Click on the link below to see an unbelievable video of a lightning strike caught on a slo-mo camera. Sorry I couldn’t insert the video here. Just a teaser photo.
Archive for the 'Technology' Category
08
Aug
08
lightning in slo-mo
07
May
08
flying saucer patented
Note to reader: Boffin is British slang for a scientist, engineer, or other techie.
US boffin patents flying saucer
By Iain Thomson VNU Net
Wednesday, May 7 05:30 pm
An American inventor has requested a patent on a ‘flying saucer’ powered by ionised plasma and helium.
Subrata Roy, an aerospace engineer at the University of Florida, has filed the patent for a Wingless Hovering Micro Air Vehicle.
The vehicle is only 15cm wide and will not be leaving the atmosphere, but the design nevertheless looks feasible.
The saucer is filled with helium to offset the weight of batteries and an electric motor which ionises the air around the rim of the craft into plasma, which is then circulated around the craft to generate lift.
“The wingless design of specific embodiments can allow operation with no rotating or moving components,” according to the filing.
“Additional embodiments can allow active response to the surrounding flow conditions.
“The issue of low lift to drag ratio and degradation of airfoil efficiency due to the inability of laminar boundary layers attachment can also be significantly reduced, or eliminated.”
Roy claimed that the device could operate in relatively high winds and carry a payload.
20
Mar
08
the robots are coming
Very creepy. Strap some guns on that bad boy and it beats the ED-209 from Robocop, which couldn’t even walk down stairs.
New Video of BigDog Quadruped is So Stunning It’s Spooky
Boston Dynamics keeps working on their BigDog quadruped robot, which will probably grow to be the future AT-AT of the Pentagon. Its evolution since the last time we saw it is nothing sort of mindblowing, and a bit spooky.
It looks like an actual biological quadruped. Seeing it climb through rubble, snow, jumping over obstacles like a wild goat, and saving a near-fall on iced ground at the last second (fast forward to the middle of the video) defies belief. It feels so “animal” that I almost feel bad when they hit it to demonstrate how it regains balance on its own.
The new version of the robot can now carry 340 pounds, which is almost triple the previous weight. It looks to me that that $10 million funding they got from Darpa has been put to good use.
