Skully: The Helmet of the future

In recent times we find smartphone technology almost reaching a point where we have almost packed everything in a very small box package. The processing power of a computer right in the palm of your hand. Now the time has come when the same needs to really spread out into wearable technology. Google Glass and Smart watches are two such things that have already proved the concept. May be in a few years from now wearable electronics would be a thing of everyday use.

So if you drive a bike you know how difficult it gets to access your phone once you put the helmet on. Skully AR-1 is the answer to just that and a lot more. Imagine a helmet that brings all the features of a smartphone right in front of your eyes. And yes no compromise on safety.

Check out these Tech Specs:

StoreDot-nanodot battery technology can charge your smartphone in a matter of seconds

What if charging your smartphone battery from empty to full just takes 30-40 seconds of your life. That would be such an awesome thing right?

An Israel based company by the name StoreDot demonstrated a new battery technology that could revolutionize the entire portable electronics and electric vehicle technology for the better at the Microsoft’s Think Next symposium in Tel Aviv on 7th April.

How it works 

In a traditional battery the voltage is developed by a chemical reaction. The time needed to charge the battery is basically the time required to reverse the chemical reaction.

The new battery technology utilizes electrodes made with new materials and are called MFE- Multi Function Electrode. The electrode basically acts as a super-capacitor on one side (with very fast charging), and on the other is like a lithium electrode (with slow discharge). The electrolyte is modified with what are called Nanodots in order to make the multifunction electrode more effective.

AirMule takes UAS technology to a new dimension

UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) technology comes in all shapes and sizes these days. Although the bigger ones are mostly used by the armed forces for international reconnaissance and in some cases attack, like the Predator B.

A system developed by the Tactical Robotics LTD a subsidiary of the the Urban Aeronautics LTD based in Israel have developed a unique UAS system which due to its VTOL and and high maneuverability, can perform a multitude of tasks and could possibly take the capability of UAS to a totally new level in terms of both civilian and military use.

At first glance it looks something straight from a SciFi action movie. The Aircraft is only slightly larger than the size of a standard Hummer. The biggest advantage for this aircraft are the internal lift rotors (Enclosed in the body) which gives it the benefit of flying in mountainous and urban environments, conventional helicopters or other multirotor platforms have a risk in such environments due to their exposed rotors.

Heat Sink technology used for efficient cookware.

If you have ever looked into the insides of a Desktop computer you might have noticed a prominent fan placed over finned metal block mostly made out of aluminium. That's called a heat sink and its designed to take away all  the heat generated by the microprocessor. Without a proper heat sink the processor might just burn up or melt away. The heat sink basically spreads out the heat over a larger area thus dissipates heats in lesser time.

Physicist Lee Huang though just the opposite, how about using a heat sink to absorb more heat from a gas stove flame more efficiently? A normal cooking pot as you know has a smooth surface at the bottom. A lot of heat from the burner flame escapes from the sides ending up being uselessly lost to the surrounding. A seemingly simple but effective idea is to attached fins at the bottom/base of the cooking pot. This results in more heat being utilized for heating the content in the pot compared to that of a normal pot with a smooth bottom. This results in lesser cooking time resulting in saving time and money. A great solution for commercial and house hold applications. The finned pots end up being 30-50% more energy efficient then their smooth counterparts.

Picture Courtesy http://www.sustainablefoodservice.com

DALER: A drone that's capable of flying and crawling on the ground

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have been doing some remarkable work when it comes to innovation in flying robots.

This time from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), researchers at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems have come up with an innovative concept of a flying platform that can not only fly but even crawl on the ground. The backronym 'DALER' stands for "Deployable Air Land Exploration Robot". Its actually named after the man behind the Project 'Ludovic Daler' a Ph.D candidate.

