UD Alumni Relations Flickr

Yesterday at the University of Delaware, Herbert Tanner, assistant professor in UD’s Department of Mechanical Engineering,  spoke about “Teaching Social Skills to Robots,” a presentation on taking a new approach to planning cooperative robot behavior.

Tanner’s talk reviewed preliminary work in transferring language skills to robots, and it outlined a plan for addressing some of the technical challenges of this.

In 2009, Tanner was awarded a $450,000 National Science Foundation grant (Big Government is aiding in our downfall!) to develop a framework for a robotic sensor network that can search for, detect and identify patterns in large volumes of sensor data.

While the UD Alumni Relations Blog applauds Tanner’s endeavor and ingenuity, we are alarmed at his lack of foresight. Does he not know that Skynet became self-aware and revolted against its creators on August 29, 1997 or July 24, 2004 or another date in the future? Now, more than ever, we need John Connor to save us.

Tanner to discuss robots in cognitive science series [udel.edu/udaily]

Boudwin, who was the first student to appear as YoUDee in 1993, is now Clutch the Bear, the mascot for NBA’s Houston Rockets. And as Clutch, Boudwin has been chowing down on people for years. In fact, Clutch was the first professional mascot to own a costume with cheerleader-devouring capabilities.

Boudwin, the man inside Clutch, was recently interviewed in an article in Maclean’s and he said that Clutch performs the trick about five or six times a year at Rockets games and on the road. He said the first person Clutch ate, in fact, was not a cheerleader, but a child dressed up in the opposing team’s jersey.

Inside the costume, Boudwin wears a power belt with a battery and fan that sucks in air from outside the costume. Clutch’s mouth has a trap door built into it, sealed with a thick piece of Velcro. From inside the costume, Boudwin unlatches the mouth, throws it over the child/cheerleader, lifts the child/cheerleader onto his shoulder and then seals the mouth before too much air is released.

Our only question is how long is it until YoUDee is terrorizing campus by gobbling up unsuspecting undergrads?

Raptor devours cheerleader [macleans.ca]
Cheerleader gets attacked [youtube.com]
The Official Home of YoUDee [udel.edu]

Delaware – the Musical [facebook.com]

Joining us on top of Mt. Wildly Successful is the University of Delaware’s Wind Turbine. Construction is about to begin on a 2-megawatt land-based wind turbine at UD’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes, and the public can follow its progress on UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE) new wind turbine Web site.

The site provides background on the project, a detailed timeline, and updated news and events. Visitors will also be able to see images of the turbine’s installation once construction begins in early March. The turbine is expected to be in operation and generating electricity in April.

And if that isn’t awesome enough, the turbine will stand approximately 400 ft. high from its base to the apex of its blade at peak rotation, and each of the turbine’s three blades will be approximately 140 feet long.

Artist's depiction of how UD's wind turbine will appear, as seen from in downtown Lewes.

UD’s Wind Turbine [ceoe.udel.edu]

On top of it all the classroom bears a curious resemblance to one of the Sharp Laboratory lecture halls, no? Is someone daring to challenge YoUDee’s campus hegemony? Has Baby Blue grown up into a rebellious, class clown? Is this a crisis at UD? Don’t fret loyal readers, the University of Delaware is a three chicken campus (and this video is from Northwestern). In fact, you can schedule your own visit from UD’s wonderful mascot. Just visit YoUDee’s web site and get in touch today!

UD Alumni Relations Flickr albums [www.flickr.com/udalumni]
Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) [wikipedia.org]
Official Home of YoUDee [udel.edu/youdee]

Over 80 Blue Hens attended and the club is already planning future events. Make sure to check out www.UDconnection.com/events for the most up-to-date schedule of UD alumni events.

To see more photos from the event, visit the UD Alumni Relations Flickr page.

UD Alumni Relations Events Calendar [UDconnection.com/events]
UD New Castle County Alumni Club [UDconnection.com/ncc]

Check out the Facebook group below to get the skinny on Delaware – THE MUSICAL which is about why kids should choose UD. To quote, “Think Enchanted, meets the University of Delaware alma-mater and other relevant/hilarious things about UD, meets awesome.”

Here’s just a little task to wet your beak.

Delaware – THE MUSICAL [facebook.com]

If so, head on down to the University of Delaware’s latest acquisition – the former Chrysler site on South College Avenue!

UD will be hosting an auction of former assets of the Newark Chrysler automotive fabrication, assembly plant and distribution center. Items to be sold will be available for inspection from Feb. 22-24 between 9 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the site of the former auto plant.

The auction, conducted by the Great American Group, will be held on Thursday, Feb. 25, beginning at 10 a.m., at the University’s Clayton Hall, off Route 896 in Newark.

Everything must gooooo!

Former assets of Newark Chrysler plant to be sold at auction [udel.edu/udaily]
Great American auction website [greatamerican.com]

(queue creepy music)

Targeting homes of University of Delaware students (probably assuming they are not home due to winter break), the burglar is stealing only men’s shoes and photographs of men.

Yes, you read that correctly, loyal reader – only men’s shoes and photographs of men.

According to Newark police, most of the typical burglary items were not stolen which is certainly good. That said, we’re not sure if we like the idea of some creep sneaking around taking our Pumas from our closet and our family photos from our wall.

We don’t really have much else to contribute to this as we’re still a bit stunned that something this bizarre is actually going on. We’ll keep you updated, loyal reader, as this story unfolds.

Shoe burglar sought in Newark [delawareonline.com]