Breakthroughs and trends in the world of technology.
Wilderness Protection
Common Ground
Marveling at the vista from a Rocky Mountain ridge or paddling across Minnesota’s vast boundary waters, it’s easy to overlook the role of engineering in preserving – and accessing – America’s most unspoiled spots. Yet engineers have contributed in countless ways since the Wilderness Act became law 50 years ago last month. The initial 9.1 million acres set aside for the public’s use and benefit have since swelled to 110 million acres, encompassing coastlines, canyons, and even a suburban oasis mere miles from midtown Manhattan. To accommodate visitors, engineers have had to design and maintain facilities as diverse as wastewater systems, campgrounds, heliports, and “road ecology” safe crossing routes for wildlife. They also have devised new technologies for combating fire and pollution. The National Forest Service, one of four federal agencies that manage the country’s 757 wilderness areas, for example, has two research centers whose developments include the F-14 parachute used by smoke jumpers and the U.S. military and remote sensing applications to monitor the environment. Engineers can’t claim credit for the glorious sunsets, frolicking bears, or other exhilarating experiences, of course. But they certainly make nature easier to enjoy. – Mary Lord
Robotics
Collective Action
Harvard roboticists recently unveiled their Kilobots, half-dollar-size robots that can demonstrate collective behaviors without human intervention. They’re inspired by nature where collections of sometimes millions of critters – like termites – work without leadership to complete complex tasks. A swarm of 1,024 Kilobots – their name is a reference to a kilo, or 1,000 – can form complex, two-dimensional shapes, like a star or the letter K. Each has a single, simple capability, and to compensate for that lack of brainpower and for errors that occur, the tiny bots have to work together. The researchers say their Kilobots prove it is possible to engineer large-scale swarms of robots that can demonstrate complex global behaviors based on the cooperation of many limited, noisy individuals – just like bees. ‒ Thomas K. Grose
©Michael Rubenstein, Harvard
Electric Vehicles
Eva Knievel
Mention electric vehicles, and most folks think of cars. But electric motorcycles, which so far have been a tiny subset of the market, are gearing up for prime time. Harley-Davidson earlier this year showed off an electric prototype. And now a University of Denver mechanical engineering Ph.D. student has proved that electric bikes can also be very fast. At the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials at the famed salt flats in Utah late last summer, Eva Håkansson’s homemade electric motorcycle, KillaJoule, won several big events, including fastest overall average speed – which was officially set at 240.726 mph. It hit a registered top speed of 270.224 mph, a feat that made Håkansson the world’s fastest woman rider. And the KillaJoule is now the world’s fastest electric motorcycle. (The speed record for an internal-combustion motorcycle was set at Bonneville in 2010 by Rocky Robinson, whose Top 1 Ack Attack roared to 376.363 mph.) Håkansson and her husband, Bill Dube, who is also a mechanical engineer, took five years to build KillaJoule, doing most of the work in their garage. Swedish-born Håkansson, 33, comes from a family of engineers and says she’s passionate about speed and green technology. Says she: “Electric racing is like chocolate without calories. It gives me everything I want – power, speed, and torque – without the things I don’t want: pollution.” ‒ TG
©BonnevilleStories.com
Telecommunications
Hold that Thought!
