Industrial Robotics In Random Picking

Moving boxes around is tedious but easy for humans; it is not tedious but it may not be at all easy for robots. Advances in using robots on the factory and warehouse floor are in evidence thanks to advanced vision technology and gripping techniques. Robotics experts nonetheless see room ahead for improvements.

Silicon Valley startup Kinema Systems is aggressively trying to make a real difference, and the company has announced a self-training, self-calibrating robot picking solution. The company calls it Kinema Pick and said it can be configured easily using a browser-based GUI.

Twisted Light Could Boost Internet Speeds

A new development could mean vastly increase data transfer over optical fibre cables. Credit: Shutterstock

Fibre optics allow for the communication of data at the speed of light.

Tokyo Startup With Two-week Shower Use

(Tech Xplore)—Water. A Tokyo-based company places water top of mind. One of its promotional videos is actually a promotion of the importance of thinking more carefully about water resources. It shows raindrops falling on ocean waves.

Rechargeable Batteries From Cow Manure

The microbial rechargeable battery consists of a charging cell (performing microbial electrosynthesis) and discharging cell (the microbial fuel cell). Credit: Molenaar, et al. ©2016 American Chemical Society

(Tech Xplore)—For the first time, researchers from Wetsus, the European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology; and Wageningen University, both in The Netherlands, have combined two microbial processes—microbial fuel cells and microbial electrosynthesis—in a single device to create the first microbial rechargeable battery.

Five Questions About Jetpacks

In this Feb. 9, 2016 photo, test pilot Michael van der Vliet operates a flight simulator at the Martin Aircraft Co. headquarters in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

Some things about jetpacks that you didn't know you needed to know:

"Jetpack" Creator Fears Dream Is Grounded

In this Feb. 9, 2016 photo, Martin Aircraft CEO Peter Coker stands next to a Martin Jetpack in Christchurch, New Zealand. The company says it's close to commercial liftoff, but the man who started it fears his vision of a personal jetpack will remain grounded. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Glenn Martin was sitting in a bar with his college buddies 35 years ago when they got to wondering: What ever happened to flying cars and jetpacks?

"Self-driven Trucks"

Semi-automated trucks are driven on the E19 highway in Vilvoorde on April 5, 2016 as part of the 'EU Truck Platooning Challenge'

Six convoys of semi-automated "smart" trucks arrived in Rotterdam's harbour Wednesday after an experiment its organizers say will revolutionize future road transport on Europe's busy highways.

Slimmed-down Aircraft With Positive Impact On Environment

Credit: NASA Langley Research Center

Every bit of weight on an aircraft increases the fuel, emissions and money required to put it in the air. NASA and Boeing have been working together to design a longer, thinner and lighter wing – so different from typical commercial transport aircraft wings that it requires a brace, or truss, to provide the wing extra support.

Real-time Detection Of Water Contaminants With Highly Sensitive Fiber Sensor

Figure 1: A schematic illustration describing the encapsulation of 5-FU into the UiO-66 MOF thin film optical fiber and its release upon switching on the light at the other end of the optical fiber

Trace contaminants in water are often measured by taking samples from the environment to a lab for analysis, which can lead to inaccurate results due to delayed and irregular sample collection or long-transportation and handling times. Thus, techniques enabling in-situ or real-time measurements of water contaminants are no doubt one of the major steps towards effective control of water quality.

Peak Friendship

Credit: Shutterstock

Making friends can seem easy when you're young. You encounter more new people and have more free time when you're first venturing out into the world than when you're more likely to be settled down with a steady job, a long-term partner and children.

Biotech Breakthrough: Sunlight Can Be Used To Produce Chemicals And Energy

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a natural process they describe as reverse photosynthesis. In the process, the energy in solar rays breaks down, rather than builds plant material, as is the case with photosynthesis. The sunlight is collected by chlorophyll, the same molecule as used in photosynthesis. Combined with a specific enzyme the energy of sunlight now breaks down plant biomass, with possible uses as chemicals, bio-fuels or other products, that might otherwise take a long time to produce. By increasing production speed while reducing pollution, the discovery has the potential to revolutionize industrial production. The research results have now been published in Nature Communications.

Atomic Vibrations In Nanomaterials

Researchers at ETH have shown for the first time what happens to atomic vibrations when materials are nanosized and how this knowledge can be used to systematically engineer nanomaterials for different applications. Using both experiment, simulation, and theory, they explain how and why vibriations at the surface of a nanomaterial (q) can interact strongly with electrons (k and k').

Credit: Deniz Bozyigit / ETH Zurich

All materials are made up of atoms, which vibrate. These vibrations, or 'phonons', are responsible, for example, how electric charge and heat is transported in materials. Vibrations of metals, semiconductors, and insulators are well studied; however, now materials are being nanosized to bring better performance to applications such as displays, sensors, batteries, and catalytic membranes. What happens to vibrations when a material is nanosized has until now not been understood.

Missing Link Found Between Brain, Immune System; Major Disease Implications

Maps of the lymphatic system: old (left) and updated to reflect UVA's discovery.

Credit: University of Virginia Health System

In a stunning discovery that overturns decades of textbook teaching, researchers at the University Of Virginia School Of Medicine have determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by vessels previously thought not to exist. That such vessels could have escaped detection when the lymphatic system has been so thoroughly mapped throughout the body is surprising on its own, but the true significance of the discovery lies in the effects it could have on the study and treatment of neurological diseases ranging from autism to Alzheimer's disease to multiple sclerosis.

