Hello Future Engineer,
It has been a long time since I last blogged. I will disguise my procrastination under the pretext of waiting for some quality topic. In any case, what I saw today on Hizook compelled me to blog about it.
DARPA has constantly been stoking the fire of research, and this time DoD wants a humanoid robot in the driver's seat. To get a grasp on state of humanoid robot research and technological progress, let us meet Petman. Petman is a humanoid robot that walks like a human, even does push ups...!!. Click on Petman above to watch it walk and do push ups.
In case if you wanted to keep abreast of progress on robotics, use Hizook.
Hope you enjoyed viewing Petman, as much as I enjoyed blogging about it.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
Self healing circuits
Hello future engineer,
Mankind has now inched a tad bit closer to making a closer replica of robots that mimic living beings. One of the essential differences was the robot's inability to heal itself. The University of Illinois material science and engineering professors have now made a breakthrough in this direction. No, they were not working with robotics applications in mind, but rather saving the downtime that goes in replacing the integrated circuits if the circuit board develops a crack or such.
What they did was to place tiny microcapsules (as small as 10 microns in diameter) filled with liquid metal on top of a gold line functioning as a circuit. When the circuit develops a crack, the microcapsules break open, releasing the liquid gallium-indium alloy into the gap and restoring the current. This is accomplished in blink of an eye (or less), with a success rate of 99% in most cases.
You can read more about it at, CNET
Hope you enjoyed it!
Mankind has now inched a tad bit closer to making a closer replica of robots that mimic living beings. One of the essential differences was the robot's inability to heal itself. The University of Illinois material science and engineering professors have now made a breakthrough in this direction. No, they were not working with robotics applications in mind, but rather saving the downtime that goes in replacing the integrated circuits if the circuit board develops a crack or such.
What they did was to place tiny microcapsules (as small as 10 microns in diameter) filled with liquid metal on top of a gold line functioning as a circuit. When the circuit develops a crack, the microcapsules break open, releasing the liquid gallium-indium alloy into the gap and restoring the current. This is accomplished in blink of an eye (or less), with a success rate of 99% in most cases.
You can read more about it at, CNET
Hope you enjoyed it!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Meet the man who invented email
The name, V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai may not ring a bell, but perhaps some of you might figure that "shiva" gives away the name as of Indian origin. It was in 1978, as a 14-year high school student in New Jersey that Mr.Ayyadurai invented email. He was part of a select group of students who were working as interns at Brookhaven National Laboratory with top notch scientists (Les Michaelson in this case).
"He was given a room to put his first computer in and start the lab for computer science, which was one computer and one HP mainframe. And Les said, “Hey, would you like to create an electronic mail system?” So I said, “Yeah,” and I was just nodding my head, thinking he meant sending electricity through paper, because this guy’s a particle physicist." (excerpt from Time, see the link below for more interesting details)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
How Google's Self-Driving Car Works
Once a secret project, Google's autonomous vehicles are now out in the open, quite literally, with the company test-driving them on public roads and, on one occasion, even inviting people to ride inside one of the robot cars as it raced around a closed course.
Google's fleet of robotic Toyota Priuses has now logged more than 190,000 miles (about 300,000 kilometers), driving in city traffic, busy highways, and mountainous roads with only occasional human intervention. The project is still far from becoming commercially viable, but Google has set up a demonstration system on its campus, using driverless golf carts, which points to how the technology could change transportation even in the near future.
You can read more (and watch relevant videos) by clicking on IEEE Spectrum.
Google's fleet of robotic Toyota Priuses has now logged more than 190,000 miles (about 300,000 kilometers), driving in city traffic, busy highways, and mountainous roads with only occasional human intervention. The project is still far from becoming commercially viable, but Google has set up a demonstration system on its campus, using driverless golf carts, which points to how the technology could change transportation even in the near future.
You can read more (and watch relevant videos) by clicking on IEEE Spectrum.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Direct Conversion from Heat to Electricity using Multiferroic materials
Hello future engineer,
Multiferroic materials are the materials that exhibit more than one ferroic properties, the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties being the most popularly known.