The project goes by the title 'Adaptive Morphology for Multi-Modal Locomotion' and is aimed at developing robots capable of multiple modes of locomotion. For task such as exploration, search-and-rescue, or monitoring of the environment autonomous or remotely operated robots are the obvious choice. But for these kind of tasks robots may have to deal with complex terrains, such as semi-collapsed buildings, deep caverns, or forests with a lot of vegetation. In general, flying robots are considered  most capable for the purpose. However for exploring areas close to the ground it is found that ground locomotion is more efficient than flying. Hence a robot with both capabilities is suited for the purpose.

Contour Crafting:The Future of Construction?

Hey guys your host Akib here, just been really busy these days, I haven't posted in a while. I will get back to posting about awesome stuff regularly in a couple of weeks. So this is just a quick post so you realize that the Blog is stills alive. I came across this awesome technology called "Counter Crafting". Though I would share with you guys.

So Counter Crafting is basically bringing 3D printing technology (Rapid Prototyping) to the Construction Industry. The brain child behind this technology is Mr. Behrokh Khoshnevis a professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering, and is the Director of the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies (CRAFT). He is also a Director of Manufacturing Engineering Graduate Program at the University of Southern California.

So getting back to Counter Crafting well, I would say is basically printing a house just like you would print a part with a 3D printer, only difference being the proportions of things and the materials used are big and its more complicated cause you have to install electrical, piping and stuff. The 3D Printer (Counter Crafting machine) can be assembled at site. It could be put on a truck and taken to any location and its not completely autonomous like a 3D printer. It  require assistance in building a complete residable home.
The concrete used for the process is different, its called fiber reinforced plastic.

VelociRoACH: Robotic Cockroach (hexapedal millirobot)

The Pestilent Cockroach have been here on planet earth for millions of years, and part of the reason of their evolutionary success is the shear speed at which they move. Most of the times the best engineering solution for a problem is mimicking nature, but mimicking nature obviously is very difficult. However day by day year by year we are getting closer and closer to doing that, specifically when we talk about legged robots.

Mr.Duncan Haldane and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkely), have been studying the six-legged pests to improve their millirobots. The 'VelociRoACH' as its called is the fastest legged robot in the world at the scale, however the fastest legged robot title stays with the LS3 from Boston dynamics (The Cheetah Robot).

Taking about specifications and technical details. The VelociRoACH can move with a velocity of 2.7 m/s actually making it faster than a real cockroach which do a maximum 1.5 m/s.

The secret of the the velocity of the VelociroACH is in the shape of its legs. Shaped like a 'C' they provide the spring action need to propel the robot really fast and at the same time absorbing the impact of the legs hitting the ground almost 15 times a second. The legs are similar to that of the R-Hex from Bostan Dynamics but don't work in the same way. Its body has been fabricated out of a good type of cardboard. Although it can lift 4 times its own weight. It weighs a mere 30 grams and is 10 cm long. To keep it stable, it must have 3 of the six legs making contact with the ground all time.

A Homemade Spacecraft (DIY Tech)

Hey guys your host Akib here, I came across this really interesting short documentary about how amateur Engineers and entrepreneurs Kristian von Bengston (worked at NASA) and Peter Madsenin in Denmark are working on a project to build a suborbital spacecraft to carry a human into space and then release a capsule to return the passenger back to safety.

The Team calls themselves Copenhagen Suborbitals, a not-for-profit  which started off  in 2008 and now comprises of  20 plus specialists determined to create the first homemade, manned spacecraft to go into suborbital flight.  The idea is to prove that fact that rocket technology is not something beyond the reach of a common individual. The rockets that are undergoing testing are made from off the shelf components that are easily available to anyone. The project is completely open sourced you can have all the access to information and designs if you want to create your very own spacecraft.

A Solar- powered system that's a Reverse air-conditioner to develop power for Developing world.

In the developing world, electricity and other resources necessary to run clinics are difficult to achieve and many a times costly to produce. In many African countries electricity from the grid is very inconsistent and unavailable in rural parts. So medical centres and clinics in these areas rely on Diesel generators or Photovoltaic solar cells for power, now these are costly propositions and require recurring cost of fuel and maintenance. Also places in Africa that fall in the temperate regions face very cold winters and Hot water becomes a necessity. Health worker avoid washing hands as the water supply gets very cold thus creating unhygienic conditions. 

