No mechanic needed....

With cars becoming more and more complicated everyday, it is becoming increasingly difficult for mechanics and owners to work on them. But the same advancements in technologies that make it difficult to repair modern day cars can also help us figure out what’s wrong and fix the problem.

With a plethora of sensors, electronics and computers incorporated into modern day cars, it is difficult for people to ‘fiddle around’ with the cars because of the complexity of the technology involved. There was once a time when mechanics and even car enthusiasts could understand the internal working of an automobile, but the new tech savvy age has made it difficult for even these people to know what goes on inside. Luckily, auto and tech companies are developing way to allow people to know what to do with modern day cars without even touching a tool.

BMW has developed a pair of sunglasses with attached earbuds that shows the mechanics all the components of the engine in highlighted form. It also displays computer generated information on which components are problematic and gives instructions on how to disassemble and repair the parts. The glasses contain small screens which display computer generated images of the real world.

 

This technology is called Augmented Reality (AR) and is the key to the future of auto repair where you can know the problems in the car before even handling any tool. Google Glass and contact lenses with integrated displays are finally making AR possible. The technology has also been made easily available with the accessibility of smartphones and the only limitation now is for people to come up with new applications to implement it into our daily lives.Augmented windscreens and seats could allow the driver to see the whole car as one transparent vehicle and give greater visibility of the road and surroundings. Though this tech may become a reality far off in the future, AR is here to stay. Volkswagen’s XL1 concept uses a service support system named Marta (Mobile Augmented Reality Technical Assistance), that provides instructions to identify and label components of the car.

While some automakers are integrating these systems into new models and gadgets, other companies like Audi are making the tech available to the masses today. The German automaker has released a mobile app in Europe which helps users identify over 200 components in a car. The app is a user manual which allows the user to point their smartphone camera towards the problem and it tells them how to fix the issue. The app can help people make simple fixes without having to worry about taking their car to a mechanic.

AR could someday help us connect our cars to our smartphones and simply feed us all the information in a step-by-step manner and allow anyone to maintain their car without ever having to visit the mechanic again. This may sound like bad news for mechanic shops, but it is an opportunity for them to adapt and evolve for the modern era. The future of Augmented Reality surely sounds exciting.

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5G NETWORK

People in South Korea will be able to download entire movies in just one second by 2020. The country’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) announced that it would be investing $1.5 billion (1.6 trillion won) to develop 5G technology that will be 1,000 times faster than the current 4G technology.MEST hopes to have a trial 5G service ready by 2017 and make the technology commercially available by 2020. 

The ministry also aims on developing new features alongside the network itself, including Ultra-HD streaming, hologram transmission and upgraded social networking services. The government estimates that the projected sales for relevant industries using the 5G infrastructure between 2020 and 2026 will be $310 billion (331 trillion won). MEST hopes to develop the technology with the help of service providers such as SK Telecom and Korea Telecom, as well as the help of tech giants such as Samsung and LG.

MEST hopes to have a trial 5G service ready by 2017 and make the technology commercially available by 2020. The ministry also aims on developing new features alongside the network itself, including Ultra-HD streaming, hologram transmission and upgraded social networking services. The government estimates that the projected sales for relevant industries using the 5G infrastructure between 2020 and 2026 will be $310 billion (331 trillion won. 

MEST hopes to develop the technology with the help of service providers such as SK Telecom and Korea Telecom, as well as the help of tech giants such as Samsung and LG.Whatever the truth may be, development of a new network is being looked into by other countries as well. The EU is set on developing a next-generation network and hope to meet the increase in traffic by 2020. The speeds claimed by 5G may or may not be speculation, but a new breed of network is sure to come in a few years

Whatever the truth may be, development of a new network is being looked into by other countries as well. The EU is set on developing a next-generation network and hope to meet the increase in traffic by 2020. The speeds claimed by 5G may or may not be speculation, but a new breed of network is sure to come in a few years - See more at: http://wonderfulengineering.com/5g-internet-is-a-thousand-times-faster-than-4g/#sthash.6P0uVNXy.dpuf

Whatever the truth may be, development of a new network is being looked into by other countries as well. The EU is set on developing a next-generation network and hope to meet the increase in traffic by 2020. The speeds claimed by 5G may or may not be speculation, but a new breed of network is sure to come in a few years - See more at: http://wonderfulengineering.com/5g-internet-is-a-thousand-times-faster-than-4g/#sthash.6P0uVNXy.dpuf

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Bending glass

Mechanical Engineers have always been advance and innovative than any other discipline and here's one of another invention-A Glass that bends but doesn't break

Normally when you drop a drinking glass on the floor it shatters. But, in future, thanks to a technique developed in McGill's Department of Mechanical Engineering, when the same thing happens the glass is likely to simply bend and become slightly deformed. That's because Prof. François Barthelat and his team have successfully taken inspiration from the mechanics of natural structures like seashells in order to significantly increase the toughness of glass.