Recently, research workers (working with Prof. Richard James) at the University of Minnesota, discovered a new multiferroic material that can convert heat to electricity directly. This has huge implications on generating electricity from waste sources of heat that could not otherwise be tapped. You can read the entire article here.
Just in case if you are not aware about how electricity is obtained from heat, I would like to point out that typically, the conversion of heat to electricity in commercial power plants is by way of mechanical work by a prime mover (like driving a turbine using steam, combustion products, or some other vapor). The prime mover is coupled to an electric generator that converts the mechanical work to electricity (or electrical energy to be more precise).
Multiferroic materials are the materials that exhibit more than one ferroic properties, the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties being the most popularly known.
Recently, research workers (working with Prof. Richard James) at the University of Minnesota, discovered a new multiferroic material that can convert heat to electricity directly. This has huge implications on generating electricity from waste sources of heat that could not otherwise be tapped. You can read the entire article here.
Just in case if you are not aware about how electricity is obtained from heat, I would like to point out that typically, the conversion of heat to electricity in commercial power plants is by way of mechanical work by a prime mover (like driving a turbine using steam, combustion products, or some other vapor). The prime mover is coupled to an electric generator that converts the mechanical work to electricity (or electrical energy to be more precise).
Friday, June 3, 2011
Inver Hills Rocketry Team earns 5th place in prestigious NASA USLI competition
Inver Thrills, the rocketry team from Inver Hills Community College, earned 5th place (overall) in the NASA USLI (University Student Launch Initiative) rocketry competition. There were 28 teams from different educational institutions (mostly universities, and three community colleges) from within USA. The overall rankings were as follows:
1) Utah State University
2) MIT
3) Vanderbilt
4) North Carolina State University
5) Inver Hills Community College
You can read more about our rocketry team's accomplishments here. Please also click on other links (video of our team's rocket launch in Alabama) at that website. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Generating electricity from depleted uranium
Hello Future Engineer,
TerraPower claims to have come up with an idea to generate electricity from depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is a by product of enrichment process and is popularly known for its use in armor piercing shells.
According to TerraPower's website, the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) converts depleted uranium into usable fuel without need for further enrichment or reprocessing. Considering huge stockpiles of depleted uranium resulting from nuclear fuel enrichment, there is virtually an inexhaustible source of energy waiting to be used!
You can read more about it at TerraPower's website. You can also watch a video clip about it at the bottom of the aforementioned link.
TerraPower claims to have come up with an idea to generate electricity from depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is a by product of enrichment process and is popularly known for its use in armor piercing shells.
According to TerraPower's website, the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) converts depleted uranium into usable fuel without need for further enrichment or reprocessing. Considering huge stockpiles of depleted uranium resulting from nuclear fuel enrichment, there is virtually an inexhaustible source of energy waiting to be used!
You can read more about it at TerraPower's website. You can also watch a video clip about it at the bottom of the aforementioned link.
Voyager 1: Alive & Kicking!
Hello Future Engineer,
It is with great joy that I would like to inform you that Voyager 1 is still functioning. Voyager 1 is now 33 years old and outside the solar system. You can read more about what Voyager 1 is doing here.
Perhaps, you may not be aware but the spacecraft Voyager's route was discovered (calculated) by Prof. Gary Flandro, when he was a graduate student at Caltech. Currently, he is an emeritus professor at UTSI.
It is with great joy that I would like to inform you that Voyager 1 is still functioning. Voyager 1 is now 33 years old and outside the solar system. You can read more about what Voyager 1 is doing here.
Perhaps, you may not be aware but the spacecraft Voyager's route was discovered (calculated) by Prof. Gary Flandro, when he was a graduate student at Caltech. Currently, he is an emeritus professor at UTSI.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Myth vs Fact about some energy issues
Hello Future Engineer,
You may have heard the buzzword green/renewable energy a lot since last few years. But are you sure you can identify myths related to the green energy? Maybe you can, but it doesn't hurt to read this article and confirm your knowledge about green energy.
