Impact Lab – Page 337 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

3D Printer

Scientists have toyed with printing ear implants for ages, but they’ve usually been more cosmetic than functional. Princeton has just developed a bionic ear that could transcend those mere replacements to offer a full-on upgrade.

Rather than seed hydrogel with cells and call it a day, the researchers 3D printed a blend of calf cells, hydrogel and an integrated, coiled antenna made from silver nanoparticles.

Space Flight

Channeling Elon Musk, Japan gears up for private rocket space race

November 18, 2021

The Epsilon-5 rocket lifts off from Uchinoura Space Center in the southwestern Japan on Nov. 9.

IHI Aerospace eyes satellite launches for Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Space

SPINLAUNCH COMPLETES FIRST PROTOTYPE FLIGHT USING KINETIC LAUNCH SYSTEM

November 18, 2021

By Aria Alamalhodaei

SpinLaunch, a startup working on a kinetic space launch system, has successfully completed its first prototype flight. It’s a major milestone for the seven-year-old company as it works toward a test of its full-scale system.

The concept behind that system is pretty wild: Essentially, SpinLaunch wants to get to orbit by using a large, vacuum-sealed chamber and a hypersonic tether to spin a spacecraft at a high enough velocity — up to 5,000 miles per hour — to escape the atmosphere. That means no rocket, no rocket engines. It’s a markedly different way of thinking about spaceflight, much more akin to a giant rail gun rather than a conventional launch system.

According to SpinLaunch, such a system is now possible thanks to advances in small electronics and high-strength materials like carbon fiber, which can harden both the launch vehicle and small satellites to high-G forces.

Space Flight

Virgin Galactic reveals how many $450K seats it’s sold for space tourism ride

November 17, 2021

By Trevor Mogg

Virgin Galactic has revealed that so far 100 people have each handed over $450,000 for a flight on its rocket-powered suborbital spaceplane.

That brings the total number of reservations for its upcoming space tourism service t0 700, with the other 600 having paid $250,000 before the seat price was raised to $450,000 in the summer.

Virgin Galactic revealed details of the ticket sales in its latest earnings report released on Monday, November 9.

The company is aiming to launch a space tourism service toward the end of 2022 that will send passengers around 55 miles above Earth for a few moments of weightlessness, as well as awesome views of Earth, before returning to terra firma.

Energy

Rolls-Royce’s Future Hydrogen Fuel Cell Module Could Power Ten Houses

November 17, 2021

By Otilia Drăgan

One of the most interesting products on display at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow was a hydrogen fuel cell module presented by Rolls-Royce. The brand’s Power Systems business unit has joined forces with cellcentric to create highly-efficient fuel cell solutions for emergency power generation.

With a minimalistic design and H-shaped front panel, Rolls-Royce’s mtu fuel cell element is a good example of future technology. This modern-looking module will be able to generate a net power output of 150 kW, enough to power ten homes. But its clean power is meant to be used as a backup for large data centers. Multiple modules can also be connected into fuel cell power plants for impressive megawatts outputs.

This fuel cell module is the result of a collaboration between Rolls-Royce and cellcentric, the joint venture set up by Daimler Truck and Volvo earlier this year. The mtu hydrogen fuel cell solution will be developed based on cellcentric’s fuel cell modules. Hydrogen is promoted as a viable alternative for fossil fuels, but it’s also considered a key element for climate-neutral telecommunications and internet traffic. These domains are linked to huge data centers that require large amounts of energy. So, why not make this clean energy?

Employment

‘The Great Resignation’ is creating more entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and freelancers

November 17, 2021

By Vera Gibbons

Susana Boey has always been a hard-working high-achiever so when she took a job in corporate marketing at an international media company in New York City in 2015, she rolled up her sleeves and enthusiastically got to work.

Every day, the now 31-year old Boey would make the hour-and-a-half commute from her apartment in Washington Heights to midtown Manhattan, work through lunch, and stay well past 6 p.m. “If I could fit in anything after work, that was a bonus. Work was my life and I was very fulfilled living this way,” she said, until one day she wasn’t.

“The pandemic hit, budgets got cut, workloads got bigger, workdays got longer, and I got tired,” said Boey. “I wanted a different life.”

Boey quit last spring, becoming part of a movement that’s been dubbed the “Great Resignation.”

In August alone, 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs. That’s the highest number on record since the government began collecting data 20 years ago.

Robots

Autonomous robot performs its first intramuscular injection without needles

November 17, 2021

By Shane McGlaun

One of the things that many people hate most about getting vaccinations and taking certain types of medication is needles. Any medication that has to be delivered intramuscular typically requires a needle and a skilled medical professional to administer it. However, that may change in the future with a new autonomous robot created by a company called Cobionix, founded at the University of Waterloo.

The autonomous robot utilizes the company’s Cobi platform to perform injections without using needles. Cobi is described as a versatile robotic platform that can be deployed rapidly and complete tasks completely autonomously. The robot was fitted with a needle-free injection system. It demonstrated the ability to deliver intramuscular injections to patients without needing needles and without supervision by a healthcare professional.