"Mollusk shells are made up of about 95 per cent chalk, which is very brittle in its pure form," says Barthelat. "But nacre, or mother-of-pearl, which coats the inner shells, is made up of microscopic tablets that are a bit like miniature Lego building blocks, is known to be extremely strong and tough, which is why people have been studying its structure for the past twenty years."

Previous attempts to recreate the structures of nacre have proved to be challenging, according to Barthelat. "Imagine trying to build a Lego wall with microscopic building blocks. It's not the easiest thing in the world." Instead, what he and his team chose to do was to study the internal 'weak' boundaries or edges to be found in natural materials like nacre and then use lasers to engrave networks of 3D micro-cracks in glass slides in order to create similar weak boundaries. The results were dramatic. The researchers were able to increase the toughness of glass slides (the kind of glass rectangles that get put under microscopes) 200 times compared to non-engraved slides. By engraving networks of micro-cracks in configurations of wavy lines in shapes similar to the wavy edges of pieces in a jigsaw puzzle in the surface of borosilicate glass, they were able to stop the cracks from propagating and becoming larger. They then filled these micro-cracks with polyurethane, although according to Barthelat, this second process is not essential since the patterns of micro-cracks in themselves are sufficient to stop the glass from shattering.

The researchers worked with glass slides simply because they were accessible, but Barthelat believes that the process will be very easy to scale up to any size of glass sheet, since people are already engraving logos and patterns on glass panels. He and his team are excited about the work that lies ahead for them. "What we know now is that we can toughen glass, or other materials, by using patterns of micro-cracks to guide larger cracks, and in the process absorb the energy from an impact," says Barthelat. "We chose to work with glass because we wanted to work with the archetypal brittle material. But we plan to go on to work with ceramics and polymers in future. Observing the natural world can clearly lead to improved man-made designs."

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RAILGUN- A 21st century weapon

The fine gray powder does have three major limitations:

• Gunpowder must be carried with the projectile, making the entire round heavier.
• Ordnance based on black powder is volatile, and so difficult to handle and transport.
• The muzzle velocity of projectiles propelled by gunpowder is generally limited to about 4,000 feet (about 1,219 meters) per second.

 One solution to overcome these challenges is the electromagnetic rail gun, or rail gun for short. Using a magnetic field powered by electricity, a rail gun can accelerate a projectile up to 52,493 feet (16,000 meters) per second. And while current Navy guns have a maximum range of 12 miles, rail guns can hit a target 250 miles away in six minutes.

A rail gun is basically a large electric circuit, made up of three parts: a power source, a pair of parallel rails and a moving armature.

1. The power supply is simply a source of electric current. Typically, the current used in medium- to large-caliber rail guns is in the millions of amps. 
2. The rails are lengths of conductive metal, such as copper. They can range from four to 30 feet (9 meters) long. 
3. The armature bridges the gap between the rails. It can be a solid piece of conductive metal or a conductive sabot -- a carrier that houses a dart or other projectile. 

Some rail guns use a plasma armature. In this set-up a thin metal foil is placed on the back of a non-conducting projectile. When power flows through this foil it vaporizes and becomes a plasma, which carries the current.

Here's how the pieces work together:

An electric current runs from the positive terminal of the power supply, up the positive rail, across the armature, and down the negative rail back to the power supply.Current flowing in any wire creates a magnetic field around it a region where a magnetic force is felt. This force has both a magnitude and a direction. In a rail gun, the two rails act like wires, with a magnetic field circulating around each rail. The force lines of the magnetic field run in a counterclockwise circle around the positive rail and in a clockwise circle around the negative rail. The net magnetic field between the rails is directed vertically.

Like a charged wire in an electric field, the projectile experiences a force known as the Lorentz force (after the Dutch physicist Hendrik A. Lorentz). The Lorentz force is directed perpendicularly to the magnetic field and to the direction of the current flowing across the armature.

The magnitude of the force is determined by the equation F = (i)(L)(B), where F is the net force, i is the current, L is the length of the rails and B is the magnetic field. The force can be boosted by increasing either the length of the rails or the amount of current.The projectile, under the influence of the Lorentz force, accelerates to the end of the rails opposite the power supply and exits through an aperture. The circuit is broken, which ends the flow of current.

Rail guns are of particular interest to the military, as an alternative to current large artillery. Rail gun ammunition, in the form of small tungsten missiles, would be relatively light, easy to transport and easy to handle. And because of their high velocities, rail gun missiles would be less susceptible to bullet drop and wind shift than current artillery shells. Course correction would be important, but all missiles fired from rail gun artillery would be guided by satellite.

