Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation

By definition, an exoskeleton is a skeleton on the outside of the body. One example of an exoskeleton is the hard outer covering that makes up the skeleton of many insects. Today, there is a new invention that claims the name of exoskeleton. Exoskeletons for human performance augmentation is a new type of body army being developed for soldiers that will significantly increase their capacity. An exoskeleton will allow you to carry more without feeling the weight, and move faster too. History of Exoskeleton General Electric developed the first exoskeleton device in the 1960s. Called the Hardiman, it was a hydraulic and electrical bodysuit, however, it was too heavy and bulky to be of military use. Currently, exoskeleton development is being done by DARPA under their Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation Program lead by Dr. John Main. DARPA began phase I of the exoskeleton program in 2001. Phase I contractors included Sarcos Research Corporation, University of California, Berkeley, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. DARPA selected two contractors to enter the program’s second phase in 2003, Sarcos Research Corporation and the University of California, Berkeley. The program’s final phase, which began in 2004, is being conducted by the Sarcos Research Corporation and focuses on the development of a fast-moving, heavily armored, high-power lower and upper body system. Sarcos Research Corporation The Sarcos exoskeleton being developed for DARPA utilizes a number of technological innovations, including. A combustion-based driver to support advanced hydraulic actuators that produce robotic limb movements with very high strength, speed, bandwidth, and efficiency.A control system that allows the operator to move naturally, unencumbered and without additional fatigue, while the exoskeleton carries the payload. Application-specific packages can be attached to the exoskeleton. These packages could include mission-specific supplies, protective outer coverings capable of operation in extreme threat and weather conditions, various electronic systems, weapons, or supplies and instrumentation for medical support and surveillance. The exoskeleton could also be used to move material in places inaccessible to vehicles, on board ships, and where forklifts are not available.

Educating Rita - 1570 Words

New stages of experience often bring about growth and change in one’s life. As one experiences new phases in their life, change is an implicit part of moving ‘into the world’. This is clearly demonstrated in the play Educating Rita, by Willy Russell, where Rita’s growth and change comes about with her education and experiences in her social, working-class life. The Devil Wears Prada, directed by David Frankes and an interview titled 2 of us, John van Tigglemen, also demonstrate how new stages of experience can bring about growth and change in one’s life leading to a transition into a new world. Growth and change often comes about when new stages of experience allow a transition ‘into the world’. This is illustrated in Educating Rita†¦show more content†¦When Rita returns from summer school Frank is quite surprised at Rita’s confidence and progression. Rita not only has become more confident but she has bought new second hand clothes, a symbol of her growth into the world. We are able to see this change in Rita as she fought her old-self at summer school when approached by a professor in regards to Ferlinghetti. Instead of Rita persisting to say ‘Only when its served with Parmesan cheese’ she holds back and replies with ‘Actually I’m not too familiar with American poets’. This is a clear indication that Rita has changed her ways to move into the world of education and her new life. Rita’s confidence in herself is demonstrated as she tells Frank how often she stood up during lectures and asked question s constantly. Further growth in Rita is seen when she quotes Blake, to Frank’s surprise, and it is evident that Rita has come so far. Frank paved the way for Rita’s transition into the educated world and he now finds it difficult to accept she has successfully made a transition from one world to another and no longer needs to depend on him. Jealousy begins to arise in Frank as Rita is now able to analyse and criticise which Frank does not like. Frank believes he has created a monster one he can no longer control, making an allusion to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ‘Oh I’ve done a fine job on you, haven’t I.’ Rita however believes her growth and change has allowed herShow MoreRelated The Character of Rita in Educating Rita1374 Words   |  6 PagesThe Character of Rita in Educating Rita In the play of Educating Rita, which is written by Willy Russell, there is a student aged twenty-six years old who is a hairdresser and also is a working class called Rita. Rita lives with her husband called Denny however Rita and Denny love each other so very much. Denny wants Rita to have a baby but Rita is on a pill to stop from having a baby, but Denny does not know about it, but then finds out later in the play. Rita wants to explore herself andRead MoreEducating Rita By Willy Russell1469 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Educating Rita† written in 1980 by Willy Russell, is a play that explores the way in which a working class Liverpudlian woman, Rita (Susan), follows the change from unhappiness to happiness. The story is a comedy, which revolves around the growing personal relationship between Rita, and her Open University Literature tutor, Dr. Frank Byrant. Russell often mocks many parts of society at a time when the play was set including education, social class and patriarchy. Rita is used to create comedy withinRead More The Humour in Educating Rita Essays1551 Words   |  7 PagesThe Humour in Educating Rita ‘Educating Rita’ is a humorous play that was written by Willy Russell in 1979, based on his own life. It is set in Liverpool and depicts the perseverance of a working class, 26-year-old hairdresser with no qualifications called Susan, or as she is called throughout the play, ‘Rita’, as she tries to ‘discover herself’ by participating in an English literature course at the Open University. Her lecturer, who is from a more middle class background, Frank, is somewhatRead MoreEssay on Educating Rita Into the World Speech720 Words   |  3 Pagesthe World Speech â€Å"Explain how Educating Rita and Step Brothers portray the consequences of moving into the world† When a person moves into the world, they are often met with consequences for seeking this change. Willy Russell’s â€Å"Educating Rita† and Judd Apatow’s â€Å"Step Brothers† portray both positive and negative consequences of this change. Both protagonists experience the change of moving into a new life; however they are met with different consequences. Rita is first portrayed as a poorlyRead MoreEssay on Educating Rita by Willy Russell1611 Words   |  7 PagesEducating Rita by Willy Russell Educating Rita, is a two-handed play which only has two characters and one set. Educating Rita was written in 1985 by Willy Russell, it looks at how the relationship between two people, Rita and Frank, develops as the play goes on. Educating Rita is the story of Rita, a hairdresser who decides to go to University in order to discover who she really is. When she arrives at University she meets Frank, a lazy alcoholic who doesntRead MoreThe Effect of Summer School on Rita in Educating Rita by Willy Russell751 Words   |  4 PagesThe Effect of Summer School on Rita in Educating Rita by Willy Russell Of course; you dont do Blake without doing innocence and experience, do y? When Frank explains to Rita that after summer school they will study William Blake, Rita says that she has already studied Blake and implies in such a way that she almost disgraces Frank. Before summer school Rita has only been taught Frank and has only learnt his ideas, when she gains her own confidence she then challengesRead More Achieving Humor in Educating Rita by Willy Russell1095 Words   |  5 PagesAchieving Humor in Educating Rita by Willy Russell Written by Willy Russell in 1985, Educating Rita is a comical interpretation of his own life as a young Liverpudlian hairdresser and his aspirations to become educated. The play is based on Rita, the hairdresser who wants a better life, and begins this adventure by enrolling in an Open University course. It is here she meets her tutor, Frank. You could say, the key to her dreams. If I were to direct this play, I would seek to achieve humourRead MoreAnalysis of Educating Rita by Willy Russel Essay669 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of Educating Rita by Willy Russel The opening scene of Willy Russels â€Å"Educating Rita† is very affective in introducing the characters and the theme of the play. He gains the interest of the audience in many different ways. Firstly as the curtain rises we see frank a man in his early fifties in a room on the first floor of a Victorian built university in the north of England. This gives the effect of an intellectual play in a grand environment. As we firstRead More Opening Scene of Educating Rita Essay examples965 Words   |  4 PagesOpening Scene of Educating Rita Explore the ways in which Russell engages the audiences interest in the main characters and themes in the opening scene of Educating Rita and explain whether you think the play written in 1979 is still relevant to 2005. Willy Russell’s play, Educating Rita, written in 1979, is a story about a typical lower class woman called Rita who decides she wants to lead an ‘educated life’ and she tries to do this by getting a private tutor called Frank to teach herRead MoreEssay on Educating Rita - Comparing the Movie and Play963 Words   |  4 PagesEducating Rita - Comparing the Movie and Play       The play Educating Rita by Willy Russell gained great popularity especially during the early eighties. There has also been a movie made from it starring Julie Walters and the more famous Michael Caine. As so often the case, the movie was more elaborate with additional scenes, some of which were spoken of or retold by the actors in the play. The movie also included several actors while the play only featured two, Frank and Rita.