A startup by the name STG (Solar Turbine Group) international established by alumni students of MIT have come up with a seemingly effective solution to the problem. The Technology is called Solar ORC and is somewhat similar to one those Concentrated solar power systems. It utilizes parabolic mirror reflectors that look like troughs. At the centre line of the these troughs lies a metal pipe which carries a HTF (Heat transfer fluid) inside. Now this HTF absorbs the heat from the concentrated sunlight and this results in raising the temperature of the HTF upto 160 degree Celsius. 

Credit: stginternational.org (Click to enlarge)

This heated HTF now enters into an ORC unit/ORC engine, it works on an Organic Rankine cycle (Its a Rankine cycle except it works on Refrigerant rather than water as working fluid) . It works like a reversed air conditioning unit. Instead of utilizing electricity to cool the air and throw hot air outside. It actually uses the hot HTF and the cold ambient air to produces mechanical work which is converted into electricity.

The key element of the system a device called a scroll expander, which convert the heat difference into mechanical power is described in a paper to be published in the ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power.

3D printing and robotic technology helping doctors help patients

3D printing technology has really given manufacturing a new dimension. Specially if you think in terms of  manufacturing small intricate parts that might be useful in small robotic devices. Although personally I never thought that one day 3D printing technology would help doctors help patients until, I came across this story.

2 year old Emma suffers from a rare congenital disorder called Arthrogryposis that is characterized by multiple joint contractures (shortening and hardening of muscles) and can include muscle weakness and fibrosis. Emma was born with her legs folded up by her ears and her shoulders turned in. As a result she could not move her arms and lift things like normal 2 year olds would.

So the solution was to give her arms some external help by an exoskeleton. Researchers at a Delaware hospital 3D printed a durable custom device with the tiny, lightweight custom parts Emma needed. She calls them her “magic arms.” Now this allows her to freely move her hands around and pick up objects.

Lockheed in Collaboration with LaserMotive Tests UAVs With Laser Power Beaming

The quest to transmit power without wires has been something people have been working on since centuries and obviously it not science fiction anymore, people have come up with different ways to transmit power wirelessly. We wrote about Wirticity back in 2010 which gained a lot of media attention back then.

Back in 2009 a Seattle-based company by the name 'LaserMotive' specializing in laser power beaming proved to be the only successful entrant and winner of the NASA-sponsored Power Beaming Challenge. 

The idea of laser power is pretty simple. Just like a photovoltaic cell (solar cell) produces electricity from sun light, Laser power beaming acts in the same way. A powerful laser beam is used to carry energy over distances; this energy in the form of light and heat can be converted into electricity by using photovoltaic cells. This enables to transfer power wirelessly over distances and can be consider a more practical efficient and cost effective way compared to other wireless power transmission methods available. To get into the details you can check out this Laser power beaming fact sheet.

So now that we know about laser power beaming, the idea can be used for a wide variety of applications, only your imagination is the limit. Although there are a lot of safety and efficiency factors involved with makes it difficult to use over existing electric power grid, we wont get into that in this post. You can always leave a question or opinion in the comments.

Now in the modern warfare era of Drones, UAVs and UAS (unmanned ariel systems), endurance is one of the major challenges faced by UAV designers and developers. Battery based UAVs are silent but poor at endurance. Conventional fuel based UAVs have better endurance but they are very noisy and are difficult to use where you require to fly at low altitudes and small areas. So the application of laser power beaming seems to be the best solution. 

Tin could triple the capacity of lithium-ion batteries (Super Li-ion)

Lithium-Ion Battery technology hasn't changed much since 1991 when they first became commercially available. Although the devices that use them now need a lot more power to run than the devices that used them couple decades ago. And that's the problem why your smartphone barely lasts a day on a full charge and your laptop barley survives 3-5 hours before it needs a socket.