Forget email and video calls. Telepathy may one day be the preferred way to communicate over the Internet. In a recent mind-blowing experiment, American, Spanish, and French researchers used an Internet-linked electroencephalogram (EEG) and robot-assisted, image-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technologies to send thought messages to four people sitting 5,000 miles apart. The message originator was in France, hooked up to a computer via the EEG. The three receivers were in India and likewise wired to a computer. The sender then thought two words: “ciao” and “hola.” The messages were transmitted via noninvasive brain stimulation and experienced as phosphenes, or flashes of light in the recipients’ peripheral vision. Though the receivers felt nothing, they were able to correctly decode the messages, the researchers say. A second experiment used subjects in Spain and France. Overall, the messages were sent and understood with only a 15 percent error rate. “We hope that in the longer term this could radically change the way we communicate with each other,” coauthor Giulio Ruffini, a theoretical physicist in Barcelona, told Agence France-Presse. Our thoughts, exactly. – TG
©Thinkstock
Humanoids
One for the Road
Never mind the question can humans trust technology. How about, can technology trust humans? Apparently, the answer is yes, based on the experience of a robot named hitchBOT, which managed to hitchhike 3,700 miles across Canada in the summer of 2014 with the help of a dozen or so complete strangers who stopped to pick it up along the way. The general design of the robot was a little on the low-tech side. HitchBOT was cobbled together from a beer cooler, a transparent cake saver, and swimming pool floats for limbs. But it also was equipped with GPS, 3G wireless connectivity, and voice recognition software that enabled it to make small talk with the help of a Wikipedia application programming interface. For power, hitchBOT had its own solar cells and could be plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter. Its designers included written instructions on hitchBOT’s cylindrical body describing the goal of the mission and directing people to a help website if all else failed. The ragtag robot was the idea of professors from two Ontario universities, Ryerson and McMaster, to probe the evolving relationship between humans and technology. During its three-week odyssey from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the Atlantic Ocean to Victoria, British Columbia, on the Pacific coast, hitchBOT attended a gathering of aboriginal Canadians in northern Ontario and even crashed a wedding in Golden, British Columbia—all while it continued to tweet about its adventures, transmit photos, and update its position to more than 30,000 social media followers. – Pierre Home-Douglas
©Norbert Guthier
Biometric Technology
Never Forget a Face
In 1999, New Mexico resident Neil Stammer was arrested on numerous charges, including child sex abuse and kidnapping. But he skipped bail and spent 14 years on the lam. In August, he was arrested in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he had been living under the name Kevin Hodges and making a living teaching English and several other languages — he speaks a dozen. His arrest was a bit of a high-tech fluke. The U.S. Diplomatic Security Service was testing a new facial-recognition software system it plans to use to detect passport fraud. And to test the system, it pulled pictures from FBI wanted posters. It so happened that Stammer’s 1999 poster had recently been recirculated, and the system matched it to the passport of Kevin Hodges, who had to frequently visit the American Embassy in Kathmandu to renew his tourist visa. Stammer has since been re-arrested by U.S. and Nepalese authorities. The technologies used by the security service’s system are not new, but they’re improving, as Stammer’s detection proves. Few would argue that arresting a fugitive from child sex abuse charges isn’t a good thing, but as facial-recognition software gets better, it’s bound to fuel debates over privacy. Big Brother may not only be watching – but also recognizing. ‒ TG
©Thinkstock
Ergonomics
Load Warriors
Exoskeletons that can help the disabled regain movement or make soldiers stronger also could make life easier for industrial workers. For the past five years, Lockheed Martin, the huge Maryland-based defense contractor, has been investing in research and development of exoskeletons, both powered and unpowered. Now one of its unpowered models, the FORTIS exoskeleton, will receive its first industrial test at a U.S. Navy shipyard. Though details were not disclosed, the Navy says shipyard workers often must lift heavy tools like grinders and sandblasters, which can take a toll on their bodies. Lightweight and ergonomically designed to follow human movements, the FORTIS transfers weight from the body to the ground, allowing operators to work with heavy equipment for longer periods, with less muscle fatigue. A person could, for instance, lift and hold a 36-pound object as if it were a basket of feathers. – TG
©Lockhead Martin
Medical Technology
Advanced Cancer Probe
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a rare, highly aggressive type of malignant brain tumor. Most patients die within 15 months of diagnosis. One reason it’s so hard to treat is that once surgeons remove it from the brain, cancerous cells that are difficult to see are often left behind, and can reseed the tumor. So researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have devised a detection method using nanoparticles and a handheld scanner that helps ensure very few, if any, cancerous cells get left behind. A day before surgery, Raman nanoprobes are injected into the area, and they accumulate in the cancerous tissue but not in normal cells. The handheld device, which looks like a laser pointer, can then with high accuracy pinpoint all malignant cells. In tests on mice, the scanner found cells not visible to the human eye and surgeons were able to remove all cancerous tissue. Much of the technology is off-the-shelf and already approved for use on humans, so it’s hoped the device can quickly go to clinical trials. ‒ TG
