Lifeboat Foundation

It will be a webcast live next month.

On April 25, two pilots, Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington will jump out of their single-seater aircraft and attempt to switch planes as they plummet towards the Earth, energy drink company, Red Bull has announced on its website.

Continue reading “A Stunt Pilot Just Shattered the World Tunnel Flight Record” »

States seeking electric vehicle charging station funds can calculate job creation.

With the sale of electric vehicles on the rise, the race is on to build a network of convenient, affordable electric vehicle charging stations to keep the cars running.

There are currently about 47,000 public charging stations across the country. As the administration rolls out its plan to build a network of 500,000 electric charging stations across the nation by the end of the decade, the number of charging stations will increase significantly — and quickly.

Steadicopter, a leader in the Rotary Unmanned Aerial Systems (RUAS) industry, and Smart Shooter, a world-class designer, developer, and manufacturer of innovative fire control systems that significantly increase the accuracy and lethality of small arms, have unveiled the Golden Eagle — the first-ever unmanned helicopter with precise hit capabilities. The two companies will present the solution at the ISDEF exhibition in Tel Aviv.

Based on the combat-proven Black Eagle 50E platform, the Golden Eagle incorporates AI-based technology and Smart Shooter’s SMASH Dragon system. The AI-based technology enables superior situational awareness and autonomous multi-target classification and tracking. The SMASH Dragon, a remotely-operated robotic weaponry payload, locks on the target, tracks it and ensures precise target hit. SMASH Dragon integrates a unique stabilization concept with proprietary target acquisition, tracking algorithms and sophisticated computer vision capabilities that allow accurate hitting of static and moving targets while mounted onto the Golden Eagle.

“Using artificial intelligence, the new system provides a field combat solution for the modern battlefield. Forces on the ground can now send a helicopter for autonomous intelligence gathering into the relevant area and, having identified and classified the targets, send in another helicopter with precise attack capabilities.”

Continue reading “Teadicopter and Smart Shooter unveil the Golden Eagle — a groundbreaking RUAS with precision hit capabilities utilizing the SMASH technology” »

As the world struggles to improve the efficiency of cars and other vehicles in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions and improve the range of electric vehicles, the search is on for ever-lighter materials that are strong enough to be used in the bodies of cars.

Lightweight materials made from carbon fiber, similar to the material used for some tennis rackets and bicycles, combine exceptional strength with low weight, but these have been more expensive to produce than comparable structural elements made of steel or aluminum. Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have come up with a way of making these lightweight fibers out of an ultracheap feedstock: the heavy, gloppy waste material left over from the refining of petroleum, material that refineries today supply for low-value applications such as asphalt, or eventually treat as waste.

Not only is the new carbon fiber cheap to make, but it offers advantages over the traditional carbon fiber materials because it can have compressional strength, meaning it could be used for load-bearing applications. The new process is described in the journal Science Advances, in a paper by graduate student Asmita Jana, research scientist Nicola Ferralis, professor Jeffrey Grossman, and five others at MIT, Western Research Institute in Wyoming, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Over the past few decades, computer scientists have developed increasingly advanced techniques to train and operate robots. Collectively, these methods could facilitate the integration of robotic systems in an increasingly wide range of real-world settings.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have recently created a new system that allows users to control a robotic hand and arm remotely, simply by demonstrating the movements they want it to replicate in front of a camera. This system, introduced in a paper pre-published on arXiv, could open exciting possibilities for the teleoperation and remote training of robots completing missions in both everyday settings and environments that are inaccessible to humans.

“Prior works in this area rely either on gloves, motion markers or a calibrated multi-camera setup,” Deepak Pathak, one of the researchers who developed the new system, told TechXplore. “Instead, our system works using a single uncalibrated camera. Since no calibration is needed, the user can be standing anywhere and still successfully teleoperate the robot.”

SAN ANTONIO (WOAI/KABB) — An Elon Musk-backed proposal to build a tunnel connecting downtown San Antonio to the city’s airport is moving forward. The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority decided to take the next step in the project from The Boring Company to build the system. The Boring Company is owned by Elon Musk, and submitted the idea to Alamo RMA after they asked for proposals to increase revenues. No decisions were made in regards to approval of development.

Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas is about to start its operations, and when it does, it would be one of the United States’ most ambitious vehicle production facilities. The massive factory, which Elon Musk has noted will be almost a mile long when completed, is expected to hire thousands of workers in the area.

The arrival of Tesla in Texas and the influx of companies moving into the state will likely trigger an increase in the number of people residing in cities like Austin. With this in mind, Austin transit leaders recently stated that the city’s transportation network would play a critical role in aiding or hindering further development. After all, all those new workers need a way to get to and from their jobs.

The discussions were held during a South by Southwest panel on Thursday, where transportation startup leaders highlighted that Austin’s efforts to invest in new mass transit operations are steps in the right direction. Austin-based AI Fleet CEO Marc El Khoury noted that the city and its surrounding areas would be attractive for companies developing innovative transit technologies.

It’s getting close to the time of year when we need to start carefully vetting projects here at Hackaday. After all, nobody likes to get punked by an early April Fool’s joke. But as silly as this outsized PC fan looks, it sure seems like a legit build, if a bit on the pointless side.

Then again, perhaps pointless is too harsh a word to use. This 500-mm fan is by [Angus] over at Maker’s Muse, and it represents a lot of design work to make it buildable, as well as workable and (mostly) safe. Using both CNC-cut MDF and printed parts, the fan is an embiggened replica of a normal-sized case fan. The fan’s frame had to be printed in four parts, which lock together with clever interlocking joints. Each of the nine blades locks into a central hub with sturdy-looking dovetails.

Continue reading “3D-Printed Parts Let You Assemble Your Own Biggest Fan” »