Japan testing Convoys of Robotic Cargo Trucks to Save 15 percent or more on Fuel

Japan is already making headway with autonomous heavy duty trucks. In order to save fuel, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has programmed a convoy of four trucks to drive just four meters (about 13 feet) apart. That cuts down on air resistance, reducing drag (and thus improving fuel efficiency) similar to …

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Radical Improvement like a 290 mpg car from 3D Printing Requires Radical Redesign

The Urbee 2 is a 3D printed car and it could revolutionize parts manufacturing while creating a cottage industry of small-batch automakers intent on challenging the status quo. Precise Control to Enable Lighter and Stronger Construction Making the car body via FDM [3D Printed ABS plastic via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)] affords precise control that …

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U.S. crude oil production tops 7 million barrels per day in December 2012, highest since December 1992

U.S. crude oil production exceeded an average 7 million barrels per day (bbl per day) in November and December 2012, the highest volume since December 1992. The breakdown of oil production by state shows Texas had 2.22 million bpd for Dec (68.88 million barrels for the month of Dec) North Dakota has 739,000 bpd for …

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Feasibility Analysis for a Manned Mars Free – Return Mission in 2018 technical paper is online

The 18 page technical paper is online. Feasibility Analysis for a Manned Mars Free – Return Mission in 2018 In 1998 Patel et al searched for Earth – Mars free – return trajectories that leave Earth, fly by Mars, and return to Earth without any deterministic maneuvers after Trans – Mars Injection. They found fast …

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Mars Flyby Plan will cost 1 to 2 Billion dollars and will send Middle Aged Couple that Already had Children

Dennis Tito provided details of the Mars Manned Flyby Plan The mission, a “return fly-by”, in which the spacecraft would fly around Mars rather than land, would last for 500 days. It is expected to cost between $1 billion and $2 billion, which Mr Tito is hoping to fund partly through television rights and by …

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Fabrication Progress to Atomic Layer Deposition of solar nanorectennas that could collect solar energy with 70% efficiency

A novel fabrication technique developed by UConn engineering professor Brian Willis could provide the breakthrough technology scientists have been looking for to vastly improve today’s solar energy systems. Over the next year, Willis and his collaborators in Pennsylvania plan to build prototype rectennas and begin testing their efficiency. Read more: http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/newsid=29256.php#ixzz2M73ryUdY For years, scientists have …

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Complex Carbon Nanotube Circuits Demonstrated

Mitra and Philip Wong at Stanford University have a wafer of complex carbon nanotube circuits The demonstration carbon nanotube circuit converts an analog signal from a capacitor—the same type of sensor found in many touch screens—into a digital signal that’s comprehensible by a microprocessor. The Stanford researchers rigged a wooden mannequin hand with the capacitive …

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Holographic System Creates Live 3D movie of a room and its contents to allow firefighters to see through smoke and flames

The ability to see behind flames is a key challenge for the industrial field and particularly for the safety field. Development of new technologies to detect live people through smoke and flames in fire scenes is an extremely desirable goal since it can save human lives. The latest technologies, including equipment adopted by fire departments, …

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4th Augmented Human Conference for augmented reality, smart environments, cognition enhancement and wearable devices

The Fourth Augmented Human conference will be held in Germany. The conference looks at new work in augmented reality and having a more seamless and productive interaction with devices. There are finger worn input devices. Finger-worn interfaces remain a vastly unexplored space for user interfaces, despite the fact that our fingers and hands are naturally …

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Wearable Electronic sensor readings communicated via touch feedback can simulate a “Spider Sense”

Recent scientifi c advances allow the use of technology to expand the number of forms of energy that can be perceived by humans. Smart sensors can detect hazards that human sensors are unable to perceive, for example radiation. This fusing of technology to human’s forms of perception enables exciting new ways of perceiving the world …

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Revolutionary Superconducting Technology Capabilities are here and will scale for high impact deployment over the next 10-30 years

Superconducting wire that will enable superconducting magnets with 20-50 tesla. China, Japan, United States and several European countries all should have 45 tesla hybrid superconducting magnets soon. An 88 page report from Europe explains the material challenges (physical stresses) that put an upper limit around 100-120 tesla for a superconducting magnet. Note the applications – …

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