A fleet of teensy robots, collectively weighing less than a typical apple, have moved a 3,900-lb. (1,800 kilograms) car and driver.

Watch 6 Teensy Robots Pull a 2-Ton Car

by Tia Ghose, Senior Writer   |   March 16, 2016 11:58am ET

A team of tiny robots with adhesive feet inspired by gecko's feet can move a 2-ton car. Here, a single MicroTug pulls a car.

The old saying is that many hands make light work, but in this case, many tiny robot feet make light work, too.
A fleet of teensy robots, collectively weighing less than a typical apple, have moved a 3,900-lb. (1,800 kilograms) car and driver. 
The secret behind these tiny-but-mighty bots is a remarkable adhesive inspired by gecko feet.


"They use a synthetic gecko adhesive that is turned on when a shear force is applied, and then turned off as soon as it released," said David Christensen, a mechanical engineering doctoral candidate at Stanford University in California, who helped design the robots. "They basically lock onto the surface when they want to, but are never actually stuck." [Biomimicry: 7 Technologies Inspired by Nature]
Simple design
The "μ-tugs" (pronounced MicroTugs) are named after the Greek letter "mu" that denotes the coefficient of friction in physics. (Mu also conjures up notions of teensy things, as it is the symbolic shorthand for micro- in standard units.) And friction is the inspiration behind these tiny bots' tremendous tugging powers.
The robots' adhesive force "behaves more like friction from a user perspective, except the force available is much, much, much larger than friction would be," Christensen told Live Science in an email.
For instance, each robot can apply 14 lbs. (62 Newtons) of shear force when operating at peak. By contrast, a rubber friction base would provide 500 times less force, Christensen said.
The bots are made using a relatively simple design: A tiny battery powers the motor, which lifts a metal arm anchored to a towing cable. At the bottom of each bot's "feet" is an adhesive that makes the robot parts operate like a gecko's foot. When pulled vertically, the adhesive offers no resistance, but when tugged sideways, parallel across a surface, the material strongly resists motion.
The team was inspired in part by some of the more unrealistic depictions of robot capabilities. For instance, in the movie "Big Hero 6," a swarm of tiny bots tosses a car as if it's a baseball.
"The argument always seemed to go that 'Sure, each robot can't do a lot, but we can get a huge number of them, and then it will be amazing,'" Christensen told Live Science in an email. "We wanted to examine that idea, and it turns out there are some complexities depending on how the robots move."
The team began to investigate what creates the astonishing force-multiplier effect of teams of tiny movers, such as ant swarms that can haul hundreds of times more than their own weight.
Better together
The team looked at a panoply of robots, from ones that ran to those that walked and vibrated. Some robots worked better in teams than did others. The faster they moved, the worse off they performed as a group, the researchers reported online yesterday (March 14) in the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.
"The vibratory ones were shockingly bad. In some cases 20 robots only achieved twice the peak force of one," Christensen said. "We found that if we slowed everything down so that they were more likely to synchronize, we got nearly perfect teamwork, and we could get the full capability from each robot we hoped for. Given the amazing capability of the MicroTugs individually, the result just scaled up."
The MicroTugs haven't even tapped their peak ability. Given the shear forces the robots can withstand, they should be able to tug about twice the weight of the current car, Christensen said. (Though the MicroTugs can pull a car, they couldn't lift one; as anyone who has ever pushed a dead car out of the street knows, it requires much less force to push a car than it does to lift it.)
The team said it envisions these swarms of bots having many practical applications.
"Future versions of these kinds of robots could search rubble for survivors, find them and then, importantly, actually move big rubble out of the way and modify the world, not just act as mobile sensors," Christensen said.

SCIENTISTS GROW FULL-SIZED, WORKING HUMAN HEARTS FROM STEM CELLS

By Alexandra Ossola 

Bernhard Jank, MD, Ott Lab, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital via Eurekalert

Regenerated heart

Heart tissue, seeded with induced cardiac cells, matures in a bioreactor that the researchers created

Of the 4,000 Americans waiting for heart transplants, only 2,500 will receive new hearts in the next year. Even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, the biggest risk is the their bodies will reject the new heart and launch a massive immune reaction against the foreign cells. To combat the problems of organ shortage and decrease the chance that a patient’s body will reject it, researchers have been working to create synthetic organs from patients’ own cells. Now a team of scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School has gotten one step closer, using adult skin cells to regenerate functional human heart tissue, according to a study published recently in the journal Circulation Research.

Ideally, scientists would be able to grow working hearts from patients’ own tissues, but they’re not quite there yet. That’s because organs have a particular architecture. It's easier to grow them in the lab if they have a scaffolding on which the cells can build, like building a house with the frame already constructed.