You may have heard the buzzword green/renewable energy a lot since last few years. But are you sure you can identify myths related to the green energy? Maybe you can, but it doesn't hurt to read this article and confirm your knowledge about green energy.
Engineers investigate cancer from a mechanistic perspective
Hello Future Engineer,
These days biomedical engineers are not only assisting surgeons with their tools and devices, but also investigating the cause and cure for diseases from engineering/mechanics perspective. Please meet Dr.Mauro Ferrari (click on his name), and read his article on how some engineers are investigating cause and possibly a cure for cancer.
These days biomedical engineers are not only assisting surgeons with their tools and devices, but also investigating the cause and cure for diseases from engineering/mechanics perspective. Please meet Dr.Mauro Ferrari (click on his name), and read his article on how some engineers are investigating cause and possibly a cure for cancer.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Solar Highways
Dan Burton (a former student of mine and a future biomedical engineer) emailed me a nice link today. It is about how to pave a highway with solar photovoltaic cells (of special type) to harness solar energy. You can enjoy this video here.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Vibrating Wind Turbine Generator
Hello Future Engineer,
You may have seen many a type of wind turbine, and a common feature must have been that somehow wind energy caused rotation of the shaft that was coupled to a generator. The rotor of the generator rotates in a magnetic (or an electromagnetic) field, thus generating electricity. Of course, there is more physics to it, but I will spare you the details to continue on to something more interesting.
Shawn Frayne came up with a vibrating wind turbine, one that does not require any rotating parts. It works on the principle of aeroelasticity (von Karman vortex shedding causing the structure shedding vortices to vibrate), wherein vibration of the conducting membrane in a magnetic field generates electricity. In case if you wonder about benefit of this idea, please click on his name above and find out!
There is one apparent drawback to this device in that eventually metal fatigue will cause the membrane to fail. But that is easy to fix compared to a broken solar electric panel.
You may have seen many a type of wind turbine, and a common feature must have been that somehow wind energy caused rotation of the shaft that was coupled to a generator. The rotor of the generator rotates in a magnetic (or an electromagnetic) field, thus generating electricity. Of course, there is more physics to it, but I will spare you the details to continue on to something more interesting.
Shawn Frayne came up with a vibrating wind turbine, one that does not require any rotating parts. It works on the principle of aeroelasticity (von Karman vortex shedding causing the structure shedding vortices to vibrate), wherein vibration of the conducting membrane in a magnetic field generates electricity. In case if you wonder about benefit of this idea, please click on his name above and find out!
There is one apparent drawback to this device in that eventually metal fatigue will cause the membrane to fail. But that is easy to fix compared to a broken solar electric panel.
From Super Soaker Squirt Gun to Affordable Solar Power
Hello Future Engineer,
You may have never heard of Lonnie Johnson, who invented the super-soaker squirt gun. You can read about his invention here. But today I am going to tell you of his another breakthrough that might make solar power affordable for all of us. It involves using thermodynamics (instead of solar cells/photovoltaics) to harness solar power efficiently. I will now leave you to read about it on his website.
You may also derive inspiration from learning about his childhood as an African American in Alabama in 60s. This is to be found in the article published in The Atlantic Monthly.
You may have never heard of Lonnie Johnson, who invented the super-soaker squirt gun. You can read about his invention here. But today I am going to tell you of his another breakthrough that might make solar power affordable for all of us. It involves using thermodynamics (instead of solar cells/photovoltaics) to harness solar power efficiently. I will now leave you to read about it on his website.
You may also derive inspiration from learning about his childhood as an African American in Alabama in 60s. This is to be found in the article published in The Atlantic Monthly.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Coffee "powered" robotic gripper
Hello Future Engineer,
You may have read my post favoring simple solutions earlier. IEEE Spectrum magazine recently published an article about robotic gripper (think of your palm and fingers as gripping mechanism) that was made out of balloon and filled with ground coffee. You can read (and watch video clips of the same) by clicking here.
Great minds favor simplicity (but not triviality).
For other interesting articles, please be sure to visit the Inver Hills Community College's library. The library started subscription to IEEE Spectrum (the flagship magazine of IEEE) since Jan 2010.
