From the dawn of civilization, paper records have been a method of keeping track of important and necessary documentation. A common experience throughout the world’s record keeping has been the necessity to ensure that all documents are kept together, and none are lost.

【小题1】 These included tying ribbons through the paper, and melting wax to secure the papers in place. For nearly 600 years, these were the methods used to secure papers.

【小题2】 In 1835, a machine that could mass-produce straight pins was invented by Howe J.I, an American inventor. Although straight pins (大头针) were originally designed for sewing and tailoring, people began using them as a quick and easy way to secure papers. 【小题3】 In 1899 he patented the device, which consisted of a wire bent into a particularly shaped hoop for the purpose of securing papers.

During this time, however, the paperclip (回形针) was not a widely distributed device. Therefore, the Gem Manufacturing Company of England developed a machine to manufacture and standardize the paperclip design. 【小题4】

Today the paperclip is a famous invention used throughout offices, schoolrooms, and business throughout the world. 【小题5】

When you walk with a backpack, do you know how the things inside move from side to side? Now scientists have figured out how to tap into that movement to produce electricity.

Picture a pendulum (摆锤) fixed to a backpack frame and stabilized with springs on either side. The pack’s weight is attached to the pendulum, so the pendulum swings side to side as you walk. Then a machine is driven by that swinging movement, and spits out electrical current to charge a battery.

Volunteers carried the pack while walking on a running machine and wore masks to measure the flow of O₂ and CO₂. Walking with the slightly swinging 20-pound load, the device (设备) did not significantly affect the volunteers’ metabolic (新陈代谢的) rate compared to when they carried the same weight fixed in place. In fact, the energy-harvesting pack reduced the forces of acceleration they’d feel in a regular pack, which might mean greater comfort for a long hike. And the device did produce a steady trickle (涓流) of electricity. If you up the load to 45 pounds, the swing of the pack could fully charge a smart phone only after 12 hours. The details are in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

The device produces electricity from human movement and has been identified as a workable solution to providing a renewable energy source for portable electronic devices. It is particularly useful for those who work in remote areas, as these people often carry a lot of weight in a backpack for their exploration.

But here’s a real conundrum: the energy-harvesting device currently weighs five pounds. The researchers say that’s about four pounds too many to be a smart alternative to batteries. So they hope that more research lets them lighten the load, to ensure the pack charges you up without weighing you down.

A pair of researchers with Leibniz University of Hannover has demonstrated the means by which robots might be programmed to experience something similar to pain in animals. As part of their demonstration at last week’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation held in Stockholm, Johannes Kuehn and Sami Haddaddin showed how pain might be used in robots, by interacting with a BioTac fingertip sensor on the end of a Kuka robotic arm that had been programmed to react differently to differing amounts of pain.

The idea of developing an artificial robot nervous system may seem contrary to all expectations, but Kuehn says doing so is important in the same way that it is good for humans to feel pain. “Pain is a system that protects us,” says Kuchn. “When we avoid the source of pain, it helps us not get hurt.” So when robots can feel and react to pain, they will become smart enough to avoid it. The more dangerous the robot registers the threat to be, the faster it will withdraw and avoid the source of danger. Additionally, Kuehn and Haddadin say humans working alongside robots that feel pain, especially those in heavy machinery, will be protected around them.

They have tested out some of their ideas using a robotic arm with a fingertip sensor that can detect pressure and temperature. It uses a robot-tissue patch (小片) modeled on human skin to decide how much pain should be felt and thus what action to take. For example, if the arm feels light pain, it slowly withdraws until the pain stops, and then returns to its original task; severe pain, meanwhile, causes the arm to go into a kind of lockdown mode until it can get help from a human operator.

Such robots are likely to raise a host of questions, of course, if they become more common — if a robot acts the same way a human does when touching a hot plate, are we to believe it is truly experiencing pain? Only time will tell of course, but one thing that is evident, Kuehn and Haddadin’s work could lead to robots that are more human-like than ever.