In their previous work, the scientists created a technique in which they use a detergent solution to strip a donor organ of cells that might set off an immune response in the recipient. They did that in mouse hearts, but for this study, the researchers used it on human hearts. They stripped away many of the cells on 73 donor hearts that were deemed unfit for transplantation. Then the researchers took adult skin cells and used a new technique with messenger RNA to turn them into pluripotent stem cells, the cells that can become specialized to any type of cell in the human body, and then induced them to become two different types of cardiac cells.

After making sure the remaining matrix would provide a strong foundation for new cells, the researchers put the induced cells into them. For two weeks they infused the hearts with a nutrient solution and allowed them to grow under similar forces to those a heart would be subject to inside the human body. After those two weeks, the hearts contained well-structured tissue that looked similar to immature hearts; when the researchers gave the hearts a shock of electricity, they started beating.

While this isn’t the first time heart tissue has been grown in the lab, it’s the closest researchers have come to their end goal: Growing an entire working human heart. But the researchers admit that they’re not quite ready to do that. They are next planning to improve their yield of pluripotent stem cells (a whole heart would take tens of billions, one researcher said in a press release), find a way to help the cells mature more quickly, and perfecting the body-like conditions in which the heart develops. In the end, the researchers hope that they can create individualized hearts for their patients so that transplant rejection will no longer be a likely side effect.

Emergence of Corals in Glacier Bay National Park

Deepwater Emergence of Corals in Glacier Bay National Park

Red tree corals are a focal point of the Deepwater Exploration of Glacier Bay National Park expedition. These corals have been shown to be the foundation of diverse deepwater communities in Alaska, and can occur as shallow as six meters. In this image, several fish and urchins congregate around a large red tree coral.Image courtesy of NOAA- Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Deep- Sea Coral Research and Technology Program. Download larger version (773 kb).

Cheryl Morrison
U.S. Geological Survey

Southeastern Alaska is one of the great fjord regions of the world, similar to the coasts of Chile, Norway, Greenland, and New Zealand. Fjords are glacially carved, narrow, and deep U-shaped channels with high cliffs and deep basins, making for dramatic scenery for those who visit by land or sea. Below the water’s surface lie other wonders, including ecologically unique and diverse communities. Many fjord systems support benthic communities that are usually found only in much deeper, offshore waters, such as the continental shelf and slope of the Gulf of Alaska. Such benthic communities that thrive in depths a fraction of those they usually occur at are called deepwater emergent communities.

Although the factors that allow the survival of deepwater emergent communities are not fully understood, the marine environment in fjords mimic conditions found in deeper, offshore habitats, where similar communities also thrive. Deep passageways connect fjords to the sea and funnel in cold, nutrient-rich waters year round, helping to create a hospitable environment. The exchange of water with the ocean also allows for transport of food sources, such as plankton, as well as juvenile benthic invertebrates that may settle and grow on exposed bedrock that forms the steep fjord walls. Often, a layer of water that is less salty than typical ocean water (hyposaline) is formed from runoff of freshwater from glaciers and rivers, creating a barrier to light, resulting in a darker environment than would be expected at shallow depths. The variable combination of tides, storms, freshwater discharge, and complex deep passageways to the sea create a favorable environment for deepwater emergent communities in the Southeast Alaskan fjords.

Red tree corals often form large, dense communities. In this image, you can also see a few white sponges which often co-locate with deep sea corals. Click image for credit and larger view.

One important deepwater emergent species is the red tree coral, Primnoa pacifica. Red tree corals are large, structure-forming soft corals that often form dense thickets in the Gulf of Alaska at depths between 150 to 900 meters (average 500 meters). However, in the Southeast Alaskan fjords, red tree corals are found as shallow as six meters.

Red tree corals provide important habitat for many species, including commercially important rockfish (Sebastes sp.). This long-lived species is highly susceptible to disturbance from fishing activities. As a result, five areas in the Gulf of Alaska are now closed to fishing with gear that contacts the bottom.

Red tree coral has been observed by divers at 9 – 35 meters in the upper reaches of Glacier Bay National Park, yet exploration of the extensive underwater world within the park has been minimal. On this research cruise, we will document the occurrence of this and potentially other emergent species within the park.

Populations of red tree corals within the park are unique in that they have been protected from fishing damage since the park became a National Monument in 1925. These pristine red tree coral populations could be a source of coral larvae to other areas that do not have such protection. As such, populations discovered during this expedition could have wide spread importance to the region.

