Developments
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Just imagine having the job title: 'Toy Engineer'. Beneath the surface, everyone knows you are a mechanical engineer, however, 'toy engineer' just sounds better. Mario Morello and Peter Spence, co-founder and inventor of Tio, wear the badges of 'toy engineers' with pride.
They have launched an app called Tio that uses a programmable square block that is the "first motorized building block that makes anything smart." Showing off the practical use of this block (which you can see in this video on Forbes.com) shows that you can repurpose old toys, Go Pros and anything that could be turned into a portable, mobile toy. The idea is that you could mount the blocks - through sticky tabs or the magnetic mount - on whatever you could potentially drive around your living room and it will turn it into a connected, mobile vehicle.
The engineers from Tio say that multiple blocks can be coupled together and can work in unison, using the idea of the Internet of Things (IoT) that will be connecting appliances to each other and ensuring they speak to each other. The blocks can be controlled from the Tio app on a smartphone.
Check the video below to see how it all works:
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Manufacturing fabric is always an interesting industry for engineers to experiment in. There used to be an advertisement on TV from Sasol (seriously watch it, it's a good ad) that asked the question of whether or not there could be a futuristic fabric that could regulate a human's body temperature. Fabric that knew when it was hot and when it was cold and change the body temperature of the wearer accordingly.
MIT have taken it upon themselves to test out the manufacturing of fabric to design the future clothes we wear. Professor Hiroshi Ishii is at the helm of the bioLogic team that have noticed interesting results with an ancient bacteria called Bacillus subtilis natto. The team is putting the bacteria into clothing and due to the expansion and contraction of the natto cells to atmospheric moisture, they could potentially create a fabric that opens vents once an alteration of pressure is felt.
The team say they have invented a "second skin" that feels a body sweat and opens a host of flaps, which will ventilate the suit and regulate body temperature.
A Ph.D. candidate student working with the bioLogic team is Lining Yao. The investigation into creating this new fabric has been ongoing for two years now. She says, "A garment can become an interface that can communicate with your body. The reason we started to explore this bacteria is that we knew that in the natural world there are a lot of smart materials that are naturally responsive. It's very sensitive to even tiny changes in the skin condition, so we thought an on-skin transformable textile would be a really interesting application."
According to MIT's Sharon Lacey, several clothes designers are interested in the developments and that this fabric could soon be introduced to the sports world.
Yao says that the project is revealing "not only how you can be inspired by nature, but how you can collaborate with nature."
For an in-depth look at how the bioLogic is fabric is created check this video out:
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Energy storage is a topic on the lips of engineers all over the world, including the ones with the big money like Elon Musk and Bill Gates. Everyone is looking for the next energy breakthrough and the notoriety of redesigning electricity consumption. The United States' Department of Energy claims they have the answer to the question mark of energy storage. The department says it has acquired the 'holy grail' of energy.
A subsidiary company of the Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Arpa-E) have reportedly made a landmark discovery. They announced this at the Energy Innovation Summit that took place in Maryland on the 29th of February and concluded on the 2nd of March.
In the next ten years, Arpa-E plans to transform America's electrical grid, says Dr Elen Williams, the company's director. Engineers were put to work after President Barack Obama announced funding for the project, and those engineers claim to have "new designs for batteries, and new chemistries which are rapidly bringing down the costs of energy," Williams explained. As of yet there are no physical examples of the 'holy grail' technology they have developed, but will be piquing the interest of companies like Tesla, who have been attempting to build their own energy storage unit called Powerwall.
Australia's Clean Energy Council is also looking for the definitive answer to battery storage. In a recently published paper by the CEC - called Accelerating the Uptake of Battery Storage - the group call for the unlocking of "the full value of storage" for commercial markets but put emphasis on "integrity and safety" of the engineers and the customers that will make use of battery storage.
Safety of the battery storage industry currently booming in countries like America and Australia. In episode 2 of the Engineering News Network (ENN), Dr Steve Mackay, Dean at the Engineering Insitute of Technology, puts the current issues into perspective. He says, "First of all the price of lithium is rising rapidly, supply is not keeping up with demand. Battery energy storage costs are falling as technogy improves. Government is not sure where to go so they are jumping all over the place and training is not certified at this stage."
PV-Magazine claims that currently installers are not regulated, thus, they do not need "qualifications" or "sufficient competency for the installment" of battery storage devices.
