First Fully Electric Robot

The humanoid robot domain has seen intense activity in recent times with multiple startups vying to get their prototypes into the market.

Now, a state-backed robotics innovation center in Beijing has launched its first electric humanoid “Tiangong”.

The robot was revealed at the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area on May 4, which coincided with the announcement of numerous AI technological advancements at the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum).

Tiangong, crafted by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center Company, the general-purpose humanoid boasts the capability to sustain a consistent pace of 3.73 miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour).   READ MORE...

280.000 Horsepower Submarine

The US Navy has accepted the delivery of its latest Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine from Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) subsidiary Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS).

USS New Jersey (SSN 796) is the 11th Virginia-class submarine delivered by NNS and the 23rd built under the teaming agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat.

The nuclear-powered submarine’s name, New Jersey, was given to it in November 2021 at NNS by the ship’s sponsor, Susan DiMarco, a New Jersey resident, retired dentist, and wife of former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.

The submarine is expected to be commissioned in late 2024. A commissioning ceremony for the future New Jersey is planned for September 14.

Strengths and capabilities
Designed to meet the Navy’s requirements in a post-Cold War era, Virginia-class submarines have enhanced stealth, sophisticated surveillance capabilities, and special warfare enhancements that enable them to meet multi-mission requirements.

The submarines can reach submerged speeds of more than 25 knots (29 miles per hour or 46 kilometers per hour) and can stay submerged for up to three months at a time.  READ MORE...

Israel's Headless Humanoid

Israel’s Mentee Robotics has just unveiled its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled household chore robot, Menteebot. After two years of research and development, the new robot certainly looks impressive.

Developed by Amnon Shashau (the former founder of Mobileye), Professor Shai Shalev-Shwartz, and Professor Lior Wolf, the new robot is gearing up for official orders in the first quarter of 2025. The unit’s price is still a mystery, but it is being marketed as “affordable.”

“We are on the cusp of a convergence of computer vision, natural language understanding, strong and detailed simulators, and methodologies for transferring from simulation to the real world,” explains Mentee Robotics.

“Menteebot represents a significant leap forward in humanoid robotics, designed for comprehensive functionality across diverse environments,” Mentee Robotics explains in a promotional video on LinkedIn.  READ MORE...

Clean Fusion Energy

A stellarator may sound like something cooked up in the laboratory of a supervillain, but a breakthrough with this device may help bring us clean fusion energy at an affordable price.

As detailed by Interesting Engineering, a team at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) developed the first stellarator with permanent magnets rather than electromagnets.

In other words, scientists created a device that generates a fusion reaction — the process that powers the sun and other stars — with refrigerator magnets.

"Using permanent magnets is a completely new way to design stellarators," graduate student Tony Qian explained to the online platform. "This technique allows us to test new plasma confinement ideas quickly and build new devices easily."  READ MORE...

Supersonic Chinese Submarines

A new laser-based propulsion technique developed by researchers at the Harbin Engineering University in China could help the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) build silent yet superfast submarines in the future.

The technology could also power underwater missiles and torpedoes, a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report said.

The concept of underwater laser propulsion isn’t new. Japanese researchers first considered it more than twenty years ago. In principle, the technology works fairly simply.  READ MORE...

New Era in Health & Space

Researchers are exploring the world’s most powerful laser, which is now functional in a research center in Romania. The equipment holds the potential to bring about significant advancements in various fields, including space exploration and health.

The French technology company Thales uses ideas that have won Nobel prizes to run the laser at the European Union’s Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) center, located close to Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

The equipment at ELI produces the shortest and strongest laser pulses the world has ever seen by amplifying, compressing, and extending an extremely brief laser pulse over time. This has helped researchers overcome a crucial limitation with lasers: boosting power while keeping the intensity safe.

The technology has already been used in corrective eye surgery, but it has also made it possible for researchers to keep increasing the power of lasers.     READ MORE...

Swiss Hydrogen-Powered Train

A hydrogen-powered train built by Swiss company Stadler has set a new Guinness World Record (GWR) after it traveled nonstop for 1,741 miles (2,803 km). 

