Technabob » engineering

ALPHA: The World’s Most Innovative Bike?

Range — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:52:33 +0000

While to many people, bike tech doesn’t seem to evolve much, there are refinements every year making bikes somewhat more efficient than just a decade ago. But that doesn’t stop some people from wanting a quantum leap in tech advances. A team of University of Pennsylvania mechanical engineering students have been working on a prototype bike that boasts a bunch of innovations. It’s called ALPHA.

For starters, ALPHA’s drive-train is completely enclosed inside the frame. The rear wheel hub contains a three-speed gearbox, and there’s an electronic clutch allowing you to switch between fixed-gear mode and freewheel mode. The bike has an LCD screen mounted on the handlebars to display stats that can be downloaded via a removable SD card. There’s even integrated LED lighting. Plus, all of the electronics are powered by the dynamo that’s in the front wheel hub.

Just like you’d expect from something this cutting-edge, the frame is mostly made out of carbon fiber, with some aluminum bits.

The ALPHA bike isn’t for sale, but it’s possible that some of these technological advances could trickle down into production frames over the coming years.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Core77]

iMobot Robot Adapts to its Surroundings

Technabob — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:22:12 +0000

Whether walking, crawling, climbing or rolling, most robots have a single form-factor. Not so with the iMobot, a robotic platform capable of taking on different forms based on the appropriate mode of movement for traversing its environment.

Developed by UC Davis alum Graham Ryland and professor Harry Chang, the compact iMobot is a modular robotics system, built with mechanisms which allow it to crawl, squirm, roll or shuffle its way around depending on the circumstance.

Each iMobot has a pair of joints in the center which enable it to crawl like an inchworm, or wriggle sideways. Rotating platforms at each end can be used as wheels, or can also be used to support a camera when the robot stands up. In addition, multiple modules could be combined to enable larger, more complex movements. Watch the video below to see some of the various configurations that the iMobot can pull off:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

At this point, the team is working on a commercial version of the iMobot, called the Gamma Modular Robot, which can then serve as a platform for rapid robotics research and testing.

[via GizMag]

Cornell Building Food Printer: Download Your Dinner

Lambert Varias — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:54:34 +0000

In a development that no doubt has printer manufacturers drooling, scientists at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Laboratory are looking into leveraging the capabilities of 3D printing – which they call Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) – to make food. They’d like to think that someday syringe-based food printers will be as commonplace as microwave ovens. So in the future, instead of downloading recipes, we might be downloading food schematics.

The Cornell team cite the obvious advantages of being able to print food, the primary one being customization – a term so mechanical I refuse to associate it with making food, but if this is the future, then so be it. Say you want 5% more turkey goo and 27% less green vegetable mix than the one stated in the schematic you downloaded. Or maybe you want a cake-shaped turkey for a Thanksgiving birthday party. Or perhaps you just want to eat what astronauts eat.

Food printing’s other benefits include lesser dependency on cooking tools. It also should be easier and faster than conventional cooking. More importantly, SFF technology makes it easier for us to emulate the recipes of expert cooks, as well as make healthy food – just download a schematic and your printer will do the rest. The results will be the same all the time, every time.

However, even with all those advantages, I think Cornell is forgetting that eating and preparing food is also a visual experience, and last time I checked, gooey paste isn’t exactly what you’d call appetizing. But while I don’t think I’ll ever prefer processed organic paste over meat, fruit and vegetables, food printing could make it a lot easier to make pastries or candies. What do you guys think?

[via Cornell & BBC via io9]

First Step in Becoming a Cyborg: Bionic Feet!

Range — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:27:12 +0000

The one concept of Cyberpunk that I’ve always enjoyed is bionic limbs. In that near future universe, people could have cybernetic limbs. For years, this concept was relegated to science-fiction. However, there has been progress to make these sort of replacement limbs a reality.

A lot of people lose limbs in warfare, disasters and accidents. The need for these cybernetic or prosthetic parts is real. Designed by engineers are the University of Michigan, these new feet are actually powered and can return some of the impact energy that we generate while walking. This makes it easier for the patient to walk.

The design is said to be 30% more efficient compared to traditional prosthetic feet. Check out this high-speed video of the bionic foot in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[R&D Mag via Make:]

Out of Body Experience: Machine Keeps Disembodied Animal Hearts Beating

Lambert Varias — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:20:50 +0000

Researchers at North Carolina State University have invented a machine that can keep an animal heart functional even after it has been removed from its body. Freaky. Andrew Richards, a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering, designed the “dynamic heart system”, which “pumps fluid through a pig heart so that it functions in a very realistic way.”

The machine uses a pressurized saline solution to emulate blood flow. It can also be used to film the interior of the pumping heart, a welcome feature for researchers working on tools and technologies for repairing heart valves. The inventors hope that the dynamic heart system will lead to significant reduction in costs for experiments, since it allows scientists to refine their designs and ideas before moving on to expensive live tests. According to Richards, “It costs approximately $25 to run an experiment on the machine, whereas a similar experiment using a live animal costs approximately $2,500.”

[via Inventor Spot]

Clock-a-Doodle-Doo: Time Telling Magna Doodle Hack

Technabob — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:00:54 +0000

This unique electromechanical clock is like a cross between a Magna Doodle and an Etch-a-Sketch.

Using a modified Magna Doodle as the basis for their display, the Clock-a-Doodle-Doo is the brainchild of a recent UCLA mechanical engineering class.

The clock uses a XY plotter-like mechanism to “draw” the current time by neatly arranging the magnetic particles with a mechanical pen. When it’s ready to change time, another mechanism pulls the “eraser” mechanism to release the particles and clear the magnetophoretic display. Each minute, it does the whole thing all over again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Ever wonder how a Magna Doodle really works? HowStuffWorks has deconstructed the gory innards of the mysterious magnetic device for your personal enrichment.