What would an installer need in terms of qualifications and competency? Dr Steve Mackay details what training should occur and what needs to be considered with the oncoming wave of battery storage. He said in the ENN video, "With training, not only do you need to have basic electrical theory, you need to look at safe working with photovoltaic cells, batteries, connecting to the grid - which is also interesting - and finally the financial and economic aspects of connecting to the grid."
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
What do mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering have in common at Cornell University? A team of researchers have answered that question with their studies leading to a discovery which could equal sturdier surface treatments on structures for cars, airplanes and more.
In the scientific journal, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team published findings that looked at cancellous bones as a potential answer for surface treatments for engineers to apply on items that could malfunction if cracked or broken.
Cancellous bone is found near joints and the vertebrae and has a spongy exterior with harder interior. The biomedical engineers at Cornell University say that the ingredients that make up these bones are what heals a break or crack in the bones. So, they 'bounce' back into position.
This is making engineers think they can design a similar kind of foam that would bounce back once it develops a crack. Chris Hernandez is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineer at Cornell University. He said, "We used to think we had cancellous bone for the same reasons that use foams in engineering, to absorb energy or make the structure more lightweight. But it turns out that cancellous bone does something different. The way cancellous bone breaks actually makes it heal better."
Another engineer graduate student working on the project, Jonathan Matheny, said, "In the future, this could help in the design of new materials that can take advantage of this ‘function after failure."
Could we be seeing self-repairing car and airplane parts in the future? The insurance companies would have something to say about that - we'd imagine.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Fruit harvesters beware! Robots could be taking your jobs soon. High labour costs are the leading reason given for considering the move to robotics in the horticulture industry. Harvesting with automated, mechanical devices that do the job better than a human hand are becoming the preferred method of harvesting in the world today.
In Australia, labour costs are quickly convincing land owners to make - what they would consider - the smart decision of moving to robotic harvesters. John Lloyd, chief executive of Horticulture Innovation Australia, explains, "We probably have the highest labor costs in the world for horticulture, which is very labor-intensive."
Robotic fleets of workers are not a foreign idea to the engineers of Australia, last year a metals and mining corporation - Rio Tinto - introduced a fleet of autonomous trucks to their fleet. According to AFR.com, it was the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at the University of Sydney which assisted the companies with turning to robotics. The same teams are now working with Horticulture Innovation Australia and developing methods for "avocado, mango and other tree-crop growers" for harvesting, pruning and more.
Professor Salah Sukkarieh, the head of the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at University of Syndey said, "At the moment, I can send a robot out into the field and it can detect an individual weed among the crop and it will spray only that weed and not the crop and it will only spray the right amount of herbicide to kill just that weed. So automatically I've reduced the cost of labour and I can reduce it quite significantly and also cut the chemical cost as well."
If these robots can drive themselves and harvest by themselves we could see something similar to the olive harvesters in Italy, without the manual labour:
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The bottom of any vessel that is submerged in seawater is capable of collecting bacteria and marine organisms that have extremely negative effects on the vessels due to corrossion. The process of corrosion on the underbelly of these boats is called 'marine fouling'. It causes costly damages and equals hefty repairs. Those days could be over thanks to the engineers from the A*STAR Insititue of Chemical Engineering Sciences and Institute of Materials Research and Engineering.
According to PHYS.org the team has disovered a "methyl oxazoline polymer" that would avoid microorganisms from attaching themselves to the bottom of the vessels, it is claimed that it will also detach already prevalent microorganisms already on the vessels.
Andbanandam Parthiban, from A*STAR said, "Poly(methyl oxazoline) is the third generation of hydrophilic polymers under focus." He explained the antifouling agents as low-adhesive polymers that form hydration layers on coated surfaces. It is now using the moniker 'PMOx'.
They are now talking to prospective partners in the marine industry to implement the new PMOx coatings and potentially avoid the costly repairs that marine fouling causes.
European-Coatings says, "PMOX coatings effectively reduceStaphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli adhesion," and admit that it has "great potential" for the future of marine antifouling applications.
Read the official Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology Vol 18 for more information
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Russian automotive engineering company SHERP has shown off its amphibious ATV vehicle in a new video.
According to Top Gear, the ATV has self-inflating tyres that can dominate obstacles of 70cm or more. They also say it has a "Kubota four-pot (so four cylinders) 1.5-litre turbodiesel" inside the beast but only gets a max speed of 27 mph. When driving over water it does 3.7 mph.
The consensus amongst the public is that this is basically a tank.