Researchers at the Washington State University have found a way that could triple Li-ion battery capacity plus make them charge faster and give them more charge cycles than existing Li-on batteries. A research group led by 'Grant Norton' a professor at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the researchers have filed patents on this nanoscale-based technology.

The existing Li-ion batteries utilize a graphite anode (positive terminal). The key difference that makes these new batteries better is the anode, instead of graphite its made of Tin.

Norton and postdoctoral researcher Uttara Sahaym developed the idea for this novel material a little over a year ago while working on a project to reduce the problem of tin whiskers. Tin Whisker are a major problem which cause damage to electronic components. These whiskers can sometimes grow as long as 10 millimetres, are a big problem in microelectronics because they cause short circuits and arcing that can cause severe damage to electronic components and reduce reliability. Despite the fact that tin whiskers have been causing problems for more than 60 years, researchers have been unable to come up with ways to entirely avoid them. The only popular way is to add lead to the tin solder material but lead has its environmental problems and its use has been restrained by the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS).

Google maps taking it to the next level with Street View Trekker

Google has been on a quest to give its users the best experience in terms every web based service it provides, specially when it comes to its free web based Google Maps service. Over the past 7 years Google Maps has done it all, from satellite images to now recently the 360 degree street view where Google mobilised its hardware by mounting it on top of specially modified cars, trikes, trolleys and even snowmobiles to give its users a Street View of cities and even jungles of the world, but can anything stop Google in its quest to map the world? Nope.

Next Gen Cargo Ships could use high sails to be fuel efficient

Cargo Ships are like the arteries of human civilization on this planet, they move tons of cargo of all sorts which keeps the international economy running. That being said, there are over 40,000 cargo ships on this planet which burn poor quality Diesel fuel for propulsion. This adds up to a lot of Carbon emissions every year and not much is being done to make these ships more fuel efficient and eco-friendly.

This past week at the 10th International Maritime Exhibition held in Tokyo in Japan a new cargo ship concept was unveiled, named the 'Wind Challenger Project'. The Project is lead by a group which involves members from the University of Tokyo. 

The aim of the Wind Challenger Project is to significantly reduce fuel consumption of large merchant/cargo vessels. The idea is to utilize giant retractable sails, 20m wide and 50m high, to make maximum use of wind energy. The idea is not really new though, sails have been used in the past. The essence of the technology lies in the fact that it will utilized modern day weather forecasting, navigation, networking and communication  technology to automatically control the sails and find the best possible path to safely reach the destination with minimum fuel consumption.

Simulations have already shown an annual average of 30% reduction in fuel consumption on shipping routes such as Yokohama-Seattle.

Recording Data through heat could lead to faster magnetic Hard Drives

When it comes to computer components like processor, RAM and graphics everything is getting faster and cheaper than ever before, the only thing that's not keeping up with speeds is data storage devices, although we have SSDs but they don't have a lot of space and it is seen that they tend to degrade in performance over time. As a result the good old magnetic hard drive is still the choice for many, because its cheaper and has more storage space than existing SSD for the price.

All that being said, an international team of scientists have demonstrated a revolutionary new technology of magnetic recording which will allow information to be processed hundreds of times faster than by current hard-drive technology. The multinational team of scientists and researchers from countries which include Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Japan and the Netherlands. Experimental work for the research was carried out at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Radboud University Nijmegen, in Netherlands.

It was found that data could be recorded by using heat which was never thought of before. Existing hard drive and other magnetic storage devices use a magnetic field to bring changes in the polarity of magnetic domains within the hard drives metallic plate, but there is a limitation to the speed of writing and reading the data. Until now it has been believed that in order to record one bit of information by inverting the poles of a magnet  there is a need to apply an external magnetic field. The stronger the applied field, the faster the recording of a magnetic bit of information.  

The Pirate Bay introduces a new category: Physibles

3D printing has really got a lot of recognition in the past couple of years. With easy to assemble and affordable kits available like the MakerBot's 'Thing-O-Matic' and their latest product called 'The Replicator', 3D desktop printing is becoming a more easy and fun task. Now with the hardware available, there a need for online platforms where people can create and share 3D CAD model so that others could download and print them. There are various platforms available. The one I tried and would recommend you to start with is www.thingiverse.com.

