Very neat concept. I have seen quite a few robots that can walk around and such but all of them need a flat foot to get the job done. With a roller for a foot you can’t rely on static stability. Cool.
RABBIT robot
Category: Technology
The DREAD Weapon System
It would be less scary if it didn’t look like a mash up of a disk gun and the starship Enterprise.
No heat, no recoil, no sound, no gunpowder, no flash — just 120,000 rounds per minute of pulverizing power. The next generation of weapons systems has arrived: the DREAD centrifuge-powered weapon system.
SoldierTech: The DREAD Weapon System
DREAD Weapon System promotional video (19MB on a slow link)
(thank you Steve, please don’t try to build one, but if you do, send video! 🙂 )
Atomic Batteries to Power!
This reminds me of my post from a few months ago on a nuclear powered laptop. The BetaBattery would be different as it only creates a small amount of power but can do it for years.
I know that you can buy emergency signs lights that are powered by tritium gas that will last decades. These work by converting the beta radiation into photons via phosphour on the inside of the bulbs.
The Soviets used to use RTGs to power remote radio beacons but those turned out to be quite a problem for some people. As long as the BataBatteries are to be placed in areas that are very hard for someone to work at it with a hammer un-noticed these should pose little risk to the general public. Plus as its power source is a gas, and not a lot of it is in each unit, it would disipate quite quickly in the atmosphere. (like a drop of food colouring in a lake).
The battery’s staying power is tied to the enduring nature of its fuel, tritium, a hydrogen isotope that releases electrons in a process called beta decay. The porous-silicon semiconductors generate electricity by absorbing the electrons, just as a solar cell generates electricity by absorbing energy from incoming photons of light.
New ‘BetaBatteries’ May Provide Power for Decades
Tracking You Via TV Signals
Pretty neat, use TV signals to locate an object the same way GPS works, and do it on a $40 chip!
…realized a synchronization feature in digital and analog television signals could be used for other purposes than to lock the vertical hold for older TVs.
The engineers created a radio receiver chip that could zero in on the TV signal and get the synchronization information. Using precision timing, they figure out how far a TV signal travels before it is picked up by a device equipped with Rosum chips. Next, they compare the measurements against other data that they collect with their own listening stations and then finally calculate the device’s position. The Rosum engineers call this process “multilateration,” which is akin to navigational triangulation.
NED Screens Are Shown by Motorola
Hum, thin, cheap, and fast. Look for it when?
Motorola yesterday unveiled a working display prototype using Nano Emissive technology. The technology offers many benefits over existing display types, including quick response times, wide viewing angles and a thickness of just 3.3 millimeters. Even better is news of an estimated cost of just $400 to manufacture a 42-inch NED panel.
Motorola Unveils Nano Emissive Flat Screens
Star Wars Force FX Lightsabers
I saw these at a local sci-fi convention last weekend and was quite impressed (does it take much? Nope, guess not!)
The sounds are pretty darn cool, quite effective in giving the impression that its sparking and zapping the air as it moves around.
Star Wars Force FX Lightsabers