Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Products

Mitsubishi Uses a Sled of Bubbles To Improve Ship Efficiency

curiouscat — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:33:45 +0000

Ship a riding sled of bubbles. Image from: CFD Predictions of Bubbly Flow around an Energy-saving Ship with Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System

Mitsubishi completed the conceptual design of a new container ship; this eco-ship achieves a 25% decrease in CO2 emissions over existing ships. Three, of these ships, with the Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS), are being built now (they should be completed in 2014).

In addition to blowers to create air bubbles under the vessel bottom, the three grain carriers will also feature a newly designed bow shape that will reduce wave-making resistances. For propulsion, the ship adopts a system to effectively convert the main engine power into propulsion power by positioning fins forward of the propellers and placing particular grooves in the propeller boss cap.

Using “eco-ships” to substantially reduce CO2 emissions from maritime transport

Reducing the frictional drag on the hull of a ship saves fuel and lowers CO2 emissions. To achieve this, MHI developed the Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS), which reduces frictional drag by introducing air bubbles by air blower into the water around the bottom of a ship’s hull, covering the ship in bubbles. By arranging the air blowhole location and shape and controlling the air volume, the lubrication effect has been enhanced, reducing CO2 emissions per container transportation by 10 percent.

This system has already been introduced on module carriers, and has been proven to reduce CO2 emissions significantly.

Footballs Providing Light to Those Without Electricity at Home

curiouscat — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 06:04:21 +0000

This is an update on our previous post: sOccket: Power Through Play. This year, Soccket, 3,000 balls are scheduled to be put into use around the world. The college students (all women, by the way) that came up with this idea (harnessing the kenetic energy created while kicking a football [soccer ball] around to power a batter to use for lighting) are continuing to test and develop the product.

That ball has to be able to survive dusty, wet and harsh conditions and continue to provide power. The new, production version of the football powers a water sterilizer, fan, and provides up to 24 hours of LED light. It also can’t be deflated (a side affect of a design that is able to survive the rough environments, I believe).

I love to see engineers focusing on providing solutions for the billions of people that need simple solutions. Creating the next iPhone innovations is also cool, but the impact of meeting the needs of those largely ignored today, is often even greater.

The sOccket inventors also have a talent for publicity, which is always useful for entrepreneurs.

Remote Presence Robot

curiouscat — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:30:27 +0000

Anybots allow remote presence today. They can be rented for just $600 a month. You can purchase your own for just $15,000.

The newest version, just unveiled at a CES has a much bigger screen (which seems very wise to me).

This is another example of robots making it into real use. While I am sure few workplaces are ready for this jump today, 10 or 20 years from now a telepresence robot (that can do much more) is likely I think to be significantly used. Not only will functionality increase, prices will drop dramatically: as the wonderful combination so often happens with technology. There is a great deal of effort going into making commercial viable “personal” robots. I think these efforts will make significant inroads in the next 10-20 years.

My old office wouldn’t have been willing to pay $15,000 but one of our developers looked into creating his own (after he moved and was working remotely). He hasn’t quite gotten it done yet, but may at some point.

Related: Managing By Rolling Around (I like how the robot owner used the robot to have his mother attend his wedding (and dressed up the robot) – Robot Finds Lost Shoppers and Provides Directions – New Yorkers Help Robot Find Its Way in the Big City – Toyota Partner Robots

Awesome Gifts for the Maker in Your Life

curiouscat — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:17:46 +0000

See the full Sylvia’s Super-Awesome MAKE Holiday Gift Guide 2011

Toyota Scion iQ: 37 MPG

curiouscat — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:36:45 +0000

I posted on the Toyota iQ a few years ago. It has been successful in Europe for several years and is now available in the USA also as the Scion iQ. Sadly it only gets 37 miles per gallon (the same for city and highway, as it is optimized for city driving). The earlier post discussed the Toyota iQ diesel which achieved 59 MPG (now the UK Toyota sites quotes 64 MPG).

The UK gallon (the imperial gallon) is 1.2 USA gallons – why are we not using the metric system yet 37 MPG would be the highest yield, for a non-hybrid, in the USA, still it is disappointing when compared to the diesel Toyota iQ figures (64 imperial MPG equates to 53 USA mpg).

The base price for the Scion iQ is $15,595. The car is obviously built for city driving: the small size makes it great for finding parking and navigating small streets.

A fully electric Toyota iQ is being planned for 2012 that can be recharged by 4 hours with a normal electric plug. It can be 80% recharged in 15 minutes with a special adapter. It will have a range of about 65 miles.

I really like the management of Toyota and own stock in Toyota.

On another front, sadly, the company behind the aptera concept car (230 MPG) announced they were closing down.

Robot Prison Guards in South Korea

curiouscat — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:56:14 +0000

Robotic prison wardens to patrol South Korean prison

The one-month trial will cost 1bn won (£554,000) and is being sponsored by the South Korean government. It is the latest in a series of investments made by the state to develop its robotics industry.

The country’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in January that it had spent the equivalent of £415m on research in the sector between 2002 and 2010. It said the aim was to compete with other countries, such as Japan, which are also exploring the industry’s potential.

In October the ministry said the Korean robot market had recorded 75% growth over the past two years and was now worth about £1 billion…

The potential market for robotics is huge. Smart countries are investing in becoming the centers for excellence in that area. Japan and South Korea may well be in the lead. The USA, Germany and China also have strong communities.

Amazing New Light Field Camera: Adjust Focus After You Take the Picture

curiouscat — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:44:17 +0000

The cool Lytro light field camera lets you adjust the focus after the picture is taken. Wow what a surprise the company is located in Mountain View, California. Oh wait, no that isn’t a surprise. Those of us in the USA should thank our lucky stars for having Silicon Valley in our country.

The Lytro will be available in early 2012 starting at $399 (a 8 GB model able to hold up to 350 images) and $499 for a $499 16 GB model able to hold 750 images.

The camera does take 3d images. That feature will be enabled via a software update after the initial release.

Get Your Own Siftable Modular Computers

curiouscat — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:18:05 +0000

I posted about Siftable Modular Computers early last year. Recently I have seen ads for them on my management blog, so I decided to see what progress had been made.

The price is a steep but they do seem cool. A Sifteo pack of 3 cubes, plus software, 2 games… is $149. They also require Mac or Windows software. no straight Linux Each extra cube costs $45. They started shipping (at least in the USA) on September 30th.

Even though it doesn’t say it is available for Android or Linux here is a video from the recent Android open conference by David Merrill

I do agree that the idea of using these cubes that are in our physical space that we manipulate is very cool. And the idea of intelligent play I very much support. But they need to reduce the price and make them available on the best operating system (Linux/Ubuntu) – which is also open and free. They have also released a software development kit for those interested in creating games for the device. I wish them well.

Quixperito – New Social Bookmarking Site

curiouscat — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:44:17 +0000

I have created a new social bookmarking site. The site is meant to highlight good content online and is moderated to remove low value and spam content. By developing a community of users that share interests in worthwhile content on a variety of topics I hope to create a useful resource for people.

The topics included now are limited to help focus on high value content and develop a community of users around various topics. Please join and participate. Without a community the value of the site is low. Currently there is a technology section that will be of interest to readers of this Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog.

Other sections include: science, investing and business.

If you are interested in helping build the community please join and participate. You can post your related articles and posts and find new readers for your content. And by voting on others posts you can help highlight posts that the community finds worth reading.