Technology post 5/22

The new Vortex bladeless wind-driven generator prototype produces electricity with very few moving parts, and is almost complete silence. Designed to reduce the visual and aural impact of traditional spinning-blade turbines, this new device takes advantage of the power contained in swirling vortices of air. The Vortex takes advantage of the swirling motion of wind and not direct force. This also means that groups of Vortex units can be huddled closer together as the disruption of air movement in the wind stream is nowhere near as critical as it is when positioning standard, blade-driven wind turbines. It can potentially generate more power per square meter. The first model to be made available commercially will be known as the Mini: a 4 kW, 41 ft high unit intended for residential and small-scale commercial application. A larger model is also being designed and is a unit with a greater than one-megawatt output intended for use in large-scale power generation for industry and electricity companies.

Technology Post 5/15

Researchers working at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and the University of California, Santa Barbara claim to have constructed the world’s first electronic memory cell that mimics the analog process of the human brain. By storing memories as multiple threads of  information, rather than a collection of numbers, scientists believe that this device may prove to be the first step towards creating a completely artificial,  bionic brain. Researchers believe that the breakthrough not only carries them closer to reproducing  aspects of the human brain electronically, but could also assist in providing effective treatments for neurological conditions. Memory resistors used in the new device are electronic components whose electrical resistance is not constant like standard resistors, but is determined by the history of the electric current that has previously flowed through it. This current work exploits earlier research at RMIT, where ultra-thin film oxide material 10,000 times thinner than a human hair was used to create Nano-scale, ultra-fast memory components.

Technology post 5/8

     Called the Greased Lightning, or GL-10, the prototype made a successful vertical takeoff and transition to horizontal flight. One of the major challenges for aviation engineers is combining the vertical takeoff and landing and hover capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. It does so by rotating their engine nacelles while keeping their wings fixed because it's mechanically simpler and reduces crosswind drag. However, the GL-10 is an unmanned hybrid-electric aircraft that uses 10 electric motors for liftoff and NASA believes that a tilt wing is the better option for handling so many nacelles at once. According to the space agency, the GL-10 can stay 24 hours in horizontal flight and is described as being as quiet as a petrol lawn mower. A much larger version could one day carry one to four passengers. The GL-10 will be exhibited in Atlanta from May 4 to 7, then will go on to be tested.

Technology post 5/1

Construction Finished on Floating Mega-Solar Plants

        Construction has been completed on two floating solar power plants located in Kato City, Japan. The Kyocera Corporation and the Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation partnered up to build the instillations. It will provide electricity to an estimated 920 households. The vast floating power plants represent an attractive, and more safe option for electricity generation. The water-located solar cells will generate more electricity than their roof-based counterparts, as they are constantly cooled by the water beneath them. The two facilities are comprised of 11,256 255-watt Kyocera modules and are capable of withstanding typhoon conditions. It is thought that the shade produced by the vast power plants should reduce both algae growth and water evaporation. Another much larger facility planned will boast roughly 50,000 modules and have an output of around 15,635 Mwh per year.

Technology post 4/24

World's First Battery-Powered Rocket 

        In the hopes of increasing the number of satellite launches to over 100 a year, the Rocket Lab company has developed a "battery-powered" rocket engine to lift its Electron launch vehicle. Rocket Lab's idea for making a lighter, simpler liquid rocket is its Rutherford engine. It's an electric turbo-pump engine that burns liquid oxygen and RP-1 rocket fuel. Unlike conventional engines, the Rutherford uses a gas-powered turbine to run the pump is replaced with a brush less DC motor and lithium polymer batteries. The company says that the Rutherford is also notable as the first oxygen/hydrocarbon engine to use 3D printing for all its primary components. Rocket Lab says that when the system is up and running, the Electron booster will be able to lift a payload into orbit using less fuel than a 737 flying from New York to Los Angeles, and will cost US$4.9 million per launch. 