The feat was achieved using a pilot hydrogen-powered passenger train car at a dedicated test ring in Colorado in the US.

When looking for sustainable transportation solutions, an electric vehicle (EV) comes to mind. While this technological development is great for reducing tail-pipe emissions, there is a need for sustainable mass transit options as well. 

More recently, automotive companies have also demonstrated the ability of electric buses. Still, trains can carry much larger batches of people at a time.  READ MORE...

An Electronics Free Circuit Robot

Researchers have developed an ingenious air-powered soft valve circuit system devoid of electronics, showcasing its utility in a drink dispenser and its durability as a car drives over it.

The 3D-printed valve system showcases how well soft devices without electronics can work, even when facing challenges that could turn off regular robots.

According to reseachers at the University of Freiburg, its integration into everyday applications heralds a new era in robust and adaptable robotics. Soft circuit devices, which are flexible and don't use metal, can handle damage much better than those with delicate electronics. They can survive being crushed or exposed to harsh chemicals without breaking.    READ MORE...

Largest Drone Helicopter

Rotor Technologies Inc., a firm engaged in the development of autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, has unveiled and commenced the production of what it claims to be the "largest uncrewed civilian helicopter on the market."

Termed R550X, the VTOL is derived from the U.S. firm's Robinson R44 platform and is developed as a versatile autonomous helicopter designed for multiple missions.

According to Rotor, R550X is capable of hoisting substantial loads of up to 1,200 pounds (lbs) — or 550 kilograms, kg —in diverse weather conditions, including night operations and situations with limited visibility. The vehicle comes in a ready-to-fly configuration for immediate flight and can be personalized with various mission-specific payloads and autonomy equipment.  READ MORE...

Dancing Humanoid Robots

While the Fourier's GR-1 humanoid robot's primary focus is aiding older people, a recent video highlights the robot's potential for entertainment. Despite not reaching the dance prowess of competitors, the GR-1 exhibits dynamic camera moves, finger wiggles, arm waves, air punches, shallow half-squats, waist twists, and a bit of stiff-legged walking.

The engineers at Fourier Intelligence have successfully combined functionality with a touch of creativity, making the GR-1 more than just a caregiver. The 300-Nm hip actuators, equivalent to 221 pound-feet (lb-ft), empower the GR-1 to lift a remarkable 110 lb (50 kilograms, kg) – an impressive feat for a robot of its stature. This capability positions the GR-1 as valuable in assisting patients with various activities, from getting up from a bed or toilet to navigating a wheelchair.  READ MORE...

Matter in the Universe

Most matter in the universe cannot be seen — but its influence on the largest structures in space can.

Astronomers estimate that roughly 85% of all the matter in the universe is dark matter, meaning only 15% of all matter is normal matter. Accounting for dark energy, the name astronomers give to the accelerated expansion of the universe, dark matter makes up roughly 27% of all the mass energy in the cosmos, according to CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research).

Astronomers have a variety of tools to measure the total amount of matter in the universe and compare that to the amount of "normal" (also called "baryonic") matter. The simplest technique is to compare two measurements.

The first measurement is the total amount of light emitted by a large structure, like a galaxy, which astronomers can use to infer that object's mass. The second measurement is the estimated amount of gravity needed to hold the large structure together. 

When astronomers compare these measurements on galaxies and clusters throughout the universe, they get the same result: There simply isn't enough normal, light-emitting matter to account for the amount of gravitational force needed to hold those objects together.

Thus, there must be some form of matter that is not emitting light: dark matter.

Different galaxies have different proportions of dark matter to normal matter. Some galaxies contain almost no dark matter, while others are nearly devoid of normal matter. But measurement after measurement gives the same average result: Roughly 85% of the matter in the universe does not emit or interact with light.  READ MORE...

Tesla's Bot Video

In the wake of Agility Robotics announcing their intention to scale production to 10,000 bipedal humanoid robots every year, Fourier Intelligence, a technology-driven company specializing in exoskeleton and rehabilitation robots, released a new video showcasing its GR-1 humanoid robot and production facilities.