You may have read my post favoring simple solutions earlier. IEEE Spectrum magazine recently published an article about robotic gripper (think of your palm and fingers as gripping mechanism) that was made out of balloon and filled with ground coffee. You can read (and watch video clips of the same) by clicking here.
Great minds favor simplicity (but not triviality).
For other interesting articles, please be sure to visit the Inver Hills Community College's library. The library started subscription to IEEE Spectrum (the flagship magazine of IEEE) since Jan 2010.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Inver Thrills in Associated Press news brief
Its official! Inver Hills Community College's rocketry team is making news. You can read all about it here.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Google Lunar X Prize
Hello Future Engineer,
I invite you to browse the website for Google Lunar X prize. Several teams are participating in this venture with interesting ideas of getting back to the moon, and the one that I know a bit more about is the Rocket City Pioneers. In particular, I had the good fortune to share the dinner table with Tim Pickens who is also the leader of the Rocket City Pioneers team (along with my students Caleb Boe and Bryan Sullivan, and Dr. John Gregory at Alabama Space Grant Consortium).
Reminds me of a dialogue from the movie, Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get!"
I invite you to browse the website for Google Lunar X prize. Several teams are participating in this venture with interesting ideas of getting back to the moon, and the one that I know a bit more about is the Rocket City Pioneers. In particular, I had the good fortune to share the dinner table with Tim Pickens who is also the leader of the Rocket City Pioneers team (along with my students Caleb Boe and Bryan Sullivan, and Dr. John Gregory at Alabama Space Grant Consortium).
Reminds me of a dialogue from the movie, Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get!"
Monday, October 11, 2010
Self-steering cars and Google
Hello Future Engineer,
It seems that what can be imagined is easily realizable in span of a decade. When I was a graduate student (about 7-8 years ago), I remember reading an article about self-steering cars in a magazine. The article was about innovations possible in near future.
During my previous employment at the University of Delaware, I had known about a research program in computer science/electrical engrg dept about robotic cars that would self-steer/navigate thru hilly terrain. In about two years, Google has taken that research (not just from U of D, but many others who were also funded by DARPA) and taken it a step further.
You can read more about the Google's support of this venture here.
It seems that what can be imagined is easily realizable in span of a decade. When I was a graduate student (about 7-8 years ago), I remember reading an article about self-steering cars in a magazine. The article was about innovations possible in near future.
During my previous employment at the University of Delaware, I had known about a research program in computer science/electrical engrg dept about robotic cars that would self-steer/navigate thru hilly terrain. In about two years, Google has taken that research (not just from U of D, but many others who were also funded by DARPA) and taken it a step further.
You can read more about the Google's support of this venture here.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Scientist wins Nobel Prize using Scotch Tape
Hello Future Engineer,
Sometimes you don't need all the high tech equipment to be able to accomplish something profound. A scientist used Scotch tape to demonstrate creation of thin layer of graphene using a Scotch tape...and won Nobel Prize for it! You can read more about it at here.
This reminds me of telling you about the KISS principle put forth by Kelly Johnson (inventor/designer of a few legendary aircrafts namely U-2, SR-71).
KISS == Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Sometimes you don't need all the high tech equipment to be able to accomplish something profound. A scientist used Scotch tape to demonstrate creation of thin layer of graphene using a Scotch tape...and won Nobel Prize for it! You can read more about it at here.
This reminds me of telling you about the KISS principle put forth by Kelly Johnson (inventor/designer of a few legendary aircrafts namely U-2, SR-71).
KISS == Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Flapless flight demonstrated by a UAV
Hello Future Engineer,
A relatively new method of controlling flight without using control surfaces (that is ailerons, rudder or an elevator) has been demonstrated by a UAV. The control is via jets of air emanating from nozzles embedded within the blended wing body structure.
You can see videos and learn more about it here.
Flapless UAV
A relatively new method of controlling flight without using control surfaces (that is ailerons, rudder or an elevator) has been demonstrated by a UAV. The control is via jets of air emanating from nozzles embedded within the blended wing body structure.
You can see videos and learn more about it here.
Flapless UAV
Friday, September 24, 2010
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