©Thinkstock
Personal Security
Dope Detector
Date rape is a serious problem on U.S. campuses, affecting as many as 20 percent of college women, according to a 2009 study. Some of those assaults might be carried out by men spiking their dates’ drinks with an odorless, colorless drug that can physically incapacitate and lower inhibitions. Detecting such doctoring is hard, so four recent North Carolina State University graduates – all with degrees in materials science and engineering – came up with a novel solution: nail polish that changes color if it comes into contact with the most common of the drugs, including Rohypnol, Xanax, and GHB. A woman can see if her drink is safe with the dip of a finger. The team won an NCSU student competition earlier this year that netted its start-up, Undercover Colors, $11,250. Another investor has kicked in $100,000. The four now are working to develop, refine, and bring the technology to market. Some feminists and bloggers remain unimpressed, however. Products like this “leave room for victim blaming” when not used, noted one. A Salon columnist asked if a company should profit from rape prevention, arguing the money would be better spent teaching men to behave. Responding on Facebook to such critics, Undercover Colors co-founder Tyler Confrey-Maloney wrote that the nail polish hopefully will “shift the fear from the victims to the perpetrators.” ‒ TG
©Thinkstock
3-D Printing
Perfect Likeness
Thanks to burgeoning manufacturing technologies, the art of the selfie is getting, well, more artsy. In Prague, a company called 3D gang has begun using Europe’s largest 3-D printer – with 115 sensors – to scan people, animals, and other objects. After five to 15 minutes, the digitized captured image is fed into the printer, which then creates a figurine from 6 to 14 inches tall. In other words, you can immortalize yourself as a tiny statue. The printer, which resembles a miniature film set, costs around $284,210, according to Time.com. Meanwhile, Brooklyn artist Ted Lawson recently created a “blood robot selfie” that he calls Ghost in the Machine. Lawson preprogrammed a CNC printer – a computer-run milling machine that also can do etchings – to carve a life-size nude self-portrait and used his own blood as the ink. The work was briefly on display from mid-September to early October in New York. – TG
©Ted Lawson
Sports Technology
This Court’s a Star
Nike recently took the wraps off a high-tech basketball court that uses LEDs, motion trackers, and artificial intelligence to put players through realistic training drills. Built in Shanghai, the LED court was used for Nike Rise, a Chinese basketball tourney and reality show that featured NBA stars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James as mentors to young Chinese players. The court’s called the House of Mamba, in honor of Bryant, whose nickname is the Black Mamba. The full-size court has a wood base topped with more than 1,000 2-by-2-foot LED screens and covered with a thick, glass protective overlay. The court can be programmed to give each player his or her individual drill, each based on the training techniques that Bryant, an L.A. Lakers star, uses. Slam-dunk technology, anyone? ‒ TG
©Nike
Super Ceramics
Beat the Heat
Back in the 1960s, scientists got excited about hafnium carbide, one of a class of materials known as ultra high temperature ceramics. It could withstand temperatures of up to 3,950° C but was so costly to manufacture that interest waned. But UHTCs and hafnium carbide in particular are back in fashion because they can withstand the superhot temperatures that hypersonic aircraft will have to endure. Designed to fly five times faster than the speed of sound, these planes would soar beyond the Earth’s atmosphere to cut air travel times from hours to minutes. For example, passengers could leave New York and land in Los Angeles 15 minutes later. But the aircraft needs heat protection to withstand frictional forces that would raise its skin temperature to 2,000° C upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Omar Cedillos, a Ph.D. student at Imperial College’s Center for Advanced Structural Ceramics in London, recently developed laser tests that show hafnium carbide is even more heat resistant than originally thought, handling temperatures as high as 4,050° C. His team now is working on combining it with another UHTC, tantalum carbide, to make a composite that’s durable enough for use on airplanes. They also are developing coatings that would prevent oxygen from reacting with and degrading the materials. Such high-flying research could help make hypersonic transport a reality. – TG
©Thinkstock
Bio-Inspired Design
Artful Dodgers
Cephalopods, a group of sea creatures that includes the octopus, squid, and cuttlefish, can mimic their changing surroundings and blend in. That inspired a multidisciplinary team at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign to study the skin of cephalopods and try to replicate its camouflage capabilities. The research, funded by the U.S. Navy, revealed that the octopus has three layers of skin. The bottom layer senses the environment to which it must adapt. The muscular middle layer drives the change in color and the top layer adjusts hue accordingly. The team, led by electrical engineering professor John Rogers, came up with its own triple-layered system. Using photosensors to detect changes in light, data are fed to a middle layer of actuators that release heat – 47° C – to activate temperature-sensitive dyes in the upper level of the paper-thin prototype. This first version can only change from black to transparent, so the team must work on enhancing spatial and color resolution. While admittedly not ready for military prime time, the prototype proves that engineers can design an autonomous system adaptable to its surroundings, says Rogers. Meanwhile, he’s been contacted by researchers who see other uses for the technology, including fashion and wallpaper that constantly changes color. ‒ TG
©John A. Rogers