Set in Salem, Oregon, “RoboFab”, Agility Robotics’ 70,000-square-foot robot factory is slated to open later this year and manufacture the company’s bipedal robot Digit.

“When you’re building new technology to improve society, the most important milestone is when you’re able to mass produce that technology at a scale where it can have a real, widespread impact,” Agility Robotics’ co-founder and CEO Damion Shelton said.

With recent developments in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics engineering, the prospects for a human-esque robot capable of performing the actions of real people have been better than ever before.

Fourier Intelligence’s GR-1— first unveiled at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai— is equipped to assist patients from their beds to wheelchairs and pick up objects, boosted by the ability to carry loads of up to 110lb (50kg).

The newly released video flaunts Fourier Intelligence’s production prowess, custom-built actuators, and body parts that are being 3D printed.

And it isn't just Fourier Intelligence seemingly interested in reminding the public of their existence.

Optimus not-at-its-prime.
Tesla issued an update on its take on a humanoid robot, Optimus, with a video that eerily looks CGI-like.

What seemed like a half-baked idea from Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk when first announced was not helped by an underwhelming demo organized by the company at Tesla AI Day last year.

Optimus, barely able to walk about and wave wearily at the crowds, has since gained strength and credibility, reported Electrek.

The new video released by Tesla depicts the bot autonomously sorting objects by color amidst human interruption and self-calibrating its arms and legs.

The humanoid leverages vision and joint position encoders to locate its limbs in space, which allows for precise calibration and efficient learning of tasks. Optimus now trains using a neural network that runs entirely on-board.

The company claims Optimus' capabilities to include learning new tasks such as un-sorting and ended the video with the bot flaunting its dexterity. “Time to stretch after a long day of work,” the company captioned.   READ MORE...

ESV: A Lithium Free Battery

Nickel-hydrogen-based batteries that have long been used by NASA for its space missions are now making their way to power the grid. California-based EnerVenue is building large Energy Storage Vessels (ESVs) that could be used to power the grid using renewables, a press release said.

With the world making a major transition to renewables, energy storage solutions are the need of the hour. Lithium-ion batteries have been our best bet so far but making large-scale storage solutions is turning out quite expensive and cumbersome.

Li-ion batteries are prone to thermal runaway and large energy storage solutions need additional facilities for cooling, ventilation, and fire suppression to be built to prevent a major mishap. This is where nickel-hydrogen-based batteries could help.

How does a nickel-hydrogen battery work?
A nickel-hydrogen battery is much like any other battery with stacks of electrodes but held inside a pressurized gas tank. The cathode is made of nickel hydroxide, while the anode is hydrogen. When the battery is charged, the reaction produces hydrogen gas, which is oxidized during the discharging process to form water.

The energy-storing process, which involves the production of highly combustible hydrogen gas and a pressurized tank to contain it, raises doubts. However, the peak pressure inside the tank reaches only five percent of that in a hydrogen fuel cell. Moreover, if the pressure of the gas increases further, it results in the conversion of the gas into water again.  READ MORE...

AI Chip That Works Like a Human Brain

Tech corporation IBM has unveiled a new "prototype" of an analog AI chip that works like a human brain and performs complex computations in various deep neural networks (DNN) tasks.

The chip promises more. IBM says the state-of-the-art chip can make artificial intelligence remarkably efficient and less battery-draining for computers and smartphones.

Introducing the chip in a paper published by IBM Research, the company said: “The fully integrated chip features 64 AIMC cores interconnected via an on-chip communication network. It also implements the digital activation functions and additional processing involved in individual convolutional layers and long short-term memory units.”

Reinventing ways in which AI is computed
The new AI chip is developed in IBM’s Albany NanoTech Complex and comprises 64 analog in-memory compute cores. By borrowing key features of how neural networks run in biological brains, IBM explains that it has embedded the chip with compact, time-based analog-to-digital converters in each tile or core to transition between the analog and digital worlds.

Each tile (or core) is also integrated with lightweight digital processing units that perform simple nonlinear neuronal activation functions and scaling operations, explained IBM in a blog published on August 10.

