Informatics

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What's going on in that shiny new building in Bristo Square- quite incredible isn't it? From today's SOS

See the future from tower of Babel fish
By Fiona Gray
WELCOME to the future. Electronic secretaries, a machine guaranteed to perfect your golf swing, and clever bacteria that cleanses dirty water while producing electricity on the side.
Inside the gleaming tower of Edinburgh University's School of Informatics,

futuristic robots roll, walk and fly around the five-storey atrium as scientists try out groundbreaking inventions and edge closer to making science fiction dreams a reality.

The School of Informatics' new building reflects the department's groundbreaking discoveries in its glass façade and ultra-modern architecture.

With some of world's leading experts from the fields of linguistics, computing, biology and engineering united in one building for the first time, the next year will see the launch of dozens of potentially life-changing inventions.

A machine which can translate any language into any other while it is being spoken is a prime example of science fiction becoming fact.

The device, known as Emime, comes 30 years after science fiction writer Douglas Adams dreamed up his Babel fish, which fits inside a person's ear and translates any language in the galaxy, in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Scientists say its completion is not far off.

The multi-million pound technology, which changes a spoken language into foreign speech, in the same way Google translates web pages, even picks up a person's tone of voice and accent. Mobile phone giant Nokia is sponsoring the pioneering technology and its Smart phones could have the Babel fish function by 2011.

"Nothing will be lost in translation," said lead scientist Steve Renals. "It's not just the words that are important, it's how you say it, and if you could keep that across languages it's more natural and you can avoid misunderstandings."

Another revolutionary project could save lives in the developing world. Biology experts and IT specialists have manipulated a type of bacteria to eat everything from domestic rubbish to oil to make dirty water drinkable. It has also been trained to travel between the poles of a battery to create an electric current.

Lead scientist Igor Goryanin said: "This technology is aimed at India and Africa, not only for cleaning water but also for powering machines independently. These are batteries that will work forever. Anyone with access to organic waste – leaves, trees, anything – could recharge a mobile phone or a computer using this technology."

Scientists are building a prototype 1,000 times bigger than their shoebox-sized one that will produce as much energy as a wind turbine and could be available within five years.

For offices in need of a super-efficient secretary, scientists are set to let Ami loose on the world. The machine may not make coffee and remind you about your spouse's birthday, but it can take perfect minutes during meetings, summarise what happens and pick out key decisions, and bring up relevant documents to aid the discussion.

Renals, who is also involved in the £16m project, said: "The technology has witnessed and analysed hundreds of meetings as we have trained it up, and it can even recognise who is positive and who is negative about an idea."

Meanwhile, scientist DK Arvind is piloting a prototype of Specknets – tiny computers the size of a matchstick head – with the NHS in Scotland to monitor recovering stroke patients at home. It will use a suit made of the computer elements to monitor a person's movements as they regain use of their limbs.

Gaming companies are also desperate to get their hands on the £5.5m technology, which is being hailed as the next generation of the Nintendo Wii as it allows gamers to put their entire bodies inside the game.

Michael Fourman, head of the School of Informatics, said: "We are breaking new ground with every project in the school, and there will be more than 100 this year. We are encouraging students to launch spin out companies to get this science into the commercial market. "We have students and staff who come from 60 countries because of our reputation, but we now need to establish this place as a hub that people in business recognise globally."

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