Weighing in at 2866lbs, the ATV is one heavy vehicle to be carting around town, and you can do exactly that. For about $65,000 you can be the proud owner of one.
The vehicular equivalent of Chuck Norris comes to mind when looking at this ATV. Nonetheless, it is a spectacle of automotive engineering which has military benefits and is just all round awesome
.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
A new study conducted by body-language expert Dr Harry Witchel, Discipline Leader in Physiology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) believes that computers are able to read a person's body language to tell whether they are bored or interested in what they see on the screen based on the movements on the computer – such as scrolling and clicking.
The research states that it is possible to judge a person’s level of interest by monitoring whether they display the tiny movements that people usually constantly exhibit, widely referred to as non-instrumental movements.
If a person is absorbed in what they are doing or watching on the computer – what Dr Witchel refers to as ‘rapt engagement’ – a noticeable decrease in these involuntary movements will show.
Dr Witchel said: "Our study showed that when someone is really highly engaged in what they're doing, they suppress these tiny involuntary movements. It's the same as when a small child, who is normally constantly on the go, stares gaping at cartoons on the television without moving a muscle.
The study consisted of 27 participants who faced a range of three-minute stimuli on a computer, from fascinating games to tedious readings from EU banking regulation, while using a handheld trackball to minimise instrumental movements, such as moving the mouse. Their movements were quantified over the three minutes using video motion tracking. In two comparable reading tasks, the more engaging reading resulted in a significant reduction (42%) of non-instrumental movement.
The study could have a large impact on the development of future learning applications that are based on artificial intelligence. This is due to the potential that the programme could adapt to a person’s interest in order to re-engage them when signs of boredom are shown. It could even contribute towards the development of companion robots, which would be better able to estimate a person's state of mind and emotional state.
"Being able to 'read' a person's interest in a computer program could bring real benefits to future digital learning, making it a much more two-way process," Dr Witchel said. "Further ahead it could help us create more empathetic companion robots, which may sound very 'sci fi' but are becoming a realistic possibility within our lifetimes."
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
An alumnus and a team from Oakland University have won $1 million for the creation of possibly the niftiest drone ever invented. The Loon Copter is an "aerial-surface-underwater reconnaissance drone". It can fly, ski on water and even dive down into water.
They built the drone for a competition called Drones for Good that exists to emphasize the use that drones have in the world of today. How drones "improve people's lives and provide positive technological solutions to modern day issues."
The drone utilizes a buoyancy chamber to stay afloat on water but can allow water into it so that it sinks into the water. When it needs to 'come up for air' it releases the water in the chamber and rises back to the surface.
The lead scientist that worked on the drone, Dr. Osamah Rawashdeh told Gizmag.com, "We are looking into acoustic modems, repeater buoys, and some other techniques that could allow streaming of live video for operator feedback as well as data and control commands." The benefits that the drone could have to construction businesses and the like would make this drone a very desired purchase for companies.
The team hopes the drone could be used in search and rescue operations amongst other uses. The drone could be invaluable in assisting engineers complete projects, where the drone would be able to reach those hard to reach places.
The seven engineers were thrilled to win the money at the Drones for Good competiton. Rawasdeh thinks it is a win for drone technology, saying, “Drones have this negative image associated with them now – surveillance and causing problems at airports and so on – but there are a lot of good uses for them, and this competition highlights that."
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Students at the University of Washington are focusing on something important, something that affects every person who has ever owned a device that operates on Wi-Fi. Battery drain. Student hardware engineers have developed a new hardware that allegedly uses 10,000 times less power than current Wi-Fi.
According to the students' report they have invented 'Passive Wi-Fi'. "Passive Wi-Fi transmissions can be decoded on any Wi-Fi device including routers, mobile phones and tablets," says the paper.
Unlike traditional Wi-Fi, the passive iteration will transmit a radio frequency which will be relayed to a Wi-Fi enabled device via sensors that utilize near to no power. The sensors recognize the radio signal and sends the less power consuming Wi-Fi to devices that have chipsets within them. They are able to achieve with 'backscatter' technologies.
One of the authors of the paper, Shyam Gollakota told the Daily Mail: "'The passive devices are only reflecting to generate the Wi-Fi packets, which is a really energy-efficient way to communicate."