A replacement for current digital chips?
In the future, IBM's prototype chip could replace the current chips powering heavy AI applications in computers and phones. “A global digital processing unit is integrated into the middle of the chip that implements more complex operations that are critical for the execution of certain types of neural networks,” further said the blog.  READ MORE...

Nuclear Fusion Pellets

Researchers at the University of Rochester in the US have devised a new method that simplifies the creation of fuel pellets for nuclear fusion reactors. This could aid in the mass production of energy from nuclear fusion, taking it out of the laboratory and into the real world.

Nuclear fusion has long been admired as a clean and safe way of catering to our energy requirements. Scientists have been experimenting with multiple approaches to get this done and, in December 2022, set off the first fusion ignition reaction using 192-high energy lasers.

While these could be regarded as significant milestones, we still need to figure out how this technology could be run at scale and commercial levels. One significant hurdle in this direction is how nuclear fusion fuel is prepared.

To create fuel for fusion reactors, isotopes of hydrogen, namely deuterium, and tritium, are frozen into a solid spherical shell. Since the isotopes are gaseous in their native state, scientists use extremely low temperatures to bring them into a solid state where they can be layered.

The shell is then bombarded with lasers to subject it to extremely high temperatures and pressures, following which it collapses and then ignites to undergo fusion.

While this approach can release enormous amounts of energy, a fusion-based power plant would require millions of such shells every day to supply power reliably. The frozen shell approach is too expensive and not economically feasible.  READ MORE...

Storing Hydrogen

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have found a simple and affordable way to store ammonia, an important chemical in a range of industries. The discovery could also help in establishing a hydrogen-based economy.

Ammonia, chemically written as NH3, is widely used across industries ranging from textiles to pharmaceuticals and is an important component in the manufacture of fertilizers. For its current use, ammonia is stored in pressure-resistant containers after liquefying it at temperatures of -27 Fahrenheit (-33 degrees Celsius).

Alternate methods of storing ammonia in porous compounds have been explored. The storage and retrieval process can be achieved at room temperature, but the storage capacity of these compounds is limited.

A research team led by Masuki Kawamoto at RIKEN CEMS has now found that perovskites, crystalline structures associated with improving energy conversion efficiencies of solar panels, can also serve as an excellent medium for the storage and retrieval of ammonia.

Perovskite as an ammonia carrier
Kawamoto's team found that the perovskite ethyl ammonium lead iodide (EAPbI3) reacts with ammonia at room temperature and pressure to make lead iodide hydroxide, or Pb(OH)I. Ethyl ammonium lead iodide has a one-dimensional columnar structure but, after reacting with ammonia, forms a two-dimensional layered structure.

Ammonia is a highly corrosive gas, but the chemical reaction with the perovskite allows for its safe storage that does not need any special equipment to store it either. The retrieval process is also very straightforward. Under vacuum, ethyl ammonium lead iodide can be heated to 122 Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) to release ammonia gas.  READ MORE...

NASA's Humanoid Robot

NASA’s Valkyrie humanoid robot is heading to Australia from its home base at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for extensive testing. The move is part of a reimbursable Space Act Agreement with Woodside Energy in Perth, Western Australia.

This is according to a press release by NASA published on Thursday.

Woodside Energy will test the machine’s software and provide data and feedback to NASA particularly as it relates to developing remote mobile dexterous manipulation capabilities to accommodate remote caretaking of uncrewed and offshore energy facilities.

“Valkyrie will advance robotic remote operations capabilities which have potential to improve the efficiency of Woodside’s offshore and remote operations while also increasing safety for both its personnel and the environment. In addition, the new capabilities may have applications for NASA’s Artemis missions and for other Earth-based robotics objectives,” said the NASA statement.

NASA hopes that the tests conducted in Woodside’s facilities will teach the agency how to better design robots for work in dirty and hazardous conditions like those found on the Moon and other planets.

Some activities to be undertaken by the robot include inspection and maintenance of infrastructure and plants that leverage resources and materials to produce new items. These activities could one day enable astronauts to live off the land in space.