Technology Post 4/2

Berlin-based startup Soundbrenner introduced the Pulse wearable metronome, which keeps the beat by vibration or light and can be programmed for multiple players. The Soundbrenner Pulse can be programmed with a smatphone app. The Soundbrenner Pulse app allows the user to customize beat settings. Looking like an oversized smartwatch, the Pulse is designed to be worn on the arm or leg by a single musician. Multiple units can also be synced for groups of up to 10 people. At its heart is a vibrator that provides feedback with an eccentric rotating mass (ERM) motor that is said to be six times more powerful than the vibrators found in conventional smartphones and smartwatches. According to co-founder and CEO of Soundbrenner, Florian Simmendinger, setting the Pulse up is very simple. Using the Beats Per Minute (BPM) tap feature, the musician just taps out the tempo on the face of the pulse, and the capacitive touch sensor combined with a proprietary algorithm reproduces it as vibrations or a flashing LED with customizable colors. For finer control, the bezel of the device can alter the beat setting, and for the very control minded, there's the Soundbrenner smartphone app, which links to the Pulse via Bluetooth. In addition, it can store setlists, customize beats, synchronize up to 10 Pulse units, and act as a Smart Coach for practice and motivation. The company says it will be available both iOS and Android phones upon release. The battery will approximately last 4-5 hours. The Soundbrenner Pulse is currently the focus of an Indiegogo campaign running through April, with an early adopter price of US$129 and a retail price of US$149. If all goes according to plan, it's expected to ship in November.

The video below introduces the Soundbrenner Pulse.

Technology post 3/27

Leap Motion and Razer's OSVR took the latest step in that virtual reality game today. Leap announced today that the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit will soon include a faceplate with the Leap Motion controller attached. Having a hands-free motion control sensor on the front of your VR headset allows you to use your hands as controllers. The OSVR/Leap partnership won't do anything for walking, but it does at least let you use your hands. The big limitation was that you couldn't move your hands outside of a certain range. We tried a rigged-up version of this during our OSVR hands-on at CES, as Razer had strapped Leap Motion to the front of its demo units. The companies say that the OSVR beta kit will support multiple forms of motion control, so we could have a situation where Leap Motion tracks hand gestures, a TV-mounted sensor tracks body movement, while something like the Virtuix VR treadmill sensing walking and running.

Technology Post 3/21

Vimal Patel built an extruder using Lego, attached it to an ordinary hot glue gun and ended up with a 3D printing pen. The gun double act stemmed from a project aimed at looking into making products from just one 3D printing filament, to make recycling a relatively simple matter. Before embarking on his Lego adventure, Patel did some preliminary work using the university's UP 3D printers to find out if he could incorporate zones of different stiffness into his single material objects. The layer by layer approach was found limiting and programming robotic assistance for extrusion along a path in multiple axes looked complicated. The extruder is made up of 112 Lego parts including an electric 9 V battery box and a 9 V motor, five toothed gear wheels, and numerous beams, connectors, axles, bricks and bushes. Once assembled and attached to the hot glue gun, it feeds the filament through to the nozzle at a steady rate. Then the artist can work on the creation of objects.

Technology post 3/13

      Miguel Valenzuela had a dream in which any man, woman, or child can simply print pancakes in any two-dimensional shape they can think of. He turned to Kickstarter in the hope of turning that dream into reality. PancakeBot came about when Valenzuela read about another pancake pioneer's quest to make a pancake-stamping machine.  PancakeBot is not a 3D printer as such but you can still get pretty creative and print out shapes. It includes an SD card with example pancake shapes, and is also bundled with Mac and PC-compatible tracing software that enables you to design your own. You copy your design onto the SD card, then insert that card into the PancakeBot to get started. The device uses a combination of compressed air and a vacuum to print out batter to a maximum pancake size of roughly 43 x 21 cm, and features controls to alter the rate. You'll need to be a tad careful with your choice of batter, as lumpy  mixed with chocolate or berries might clog the device. PancakeBot also won't flip the pancake for you, so it's not a completely hands-off process. As of now, the cheapest remaining pledge point to hopefully secure yourself a PancakeBot is $179. Valenzuela aims to ship the completed product in July 2015.

Technology post 2/28

There is a competition seeking designs for the Nine Elms to Pimlico bridge that was launched in early December last year as part of a regeneration plan for the Nine Elms area. Around $40 million has already been committed to the project as part of the regeneration process, with plans for the chosen design to be used as a means of attracting additional funding. The total cost is expected to be around $62 million. The submitted designs are being exhibited anonymously in London this week. They have also been made available to view on the competition website.  In March, a jury will shortlist up to four designs to take forward to the next stage. The winning design is expected to be revealed later this year. 

Technology Post 2/12

Students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California designed the ultimate rubber band race car known as Cirin. They created it to compete in the school's Formula E Race. The car's mechanical layout was arranged using SolidWorks software, after which several physical prototypes were built and tested. Construction of the final version's body was sponsored by the 3D printing company SolidConcepts. The single elastic band that powers Cirin is wound into 8-inch loops, and runs within a carbon fiber tube between two bolts – one located at the car's front, and the other in the geared drive mechanism at the rear. That band is manually wound by removing the nose cone, and then held tight until go-time via a servo motor.