Heat And Light Get Larger At The Nanoscale

This is a schematic of two beams at different temperatures exchanging heat using light. In the situation when the beams are far from each other (left), heat transfer resulting from thermal radiation is small. When the beams are brought very close from each other (right) heat transfer becomes almost 100 times larger than predicted by conventional thermal radiation laws.

Credit: Raphael St-Gelais, Lipson Nanophotonics Group, Columbia Engineering

In a new study recently published in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers from Columbia Engineering, Cornell, and Stanford have demonstrated heat transfer can be made 100 times stronger than has been predicted, simply by bringing two objects extremely close--at nanoscale distances--without touching. Led by Columbia Engineering's Michal Lipson and Stanford Engineering's Shanhui Fan, the team used custom-made ultra-high precision micro-mechanical displacement controllers to achieve heat transfer using light at the largest magnitude reported to date between two parallel objects.

Solar Cells As Light As A Soap Bubble

The MIT team has achieved the thinnest and lightest complete solar cells ever made, they say. To demonstrate just how thin and lightweight the cells are, the researchers draped a working cell on top of a soap bubble, without popping the bubble.

Credit: Joel Jean and Anna Osherov, courtesy of MIT

Imagine solar cells so thin, flexible, and lightweight that they could be placed on almost any material or surface, including your hat, shirt, or smartphone, or even on a sheet of paper or a helium balloon.

Surprising New Find in Crocodilian Jaw

Crocodilians, which include alligators, crocodiles and caimans, live in tropical and temperate regions worldwide and are top predators in watery environments. With a crushing force of more than 16,000 newtons, they have the strongest bite of any animal on Earth, a distinction scientists believe they have likely maintained going back to the Mesozoic era, when their giant ancestors co-existed with the T-rex and other impressive biters. By comparison, the typical human bite involves around 500 newtons of force.

Credit: © edan / Fotolia

Researchers recently discovered that alligators and related crocodilian species have a previously unknown second jaw joint that helps to distribute the extreme force of their bite, which is the most powerful of any living animal. The finding raises new questions about the evolution of our own meager-by-comparison jaws and could potentially lead to a better understanding of common jaw disorders.

New State Of Matter Detected In A Two-dimensional Material

The excitation of a spin liquid on a honeycomb lattice with neutrons.

Credit: Image courtesy of University of Cambridge

An international team of researchers have found evidence of a mysterious new state of matter, first predicted 40 years ago, in a real material. This state, known as a quantum spin liquid, causes electrons -- thought to be indivisible building blocks of nature -- to break into pieces.

10,000 Times Lower Power For Wi-Fi

University of Washington computer scientists and electrical engineers have generated "passive" Wi-Fi transmissions that use 10,000 times less power than current methods.

Credit: University of Washington

The upside of Wi-Fi is that it's everywhere -- invisibly connecting laptops to printers, allowing smartphones to make calls or stream movies without cell service, and letting online gamers battle it out.

The downside is that using Wi-Fi consumes a significant amount of energy, draining the batteries on all those connected devices.

Now, a team of University of Washington computer scientists and electrical engineers has demonstrated that it's possible to generate Wi-Fi transmissions using 10,000 times less power than conventional methods.

Gasification/Fuel-cell Technology May Boost Coal-powered Plants Efficiency

This illustration depicts a possible configuration for the combined system proposed by MIT researchers. At the bottom, steam (pink arrows) passes through pulverized coal, releasing gaseous fuel (red arrows) made up of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This fuel goes into a solid oxide fuel cell (disks near top), where it reacts with oxygen from the air (blue arrows) to produce electricity (loop at right).

Credit: Jeffrey Hanna

Most of the world's nations have agreed to make substantial reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions, but achieving these goals is still a considerable technological, economic, and political challenge. The International Energy Agency has projected that, even with the new agreements in place, global coal-fired power generation will increase over the next few decades. Finding a cleaner way of using that coal could be a significant step toward achieving carbon-emissions reductions while meeting the needs of a growing and increasingly industrialized world population.

Light Helps Develop Programmable Materials

Using active particles to construct programmable materials can become a reality, suggests a researcher. (Stock image)

Credit: © Anette Linnea Rasmus / Fotolia

Light of a certain wavelength can be used to put so-called active materials into motion and control their movement. In the future, this discovery can become significant in widely different areas such as environmental protection, medicine and the development of new materials which can be programmed.

Nigeria's Sluggish Economy & Real Estate

For developers and contractors handling various infrastructure projects in the country, the first quarter of 2016 was traumatic due to the harsh economy, triggered by dwindling oil revenue, devaluation of Naira, foreign exchange restriction, anti-corruption crusade and delay in passing the Nigeria’s budget.

Delta State Gov. Slahes C of O Fees

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa

Delta State Government has  slashed the cost of procuring the Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-O) from N425,000 to N200,000 per plot of land.

The new scheme enables acquisition of the certificate to be completed in 90 days while those in possession of the old ones were required to pay the sum of N50,000 per lot of land.

Redan, Other Stakeholders Profer Solution To Building Collapse

The recent collapse of the five-story building in Lekki which claimed 35 lives and injured about 12 people in March has been generating debates across professional fora in the built industry on how to term the tide.

N5b Calabar Green City Estate

A private developer has launch a new home-ownership drive in Cross River State Capital, Calabar that will increase the nation’s housing stock with 406 residential buildings.

2016 Arctic Sea Ice Wintertime Extent Hits Another Record Low

Arctic sea ice was at a record low wintertime maximum extent for the second straight year. At 5.607 million square miles, it is the lowest maximum extent in the satellite record, and 431,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average maximum extent.

Credit: NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio/C. Starr

Arctic sea ice appears to have reached a record low wintertime maximum extent for the second year in a row, according to scientists at the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and NASA.