The discovery is inspiring confidence in companies designing devices for businesses and homes that will make use of and require the Internet of Things (IOT). Communicating with digital devices through the Internet of Things and interconnecting those devices is something that the students at the University of Washington are guarenteeing the 'Passive Wi-Fi' they've invented will do.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
One small step for quantum technology, one giant leap for MIT. Quantum engineering is always being reupholstered due to newer research that becomes available to the field, it is considered as a relatively new field of engineering. The Massachusetts Institue of Technology (MIT) have been investigating how quantum physics and computing go hand in hand for quite some time, and it seems they've made a breakthrough.
With the assistance of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, MIT has announced that the first five quantum bits of their quantum computer have been tested and proven to be working. The quantum bits solved mathematical equations, giving hope that soon we might see a more secure alternative in encryption of information like credit cards and cloud services. This is explained by MIT's Jennifer Chu: "It’s thought that a single quantum computer may easily crack this problem [encryption of information], by using hundreds of atoms, essentially in parallel, to quickly factor huge numbers."
The researchers claim this is the "first scalable implementation" of a quantum computing algorithm first theorized in 1994 by the Morss Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT, Peter Shor. The team at MIT say that they've discovered a method of using laser pulses to factor the number 15, which would in the future factor numbers of a much higher value.
Isaac Chaung, a professor of physics and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, says, "We show that Shor’s algorithm, the most complex quantum algorithm known to date, is realizable in a way where, yes, all you have to do is go in the lab, apply more technology, and you should be able to make a bigger quantum computer."
Chuang admits that the costs of building the computer will be "an enormous amount of money to build" but concedes that it is more an "engineering effort" than a question about physics. So the world might not be seeing the quantum computer soon, however, if banks are able to protect credit card information at a more secure level, they might be the first in line.
According to Computing, the quantum engineering field will be receiving government funding to the tune of £200m to further produce engineers across 40 universities that could assist in the building of quantum computers.
For more information about the mechanics of the computer and the scalability of it for the future: CLICK HERE
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Scientists at Cornell University are putting their engineers to work with one of the most fascinating projects of the year. They have designed a stretchy, flexible skin that might fill out many different roles. The skin emits light like a cellphone displays a screen on a phone, or, at least, that's what it looks like. They call it a hyper-elastic light-emitting capacitor (HLEC) and can be stretched up to twice the amount that previous stretchable fabrics were capable of.
In their report on their creation, Chris Larson, Bryan Peele and their colleagues say, "The material could be highly stretched, could emit light, and could also sense internal and external pressure." According to Gizmodo, one of these days, "we can wear it like sleeves or even cover entire robots with it."
Rob Shepard, the assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University says that the skin might see robots change their colour and displays change their shape. On the significance of a robot changing its colour with the skin, Shepard said, "For one thing, when robots become more and more a part of our lives, the ability for them to have emotional connection with us will be important." The medical advantages have been underlined as well. Patients' pulses, temperatures and more could be reflected on the light emitting display. There are endless opportunities with stretchable, light-emitting displays.
The group has released an article called Highly Stretchable Electroluminescent Skin for Optical Signaling and Tactile Sensing detailing how they were able to design the fabric that can survive a strain of up to six times its original size.
According to Cornell University's website, the skin is created by sending electricity in between " layers of transparent hydrogel electrodes sandwiching a dielectric (insulating) elastomer sheet". The elastomer lights up and stores the electric charge and then can be stretched, and in turns makes it a 'soft robot'.
Shepard concedes that there is more work to do due to rubber evaporations on the soft robots during testing but is confident that the future of bendable displays is soon.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Being an engineer is sometimes one of the most rewarding jobs. Not only for the almost guaranteed employment in your field but also because you get to play with some of the coolest 'toys'.
National Engineers Week has come and gone but one of the highlights for engineering students at Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District was seeing 'The Echo Ranger' in the flesh. The Echo Ranger is Boeing's submersible 'yellow submarine' - an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) - which was shown off in its yellow brilliance to the students, this past week.
Randall Hoover, the senior mechanical design engineer of the vehicle said, "We are using Echo Ranger as kind of a tool," for attracting students to the engineering field. According to WIRED, these vehicles are now being used for "oil and gas surveying, searching for sunken ships and aircraft, and mapping underwater features."
According to an official video of the Echo, the claims are that it can dive to 20,000 feet and can remain submerged, working on an objective for three days.
"It opens a whole new capability to undersea exploration for both military customers as well as the commercial environment," said Mark Kosko, the program manager for Boeing Undersea Systems.
A mechanical engineer at Boeing, Julianne Choy, who is working on a new unnamed, unreleased vehicle for Boeing vouched for engineering as a career. She said, "Engineering is a job where you can make the world a better place,” she told students. “And, while you are doing that, it’s very fun, very collaborative and you get to work with really amazing people."