ART-Genaro Pérez Villaamil | Romantic Historical-scenes painter

Born in Ferrol on 3 February 1807, Genaro Pérez Villamil (1807-1854) was still a boy when he enrolled at the Military Academy in Santiago de Compostela, but after moving to Madrid with his family he abandoned the military for literary studies. In 1819 he was wounded when fighting against the absolutist troops of King Ferdinand VII and taken to Cadiz as a prisoner of war and it was there that he began to develop his artistic skills. During those years he may have made a trip to England with his brother Juan, also a painter, and in 1830 the two of them travelled to Puerto Rico, where they decorated the Tapia theatre in San Juan.













On returning to Spain three years later he travelled around Andalusia and in Seville he must have met the Scot David Roberts (1796-1864), one of the great masters of English Romantic landscape painting who would mark Villaamil’s style and conception of landscape, causing him to stand out from the rest of the Spanish painters of his day who specialised in this genre.
In 1834 he established himself in Madrid and the following year he was made an academician of merit in the field of landscape painting at the San Fernando Academy, the institution of which he would be appointed deputy director in 1845; he also founded the Artistic and Literary Lyceum of Madrid. The following years were marked by a series of appointments and eventually the post of honorary court painter to Queen Isabella II. He produced a large number of spectacular paintings for the palace, mostly landscapes of Oriental inspiration and monumental interiors, including some of the masterpieces of his entire career.
From 1840-1844 Pérez Villaamil travelled abroad visiting Belgium and the Netherlands, where he made many small pictures, watercolours and drawings of their cities and monuments. He also spent considerable time in Paris, where he began to publish his España artística y monumental, the most important collection of lithographs of monumental views of Spanish cities of this type made by a Spanish artist and a splendid testament to the monumental and picturesque conception of travel in the Romantic world.
On returning to Spain he was awarded knighthoods of the orders of Charles III and Leopold of Belgium, and received the French Legion of Honour.
From this point onwards he travelled extensively around Spain in search of new views to depict in his works and died in Madrid on 5 June 1854 at the age of only forty-seven.
Genaro Pérez Villaamil is, without a doubt, the great Spanish master of the picturesque and monumental brand of landscape painting made fashionable by Romanticism. An outstandingly talented draughtsman who worked quickly and precisely with a highly prolific output consisting of a huge number of paintings, watercolours and pencil and pen sketches, he produced chiefly panoramic views of monuments, cities and natural landscapes. These views are transformed by the romantic imagination of the artist, who divests them of some of their realism in order to achieve a more spectacular and grandiose result, always with a special decorative sense and a painterly language of vivid colours and rich impasto, expressed with an extremely supple texture and very free brushstrokes. These views nevertheless preserve a descriptive sense in the manner of the travelling artists, which he learned from Roberts. | José Luis Díez © Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga, España.























































Pérez Villaamil, Jenaro - Pittore, nato a El Ferrol il 3 febbraio 1807, morto a Madrid il 5 giugno 1854. Studiò nel collegio militare di Santiago. L'inclinazione all'arte si destò in lui tardivamente, a Cadice, dove era stato condotto ferito e prigioniero di guerra. Nel 1830 fu chiamato a Portorico per eseguire le decorazioni del teatro della capitale, e tornato in patria insegnò nella scuola preparatoria d'ingegneria e architettura. Ebbe titolo di pittore di Corte (1840) e diresse l'Accademia di San Fernando a Madrid (1845). L'abbondante produzione del Pérez Villaamil abbraccia tutti i generi, storia, paesaggio, natura morta e soprattutto vedute di monumenti. Dei suoi moltissimi quadri cinquecento si trovano nel Belgio. È autore di un'opera in tre volumi intitolata España artística y monumental, vistas y descripción de los sitios y monumentos más notables de España (con testo di Patricio de la Escosura), pubblicata a Parigi nel 1842. | di José F. Rafols © Treccani, Enciclopedia Italiana

This Incredible Futuristic Aircraft Design Shows What Air Travel Will Look Like in 2050

This Incredible Futuristic Aircraft Design Shows What Air Travel Will Look Like in 2050

This awesome futuristic aircraft could be one of the way people use for long journeys in the year 2050. With a thorough design inside and out, the model plane contain a huge cabin with 1,000 seats, virtual reality headsets, live image projections on the walls instead of windows and open living room anticipated to improve the passenger experience. The enormous curved plane is the idea of a group from Airport Parking & Hotels and Imperial College London, who set out to forecast what the future of air-flight could accurately be like in next 30 to 40 years.

