Posts Tagged ‘transformers’
When The Sun Unleashed Its Plasma Blast This Week, Earth Got Lucky
What a predicted 2013 blast from the sun could mean for the U.S.
to see what a CME would do to Earth.
And click to see the amazing video of this week's massive solar belch.
Video: “Smart Sheets” Can Self-Assemble Into Airplanes, Boats
It's a far cry from previous programmable matter research we've seen, which works at the nanoscale to create and .
The fiberglass sheets are about a half-millimeter thick and made of half-inch-wide triangular tiles. They can be made at a larger scale, enabling machines that can fold, Transformer-like, into any number of objects.
Though the goal is to make large objects, the folding involves some nano-scale circuits. MIT computer scientist Daniela Rus embedded shape-memory strips, made of a nickel-titanium alloy, that were about 100 microns thick -- the width of a human hair. The sheets were also outfitted with stretchable copper-laminated plastic mesh, which served as wires.
Electricity running through the copper mesh was applied to the alloy strips, which change shape at different temperatures. When the alloy strips reached 178 degrees F, they bent, taking the whole sheet with them. The sheets folded into a variety of shapes in a matter of a few seconds, and magnetic closures helped them stay in place.
Eventually, the 32-tile sheets folded into boats and airplanes. Rus says the key was figuring out algorithms for folding. It was like learning origami, she says in a -- "We determine, based upon the desired end shapes, where to crease the sheet."
To make the folds, the team came up with thin stickers that contained the circuitry required to spur the alloy strips into action. Though the current design uses a computer, future designs will allow multiple stickers that can be changed without any computer programming. If you want a boat, you use one sticker; for a fork, use a different sticker.
The goal is to make sheets that could fold into multiple items, like a dining utensil set or a "Swiss Army Knife" tool kit.
More than meets the eye, indeed.
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Four-Ton Transformer Tribute to Ancient Chinese General Meshes History and Sci-Fi
The sculpture was assembled from components of an old Jiefang brand vehicle, a 25-year-old military service truck employed by the People’s Liberation Army. Robo Guan Yu stands about 32 feet tall and wields a dynastic-era weapon that makes for a nice juxtaposition with the post-Revolutionary scrap he’s assembled from.
As for the , he was a respected general at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and a key player in the civil war that ended it. Though his military exploits and valor have been pumped up to mythical standards over the years, he was apparently legitimately revered for his prowess at kungfu. Though Robo Guan Yu is unfortunately static, check out the accompanying promo video below to see the general’s latest moves.
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DARPA Spills Details on its Plans for the Transformer TX Flying Car
The Pentagon agency hopes to have a $43 million VTOL SUV in the air by 2015
The mad scientists want a vertical-takeoff vehicle that handles like an off-road-capable SUV on the ground, and can cruise like a light single-engine aircraft at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet.
Size limits for the design come to about two nose-to-tail Hummers, The Register calculates. That's roomy enough for four fully-equipped troops, or one stretcher and one medic.
DARPA also wants its dream vehicle to have the ability to cover 250 miles before filling up on gas. It suggests incorporating technologies such as a hybrid electric drive, adaptive wing structures, or ducted tilt-rotor fans similar to what the Avatar gunships use.
The flying car marvel should also be able to do its own unmanned operations, like any other good or vehicle in the U.S. military's service. And flight controls should allow for any enlisted man or woman capable of driving a Humvee to pilot the vehicle.
We're just mildly surprised that DARPA stopped shy of ordering up a prototype of such as Optimus Prime or Starscream, because that list constitutes a very tall order. But perhaps the $43 million budget put some limits on the brainstorming sessions. Expect to see this vehicle come out when cars fly.
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