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Lithium ion batteries. Are they as safe as they could be? Ankur Jain, an assistant professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Arlington is researching how to make safer lithium ion batteries. He wants to update the technology based on research he has conducted and the contributions of the global community that have reported issues with lithium ion batteries.
The National Science Foundation awarded Jain a five-year, $500,000 Faculty Early Career Development grant to further fund his research.
Jain says, "The end goal is to develop a fundamental understanding of the nature of how heat flows in energy conversion devices such as Li-ion cells and what impedes the flow of heat in those devices." He says that due to the usage of these batteries in electric vehicles, appliances and many other applications, overheating issues arise. "Improvement in heat removal from a battery will directly improve its performance, as well as its safety and reliability."
Elsewhere, Penn State University's Battery and Energy Storage Technology Center have been conducting their own research for the betterment of ion-lithium batteries. They have allegedly put temperature sensors within the batteries to "monitor internal temperatures, detect problems and provide early warning for intervention."
As more appliances are invented that require the power capabilities of Li-ion batteries, what is encouraging is that a method of explode-proofing batteries is being researched by multiple researchers in the engineering field.
Electric cars are one of the focuses where powerful Li-ion batteries that don't overheat to the point of explosion or melting are needed. The Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG - a German carmaker - and head of Mercedes-Benz has said that they are devoting €500 million to building a second battery factory in Germany that will develop stronger Li-ion batteries to power their electric vehicles.
Thus, the research into overheating of Li-ion batteries is now needed more than ever to ensure these batteries are safe to release to consumers.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
In the biomedical engineering field, cancer research is an important faculty of study. But, there are questions about the viability of current nanotechnology, in terms of creating cancer treatments. The concerns have been raised by the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research whose work includes the "advancement of new medicines, early detection, and diagnostic methods, more effective treatments, and highly efficient drug delivery systems" as stated on their website.
Purdue University is encouraging "changes in the field" due to the current technology not producing "successful clinical results". The National Cancer Institute in the United States authored the Cancer Nanotechnology Plan 2015 to focus on the "decrease in societal cancer-related morbidity" with the assistance of nanotechnology, a program that is supposed to run for 10 years. Pardue University are now saying that what they've seen in the field isn't working.
Giving further clarity on the criticisms of the current methods used in nanotechnology, Bumsoo Han, a Purdue University associate professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering, said, "The bottom line is that so far there are only a few successful nanoparticle formulations approved and clinically used, so we need to start thinking out of the box."
One of the criticisms relates to using laboratory mice that are not useful in reflecting results that would be useful in measuring what happens in human bodies. Pardue University is pushing for "in-vitro experiments that mimic human physiology" instead.
Earlier this year, in February, biomedical engineers in Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre claimed they had developed a way to detect "disease biomarkers" with the assistance of nanotechnology. The group of engineers claim they use a new technique that considers nucleic acid sequences and produces an electronic signature to determine the disease biomarkers.
Adam Hall, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, the main author of the study, said, "We envision this as a potential first-line, noninvasive diagnostic to detect anything from cancer to the Ebola virus."
So, one university is detecting cancer using nanotechnology, and the other one is trying to figure out how to cure cancer with nanotechnology. Pardue University maintains that the creation of cancer treatments through nanotechnology still needs some work so that one day it might make an impact on the globe.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
A new supercomputer powered by biological components created by a team of engineers from around the globe is being unveiled to the world. Dan Nicolau, a computer scientist from McGill University, Canada, pioneered the idea of creating a supercomputer that operates on biochemical substance, providing energy to the computer with similar energy that provides human cells with their energy - in the human body.
According to the press release from the university, the supercomputer would run on Adenosine triphosphate - the currency of life - which uses proteins present in all living cells, like the human body.
The bio-supercomputer is smaller than the colossal sizes of supercomputers in the world today, employing less energy from cells that the computer operates on. According to ExaminerGazette, the biological computer would use "up less than 1 percent of the power a current supercomputer does" and is the size of a book.
Nicolau, along with his son and engineering colleagues banded together and built the supercomputer out of "a combination of geometrical modelling and engineering know how" to create a system of protein strings travelling around a circuit with the assistance of ATP.
The model that they have built, however, is not a full proof working prototype but leaves some space for invention on top of the team's discoveries. "“It’s hard to say how soon it will be before we see a full-scale bio super-computer. One option for dealing with larger and more complex problems may be to combine our device with a conventional computer to form a hybrid device. Right now we’re working on a variety of ways to push the research further," Nicolau said.
