Intel is out to replace fireworks with drones. In 2015 Intel started off with 100 drones working together, and in 2016 started working with Disney to have 300 drones create one of the first publicly viewable drone light shows. Leading up to the 2018 Winter Olympics, Intel's Drone Light Show Team managed to setup and launch 1218 of their ShootingStar Drones for about 40 seconds of in-flight animations. While I'm sure many of us have seen the show (and here if you haven't) it's an amazing intersection of art and technology. Take a look at what goes into these world record setting productions. Sketches and brainstorming, research and iterations, and all of the logistic needed to get the machines into a harsh winter environment - weeks of effort for 40 seconds of footage is a true testament to the engineering and design process!
Zume Pizza is startup pizza delivery service in the San Fransisco area. What makes them different from Pizza Hut or Papa John's? Their coordinated team of robot chefs. Rather than trying to make a 3d pizza printer, or replacing the delivery person with a self-driving Tesla, Zune is using their team of robots to support the team of people that really make these pizzas taste amazing. If this works out the human's job is easier and as the customer, the pizzas can taste better, arrive faster, and guaranteed to arrive fresh out of the over hot. Eight months in Hawaii, acting like you're on Mars. No fresh air, no feeling the breeze, no jumping into the ocean. Even your internet connection is delayed by 20 minutes! This type of experiment is called a Analog Simulation, and NASA has been doing programs like the HI-SEAS to figure out how small teams of people act and behave when they are isolated for extended period of time. The goal is to understand what needs to happen to have successful missions to Mars. 5 people living and working together in a geodesic dome, a building approximately twice the size of our classroom. Could you do it? This isn't the first time I've talked about the HI-SEAS Project, you can check out the results of their 2016 mission right here: ( LINK ) Last week Amazon listed Raleigh-Durham as one of the 20 possible locations for their massive HQ2 expansion, potentially brining in thousands of high paying tech jobs to the area. What's Amazon looking for? Among other things effective large scale public transportation, which at times Raleigh is lacking. To fix this we could try and build traditional railroads and put more busses on the roads, but Consulting firm Dahir Insaat is proposing a new type of vehicle - gyroscopic cars that could drive over traditional traffic jams. Could it work? Would you take one of the self balancing vehicles instead of an old fashioned school bus?
Watersides can be fun, but they never seem long enough, so how can you make it last longer. Last month A German company released videos of a "slidewheel" that they had built and are attempting to sell as an amusement park ride? Rolling the water slide around like a ferris wheel turns a regular ride in to a roller coaster like experience, but is it new? Turns out in 2008 a team lead by a couple of electrical engineers took on the challenge of making a "backyard water slide" for an old Discovery TV showed called "Prototype This!." In five weeks they build a machine that acted like a mile long water slide, not just spinning you around, but rocking you back and forth as you "traveled" down the slide.
Its hard to not love seeing fireworks, but what if you simply can't see? Disney's Research Labs have found a way that anyone can "feel" fireworks. Tactile effects are created using directable water jets that spray onto the rear of a flexible screen, with different nozzles for different firework effects. With the screen protecting you from the spray, high speed motors and computer processors direct the water around the screen creating a braille-equivalent to live action shows. Combined with a projector for those who can see, I'm sure its an amazing concept
Disney's Post Stern Pinball is one of a few companies that still make pinball machines, electro-mecanical systems that even the most skilled players never actually beat the game. Like any form of gaming, pinball machines have come a long way, from what was once mechanical systems only eventually added electricity, added computer systems, and even starting to use LCD monitors, blurring the line between mechanical games and computer games. Using over 30,000 parts taking hours to assemble its an impressive engineering project lead by just a handful of people.
When you think of robots, you think of large solid machines that can be heavy and difficult to move around, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a way to make robots that fold themselves together. Built flat like pieces of paper they use magnetic forces to bend and fold its plastic and metal structure to form it into more practical shapes, from simple boxes and wheels, to more complex shapes that allow it to push, carry or travel across the environment. While these are small and still require human operators, the researchers are looking at ways to incorporate artificial intelligence and allow these origami robots some self-control, potentially making they powerful tools in medical or reach and rescue type operations
As we are seeing with extremely powerful, extremely dangerous hurricanes like Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurricane Irma approaching Florida, its easy to understand how the changes in the climate and in our environments have become Engineering Grand Challenges, locally and abroad. As we have discussed in class, sometimes the ideas do not need to be complex. For example, in the Himalayan mountains, engineers and monks have devised a way of building our own Artificial Ice Glaciers. Taking weeks to build but months to melt back into water, these glaciers are able to help relocate sources of water to rugged, mountainous areas where the lack of reliable water supplies limits food production or become impossible to provide people and animals with safe, drinkable water.
Usually going boating means having a truck or SUV to tow the boat to the lake, or rent space at a marina or a shore side home, but what if you could just drive your boat to the water? Iguana Yachts is a French Company specializing in building amphibious boats, high speed performance on the water, with retractable tracks to help you get it in and out of the water without anything else. What are some other fields that need engineering that know more than one single field or specialization?
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Mr. WelkerTechnology Teacher at Southeast Raleigh High School. Archives
October 2019
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