Machine Design Blogs

I can’t resist posting this one because it involves my alma mater beating our arch rival in an engineering contest. U. of Mich. engineering students came up with a cheap way to detect IEDs, beating out Ohio State in a competition hosted by the Air Force. You can see a write up and a video of the winners describing their work here:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/553709/?sc=dwtr;xy=5017520

What floors me is that this was for a senior design project. All I’ve got to say is that senior design projects have gotten a heck of a lot more interesting than they were in my day.

The SixthSense wearable device from the M.I.T. Media Lab makes the world around you your computer. The necklace-like prototype comprises a pocket projector, mirror, camera, and hardware components. The projector and the camera are connected to a mobile computing device in your pocket. The projector projects visual information that turns surfaces, walls, and physical objects around you into an “interface,” while the camera recognizes and tracks your hand gestures. The device processes the video and translates your hand gestures into “interaction instructions” for the projected interface.

For example, a map application lets you navigate a map displayed on a nearby surface. You can zoom in, zoom out, or pan using intuitive hand movements. A drawing application lets you “draw” on any surface by tracking the movements of your index finger. You can even take pictures using your fingers to create a “frame” that activates the camera. Drawing an @ symbol in the air lets you check your email. Looking at a newspaper can make it show live video news. The gesture of drawing a circle on your wrist projects an analog watch.

Watch a video of the device in action

Want to be on MTV? The folks there are looking for a few good engineers to star in a TV series. Here is what MTV sent us yesterday:

Casting:

Male / Female / All Ethnicities / 18 - 25 years

Description:

Seeking groups of engineering friends to star in new MTV series about pulling clever stunts that require engineering skills. Think Myth Busters meets MTV.

Shooting will likely take place in Spring 2010. It will be about a 4 month time commitment for the engineers

(3-4 days of shooting per episode)

Must be ready to describe 5 fun and clever stunts that require engineering skills and tell us your qualifications when you submit.

Wardrobe: Trendy MTV

Compensation: Standard MTV host rate applies.

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Email resume to getrealent@yahoo.com

Would you consider posting the above info on your blog? I am conducting an open casting call in Los Angeles on July 2nd, but video submissions will be accepted, as well.

Thanks,

Holland Van Ackeren

Casting Director

Who was it that said everything is in the details?

A few days ago, I was driving a 2009 Ford 150 Supercrew 4 x 4 truck. It was one of the vehicles us editors get to try out and then write about in Machine Design. Anyway, I was minding my business, driving a sedate 60 mph in the right-hand lane of a busy freeway. Suddenly, the vehicle took off, speeding faster and faster….65, 70, 75, 80 mph. I thought the accelerator was jammed, so tried quickly kicking it – an old trick to free mechanical linkages (I’ve since found out everything now-a-days is controlled by electronic sensors.) Alas, the behemoth did not stop. Then I turned off the cruise control thinking it was struck. No luck. Now I’m thinking, look for a soft spot to crash land. Luckily, I didn’t downshift to low gear (after all, this is a $40,000 truck we are talking about), but the thought did pass through my head.

So I pushed and pushed on the brake and sloooowly the vehicle stopped. I stuck it in neutral and shut it off. I had parked within inches of the white line that marks the edge of the freeway, so huge semis continually rattled the 4 x 4 as they whizzed by going around 100 mph, or so it seemed. To make matters worse, I had my little dog with me. Luckily, a nice cop pulled over and used his patrol car to push the truck to a grassy area away from the freeway. He also called a tow truck. The hot sun beat down and my little dog was panting like crazy. The tow truck showed up after awhile and $90 later we were dropped at the nearest Ford Dealership. It was a Saturday, so of course Service had already closed and I had no way to get home. Couldn’t even get a rental car. Luckily, dealership personnel gave me a ride home.

Monday morning I took a cab back to the dealership. They eventually figured out what had gone wrong – not a stuck accelerator pedal and not a stuck cruise control. Someone had installed the driver’s side floor mat upside-down. This meant that the cut-out area intended to accommodate the accelerator was in the wrong location. Unbeknownst to me, the mat had literally bunched up over the accelerator pedal, pushing it to the floor. I found out later the Ford people had delivered the vehicle like this so the floor mat would not be dirty. They had forgotten to turn the mat back around.

Readers, do you have a similar story? We would love to hear it! Send us your comment, and you might win a Machine Design thumbdrive!

http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/national-3/124463459133860.xml&storylist=washington

There will be an interesting item appearing in the up-coming Journal of Geophysical Research in August. Iowa State University researchers say US wind speeds are diminishing because of global warming.

That is not a surprising result if you believe the globe really is warming up. Winds are generated by temperature differences. In a global warming scenario, the absolute difference between the hottest and coldest global temperatures diminishes. Thus, winds should also diminish.

What I find surprising in the AP item above is the statement by a NASA source:

“A naysayer is Gavin Schmidt, a NASA climate scientist in New York who said the results conflict with climate models that show no effect from global warming.”

I am certainly no climate expert but I wonder how absolute global temperature differences can diminish without affecting wind speeds.

Also interesting is the reaction of the American Wind Energy Association. Obviously, if wind speeds are diminishing, it affects how much power you can potentially generate with wind turbines. AWEA didn’t come out and pooh-pooh the research, but they did find somebody to say “a cautionary response” is warranted:

http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.4153

http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=LS_090519_Space-Engines

This short video gives a pretty good description of how an ion engine works. Also a few other interesting bits.

http://www.aceee.org/press/0906waxman.htm

Interesting item here from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). They say “federal energy efficiency provisions included in H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, could save approximately $750 per household by 2020 and $3,900 per household by 2030.” You can read the whole analysis here http://aceee.org/energy/national/HR2454_Estimate06-01.pdf

Also, the savings don’t seem to be “fake.” As far as I can tell, ACEEE has not factored in your additional costs from the extra money you will pay for carbon cap and trade — should that be enacted — as part of your “savings.” So they do not seem to be claiming that reductions in what you would otherwise pay in carbon taxes are part of the savings they calculate.

A perhaps new business strategy surfaced at PTC’s 20th Anniversary User event — the idea that business competitors can help each other. One simple example: Josh Mings of SolidSmack, a well-known SolidWorks blog, was invited as a media blogger to the event!

John Abele, co-founder of Boson Scientific and event presenter, spoke on how we “live in exponential times” and that crowd-sourcing improves according to Metcalf’s Law. It states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system.

Stay tuned for for the results of my interview with Mr. Abele, soon to come in Machine Design and Medical Design. Rarely have I met such an enthusiastic, kind, and interesting person. He had a great story to tell on using social networking tools to help find what happened to his father’s submarine, the U.S.S. Grunion, which disappeared during World War 11.

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3809/harvard-study-suggests-twitter-users-are-self-obsessed-says-harvards-own-tweet?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en