Inflating Steel

Called Architonic Concept Space III, the installation is made using FIDU technology, whereby welded sheet metal sleeves are pressure-inflated “like rubber toys” to create 3D forms.

FIDU means inflating steel just like rubber toys!
With one exception - objects created this way are not necessarily toys.

Inflated steel sheets have a very high weight-capacity, so these funny looking shapes are indeed an innovative construction technology.
Developed as a method of steel sheet stabilization, FIDU opens new possibilities of forming for the design objects and ultra-light constructions.

Every shape cut from steel sheet can be inflated into a 3D object.
The contours of the metal sheets are cut using a laser, welded together by a robot and then inflated at high pressure to form a 3D object.

Oskar Zietaa has been working as a research associate and a teaching assistant at the chair of CAAD at the ETH in Zurich and writing his doctor thesis under supervision of Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt. Main focus of his thesis is the input of computer-controlled machines in processing of metal sheets in the architecture and design. During his research at the ETH, Oskar Zieta has developed different methods of enhancing efficiency of technology for steel design, architecture and construction. Among others, FIDU technology was developed. FIDU means that the two steel sheets, previously welded together around their edges, are inflated under high pressure to create a 3d object.

This method of 3d shaping means better efficiency and very high durability of products.

Read more at: http://www.architonic.com/ntsht/blow-up-sheet-metal/7000205

Bee Sniffing Technology Detects Dangerous Vapours

As far back as 1999, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Controlled Biological Systems Program funded a bee-training program to detect buried landmines, so that many thousands of acres of the world's land could be productively farmed without encountering landmines the ugly way.

A bee's natural instinct is to extend its proboscis when it encounters a desirable odour, anticipating the taste of a flower, let's say. But the bees used in the 1999 DARPA experiment were trained, via classical Pavlovian conditioning, to respond to the odour of TNT instead. Their reward when they responded with a Proboscis Extension Reflex (PER), was a taste of sweet syrup. Then, trainers attached small diodes onto the backs of TNT-trained bees and used handheld radar tracking devices to chart where the bees went.

Inscentinal Ltd. has been working on developing very unique sensing instruments that couple the biological performance of honeybees with the technology to translate bee response into an electronic response. Inscentanil's first proprietary design is a hand held device called the VASOR136, a trace vapour detection unit that is very versatile.

The VASOR136 contains 36 cartridges each containing one bee. Filtered in by a standard gas mask cartridge is a constant supply of clean air. When an operator presses a button on the VASOR, an air sample is taken from the environment that exposes the bees to ambient, unfiltered air. If the bees have been trained to respond to a vapour in that air, the bees will exhibit a PER response and the response will be translated by the VASOR into a simple result shown on the PDA screen display.

Read more at: http://www.physorg.com/news188894292.html

Passenger-Propelled Rickshaw

Passenger-Propelled Rickshaw Takes to the Roads of Delhi

Art team Sylvia Winkler and Stephan Koeperl took advantage of a cycling event last Sunday to test out their in-process project for the residency– a passenger propelled cycle rickshaw!!! They joined a cycling group for a 5.5 km trip down the BRT from Ambetkar Nagar T-Point to Moolchand Flyover.

Sylvia Winkler and Stephan Koeperl have improvised Delhi's cycle rickshaws to reconnect it to riders. Those riding the rickshaw can take part in the movement of the machine by pedalling from their seats in the rear. The rickshaws are powered by solar panels

Stuttgart-based artists Winkler and Koeperl have been working together for the last 10 years when they met at the State Academy of Fine Art - Koeperl trained in art education, Winkler studied textile design. “The PPR doesn't just "fuel the dream of a post-oil society," it is also a wonderfully levelling and nonhierarchical mode of transport with tremendous possibilities for a city like Delhi. "And anyone can copy the design," they say proudly.

Cell phones that protect against deadly chemicals

Cell-All: Super Smartphones Sniff Out Suspicious Substances

What if, in the future, new functions on our cell phones could also protect us from toxic chemicals?

Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate (S&T)'s Cell-All is such an initiative. Cell-All aims to equip cell phones with a sensor capable of detecting deadly chemicals. The technology is ingenious. A chip costing less than a dollar is embedded in a cell phone and programmed to either alert the cell phone carrier to the presence of toxic chemicals in the air, and/or a central station that can monitor how many alerts in an area are being received. One might be a false positive. Hundreds might indicate the need for evacuation.

"Our goal is to create a lightweight, cost-effective, power-efficient solution," says Stephen Dennis, Cell-All's program manager.

When a threat is sensed, an alert ensues in one of two ways. For personal safety issues such as a chlorine gas leak, a warning is sounded; the user can choose a vibration, noise, text message or phone call. For catastrophes such as a sarin gas attack, details—including time, location and the compound—are phoned home to an emergency operations center. While the first warning is beamed to individuals, the second warning works best with crowds. And that's where the genius of Cell-All lies—in crowd sourcing human safety.