“We are pleased to be starting the next phase of development and testing of advanced robotic systems that have the potential to positively impact life on Earth by allowing safer operations in hazardous environments,” said Shaun Azimi, lead of the dexterous robotics team at NASA Johnson.  READ MORE...

Robots Learn By Watching Videos

Are you among those who often dream of a day when a robot will do all the everyday household chores for you? A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has figured out how to turn your dream into reality.

In their latest study, they proposed a model that allowed them to train robots to do household tasks by showing them videos of people doing ordinary activities in their homes, like picking up the phone, opening a drawer, etc.

So far, scientists have been training robots by physically showing them how a task is done or training them for weeks in a simulated environment. Both these methods take a lot of time and resources and often fail.

The CMU team claims that their proposed model, Visual-Robotics Bridge (VRB), how can make a robot learn a task in just 25 minutes, and that too without involving any humans or simulated environment.

This work could drastically improve the way robots are trained and “could enable robots to learn from the vast amount of internet and YouTube videos available," said Shikhar Bahl, one of the study authors and a Ph.D. student at CMU’s School of Computer Science.

Robots have learned to watch and learn
VRB is an advanced version of WHIRL (In-the-Wild Human Imitating Robot Learning), a model that researchers used previously to train robots.  READ MORE...

Small Nuclear Reactor - Powers 300,000 Homes

US tech company, Westinghouse, has announced the launch of the AP300, a smaller version of its flagship AP1000 nuclear reactor, in an effort to extend access to nuclear power as demand for clean energy rises.

The AP300 nuclear reactor is scheduled to be operational in 2027 and will provide roughly one-third of the power of the flagship AP1000 reactor, according to an official press release by the firm on Thursday.

"The AP300 is the only small modular reactor offering available that is based on deployed, operating, and advanced reactor technology," President and CEO of Westinghouse, Patrick Fragman, said in the statement.

"The launch of the AP300 SMR rounds out the Westinghouse portfolio of reactor technology, allowing us to deliver on the full needs of our customers globally, with a clear line of sight on schedule of delivery, and economics."

Westinghouse's decision marks a significant turning point in the nuclear industry's effort to reinvent itself in response to climate change.

Nuclear fission reactor electricity produces no greenhouse gas emissions, and smaller nuclear reactors are less expensive to develop.

The AP300 is expected to cost around $1 billion per unit, compared to the AP1000's anticipated cost of $6.8 billion.

It will produce about 300 megawatts of electricity, compared to the AP1000's 1,200 megawatts, and power about 300,000 households.  READ MORE...

THe Reality of Wireless Energy

DARPA plans to create wireless energy transfer infrastructure to supply near-uninterruptable power to U.S. military bases worldwide. The plan, as reported by Popular Mechanics, is to use laser technology to beam electricity around the planet. Famously a dream of Nikola Tesla over 100 years ago, if successful, this technology, called fittingly enough POWER ("Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay"), would make the U.S. military less reliant on liquid fuel like diesel and vulnerable power lines, which can be intercepted or sabotaged by enemy forces.

“First of all, the environment has changed, and the need for more resilient energy transport methods for military operations is at a premium,” explained Col. Paul “Promo” Calhoun to Popular Mechanics in an exclusive interview. American forces operate globally like the special operations units he resupplied as a C-17 cargo pilot, from outposts in the South China Sea to the Iraqi desert. Since there is no simple way to power them, many forces use their radars, anti-drone microwave weapons, lasers, or other energy-intensive equipment. And with each passing year, the severity of the issue increases.

“On the technology side, significant advancements have been made in high-energy lasers, wavefront sensing, adaptive optics, high-altitude electric air platforms, safety interlocks, and narrow-bandgap-tuned high-efficiency photovoltaics,” Col. Calhoun explains.

“POWER is an optical power beaming program,” Calhoun says. “There are other potential power-beaming modalities, such as microwaves, that we intend to explore in future programs. For POWER, the propagating wave is a laser [that] provides long-range high-throughput capability when transmitted at high altitudes. The relays redirect the laser energy without conversion, and then the end-user converts that laser energy back into electricity using narrow-bandgap-tuned monochromatic photovoltaics,” he added.  READ MORE...