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There is some great innovation coming out of the Elevator Space Race. The University of Saskatchewan’s Space Design Team has been in it from the start and has some promising technology. The video describes the monumental task quite well. It goes to show that with some prize money on the line a task as challenging as the space elevator is something that many will choose to pursue. Via: Space Elevator Games "The University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team (USST) is a team of highly motivated physics and engineering students and professionals. Building on a tradition of success, we aim to go higher and faster! The engineering challenges are great, requiring the skills of a variety of disciplines. Our success to date has relied on a multi-disciplinary approach, and expanding that approach can only make us better. Our climber makes use of solar cells to receive beamed power, and has an incredibly light superstructure. Although light, the compact design allowed us to handle wind quite well. The robot’s brain (the logic needed to follow the rules) is a microcontroller, programmed by U of S students. As the competition becomes more intense, the limitations of individual spotlights are becoming apparent." |
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This 5kV Induction Gun can shoot aluminum rings with some intense force. I have seen flying ring toys before which fly nice and straight. I wonder if the ring design is better than the typical bullet shaped projectiles we see on most of these guns. "First portable induction accelerator in Russia. Capacitor energy 500j 5kV voltage, ring speed about 200m/s " |
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Not exactly the most common boat you will see at your local boat launch. The SCUBACRAFT Personal Submarine will be available in 2010. There is an interview over at James List that you may be interested in if you have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket.
"The modular configuration allows for the electric system to be removed and replaced as necessary, adding extra batteries for extended operations or more thrusters for more power. A wide range of accessories including lights and cameras can be added to extend its underwater capability and enhance the user’s experience. Scubacraft uses a high powered jet propulsion system that will easily tow a water-skier and inflatable water toys. The trimaran hull configuration gives inherent stability as a diving platform and with its air entrapment design, results in high speeds on a cushion of air."
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Kizomox has been working on some great high voltage experiments lately. You may remember the Potato that he Exploded with Defibrillator Capacitor that we featured before. Looks like he has moved way up in power since then! There aren’t very many people who have their personal pole transformer in their back yard. Via Article comments. |
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Hans Scharler has been busy making a DIY Steampunk Pumpkin that is sure to please anyone who sees it. He squished tons of parts in there from some of the best DIY providers. His own ioBridge, some sensors from Adafruit, some ThingM (designed by Tod Kurt) parts from Sparkfun. "Using the ioBridge IO-204, I rigged up the fog machine to trigger when someone walked in front of the pumpkin. I used a passive infrared sensor from Adafruit to detect motion. The IO-204 has an upcoming feature that allows for on board logic, meaning you can break off of the Internet and have local controls take over. To integrate it with the fog machine, I tapped into the wireless remote control that came with the fog machine. This made it easy to control using a single relay. To light the pumpkin, I bought a BlinkM RGB LED Blaster from Sparkfun. The LEDs are high intensity lights that you can mix colors together." 
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Bob Davis has made another can crusher with a huge 5 thousand volt power supply eBay score. A 100uF capacitor doesn’t sound that big, heck I have ones that are 10 times that size in a tray right beside me as I type this. Well the big difference is the one that is beside me has a voltage rating of 50 volts. That is a far cry from the 5000 volt rating that the one in this power supply! We have featured a bunch of Bob’s can crushers here in the past but I think that this is the biggest and baddest one so far!
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Not your typical player piano where the piano automatically plays a nice tune. This creation plays many notes simultaneously to simulate spoken words. What would be impressive is if a person could achieve the same effect using only his fingers. |