To this end, three teams from Qualcomm, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Rhevision Technology are perfecting their specific area of expertise. Qualcomm engineers specialize in miniaturization and know how to shepherd a product to market. Scientists from the Center for Nanotechnology at NASA's Ames Research Center have experience with chemical sensing on low-powered platforms, such as the International Space Station. And technologists from Rhevision have developed an artificial nose—a piece of porous silicon that changes colors in the presence of certain molecules, which can be read spectrographically. Similarly, S&T is pursuing what's known as cooperative research and development agreements with four cell phone manufacturers: Qualcomm, LG, Apple and Samsung. These written agreements, which bring together a private company and a government agency for a specific project, often accelerate the commercialization of technology developed for government purposes. As a result, Dennis hopes to have 40 prototypes in about a year, the first of which will sniff out carbon monoxide and fire.

To be sure, Cell-All's commercialization may take several years. Yet the goal seems eminently achievable

Read more at: http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1268073038372.shtm

Balloon Shaped Solar Collector

Balloon Is Solar Collector: Solar Technology to Power the Planet

Cool Earth Solar has developed a breakthrough solar technology that can ultimately produce enough clean energy to address the global energy crisis. This technology dramatically reduces the cost and time to develop power plants capable of generating massive amounts of clean, inexpensive energy. They’ve designed a breakthrough solar technology based on a two-pronged design philosophy:

* Use a minimum amount of materials

* Use materials that are inexpensive and abundant

CoolEarth has created an innovative way to harness the sun's energy. Instead of large expensive solar panels or costly concentrating mirrors, the company is using balloons made of metalized plastic films. Half of the balloon is transparent, letting the light in to be concentrated into a small high-efficiency solar panel by the concave interior. Each is 2 meters across and, depending on the source, estimates vary from 500 watt to 1 kilowatt. They are supported by cables, leaving the ground below clear and limiting environmental impact.

Read more at: http://www.coolearthsolar.com/technology

Augmented reality puts the squeeze into virtual hugs

Now you really can reach out and touch someone through the Internet, with the help of a wearable robot designed by a husband-and-wife team of scientists based in Japan.

Five years in the making, the device aims to inject a little physicality into online chatter, boosting the emotional quotient of virtual exchanges between flesh-and-blood people.

Forget emoticons, those annoying little smiley :-) or frowning :-( faces added to text messages with key strokes.

The quickened thump of an angry heart beat, a spine-tingling chill of fear, or that warm-all-over sensation sparked by true love -- all can be felt even as your eyes stay glued to a computer screen.

The proof-of-concept robot, dubbed iFeel_IM! ("I feel therefore I am"), was presented Saturday at the first Augmented Human International Conference, held in the French Alps ski resort of Megeve.

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100405/tc_afp/sciencelifestylerobotsinternetemotion

The 4th Dimension of gaming

Tactile Gaming Vests: The Fourth Dimension In Gaming Reaches New Level Of Pain

Graduate robotics students at the University of Pennsylvania, motivated by realism trends in movies and gaming, decided to take a step into a new dimension - the fourth dimension of haptic reality, the tactile simulation of forces that impact characters in a virtual world or on the big screen.

Unimpressed by 4-D developments they had seen at haptics conferences and theme parks, the team of students - Saurabh Palan, Ruoyao Wang, Nathaniel Naukam, Edward Li, and Katherine J. Kuchenbecker - set out to make gunshots, knife slashings, and the feeling of blood dripping from the wounds more realistic than the other gadgets they had experienced provided. The TGVs are stuffed with solenoid actuators in the chest and on the front and back of the shoulders, and they are timed to go off when your character gets shot. They even get you where your character gets shot. Getting stabbed is no sweat either. The vibrating motors embedded around the vest simulate that experience. Oooh. Aaah. Why the vest can even simulate blood flowing from a wound. Ugh.

But there’s more to come. More sensations. More reality. But not much more pain. Palan and team want the vest to communicate the suddenness of the impact, but not too much pain. And I should add, that the Tactile Gaming Vest is not being developed just for gamers, but for 4-D movies, and the military to simulate what happens in battle.

Read more at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/tactile-gaming-vest-punches-and-slices

World’s First Separable Mobile Phone

NTT docomo Separable Phone

The Separable Phone is a device from NTT docomo billed as the 'world's first handset that separates into two functional units'.

The detachable keypad can be put to multiple uses, such as a game controller, or as a remote control for the phone's camera or on-board projector. You can even use it to tap out your notes while chatting on the phone, for those 'multi-tasking yourself to death' moments.