Development organisation in an urban facility Free Essays

As we venture into this major event of building a manufacturing factory, which will be situated within a major residential development area, concerns are being raised about noise and the impacts it will have on the health of the community nearby. Since relocating, the company to a different place is an uphill task and very expensive, we have involved the local community in the decisions that might affect them due to the operations of our factory. In line with our goal to embody environmental sustainability and to support economic activity that will improve the quality of life of the nearby community and the urban residents, we will engage the residents in discussions to obtain their views and to alleviate their worries. We will write a custom essay sample on Development organisation in an urban facility or any similar topic only for you Order Now In consultation with the community, which consists of people with various economic, education and occupation backgrounds, we have brought their needs, concerns and aspirations and presented them in this strategy. PURPOSE, AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTATION STRATEGY We believe that a strategy is needed to provide a coordinated and effective approach to consulting our neighbouring residents. Industrial noise generated from stationary sources such as production plants, refineries, manufacturing facilities, factories, pumping stations, etc. can affect people in various ways depending on a number of key variables. The discussion would involve the residents nearby and not factory workers. Noise emissions from factories to the environment pose the greatest challenge to the industry and the regulators to establish and maintain appropriate limits. Noise is considered a biological stressor and excessive exposure to it is a health risk since it can contribute to the development and aggravation of stress related conditions such as high blood pressure, ulcers, migraine headaches, coronary disease and colitis. The body usually responds automatically to noise as a warning signal. Though reactions to a one time exposure to noise do not result in any irreversible effects, research suggests otherwise in some cases.   The purpose for this strategy is to provide clear guidelines on how to undertake the consultations and then implement the recommendations. The aim of this strategy is to minimize the noise levels that emanate from our factory into the environment by seeking the views of the neighbouring community and giving them a chance to influence our decisions. Our agreed objectives is to carry out a consultation that is inclusive, accessible and valuing diversity; communicate back the results of the consultation back to the community; implement the results of our consultation. TRANS-CULTURAL CHALLENGES Why Culture? To determine these challenges, a framework definition of culture is important. Culture defines how we work, communicate, interact, decide, act and respond in the working world. Our backgrounds such as race, gender, or national origin shape our culture. Our economic status, groups that we join, where we live brand us with different cultures. Conflict resolution draws much from our cultural backgrounds. Since our factory is sited in a major urban residential area, the nearby people hail from different cultural backgrounds shaped with their economic status, place of birth etc. We expect to be misunderstood by some of our neighbours while illustrating to them our strategy, much of this might be because of different cultural values. Just as anthropologists Avruch and Black (1993) stated â€Å"†¦One’s own culture provides the â€Å"lens† through which we view the world; the â€Å"logic†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ by which we order it; the â€Å"grammar† †¦ by which it makes sense†, we expect people to respond to our solution differently. Some might also interpret it as â€Å"abnormal†, â€Å"weird†, or â€Å"wrong† (Avruch Black, 1993). Facing the Challenges To carry out this consultation, the influence of culture on our communication has to be understood. As engineers, we will be tasked with interpreting to the community what we believe and have tested to be low noise and with minimum or no health hazard. We will also be expected to help in the decision making process for the implementation of the consultation results. We must also involve some representatives of the community in the daily operations of the factory and the environmental safety achieved at different stages. Sample Project In a survey conducted on cross-cultural challenges involved in Japanese overseas projects, 33 Japanese professionals from various organizations educational institutions in Japan responded to the survey. This research investigated the challenges faced by the Japanese workers in international projects. Most of them preferred cross-cultural training to better equip them with what to expect from other cultures. Effectiveness of trans-cultural approaches Training for our employees is necessary for them to understand the complaints that might be raised from time to time by the residents during the operations of the factory. The residents will also be notified of the allowable noise levels recommended by organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO). In doing these, we expect to improve our interaction and communication with the residents and achieve our goal of environmental sustainability to improve the quality of life of the nearby community. LIST OF REFERENCES: Avruch, K. and Black, P. (1993). Conflict Resolution in Intercultural Settings: Problems and Prospects. Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice Integration and Application. Manchester: Manchester University Press. How to cite Development organisation in an urban facility, Papers

