Lifeboat Foundation

Having UAVs conduct routine aerial surveillance is already having a transformative effect on farming and and energy production but they can only operate when there’s a human at the controls. That’s about to change thanks to an autonomous drone system that not only flies but also maintains itself. Tel Aviv-based UAV Airobotics has debuted a completely automated patrol drone system of the same name that is capable of operating with virtually no human intervention.

The system is composed of three parts: the drone itself, the “Airbase” robotic base station and the command software. It uses an “Optimus” UAV that can carry a 1-kilogram payload for up to 30 minutes. When the UAV finishes its patrol, it will land atop the base station whereupon a robotic arm will automatically swap out its battery and payload. All of this is controlled by the integrated software which enables users to pre-program flight paths as well as view real-time video and data feeds. The Airobotic system will likely find use in the mining and oil and gas industries as an aerial mapping platform, though it could easily be applied to any repetitive delivery or flyover task.

Continue reading “Fully-autonomous drone launcher never needs a pilot” »

Ford’s GT claimed first place in its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the 50th anniversary of the first of its four outright victories in the 1960s, and Porsche’s 919 Hybrid snatched a second consecutive Le Mans victory.

The unheralded news of this year’s Le Mans race, however, is a hydrogen fuel cell race car completed laps on the Le Mans circuit for the first time in history.

The pioneering car was a Green GT H2, driven around the French track by former Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis during a break in qualifying, and again before the race started.

Continue reading “Hydrogen-Powered Race Car Runs Laps at Le Mans” »

” … Tesla Motors said on Tuesday that it had offered to buy SolarCity in an all-stock deal, one that could value the latter at as much as $2.8 billion. The aim, Mr. Musk argues, is to create a renewable-energy giant, collecting clean electricity and putting it to work propelling cars.”

Read more

Spectroscopy studies of charge transfer from cadmium selenide quantum dots to molecular nickel catalysts reveal unexpectedly fast electron transfer, enabling exceptional photocatalytic hydrogen production.

A key challenge facing the US is the harvesting, production, storage, and distribution of energy to support economic prosperity with responsible environmental management. Currently, fossil fuels provide more than 80% of the energy consumed in the US (even when significant increases in the use of alternative sources of energy in recent years are accounted for).¹ For the US Department of Defense in particular, volatility in the price and availability of fossil fuels leads to significant short- and long-term financial, operational, and strategic risks.² There is, therefore, clearly a need for new alternative sources of energy.

Continue reading “Ultrafast dynamics of semiconductor nanocrystals” »

California startup HyperSolar and University of Iowa researchers have teamed up to make renewable energy in a way that draws inspiration from plants. Using water and sunlight, they are able to make renewable hydrogen energy. At the end of May, HyperSolar announced a “breakthrough” in efficiency, and the University of Iowa just renewed a year-long research agreement with the startup.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories’ Combustion Research Facility are helping to develop sparkplug-free engines that will help meet ambitious automotive fuel economy targets of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

They are working on low-temperature gasoline combustion (LTGC) operating strategies for affordable, high-efficiency engines that will meet stringent air-quality standards.

Sandia researchers Isaac Ekoto and Benjamin Wolk said the goal of the LTGC project is an engine in which chemically controlled ignition initiates the combustion of dilute charge mixtures.

Continue reading “Aggressive, sparkplug-free gasoline auto engines with high efficiency” »

Although this article came out in April; I wanted to share because it highlights even how energy companies are using 3D printers.

Shell is using 3D printing technology to make the design and construction of equipment used in oil and gas production faster and more efficient.

The printing technology allows the oil giant to create accurate scale prototypes in material like plastic, which it tests and uses to improve designs and construction process.

Continue reading “Tech Tuesday: Shell uses 3D printing in Stones deepwater project” »

The next version of the Bluetooth standard is called Bluetooth 5, and will be formally announced next week, Bluetooth Special Interest Group executive director Mark Powell has revealed. Bluetooth 5 is expected to be a significant upgrade over the current version of the wireless standard, offering double the range and four times the speed of current low-energy Bluetooth transmissions, but the Bluetooth SIG says it will also offer much more support for connectionless services — things like beacons that can help people navigate inside buildings or out in the open.

The roadmap for the next version of Bluetooth was sketched out last year, but the SIG — which has tech giants like Apple, Intel, and Microsoft as backers — will officially lift the lid on Bluetooth 5 on June 16th in London. The group explains that it chose the name to simplify its marketing and make the wireless standard easier to understand for users. That change should be beneficial as our homes get smarter and more connected, with many Internet-of-Things devices relying on Bluetooth to connect to your control devices, and each other.

Seokheun “Sean” Choi, assistant professor of computer and electrical engineering at Binghamton University, along with two of his students, developed the device, a microbial fuel cell that runs on the bacteria available in a few drops of dirty water. They report on their invention in a new paper published online in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics (“A disposable power source in resource-limited environments: A paper-based biobattery generating electricity from wastewater”).

A new disposable battery that folds like an origami ninja star could power biosensors and other small devices for use in challenging field conditions.