DorkbotColumbus - the Blog

Can Dorkbot do strange GREEN things with electricity?

Our next meeting of the Dorkbot Columbus contingent is coming up on November 29, at Haskett Hall on the OSU campus, at 7pm.

We have discussed a number of possibilities for programs and direction for those who want to get involved.  But as important as the green movement is becoming, I wonder if we might benefit from a focus the first part of 2008 - at least - on playing with tech concepts that promote environmental responsibility and carbon neutrality and related ideas?

Certainly can't hurt.  True enough, Dorkbot is about "play."  But devising "strange things to do with electricity" that might actually make a point - direct or sarcastic - or might actually inspire a train of thought to pursue - an important additional to dimension to mere "play."

I was inspired by this presentation by John Doerr (18 mins long) - the legendary investor and capitalist of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers - who has seen the light that environmental progress can mean profits as well as planetary safety and hope.  And given that Al Gore has now joined Kleiner Perkins, combined with the items Doerr mentions in this video - it may be that there will be broader outlets for green play than ever before.

This video and dozens of intense presentations from the famous TED conference are available at www.ted.com. (It has been left slightly outsized for improved playback)

This is on the agenda for our meeting Thursday, Nov 29.  If you can't make it drop me a note and let's discuss!!

Modular style links hardware, software efficiently

Link: Open source, Lego-like computer modules run Linux.

The connection between hardware and software should be a fundamental element of design - but only recently - in products like Apple's iPod and iPhone - has it really been accomplished.

What is the obsession with generalized tools that must be configured again and again for new applications?   Finally these folks from the US appear to have taken a common sense approach to making reconfigurable  modules practical.

Internet as jellyfish - a squishable concept!

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have some up with a new way to visualize and describe the Web - as a Medusa jellyfish.

The approach is interesting, but the graphic is even more so. 

Risk assessment is key - but more diffiucult in new technology

If an acid will eat through anything, what kind of container can you use for it?  If nano particles are the smallest bits made, how can you build a filter to keep it from causing harmful effects if breathed or absorbed into the human body?  These are questions that have been asked - should be asked.  But now baby steps are being taken to collect answers for some of them.

Technology offers an apparently unlimited variety of opportunity - but opportunity cuts both ways.  Anything that presents a different pattern than our bodies (or other organic entities) have evolved to deal with - represents a potential danger.  And the effects may cause a lot of damage before we learn to recognize the symptoms.

We will not stop research, obviously.  And now a consortium - including the Environmental Defense Fund and DuPont - has come up with a first step - a mechanism to begin to capture the data that can assist in assessing the risks associated with new nanotechnology.  It's called the Nanotechnology Risk Framework. 

It can be downloaded now for your information.  It is a paper-based system at this point - a lot of data is collected and stored in a totally useless format.  But at least the thought-process is in place, and the data is being collected.  Soon, one can hope that progressive heads with look for ways this data can be incorporated into the research process in an active way, and be constantly updated and refined as time goes by.

This is a job for - MetaDataMan!!

Study peeks at how our brains grow

Link: Study peeks at how our brains grow - USATODAY.com.

  Ok, this is not the latest studio band assembled by the MPAA to cultivate new markets for music. (USAToday, by Joe Klamar, AFP/Getty Image, file)

Dorkbot Dream: A Giant Takes On Physics' Biggest Questions - New York Times

Link: CERN - Large Hadron Collider - Particle Physics - A Giant Takes On Physics' Biggest Questions - New York Times.

There's the old observation about the dog chasing the car, biting at its wheels - Just what would the dog do if he caught the thing?

The objective in this story about the quest for the largest of the Hadrons - and the gear required to do it - represents the ultimate "having fun with electricity."  More electricity than has been applied to any other project, and more fun than we could cope with.

This is a dynamite story about the ultimate tire for the ultimate Dorkbot - pictures, facts - and a taste of what world-scale experiments can be like.  May be the last we see for many years to come.

One Graph = One Unified Theory

From the venerable Journal of Irreproducible Results, a revolutionary step - a new graphical strategy proving all theories in a single representation. You have to see it to believe it!

Soft Robot Project Gets Rolling

Link: Discovery Channel :: Soft Robot Project Gets Rolling.

At first blush, the idea of "soft robots" brings to mind something like Elmo - an interesting toy, perhaps, but nothing like an advanced technology.  But to hear these folks from Tufts University tell it - there are applications aplenty for such a concept.

Interestingly, there could easily be some debate over the definition of "soft" - just as there might be some debate over the nature of a robot with that characteristic.  But its an interesting problem - flexibility, strength, new kinds of joints, new materials.

Technology Review: Battery Breakthrough?

Link: Technology Review: Battery Breakthrough?.

According to the president of Eestor, Inc. (the company does not have a Web site at this writing) - this new technology - combining a new battery technology with a breakthrough in ultracapacitors - could change the landscape of battery-powered transportation.  The combination supposedly creates a battery-device that delivers 10X the power per pound of a standard lead-acid battery.  At half the cost, and presumably with fast re-charge times.  It's based on a ceramic form of barium-titanate powders. 

One thing you hate to hear in these "breakthrough" situations is the company described as a "secretive Texas startup" - or any kind of secretive startup, really.  So often the results of such efforts prove to be disappointments.  This above-linked article in Technology Review lists some of the concerns of skeptics, including the ability of the capacitor to hold its charge for a practical time-period, and the robustness of the ceramic material of which the active elements are comprised.  But many people are excited about a disruptive change in the battery landscape - if ever there was an opportunity for a major leap, it is portable power.    And the story has survived now for more than a year - so, short of a live demo - the concept at least has legs. 

Thanks to Matt Howard for contributing this tip!

Physics promises wireless power

Link: BBC NEWS | Technology | Physics promises wireless power.

The somewhat mysterious character Nikola Tesla held some of the most radical ideas in technology - some of which remain so to this day.  (The oddness of Tesla's world view was captured to some degree in the recent movie The Prestige - which is well worth seeing, BTW).

One of those ideas was the wireless transmission of power, analogous to the wireless transmission of radio and communications.  Well, these researchers from  from MIT may be on to something that would give Tesla the last laugh.

I have speculated that there might be some exotic material that - when stimulated by a certain frequency of radio wave - would emit a stream of electrons that could be transformed to electrical power.  Then you would simply have to broadcast the frequency - and expose the material to that frequency - whenever you needed power.  And there's the end of electrical outlets, plugs and cords - at the least.  Easy - all you have to do is find that exotic material! <g>

The MIT approach may be more practical - it relies on known principles and materials and has a hope of being demonstrable.