Read the full article at: http://japantechniche.com/2010/03/24/world%E2%80%99s-first-separable-mobile-phone-by-fujitsu-will-hit-the-japan-market/

Scientist Says Blowing Bubbles Could Cool the Earth

Earth Cooling Bubbles

As anyone who has ever left an open can of soda out too long knows, some things are just better with a little fizz, and the world's oceans may be no exception. One physicist from Harvard University thinks that he's found a solution that may help curb the rate of global warming--and it comes in the form of tiny bubbles pumped into our planets water sources. Such microscopic bubbles, says the scientist, act as "mirrors made of air," reflecting sunlight from the water, generating a cooling effect that could be quite dramatic.

According to a report from Science, micro-bubbles are a naturally occurring phenomenon, and their 'undershine' already contributes to tiny fraction of the total amount of sunlight reflected back to space. The physicist, Russell Seitz, believes that pumping more bubbles into oceans will increase the reflectivity enough to cool the planet considerably - all without further damaging aquatic ecosystems.

Read more at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/scientist-says-blowing-bubbles-could-cool-the-earth.php

Contact Lenses Loaded With Vitamin E May Treat Glaucoma

Contact Lenses Loaded With Vitamin E May Treat Glaucoma

The popular dietary supplement vitamin E, loaded into special medicated contact lenses, can keep glaucoma medicine near the eye -- where it can treat that common disease -- almost 100 times longer than possible with current commercial lenses, scientists report.

Anuj Chauhan, Ph.D., who headed the research team, explained that glaucoma is second only to cataracts as the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in the world. It affects almost 67 million people. Eye drops that relieve the abnormal build-up of pressure inside the eye that occurs in glaucoma, are a mainstay treatment.

"The problem is within about two to five minutes of putting drops in the eye, tears carry the drug away and it doesn't reach the targeted tissue," said Chauhan, who is with the University of Florida in Gainesville. "Much of the medicine gets absorbed into the bloodstream, which carries it throughout the body where it could cause side effects. Only about one to five percent of drugs in eye drops actually reach the cornea of the eye."

Chauhan and colleagues have developed a new extended-release delivery approach incorporating vitamin E into contact lenses. The invisible clusters, or aggregates, of vitamin E molecules form what Chauhan describes as "transport barriers." that slow down the elusion of the glaucoma medication from the lens into the eye. The drug released from the lens into the eye stays in the tears far longer than the 2-5 minutes with eye drops, leading to more effective therapy.

"These vitamin structures are like 'nano-bricks'," Chauhan said. "The drug molecules can't go through the vitamin E. They must go around it. Because the nanobricks are so much bigger than the drug molecules -- we believe about a few hundred times bigger -- the molecules get diverted and must travel a longer path. This increases the duration of the drug release from the lenses."

Read more at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324121002.htm

HEMTT A3

HEMTT A3: Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck:

The HEMTT A3 (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) is according an Oshkosh press release the first production-ready, tactical military truck powered by an energy efficient diesel-electric drive system, called ProPulse®, that can increase fuel efficiency by 20 percent or more, depending on mission profile. And the onboard generator can deliver more than 100KW of military-grade AC power for external operations.

The ProPulse system uses a unique, modular series-hybrid arrangement to simplify the transmission of power to the wheels. The diesel engine powers an electric generator, which provides direct power to the wheels, eliminating the torque converter, automatic transmission, transfer case and drive shafts. The system has no batteries, using ultracapacitors for energy storage instead.

This advanced vehicle can climb a 60 percent grade, thunder across the most challenging terrain and achieve 65 mph on secondary roads. In short, the A3 allows fuel, equipment and supplies to keep pace with forward units to ensure you arrive first in every situation. The ProPulse® diesel-electric drive system provides power to the vehicle as well as 100 kW of clean, exportable military grade AC power. So you can get equipment where you need with one chassis – eliminating the need for additional trucks or trailers to transport external equipment and perform emergency response, homeland defense or battlefield support roles.

Read more at: http://www.hybrid-vehicle.org/hybrid-truck-hemtt.html

Watch this video: http://www.oshkoshdefense.com/defense/A3_video.cfm

Bicycle with No Pedals

The HMK 561 is a carbon fiber bike with special electrical properties that hold power right inside the frame. Carbon fiber is highly conductive so the designer uses it as a power distribution network instead of wires.

The power drives the lights and the motors in between the rims but get this… there’s regenerative braking. All that energy drives a system that turns the wheels using a counter-turning axel in lieu of gears and chains. Far fetched? No, because there’s already a prototype.

Check out its pictures at: http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/03/11/advance-carbon-fiber-electric-bike/

Dental Hearing Aid

Dental Hearing Aid Technology from Sonitus Medical

SoundBite hearing system is intended for patients who suffer from single sided deafness, conductive hearing loss, or mixed hearing loss and seek a non-surgical, non-invasive, hearing device that delivers high fidelity sound.

