Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 8 of February , 2008 at 8:24 am
This torpedoey looking AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) is, at first glance, fairly unremarkable… It carries onboard sensors to measure temperature, salinity, conductivity, depth, and biological productivity, with a GPS surface navigation system and an Iridium satellite data connection. It’s 1.5 meters long, and weighs about 60 kg. So what’s the cool part? Well, although it only has a top speed of about half a meter per second, it can keep that up for five years, giving it a range of about 40,000 (!) kilometers, which is just shy of a complete circumnavigation of the Earth at the equator (assuming such a thing were possible for a submarine). This AUV achieves such efficiency thanks to its propulsion system, which uses the temperature differential between the warm surface of the ocean and the cooler water below to create motion. Basically, the glider oscillates between floating up toward the warmer temperature and then sinking back down toward the cooler temperature, and its wings convert that vertical motion into horizontal motion.
This is the XRay, a large thermal glider AUV being developed by the US Navy. It’s designed to patrol large areas of ocean and coastlines for extended periods of time (6 months or so), hunting for submarines. Since it doesn’t have an engine, it’s virtually undetectable, and thanks to its hydrodynamic hull, it should be able to reach speeds of up to 3 knots (almost 4 mph).
Really boring video showing the thermal propulsion system in action, after the jump. (Read more…)
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 7 of February , 2008 at 6:04 am
TechRepublic has a good article on why giant Gundam-style humanoid fightin’ robots are (for all practical purposes) pretty much the dumbest idea ever… and it’s not just because they’re vulnerable to certain mutants. Here’s an excerpt:
“The whole point of a hand is to grasp tools and objects. That’s what it’s for. Now, if you’re a giant robot, what exactly are you grasping, apart from the giant energy sword that exists solely to justify the creation of your giant hands? Again, when you’re custom-building a combat robot, you don’t have to make a generic interface like a hand, you can just weld the energy blades, rocket launchers, laser cannons and whatnot right onto the frakkin’ robot where they can’t be dropped.”
Click the link to read the whole thing, it’s worth it.
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 7 of February , 2008 at 5:42 am
I grew up in Oregon, one of the two US states in which it’s illegal to pump your own gas. Roadtrips were always extra special, since Dad let my brother and I fill up the ol’ Volvo ourselves. Looks like those days are coming to an end, in the Netherlands anyway, thanks to Dutch inventor Nico van Staveren, who has developed a robot arm that does the fun part for you. The “Tankpitstop” robot is (for any car which it’s been programmed for) able to open the gas flap, unscrew the cap, fill the tank, and then put everything back just the way it was. It doesn’t look like the robot is able to come around and take your credit card, but it’s probably got some sort of laser cannon attachment to ensure that you don’t just drive off. The cost for this tiny extra bit of convince? $111,100… And I bet it’s not going to come programmed with specs for my ‘85 Volvo wagon.
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 7 of February , 2008 at 4:54 am
Remember Wall-E? He showed up again during the Superbowl, I’m told… Not being a fan of American pansy-ball, I didn’t bother to watch. If you didn’t either, here’s the clip, which is very cute and SFW as long as you’re not a horny robot:
What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?
After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.
Joining WALL•E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 1 of February , 2008 at 5:39 am
The National Geographic Photo of the Day is a website I check every evening; since they’re National Geographic, they’ve always got something worth looking at. Usually, it’s a photo that was shot for an article, but not included due to lack of space in the magazine. Today’s photo is of none other than a group of Swarm-Bots, which we wrote about last year. Here’s the caption:
A team of “swarm-bots” negotiates challenging terrain outside a laboratory in Brussels, Belgium. A red color ring tells others, “Grab me;” blue means “stay away.” Scientists study ant colonies, bird flocks, mammal herds, and fish schools to understand the simple genius of such animal swarms. Robots that mimic this complex group behavior could prove useful in a number of human applications.
Click on through for a desktop wallpaper sized image of the cute little bots.