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Sunlight,necessary and important but since the invention of electricity and our busy daily life in offices and colleges we could hardly found some time to spend in sun. So Anton Harfmann, Associate Dean and Professor of Architecture and Interior Design, and Jason Heikenfeld, Professor of Electrical Engineering, have collaborated on a project that could bring natural daylight to us in the offices.Offices are usually occupied during daytime hours, and natural sunlight delivers a spectrum of light that’s most conducive to productivity and psychological well-being.

Hence, it makes much more sense to have as much natural lighting as possible during the duration of office hours. Unfortunately, that is not very easy to execute since not every office has a window, and even where there are windows, the most sunlight these offices get throughout the day is for an interval of a few hours or so, because of the movement of the sun throughout the day.

Picture an array of tiny lenses

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fastest maglev trains

In Japan,from the middle of the twentieth century, the engineers are working on the maglev train concept. In 1968, James Powell, a researcher at Brookhaven National Lab, thought of using maglev trains (derived from magnetic levitation). The old wheel and axle model has been replaced by levitation system in maglev which lifts the cars by magnetism.The lift and push are provided to the train by the repulsive and attractive forces of magnetism used by this system.

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Billboard producing drinking water from Air

 

 Water sources are being depleted at an alarming rate and scientists are struggling hard to come up with possible solutions to this dilemma. While their efforts continue, we have a breakthrough in Peru. Researchers have joined forces with an ad agency to provide a feasible solution for the shortage of potable water in Lima.  The problem of shortage of drinkable water is a serious one and required urgent attention. After some serious work, researchers have a viable solution that is brilliant and yet quite simple; a billboard capable of turning air humidity into drinkable water. According to the map the city of Lima lies towards the northern edge of Atacama – The driest desert in the world, and its surrounding villages hardly get 0.51 inches of precipitation per year. The capital city relied for a long time on runoff from glaciers and drainage from the Andes Mountains. However, climate change has made supply from both sources even scarcer.

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Autonomous Robot Assemble itself and Fly!!!!!

This innovation comes from the faculty of the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich. They are teaching ‘Distributed computation algorithms’ which is a pretty dry discipline. The faculty came up with a better way of teaching the subject rather than using the sets and lengthy exam which is indeed the conventional method. They encouraged students into developing robots which would work on these principles. The result of this unique approach is Distributed Flight Array (DFA). This DFA is a transformer, prototype of course, which allows a number of self-directed robots to assemble with one another into a bigger robot and take flight while providing a platform for experimentation.

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Project zero-first Helicopter +Plane..

 

Today I have something quite amazing for you to check out. It’s about a flying machine that is a cross between a helicopter and a plane! An European helicopter company- Agusta Westland- came up with this idea of tilt rotor technology and has demonstrated it quite perfectly via vehicle known as Project Zero. The Project Zero isn’t just a concept folks it has been operational since June, 2011. However, since these flights took place at Agusta Westland’s Cascina Costa facility in Italy, they are a sort of secret. So, what is so special about this vehicle is that it takes off like a helicopter and then its rotors can be made to change direction by turning perpendicular and the helicopter converts to a plane. One may question if Project Zero is comparable to any helicopter or a plane, well, it’s the best combination of both.Project Zero is electronically powered and therefore is not loud.

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Zero Blade Wind Mill

Wind power is one of the technologies the world is counting on to provide a source of sustainable, non-polluting energy. Wind is abundant, totally clean, and perpetually renewable and unlike fossil reserves, it is widely distributed across the five continents. Shifting to renewable energy (including wind energy) is becoming a must to address the climate change challenge.  

A Tunisian start-up company named Saphon Energy has brought a new concept to the market.  The key idea here is to create a turbine, windless, for generating electricity from the wind. Uh, wait, a windless turbine to create energy from the wind? Yeah, a bit confusing, but stay with us

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Solar power Quadcopter

Human Being has always been inspired either from movies or his own thinkings.He is always attracted towards technology and its applications.He imagined humanoids we have them,he thought of flying cars or bikes ,we have them too (prototypes) hence whatever human is fantasising its becoming a reality..Today I'm posting about a solar powered copter,an idea came from  the minds of bright students of Queen mary,University of london.This copter is known as "Solar Copter",a remote controlled copter powered by sunlight.