Sonitus Medical out of San Mateo, California is a company that's betting on bone conducting dental hearing implant technology. The SoundBite Hearing System that the firm is developing consists of a unit that has a microphone and wireless transmitter, and a tiny speaker that attaches to rear teeth to resonate and transmit the audio mechanically to the cochleae. The idea for this technology is not new and maybe risky, but Sonitus Medical seems confident it can earn regulatory approval and introduce an all new hearing aid technology to market.

The SoundBite hearing system consists of both a BTE (behind the ear) microphone unit, housing the receiver, wireless transmitter, and attached microphone, and a discreet, removable ITM (in the mouth) hearing device. An inductive charger unit is provided to charge the BTE microphone unit and ITM hearing device.

SoundBite is designed to detect sound using a tiny microphone placed in an open-fit dome within the ear canal of the impaired ear. This nearly invisible microphone is attached by a thin tube to a transmitter unit called a BTE worn behind the ear. Placing the microphone in the ear canal is intended to allow the SoundBite hearing system to capitalize on the natural acoustic benefit provided by the patient's own pinna or outer ear to capture and direct sound.

Read full article at: http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2010/02/dental_hearing_aid_technology_from_sonitus_medical.html

Charge your cell phone by plugging in your jeans: Fabric Batteries

Fabric Batteries for Clothes that Can Conduct Electricity

Breakthrough:
A carbon-nanotube dye that can turn fabrics into batteries to make clothes that conduct electricity. All you have to do is dip a piece of fabric in a solution infused with tiny tubes of carbon, and it turns into a battery. Simply coating a piece of cotton or polyester with the formulation transforms it into a high performance energy storage device that is a boost to the emerging field of wearable electronics.

The approach was first demonstrated by Stanford University in 2009 on plain copying paper, but now it has been applied to textiles for the first time. “Wearable electronics represent a developing new class of materials... which allow for many applications and designs previously impossible with traditional electronics technologies," the authors wrote in the journal Nano Letters. The research could pave the way to unobtrusive wearable electronics for use in health monitoring systems, the fashion and gaming industries, and for any application that requires computers.

A team led by Prof Yi Ciu incorporated single-walled carbon nanotubes - cylinders of carbon about a billionth of a meter across – into the textiles by a simple dying process. The dye is made by dispersing carbon nanotubes in water and using sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate as a surfactant. The material is dipped into the mixture and then dried in an oven at 120 degrees Celsius for ten minutes to remove water.

The conductivity of the material is increased by simple mechanical pressing and boosted still further by increases in the number of dipping and drying steps. The fabric maintains its properties when stretched and pulled and there is no decrease in conductivity - even when it is rinsed in water. Cotton proved to be up to 3 times better for energy storage than man-made fibers as its porous nature allowed for better ion transport.

Experts believe the technology could be commercialized in a short space of time, and that its uses will not be limited to just energy storage devices. According to Peidong Yang, a professor of chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley it has the potential to be a low-cost flexible electrode for any electrical device.The Stanford researchers say the next stages of their research are to use the approach with materials that can store more energy, and then demonstrate how to integrate the textile energy storage devices into clothes.

Read more at: http://www.tcetoday.com/tcetoday/newsdetail.aspx?nid=12465

New Materials Inspired Spider Webs

New Materials Inspired by Water-Catching Properties of Spider Webs

Based on their research Lei Jiang and colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing created an artificial silk that mimics the water collecting abilities of natural webs. Whilst much is known about the strength of webs the scientists were keen to probe the lesser known ability of spider silk to capture and hold onto rain and morning dew – a mechanism that saves a spider from having to find a water source.

Using a powerful scanning electron microscope and a light microscope the team studied how the spider silk changes its structure when it becomes soaked in water vapour.
At the nanoscale dry spider silk resembles a necklace-like structure. It is formed from hydrophilic knots of silk connected by smooth and slender stretches known as joints. When water condenses on these knots they shrink into densely packed structures that are shaped like spindles. Moist droplets that hang from the spaces in between are drawn toward their nearest spindle-knot, where they gather in larger droplets. The difference in texture between the rough knots and the smooth joints aids the water movement.

Following this research Jiang’s team fabricated fibers that copied these properties. To do this artificial silks were formed by coating nylon fibers with poly(methylmethacrylate)/N,N-dimethylformamide-ethanol, which dries in tiny knots just like those in real spider silk. “Our artificial spider silk not only mimics the structure of wet-rebuilt spider silk but also its directional water collection capability,” the scientists claim.

The new material could be used to upgrade fog-catching nets such as those deployed in the coastal Andes that are providing people with water that they otherwise don't have access to. If the technology is commercialized it could be of great to benefit to communities living in rain-starved areas of the world.