The robot developers believe that Cobi and solutions like it could help protect healthcare workers, reduce the cost of healthcare, and help improve patient outcomes. Researchers believe the autonomous design of the robot will dramatically reduce the requirements for vaccine clinics and could help deliver vaccines and other medications to remote populations with limited access to healthcare.

3D Printer

The Future of Cybernetics: 3D Printed Prosthetics Plus The Concept of Feedback

November 17, 2021

According to the famous MIT professor and father of cybernetics, Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), “intelligent behavior is the result of feedback mechanisms.” From MIT now comes one of its latest projects following in the footsteps of Wiener, which is human prostheses. It intends to combine 3D printing with metamaterials to have capabilities and have a highly specific function.

MetaSense is a software program developed by a team of researchers from MIT that uses 3D printing for devices that use embedded electrodes in their functioning. The materials are made from repeating and flexible cells that are 3D printed with conductive and non-conductive filament. When compressed, the cells become sensors for a variety of applications. What they are targeting is the field of human prostheses. The focus of the researchers is the concept of feedback.

3D Printer

AICT BUILDS WORLD’S FIRST 3D PRINTED PARK, RESEARCHERS EXPLORE CONCRETE 3D PRINTING WITH RECYCLED AGGREGATES

November 17, 2021

AICT’s 3D printed park

By HAYLEY EVERETT

Construction 3D printing firm Advanced Intelligent Construction Technology (AICT) has unveiled what it says is the world’s first 3D printed public park at the Shenzen World Exhibition and Convention Center in China.

Spanning 5,523 square meters and made up of more than 2,000 3D printed concrete pieces, the park was built using AICT’s robotic 3D printing technology, which makes use of a modular six-axis robotic arm system and the firm’s proprietary building material.

Meanwhile, in other construction-related news, researchers from Tongji Universityhave published the results of a study exploring the viability of using recycled fine aggregates (RFA) in 3D mortar printing. The study sought to achieve a more accurate picture of the buildability of 3D concrete printing, and how the use of recycled and waste material impacts upon the fabricated structures.

“As a form of intelligent construction, 3D printing concrete construction technology boasts great advantages,” said Xu Weiguo, Professor at the Tsinghua University School of Architecture who lead the technical support team for AICT’s 3D printed park.

Alternative Transportation

Flying Electric Cars Compete In A Drag Race

November 15, 2021

The Mk3 Speeders flew at over 100 kmph and heights of 10 metres above the ground.

A landmark moment in the future of motorsport played out in the deserts of South Australia last week as a pre-season test concluded with the first ever timed electric flying car drag-race. The drag-race was part of a key pre-season testing session for EXA, Airspeeder’s first electric flying car racing season, created by Alauda Aeronautics. This historic moment provided a first glimpse of flying car racing as a sporting entity, ahead of international competition in 2022.

Race events will see a grid of full-scale electric flying cars known as Speeders race blade-to-blade. Teams from a broad range of industries will be provided with the Speeders but given technical and tactical freedom to approach gaining competitive edge in the series as they see fit. This will ensure close motorsport based on pilot skill and race management.

Because flying car racing does not require the same physical infrastructure as legacy motorsport, this presents a sport built from the ground-up with sensitivity to the global requirement to race with minimal ecological impact.

This first drag-race represented the culmination of intense internal competition between two-sides of the Alauda Aeronautics technical team. The result was a tense and visually enthralling encounter with the internal teams forced to adapt strategy in line with wind and dust conditions in the selected desert location. As races play out in varying conditions including over ice, over sea, deserts and even forest locations, mastery of external factors add a compelling tactical layer to the sport.

Electric Vehicles

Electric Geely Homtruck to take on Tesla Semi with autonomous driving and built-in apartment

November 15, 2021

Long-haul tractor has all the comforts of home

By Gary Gastelu

China’s Geely has unveiled an electric semi truck with all of the comforts of home for long-haul truckers.

The Geely Homtruck will be avaialble with an all-electric drivetrain.

The Homtruck, built by Geely’s Farizon Auto commercial truck unit, is equipped with a full mini-apartment that includes a bed, shower, toilet, electric kitchen and washing machine.

Geely said the Homtruck will be offered around the world with several powertrain options, including all-electric, range-extended electric and a hybrid with a methanol-burning internal combustion engine. A projected driving range between charges for the all-electric version was not announced.

Food

World’s Most Advanced Lab-Grown Meat Facility Opens In California

November 15, 2021

By Katie Spalding

As people become more aware of the devastating environmental cost of animal agriculture, there’s been a veritable explosion in the number of plant-based alternatives hitting the shelves, with some promising vegan “meat” that’s virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. One company named Upside Foods is ready and waiting to serve up an even more authentic experience: real meat, but with none of the agriculture.

On Thursday, November 4, the company opened a vast facility in Emeryville, California – 16,154 square meters (53,000 square feet) of renewably-powered vats and tubes going by the name of the Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center, or “EPIC”. It’s been billed as the first of its kind, and the company says it’s ready to start producing 22,680 kilograms (50,000 pounds) of cultured meat for commercial scale – just as soon as it’s legal in the US.