For more technical information on the first, working, biological supercomputer here are the results of the study: Parallel computation with molecular-motor-propelled agents in nanofabricated networks.
For a visual representation of how this works CLICK HERE
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
A new breakthrough in biological engineering spells good news for several companies who might have been using synthetic, toxic dyes in their products. A natural alternative for dyeing items indigo has been discovered.
Dr. Jixun Zahn - an associate professor of biological engineering - works at Utah State University in the United States and has patented a new method of making a natural blue dye called inigoidine.He is at the university.
Indigoidine is a deep blue dye found in the dyeing of jeans, drinks, paper and even some foods.
Explaining how the process works, Zhan said, "In the original producing strain, there is only one copy of the biosynthetic gene that synthesizes the pigment...But in E. coli. we can make multiple copies of the gene and induce its expression under a stronger promoter."
After this process, it is further "processed and purified" so that it can be used in foods and makeup, amongst other things.
Business development director at Utah State University has applauded the discovery and added, "I’ve had a number of conversations with food- and consumer-product companies that are looking for natural dyes to replace some or all the synthetic chemical-based dyes currently in use — in particular blue.”
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced the awarding of a contract that will see the return of a Concorde-like aircraft to the world. Lockheed Martin are the lucky engineers that were given the $20 million order to design an aircraft that utilizes what is called Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST).
This would be the first "X-plane" produced for NASA's New Aviation Horizons initiative.
It forms part of NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology Project that aims to create an aircraft that flies at supersonic speeds but doesn't produce sonic booms that are synonymous with supersonic aircraft. The issue the Concorde had was that it could only go supersonic once they were clear of any populated areas. NASA wants their supersonic plane to fly over populated areas and produce a 'low boom' that doesn't disrupt anyone below the aircraft. This is a strict ban that was introduced by the Federal Aviation Administration.
A NASA spokesperson speaking to The Guardian said, " The company [Lockheed Martin] will develop baseline aircraft requirements and a preliminary aircraft design, with specifications, and provide supporting documentation for concept formulation and planning."
NASA expects that a working flight test might take to the skies in 2020. Prepare for some UFO spotting claims on the internet around that time.
Focus on passenger flight
Are NASA wanting to get passengers on it and fly them around in supersonic speeds?
NASA administrator Charles Bolden says that they are indeed awarding the design contract to Lockheed Martin with, "an aim toward passenger flight."
British Airways and Air France retired the Concorde in 2003 after a slump in profitability, along with the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in 2000 that did not inspire confidence in the minds of eligible passengers.
Jaiwon Shin, an associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission said: “Developing, building and flight testing a quiet supersonic X-plane is the next logical step in our path to enabling the industry’s decision to open supersonic travel for the flying public."
Whilst the fact of shorter air time travel might be attractive, marketing it to passengers might be a hard task for the companies at work considering the history of supersonic passenger jets.
Check the video out for more information on how quiet supersonic air travel might be possible:
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
As fibre-optic networks become more prevalent in South African businesses and homes, Cape Town could be boasting one of the fastest connections in the world. A German telecommunications company called ADVA Optical Networking, this week, tested the capabilities of the service which resulted in 400 Gbps.
Cape Town Business News alleges that these speeds have only been reached four times in the world on fibre-optic networks and that these speeds have never been measured at this speed in Africa.
Xanthea Limberg is the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Corporate Services and Compliance. She praised the network speed test by saying, "‘The trial demonstrates a potential quantum leap in both the speed and the potential performance of our network. At 400 Gbps, it takes less than 0,02 seconds to transfer data equivalent to the capacity of a movie."
The stats will interest citizens who might have been overly sceptical of broadband growth in South Africa. President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, only mentioned broadband once in his State of the Nation address which took place on the 11th of February, 2016. President Zuma said, "Government will fast-track the implementation of the first phase of broadband roll-out to connect more than five thousand government facilities in eight district municipalities over a three-year period." According to the City of Cape Town's website, R1,3 billion is spent on establishing a broadband network across the city.
Limberg continued by saying that they successfully connect 300 government and public buildings, including a host of municipal buildings on the fibre network.
The project was engineered through a 106km route that stretches between Nyanga and Mitchells Plain.