A Pinter puzzle still unsolved Essay Example For Students

A Pinter puzzle still unsolved Essay The Roundabout Theatre Companys new mounting of Harold Pinters The Homecoming opened in New York last October just a few days after the tragicomic, hothouse confrontation between Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill. Suddenly, this once enigmatic play (routinely referred to in the late 60s as Pinters puzzle) seemed all too clear, almost didactically so. Ruth, the lone woman in the Homecoming, is involuntarily dragged into an all-male household, where three predatory members of the clan proceed to project upon her various male fantasies of womanhood: madonna and whore, earth mother and bitch goddess. In Anita Hills version of this story, only the fantasies were changed: spurned-woman-out-for-revenge, innocent dupe of Thomass political opponents, nut-case whose delusions were so powerful she could successfully negotiate a polygraph test. But the most compelling parallel between life and art was the role played in both by a nerdish character named Teddy: Pinters (as well as the Senate Judicia ry Committees) embodiment of detachment, ineffectuality and moral cowardice. It was as if The Homecoming had transformed before our eyes into one of those disease-of-the-week docudramas culled from the pages of People magazine. Of course, at the same time, it also felt as if Thomass confirmation hearings had been secretly scripted by Harold Pinter. As in: Who put the pubic hair on my Coke can? Is there a more Pinteresque moment anywhere in Pinter? All of the playwrights classic stategies were in evidence: the defamiliarizing of the commonplace, the sexualizing of objects, the verbal power plays, the territorial imperatives. Pinter, weve all been taught, is supposed to be about the weasel under the cocktail cabinet. But here, on the Senate committee, the weasels were very much out in the open: a Hatchetman named Orrin, the smarmy Specter of Arlen, and a Simpson considerably less benign than Bart. The Homecoming had never seemed timelier. And that was precisely the problem. Timeliness and relevance are ultimately impovershing to all great plays (and I believe that The Homecoming will prove to be the most enduringif not endearingof Pinters works). Such plays (we used to call them classics) always by definition transcend the period in which they were created. But thats because they simultaneously speak to and transcend every period, including the one in which theyre revived. Without an aura of strangeness and distance, great plays shrink in stature. They deliver only a quick fix that fades as fast as the headlines they momentarily, if powerfully, evoke. (Literature, as Ezra Pound once reminded us, is news that stays news.) So in approaching Pinters play we might bear in mind Andre Gides famous admonition to his eager admirers: Please, do not understand me too quickly. Where then does the problem lie? With the Roundabouts production? The Zeitgeist? The headlines? The play itself? Arguably, all of the above. But rather than assigning blame, Id prefer to raise a few questions that may help to clarify the nature of my complaint. Is the only problem that the Roundabouts production makes the play seem paaraphrasable, that it enables us all too easily to say what Pinters Puzzle is about (e.g., the objectification of women or something that sounds similarly fashionable)? Put differently: Should an ideal production of The Homecoming be infinitely more ambigous than this one? Not necessarily. For despite all the talk about puzzles and puzzlement, the most distinctive quality of the legendary Peter Hall/Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Homecoming that came to Broadway in 1967 was not its opaqueness or ambiguity, but rather its clarity, its concreteness and specificity. Not specificity of meaning, mind you but of sound and gesture, a palpable physicality which strongly suggested that any search for meaning would ultimately lead one back to the clean, sensuous surface of the production. For me, this was the theatre experience that best illustrated the wisdom of Susan Sontags then immensely influential essay, Against Interpretation. Transparence, wrote Sontag, is the highest, most liberating value in art. . . .Transparence means experiencing the luminousness of the thing in itself, of things being what they are. And in her oft-quoted, aphoristic conclusion to the essay, she maintained, In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art. But Sontags essay and Pinters play were written in the mid-1960s. Clearly, times have changed. Is it possible to ever again view this play the way we did then? The answer to that question is yesyou can go Homecoming again. That at least, was what I concluded after seeing Peter Halls 25th anniversay staging of Pinters play in London last spring. Perhaps the earth didnt move beneath my feet as it seemed to in 1967 when I