All that said, popular torrent sharing site The Pirate Bay has just introduced a new category in its inventory and named it 'Physibles'. Here users will be able to upload and share torrents related to 3D printable CAD models. This was explained in a really interesing blog post on TPB  titled Evolution: New category. Here the blog post goes to the ultimate limit of saying : "You will download your sneakers within 20years." which sounds really amazing and hopeful.

Liquipel: A Nanocoating that waterproofs your Mobile device.

Since history we know that water and electronics don't get together well . A California based company called 'Liquipel' might have found the way to change that. The company claims to have found a nano-coating that wont let water affect the functioning of your electronic mobile device. The coating itself is called named 'Liquipel' . Talking briefly about the company, Liquipel is a company founded in 2011 by Danny McPhail and Kevin Bacon who are determined to protect devices around the world from water damage.

Now to basically understand this, its a nano coating finer than the width of a human hair that prevents the circuitry to come in direct contact with water, thus making the device virtually water proof. From what the company says this is achieved by a process where in the device is placed in a chamber, here vacuum is created. Then a vapor called 'Liquipel vapor' is introduced in the chamber which permeates into every corner inside out of the device. The coating is thus bonded on the entire device at a molecular level, as a result the coating should last the entire lifespan of the device. The chamber is then brought at atmospheric pressure and the device is fully functional and water proof. No need for any bulky cover whatsoever.

The coating is totally invisible to the naked eyes and doesn't interfere with the normal functioning of the device.

Boston Dynamics with its new toy: The PETMAN bipedal robot

Boston Dynamics is a company know for its crazy legged robots which really resemble real life movements. Its one of the leading company in the development of advance robots with remarkable mobility, agility, dexterity and speed. After releasing the video of Alpha Dog back in September, Boston dynamics released a new video demonstrating a robot that resembles an adult human in terms a lot of physical movements.

Solar Ship: A Hybrid Airship Concept

Hybrid technologies always give the benefit of both worlds. Various kinds of aircraft designs have their advantages and disadvantages. How about an aircraft that gives the benefit of a fixed wing aircraft and a helium airship, add to that the benefit of Zero carbon emission and Solar powered operation. A Canadian Company called Solar Ship Inc. has come with such an interesting concept.

What is Solar Airship?

The Solar Ship as its called is basically a hybrid airship. Just like any other airship it has an envelope to store helium which provides with Buoyancy/ lift to some extent, although the difference here is that unlike a normal Airship which completely relies for all its lift from the helium stored in something like a balloon on top, the solar ship on the other hand relies partly on the helium and partly on the aerodynamic lift created by the wings design. The airship is designed using  Advanced aerodynamics, synthetic textile laminates that give the aircraft the ability to store helium and at the same time have enough stiffness to provide a perfect aerodynamic (aero-foil) profile to act as wings.

Under normal conditions the solar airship would rely on the aerodynamic lift provided by the wing shape to give it more than half the lift required to get them off the ground. Additionally, the aircraft could also fly when filled with plain air. What this means is the aircraft will still be able to fly and land safely if there is any accidental damage that results in helium loss.

On top of the wings it has an array of highly efficient solar cells providing it with the ability to store electric energy  in batteries which can be used when required.

A Device that Generates Electricity from Human Respiration

With the advancement of technology in the field of medical science; The question of how to develop a better and permanent way to power electronic organ implant and organ assistance devices arises. The existing ones work on batteries so the patient has to undergo an operation every time for a battery replacement.

In recent times researchers have found ways to generate electricity from a person's blood sugar, and piezoelectric devices that generate electricity from muscle movement. Also devices that harvest energy from ambient wireless transmission waves.

Researchers from the university of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a small device that can generate electricity from human breathing. The team behind the project includes: Assistant Professor Xudong Wang, postdoctoral Researcher Chengliang Sun and graduate student Jian Shi.