South African cities are reaping the benefit of constantly improving Wi-Fi access points as well. An infographic released by the Tshwane Municipality showed that they had 630,000 unique users as of May 2015. Their aim is to ensure that by 2017 there will be Wi-Fi in walking distance of every citizen in Tshwane. Cape Town have 190 of their own Wi-Fi points that are being utilized as well.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The anxiety of workers in the world these days is that their jobs are going to be taken by a robot who can do their job more efficiently and better than they can. Some jobs are being replaced by robots but The Guardian reports that car maker Mercedes-Benz is opting to pair their robots up with "more capable humans".
Allegedly, the robots are unable to cope with the different car customisation options that are offered by the company. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class's customisation features include, "carbon-fiber trim, heated and cooled cupholders and four types of caps for the tire valves," according to Bloomberg.
Head of production at the factory in Sindelfingen, Markus Schaefer says, "“Robots can’t deal with the degree of individualization and the many variants that we have today." They argue that robots lack the dexterity and attention to detail that humans have. Robots within car factories is not a rare practice but it is becoming more clear in the car industry that robots assisting humans will become the norm compared to full fledged robot takeovers of assembly lines.
According to ComputerWorld, Audi has been testing 'telepresence robots'. This would involve being able to contact mechanics from over the world to collaborate in the assistance of reparing cars in Audi factories in real time. The company hopes that by the end of 2016 there will be at least one assistance robot in the 292 dealerships in the United States.
Is this Mercedes-Benz's way of escalating their prices for a more handmade, tailored-suit premium kind of car? Or is it a viable option for a harmonious future between mankind and robots? Time will tell. What cannot be underminded, however, is the role that robots are playing in the efficiency of creating cars in the world today.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Facebook has announced their new project that will see tech companies and internet service providers all over the world linking arms to bring the world of virtual reality - and other services that might require the internet - to life. The project they're calling the Telecom Infra Project will be an engineering team effort that will "reimagine the traditional appraoch to building and deploying telecom network infrastructure."
Global connectivity is one of the aims of the project, recruiting a list of providers to kick start the project. The notable preliminary contributions coming from companies such as:
- SK Telecom
- Africa Mobile Network
- Deutsche Telekom
- Nokia
- Intel
- T-Mobile
"“Every day, more people and devices around the world are coming online, and it’s becoming easier to share data-intensive experiences like video and virtual reality,” said the head of engineering and and infrastructure at Facebook, Jay Parikh.
Parikh further said that the world needs to speed up on innovation in telecom infrastructure so that the new technologies emerging operate fully and "unlock new opportunities for everyone in the ecosystem."
These announcements were made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which has produced a lot of chatter about 5G internet speeds and the internet of things that will connect the world's appliances to the internet.
For more information on the project feel free to visit their website
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The future is here and it might be a little too unnerving to watch.
Boston Dyanmics, an engineering and robotics design company owned by Alphabet (the company that owns Google) has unveiled an upgraded iteration of their Atlas Humanoid. In a new video the 'next generation' robot is seen opening a door and circumnavigating a snowy area in the nearby woods. It has been upgraded to "operate outdoors and inside buildings," Boston Dynamics say in the description of the new viral video. The video shows this when the robot is seen picking up boxes of different weights and placing them on shelves. YouTube comments have reflected negatively at a section of the video where the robot is 'bullied' by a bearded engineer; he shoves the robot down with a stick and then the robot gets up again.
Explaining how exactly the robot is able to mimic human movement, Boston Dynamics explained, "It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydrualically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors inits head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects."
Entreprenuer and blogger Jason Calacanis in an interview with CNBC said, "Manual labour is going to end in our lifetime, and in this video you can see how close we really are. It's a huge societal issue with jobs, but it's going to be a huge lift in terms of efficiency of companies that nobody expected."
Check the video out below:
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The International Data Corporation (IDC) has announced that it estimates the global spending on robotics and industrial services will grow from $71 billion in 2015 to $135.4 billion in 2019.
This was confirmed in their Worldwide Commercial Robotics Spending Guide which covers industrial markets such as:
- Robot sensors such as cameras, microphones, barometers, and thermometers
- Robot effectors such as end effectors, motors, and speakers
- System hardware
- Command and control software
- Services such as implementation, maintenance, repair, and consulting
In a statement to the press about what the spending guide means for the future of robotics, John Santagate, a Research Manager at IDC Manufacturing Insights said, "Robotics as a technology has really reached its tipping point. Robotic capabilities continue to expand while increasing investment in robot development is driving competition and helping to bring down the costs associated with robots."