saw the RSC production of the play in New York. But it convinced me that I hadnt been merely imagining, misremembering or embellishing things all these years. What I remembered deserved to be remebered as one of the three or four most formative experiences of a theatregoing life. In 1967, I was a precocious (maybe precious is the more accurate word) 18-year-old, determined to appear More Sophisticated Than Thou. My principal enthusiasms of the period included Alain Robbe-Grillets and Alain Resnaiss Last Year at Marienbad, Bergmans Persona, Antonionis Blownup, Andy Warhols silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe, the music of the Velvet Underground, the dances of Merce Cunningham and, of course, the essays of Sontag. Was there a place for the theatre in this celestial pantheon? Halls production of The Homecoming went a long way toward persuading me that the theatre might, on occasion, be able to hold its own alongside this cool, brainy, elegant company. The heart of Halls and Pinters strategy seemed to me to lie in Ruths response to the pseudo-philosophical bantering of Lenny and Teddy (e.g., Take a table. Philosophically speaking, what is it?). Lenny prattles on about this business of being and non-being, but Ruth emphasizes the palpability of the here and now. She may or may not speak for Pinter at this moment; but it seems to me that she affirmed (by physically embodying through speech and gesture) the very same values that distinguished this glacially elegant production as a whole: The Renaissance condition EssayLenny: Excuse me, shall I take the  ashtray out of your way? Ruth: Its not in my way. Lenny: It seems to be in the way of  your glass. The glass was about to fall.  Or the ashtray. Im rather worried  about the carpet. Its not me, its my  father. Hes obsessed with order and  clarity. He doesnt like mess. So, as I  dont believe youre smoking at the  moment, Im sure you wont object if I  move the ashtray. (He does so.) Lenny gets a laugh when he suggests that his father is obsessed with order and clarity: but the obsession he describes is evident nonetheless throughout the production. Given the fact that John Burys setting for the Hall production was so uncluttered to begin with, the ashtray and glass assumed an eerie prominence and intensityrather like the remaining pieces in the final moments of a championships chess match. Lenny continues the match as follows: Lenny: And now perhaps Ill relieve  you of your glass. Ruth: I havent quite finished. Lenny: Youve consumed quite  enough, in my opinion. Ruth: No, I havent. Lenny: quite sufficient, in my own  opinion. And then a few lines later: Lenny: Just give me the glass. Ruth: No. (Pause) Lenny: Ill take it, then. Ruth: If you take the glass. . .Ill take  you. Whether it was the moment when Lenny first invades Ruths private space by searching across her body for the ashtray, or the moment when Ruth decides to retaliate by pressing her hand firmly down on top of the glass, the blocking was wo cleanly chiseled that the results were positively sculptural. This was equally true of many other moments in Halls production: the stunning physical tableau at the end (Ruth sitting in the displaced patriarchs chair as he pathetically grovels on the floor, begging her for a kiss) or the scene in which Teddy, Ruths husband, is left holding her empty coat while she slow-dances with one of his brothers and then rolls on and off of the couch with another brother, or the precisely choreographed way in which the elderly uncle Sam collapses, presumably of a heart attack, toward the end of the play. These sequences were always realistic and yet strangely ritualized, as physically palpable as that glass of water, yet mysteriously reverberent, evoking distant ec hos of Lear, Oedipus and Greek tragedy. Ironically, Halls original production arrived at the very moment the American experimental theatre was becoming increasingly committed to a theatre of the body. (And as coincidence will have it, playing concurrently with Roundabouts revival of The Homecoming was a reconstruction at nearby La Mama ETC of Tom OHorgans production of Rochelle Owenss Futz, which also originally played in New York in 1967.) But the physical concreteness of The Homecoming was very different from the sort of physicality that informed the work of OHorgan, the Living Theater, the Open Theater or the Performance Group. The overtly choreographic stylization in a production like Futz was bodily with a vengeance, but it often bordered on group mine. And as a result, ones attention was ultimately deflected away from the body itself and onto what the body represented. In addition, much of this work was so determined to advertise the new freedom presumably offered by the liberated life of the body that it lacked the exacting physical discipline of Halls production. That sort of discipline was presumably at odds with the orgiastic and egalitarian ethos at the heart of so much of the company-created work of the period. So, paradoxically, at least for me, the most palpable and sensual theatre of the body was not to be found in the perpetual motion machines of Tom OHorgan (or for that matter, even in the work of Jerzy Crotowski) but in the unmistakably British collaboration of Harold Pinter, Peter Hall and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Critic Roger Copeland teaches at Oberlin College.