More and more, tools that we would have considered too expensive for an individual are becoming smaller, more affordable, and even portable. The Cubiio is a current Kickstarter project that is offering investors a portable laser engraver. As with any Kickstarter project, there's a risk that the project will fail and the promised hardware is never built, but there's also a possibility that the idea works too. Given the success of the project (over $1 Million dollars of funding) I hope that one day we'll see these in real life, but I suspect that it's little more than a high tech toy, a refined version of some DIY laser engravers that can already be build with some old computer parts
Intended to slow down vehicles and make it safer for pedestrians, speed bumps are found in many parking lots, near schools and churches, even some communities install them around residential neighborhoods. Despite their common use, there is no standard for these speed bumps, and even well though out bumps in the road can do some serious damage to a car regardless of its actual speed. To fix this issue, some companies are building flexible - non-newtonian speed bumps. If you travel slowly the bump could go almost unnoticed, while the faster you go the harder it will behave.
Electric powered aircraft is not a particularly new idea. Airships and ultralights have been able to use electric motors powered by anything from battery packs to solar panels for decades, but due to the weight of batteries, electric power aircraft are slow. The Solar Impulse 2, a solar powered plane, flew around the world at an average 45 miles per hour. Now however Airbus and Siemens electric are looking at developing high performance electric planes. Not just quiet and environmentally friendly, but fast and powerful.
In the last few months, their Extra 330LE has set speed records of 211 mph and shown the ability to pull another plane (with passenges) into the air. As they note in the video, they are hoping to apply these developments to both personal and commercial aircraft in the near future. If these is true, we may not hear the jets that are flying over head Engineers love to solve problems, particularly challenging ones, and Nathan Seidle, an engineer and founder of Sparkfun, loves to build robots. As a gift, his wife gave him an already locked safe (and no idea of the combination) knowing that he'd enjoy the challenge. As an engineer he did a little bit of research, some reverse engineering of the safe, and his knowledge of electronics and robotics to do the work for him. What could take a human years to try and figure out the combination, a few weeks of on and off work helped him create a machine that will try enough calculations that the safe will be open in minutes rather than years.
Is it legal? Is this ethical? In this case, Nate notes that he owns the safe and there's nothing illegal, its almost like you forgot your password for your own email account. He also points out that by informing the safe manufactures of the security flaws he and others could use, we can actually be helping out the design and development of better security systems. And safe cracking isn't much different from lock picking, which can actually be a competitive sport (as long as you aren't trying to break into some one else's property) From the Jetsons to Back to the Future, there's a long list of dreams of flying cars, be it for fun or simply a way to get out of traffic jams. While there have been attempts at making flying cars going back to the 1950's, theres a new buzz in the idea. In the last week Google and Uber have both announced their intentions of making a flying car and putting it into use in the next 3 years, but one company, Aeromobile may beat them to the sky. Earlier this week, they announced that they were now accepting preorders for a car that can turn into an airplane in less than 3 minutes. While its a bit pricy at $1.3 million dollars
Bicycles are amazing machines. Be it for fun, exercise, low cost commutes and travel. At the dawn of the 1900's they served as the technical foundation of the modern automobiles and now businesses use them for green transportation. Some however, want to take that going green to a new level, and are making durable bikes out of recycled paper, cardboard and plastics. While this CNN video is from 2013, towards the initial development of these cardboard bikes, the developers of these recycled bikes are still at it, and earlier this year tried to use Kickstarter to take their dream bike to commercial markets. While they didn't meet their goals, its interesting to see their development timeline. We've talked some about how long it takes to develop a product, they've been at this one for over 4 years!
When you think about art, you probably think of paintings, sculptures, or pottery. When we think of engineering, we might think more of math or construction. However engineering and the availability of software and tools allows engineering to be one of the most creative fields to work in, and its no surprise that artists have been following suit, and large companies like Google, SAS, and Autodesk have been using their resources to help artists use more advanced technologies. As we learn more about Inventor and engineering principles, I encourage you to include your own ideas of art and design to create what you need to peruse your own interests, much like Autodesk does with the Artists in Residence at Pier 9. Even if you don't consider yourself an artist, Autodesk offers programs specifically for students: Autodesk Student Expert Network Goodyear, a company that has been making car tires for over 130 years is taking a new look at tires, and suggesting that balls might be a better solution for our cars. While the idea is nothing new, and imagined in science fiction for decades, Goodyear's concept is based on the development of technology in the more recent years. Advancements in manufacturing with new materials and 3D printing. Cars are getting smarter from better computers, with more sensors, communication between vehicles and even autonomous driving. The improvements batteries in electric vehicles is playing a part in the bold new idea. Not to mention the connivence these tires would provide for parking (so long parallel parking!) So when will these be available? Its going to take some time before we can buy a car that would support these tires, but Goodyear is starting to test these ideas in traditional tires, and even these small improvements helped Goodyear win recognition for some of the most innovative ideas for 2016. The Grand Challenge points out some of the global problems we need to solve as a society as a whole, and while in many ways those are problems of their own, with no overlap, there are some exceptions. Culturally we know that the amount of plastic we throw away into landfills and into the ocean is an enormous and ever growing problem. We also know that our transportation infrastructure is always needing to in working order,calling on both regular maintenance and repair, as much as we need to expand our roads. Currently there are two companies that are trying to build plastic roads. Recycling waste plastic and turning it into either an alternative for asphalt and concrete to building sections of roads out of plastic, to not only make it faster and easier to install highways, but also make it convenient to install utilities like water and internet networks. What do you think? Are these the way of the future, or are they going to develop more problems of their own than the number of problems they solve? macrebur.com plasticroad.eu
Engineering is often mimicking nature, but humming birds? Recently Tyer Wind, a European company has developed a wind energy generator that instead of traditional airplane like props, have modeled their design on the wings of humming birds. They believe that the way hummingbirds fly is so energy efficient, perhaps using wind to create the machines motion will be be one of the most efficient ways of generating electric energy. The company's working model, which is small enough to fit in a homes back yard, produces up to 1000 watts in 10mph to 20mph wind. While that may not be enough energy for the average house to go green with a single wind turbine, its clear that Tyer Wind is looking at building larger, more powerful generators in the near future. To read more: Tyer Wind |
Mr. WelkerTechnology Teacher at Southeast Raleigh High School. Archives
October 2019
Categories |