Robotics is also becoming a field of study for children who live in slum areas in India. TribuneIndia reports that a start up called Robotics Education World will offer six month courses to train children in robotics. They claim they will be able to offer this for 20,000 children and young adults in New Dheli. The report released by IDC indicates that 65% of robotic spending is in the Asia/Pacific regions and will double by 2019.
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Engineers from the University of Utah have recently discovered a revolutionary type of 2D semiconducting material that will open the door for faster smart phones and computers, while consuming significantly less power.
The semiconductor made from tin monoxide (tin and oxygen) is a layer of 2D material and only one atom thick. This allows the conductor to have electrical charges move through it much faster than silicon and other 3D materials that are conventionally used. This material has the potential to be used in transistors, which are the core component to electronic devices such as CPU’s and GPU’s in computers and mobile devices.
This discovery was made by a research team from the University of Utah, led by associate professor of materials science Ashutosh Tiwari. These findings were recently published in a research journal on February 15 2016 entitled Advanced Electronic Materials.
The many benefits of 2D materials are still being researched, as the field has only opened up over the past five years. Researchers in this field have recently discovered new types of 2D material such as disulphide, borophene, graphene, and molybdenun which only allow the movement of negative (N-type) electrons. In order to create an electronic device, you require a semiconductor material that allows the movement of both N-type electrons and positive charges. The tin monoxide material discovered by the team University of Utah is the first stable positive (P-type) 2D semiconductor material in existence.
Now that the Tiwari and his team have both the P-type and N-type 2D semiconductors, they are confident that manufacturing of transistors that are smaller and faster than those used today is achievable. The transistors Tiwari and his team can make with their semiconducting material could lead to computers and smartphones that are more than 100 times faster than regular devices, won’t get as hot as normal computer chips, and require significantly less power.
“The field is very hot right now, and people are very interested in it,” Tiwari says. “So in two or three years we should see at least some prototype device.”
- Details
- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
India’s rapid urbanization and industrial development have overtaken all efforts to protect the environment. This has led two of MIT’s doctoral students in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences to begin working on a way to address India’s high levels of air and water pollution issues that pose a threat to human health.
Nick Hagerty, a fourth-year PhD student is designing a cap and trade program with the intention of reducing pollution from industrial wastewater. Ariel Zucker, a third-year PhD student is developing an environmental rating program for industrial smokestack emissions. Both of these projects were developed through MIT’s Tata Center for Technology and Design, whose mission is to address the challenges of communities which are resource-constrained.
Project One: Cap and Trade
Nick Hagerty is working with a team of professors from Harvard University, Yale University and the University of Chicago to provide a financial incentive to polluting companies in India to clean up their act by enabling companies to work together to meet a proposed set of pollution reduction goals.
"What if there were a way to transcend this tradeoff — to reduce pollution without killing off industry? We’ve seen in other parts of the world that there is a tool that can achieve that: It’s emissions trading, or cap and trade," Hagerty says.
Hagerty and the team plan to work with an environmental regulator and a local industry association to monitor the industrial wastewater released by approximately 110 factories that share a treatment facility in the Indian state of Gujarat. They will then provide these factories with pollution permits and enable these companies to trade these amongst themselves.
This project makes it possible for facilities that face high clean up costs to pay another – such as one with cleaner operations and low clean up costs – to take on the emission reductions in order to meet the group goals.
Project Two: Environmental Rating
Ariel Zucker believes that even if you have great technology, you need some incentive for people to reduce pollution. At the moment India has high environmental standards, however the regulations are not very well policed and enforced. This means a lot of the standards are ignored by large organisations.
With the same team of professionals that Haggerty is working with, Zucker is planning to tackle this issue by giving companies a public reputation for environmental performance – for good or poor.
In the state of Maharashtra, Zucker and the team are collecting data on stack emissions from approximately 100 industrial plants and ranking them based on the total amount of particular matter they are releasing into the atmosphere. They plan to assign each plant with a star rating and publish the results online.
Zucker believes strongly in the incentive program as she says "It’s feasible and pretty low-cost for many of these industries to come closer to compliance. If it’s not worth their reputation to do it, they won’t do it. If it is they will.”
This program is planned to go into operation in the spring (northern-hemisphere), when the group will continually monitor smokestack emissions to evaluate the project’s impact.
"I think this project will give industry groups some incentives to start being better citizens," Zucker says. "We see a lot of room for small, low-cost improvements that can have a big impact on pollution."