Solar Energy is becoming more and more preferrable as it is non exaushtible and harmless source of energy.The first Solar copter was designed to rely completely on solar power but with a reserve battery

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Fly with your bikes

 Its always been in everyone mind to have a flying bikes or cars.Some researchers in the Czech Republic have been able to make a 95kg (210lb) remotely-controlled bicycle that can hover several meters above the ground for five minutes. It is powered by two propellers on the front, two on the back and one on each side, all run on battery.The experiment was carried out in an exhibition at Prague where the prototype successfully took off and landed after soaring for a few minutes with a dummy rider on it. If all goes well, such a bike can be a big leap in transportation considering the congested roads and traffic jams we see everyday. The problem that

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Underwater welding

The fact that electric arc could operate was known for over a 100 years. The first ever underwater welding was carried out by British Admiralty – Dockyard for sealing leaking ship rivets below the water line.
Underwater welding is an important tool for underwater fabrication works. In 1946, special waterproof electrodes were developed in Holland by ‘Van der Willingen’. In recent years the number of offshore structures including oil drilling rigs, pipelines, platforms are being installed significantly. Some of these structures will experience failures of its elements during normal usage and during unpredicted occurrences

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Liquid metal battery

Non conventional Energy resources are now being preffered more due to their easy availability and pollution free use.But these Resources cannot be used to for power generation all the time like Sunrays are not falling on Solar panels,wind is not so strong in some areas all the tym, tidal waves are not always high.Wind speeds, and the amount of sunlight we receive, vary from day to day. As a result, the amount of power generated by these renewable sources fluctuates.Currently, these fluctuations can be compensated for by adjusting traditional sources of energy such as coal and gas. But a convenient way to store the energy generated

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CardBoard Bicycle for $30

DIY Projects always shows genius minds behind it that use to amaze every one. Such DIY projects are those which can be put into the market and are bound to get amazing feedback and results. For those of you who are not familiar with DIY projects, here’s a brief introduction. DIY stands for Do it yourself. DIY projects are those projects which are not undertaken by any company but an individual or a team of individuals. You could very well say that these are hobbies with outcomes that can be executed and used. People have gone from building replicas of movies gadgets to building their very own roller coaster rides.

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Flying wind mill

 

With incease in Demand of Electicity in Present Scenario,Scientist are working to Develop Different source of it.In Our Daily life whether we are at college or at work or at home we use equipments that need electricity ..Fans,Tv sets ,Laptop,Machines,Etc..aal these require electricity fr their proper operation..Seeing all this a company named Altaeros Energies,founded by a group of MIT and Havard colleagues in 2010,started  a project of developing and testing a prototype of floating wind turbine and the test was successful as per the news. 

We all know that wind currents high above ground are much stronger

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The i3,BMW electric car Revealed

 BMW believes that the i3 electric car is a revolutionary vehicle, set to change the world of urban transportation. Now unveiled in production form, the i3 starts at a base price of $42,275 and is set to go on sale in North America next spring.

What really sets the i3 apart, according to Jacob Harb, BMW North America's Head of Electric Vehicle Operations and Strategy, is the way it drives. "There were a lot of MP3 players before the iPod," Harb says, "The i3 is like that for electric cars." Besides the low center of gravity provided by mounting the battery pack close to the ground, the i3 also has a 50:50 front–rear weight distribution. And unlike most electric cars, the i3 is powered by the rear wheels.

For BMW's sake, we hope Harb

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Take telescope pics with Your SmartPhones!!!

 

 

Looking at the cosmos through a telescope is a transformative experience. The rings of Saturn, the clouds of distant nebulae, and the familiar yet alien surface of our own moon all come to life. Build a simple smartphone mount and you can capture and share crisp images right from your backyard observatory—yes, smartphone cameras are that good now. Russ McAllister from Cabot, Ark., designed this rig for his iPhone and posted the plans on Instructables.com (search for "iPhone mount for telescopes"). We've made a few adjustments to simplify

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ERA-Environment Responsible Aviation

 

Recently there has been a shift in paradigm and now science is doing its best to go green. We have come to realize how our inventions have affected the nature and are doing our best to undo those harmful effects and to be more and more environment friendly. One such project was ERO robot that recycles concrete and Project Zero Electric Plane. This was the reason behind NASA’s project known as Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA). The ERA’s goals were to reduce aircraft emissions, noise and fuel consumption. This is what inspired the engineering students from the University of Virginia into focusing their time and energy into the simulation of an environment friendly plane. The result of this work is a simulation that employs a hybrid electric plane which is capable of flight with 50

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Nasa 3-D Printed rocket Engine Ejector

 Here we are again; amazed at the wonders of 3D printing! This technology has definitely taken its rightful place. We remember  about the future of science in 3D printing but it has definitely boosted up its place. Nowadays, we are looking at; 3D printed food, 3D printed guns even 3D printed 3D printers. Even Nike and Adidas are taking up 3D printing to new levels which include 3D printed prototype shoes. NASA however has taken the next step in collaboration with Rocketdyne and has created and tested the world’s first 3D printed rocket engine injector. Laser sintering was employed to manufacture this critical component of a rocket engine. The engine injector is the most expensive part of a rocket engine and its manufacturing requires very high tolerance machining. It usually takes a year to produce a rocket engine injector, however, NASA has learned

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