Nabin K. Malakar, Ph.D.

NASA JPL
I am a computational physicist working on societal applications of machine-learning techniques.

Research Links

My research interests span multi-disciplinary fields involving Societal applications of Machine Learning, Decision-theoretic approach to automated Experimental Design, Bayesian statistical data analysis and signal processing.

Linkedin


Interested about the picture? Autonomous experimental design allows us to answer the question of where to take the measurements. More about it is here...

Hobbies

I addition to the research, I also like to hike, bike, read and play with water color.

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Thursday, September 12, 2013

@NASAVoyager leaves the solar system, officially

Space, the final frontier!

The recent news is that Voyager has left the solar system.
We have made it! (Well, it has been 1 year! )




NASA hosted a news conference on Thurs., Sept. 12, 2013, to discuss NASA's Voyager mission.
The briefing was held at NASA Headquarters in Washington and air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.
The recorded video is highly recommended

Monday, August 19, 2013

जब सम्म #यूवा को चेत खुल्दैन, तब सम्म देश को चान्सै छैन!

नेपालको मूल समस्या के हो भनि धेरै जना घोत्लिए,
देशी-बिदेशी अजासु (अति-जान्ने-सुन्ने) ले प्रयास गरे 
पैसाको खोलो बगाए, तर पत्ता लागेन  रे !

कहिले राजालाई दोष दिइयो, कहिले कांग्रेस, त कहिले कम्म्युनिस्ट 
जो सत्ता मा छ दोष  उसैको हुनेनै भो!
सबै प्रयोग गरियो, नेपालमा 
कहिँ नभएको प्रयोग पनि गरियो 

तर मेरो विचार मा यो चित्र ले सहि समस्या को जड केहो भन्ने प्रस्ट देखाउछ 
pic via @puruad (ask him for source)

झण्डा बोकेको भर मा आजको टर्ने भए पछि के को टेन्सन?
अझ त्यति गरेर मज्जा नलागे काम गरिखाने को बाटो छेकेर साईकल को हावा फुस्काउन पाइन्छ
मारकाट र कुटपिट को रोमान्स त् झन छदैछ!  

जब सम्म #यूवा को चेत खुल्दैन, तब सम्म देश को चान्सै छैन!
जंगबहादुरले रोलक्रम राखेका थिए, राणाजीहरु त् गए, तर प्रथा अझै छ 
झर्ला र खाउला भनेर कुरुन्जेल समय बितिसक्ने छ
जाग नेपालका युवाहरु, 
नत्र भो कुरै नगरौ!


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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Is the #Sun's Magnetic Field about to Flip?

(Ans: Yes!)
We are familiar with the 11 year long cycles of the Sun. When the solar activities are peaked, we call it  Solar max [Link 1, Link2]. During Solar Max, there are many sunspots, prominences, and solar storms (solar flares, and coronal mass ejections). The magnetic field of the Sun protects solar system from cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are high-energy particles generated during violent events in the galaxy.  The solar reversal can have big impact as Cosmic rays could pose dangers to astronauts and space instruments.

Read more..
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/05aug_fieldflip/

Watch the video which narrates the article:


Few weeks ago, there was this video showing a persistent hole in the Sun's Corona

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Thursday, May 9, 2013

tactile Simultaneous Localization and Mapping using Whiskers

There are few ways of learning. Based upon the methods the learners are classified as:


  • visual learners;
  • auditory learners;
  • kinesthetic learners or tactile learners


In robotics, we have seen examples of using audio and visual sensors to learn the surroundings. I came across this tactile learners called Shrewbots (Or may I call them the whisker-bots). Shrewbots use the technique called tSLAM (tactile Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) to sense its environments by using few actuated whiskers. See the video:


Below you can see the tSLAM at work!

Read more:
“Simultaneous Localization and Mapping on a Multi-Degree of Freedom Biomimetic Whiskered Robot,” by Martin J. Pearson, Charles Fox, J. Charles Sullivan, Tony J. Prescott, Tony Pipe, and Ben Mitchinson from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and Sheffield University's Adaptive Behaviour Research Group, was presented this week at ICRA 2013 in Germany. via ieeeSpectrum
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/shrewbot-whiskered-robot-tslam

Plus, you should follow BotJunkie to see some weird and interesting stuffs:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GerbilGod7?feature=watch

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

#NASA's @AstroRobonaut Challenge

Here is the challenge:
Improve the vision algorithms of  @AstroRobonaut, and win some money. http://t.co/ccwbDOTUNi

A Robonaut is a dexterous humanoid robot built and designed at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. You can join him on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NASArobonaut
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