With a comprehensive reconsideration, the team, counting aircraft design PhD student Adam Omar, came up with an advanced plane that endures some of the hallmarks of today’s aircrafts and next-generation technology. Thanks to its combined wing design its fuselage would be extensive and shorter and it wouldn’t have a tail wing, and it would be driven by six biofuel machines at the back of the plane. The extended body, with bigger wings, would offer cabin space for up to 1,000 travelers, but the designers say the airplane would have more room than today’s planes regardless of having so many people on board.

Image: premium cabin

As the plane has very few windows, Transparent LCD screens on the walls show the view outside or films, or any other sort of entertainment stuff.

Image: wraparound virtual reality headsets that display 3D films and programmes

Backseat monitors would use the technology of the past but replaced with virtual reality headsets that are assembled with the seats with wraparound screens that show films or games in full 3D. These screens are aimed to automatically fold away on departure and landing or any event of an emergency.

In order to improve the passenger experience, the team targeted to design a plane that is way more fuel efficient and less dangerous to the environment. Automatically excluding the dependence on fossil fuels. 

Water drone: Boeing launches incredible unmanned super-submarine (VIDEO)

Published time: 12 Mar, 2016 17:54



© boeing.mediaroom.com
A new super-submarine, capable of operating without human interaction for months at a time, could redefine sub-aquatic exploration missions - not to mention marine warfare.
TrendsViral

The 51ft-long Echo Voyager is the latest unmanned submarine to be created by Boeing, which claims it will change the way reconnaissance, deep sea research and even military missions are conducted beneath the waves.




The Echo Voyager operates using a hybrid electric-fuel system, allowing it to recharge and remain submerged for at least six months.

Unlike other unmanned underwater drones, this device can be launched without support ships.
Boeing hopes the development will be used for research or military purposes by its customers, such as the US Navy, since it can transmit information from the sea floor in “near real-time.”




The global aerospace and defense manufacturer has already received millions in revenue from the US government for projects including its JDAM rocket guidance kits, as well as the Harpoon Block II missile, which can be fired at enemy vessels from submarines.
with a dive depth of about 11,000ft, the Echo Voyager is the culmination of many years work on a line of autonomous Boeing subs.

The previous Echo Ranger and Echo Seeker were both smaller than the Echo Voyager, and could only remain at sea for two to three days.


“Echo Voyager can collect data while at sea, rise to the surface, and provide information back to users in a near real-time environment,” said Lance Towers, of Boeing Phantom Works.

“Existing UUVs require a surface ship and crew for day-to-day operations. Echo Voyager eliminates that need and associated costs.”

The large underwater vehicle will begin testing off the coast of California this summer.

2017 Lotus Evora 410 Sport - World Premiere

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 10 Μαρ 2016

This new, top-of-the-range Evora has been thoroughly re-evaluated, with a 70kg drop in kerb weight and a power boost, thanks to the supercharged engine it shares with the track-bred Lotus 3-Eleven.

With a host of high-performance carbon fibre components as standard, the Lotus Evora Sport 410 clocks 0-60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.9 seconds on its way to a top speed of 186 mph (300 km/h).

With a lower centre of gravity, and a kerb weight slashed to just 1,325 kg (2,921 lbs), the car provides an impressive 309 hp/tonne, and builds on the achievements of the excellent Evora 400.

In addition to boosting acceleration, the significant reduction in mass has allowed the recalibration of the suspension, with revised geometry and damping, to deliver sharper, more agile and intuitive handling. However, far from a stripped-out special, the Evora Sport 410 retains excellent road manners proving refined and composed during everyday driving.

The Evora Sport 410 is capable of lapping the company’s Hethel test track in 1 minute 28 seconds - an impressive 3 seconds faster than the Evora 400.

Engine:
410 horsepower (306 kW) 3.5-liter V6 with Edelbrock supercharger.
410 Nm of torque at 3,500 rpm

Suggested retail price:
£79,900
€110,000
¥14.8m

The Lotus Evora Sport 410 will be limited to a global production run of one-hundred and fifty vehicles per year and will be available in all major markets from June 2016. A specific North American version of the Evora Sport 410 will be announced later in 2016.

Fleet Assembly For Amphibibious Landing On North Korea

Various ships of the U.S. Navy and Republic of Korea assemble off the coast of the ROK for exercise Ssang Yong 16 on March 8, 2016. Ssang Yong 16 is a biennial combined amphibious exercise conducted by forward-deployed U.S. forces with the Republic of Korea Navy and Marine Corps, Australian Army and Royal New Zealand Army Forces in order to strengthen interchangeability and working relationships across a wide range of military operations. Filmed on March 10. 2016.