And the usual way is to review past work experience.

That’s a conundrum for entry-level job seekers. If you have to have experience to get a job, how do you get it without having a job?

Computerworld says there’s a way around that. “In IT, hands-on experience can often be acquired using tools on your own computer or accessible through your current job before you try to get the new job.”

Working in tech support may be a rung or two removed from developer or admin, yet it can be a gateway job. You get hands-on work experience and plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the skills to move up. And the requirements are looser.

Computerworld has a series of projects it says provide “real hands-on experience.” Mastering them will give you experience you can point to when a hiring manager asks. And since most businesses run on Windows, these projects, at the beginner, intermediate and advance levels, are perfect for tech support positions.

At the beginner level, the Computerworld article demonstrates two essential Windows tools and provides an introduction to text commands.

Current tech support professionals will find these three projects a good reminder, if rudimentary. It’s at the intermediate level that the projects get more interesting. Here, Computerworld shows how to manage remote computers and mobile devices including Android, iOS and Mac. Another project goes into some detail about administering a Windows server.

The two advanced projects are even more challenging. They build on the intermediate server project to set up a domain network adding Active Directory Domain Services. The 8th project involves cloud services and managing user access via Azure Active Directory Domain Services.

None of these projects directly involves writing code (or at least not much), nor administering a live network. Instead, they offer the opportunity to learn and to demonstrate new and improved skills. It’s a chance for existing workers and prospective ones to show initiative and willingness, even eagerness, to learn. That, and having the basic skills to do the job, is the key to opening the door to a tech career.

Photo by Annie Spratt

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