Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: transportation

Who is responsible if a self-driving car crashes and causes property damages, physical harm or even death? Autonomous vehicle legislation is still very much in its infancy though it will certainly be an evolutionary process over the years. Corporations such as Tesla and Volvo have publicly stated that they will take responsibility for any faults in their software. However, Comma.ai’s CEO George Hotz (geohot) has stated that he is not responsible for any accidents caused by those who download his free self-driving vehicle software.

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The idea of using robots as the go-to for handling disaster situations isn’t new, but part of the problem has been how to build robots light enough to move about easily, yet are strong enough and tough enough to handle things like a smashed up nuclear reactor. As part of the answer, the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Bridgestone Tires have partnered to develop a new hydraulic robotic muscle that is lightweight, yet is five to ten times as strong as conventional electric motors and much more durable.

The locations in disaster areas where the responders are needed most urgently are often the ones that are the hardest to get to, precisely because they’ve been hit so hard. The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster is a prime example. Despite the damage done to the nuclear power plant by the sea wave that struck it, the subsequent explosion and meltdown could have been avoided had emergency workers been able to reach it with the right equipment in time to make repairs and re-power the cooling systems.

This is one reason why robots are so attractive. Autonomous robots have the potential to be able to move in and handle such emergencies, even to the point of using found tools and vehicles to accomplish tasks. Unfortunately, even though robots have a reputation for being steel giants possessing superhuman strength, mobile robots tend to be more on the weak and fragile side.

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For over 80 years, scientists all round the world have dreamt of converting hydrogen, the first element of the periodic table, into a metal. And now, after hundreds of failed attempts in the history, scientists from U.S. have finally managed the feat by compressing hydrogen so profoundly that it has turned into a metal!

Back in 1935, physicists Hillard Bell Huntington and Eugene Wigner proposed a theory that hydrogen, which normally exists in a gaseous state, could transform into metallic state once exposed to extreme pressure. Since then many scientists have tried to practically prove the theory — albeit unsuccessfully. However, this discovery, which was published in the journal ‘Science’ on Thursday, is the first confirmation of the theory.

The metallic hydrogen is a potential superconductor, a material with extraordinary electricity conducting capabilities, a quality which makes it a very expensive metal. But it holds the ability of revolutionizing the world of ultra fast super computers, high speed levitation trains, or any other thing which involves conduction of electricity.

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On Wed we saw Tata’s new hydrogen bus; and now this.

DETROIT (Reuters) — General Motors Co and Honda Motor Co are expected on Monday to announce an expansion of their collaboration on fuel cell technology development, people familiar with the plans said following a notice of a press conference.

GM and Honda on Friday said two senior executives would hold a news conference in Detroit with Michigan’s Lieutenant Governor, Brian Calley.

Mark Reuss, GM’s executive vice president for global product development and Toshiaki Mikoshiba, chief operating officer for Honda’s North American region, are scheduled to make “an important advanced technology announcement,” the companies said. The statement did not elaborate.

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The future of nuclear power might look very different than we thought, with a US-based company presenting plans for miniature, modular nuclear power plants that are so small, they can fit on the back of a truck.

NuScale Power, the company behind the power plants, says each modular device is completely self-contained, and capable of producing 50-megawatts of electricity — enough to power thousands of homes.

The power plants stand 29.7 metres tall, so aren’t really that ‘miniature’, except relative to an acutal nuclear power plant. They also haven’t been tested as yet, so we need to reserve our excitment for when we can actually see these things in action.

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Daniela Rus loves Singapore. As the MIT professor sits down in her Frank Gehry-designed office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to talk about her research conducted in Singapore, her face starts to relax in a big smile.

Her story with Singapore started in the summer of 2010, when she made her first visit to one of the most futuristic and forward-looking cities in the world. “It was love at first sight,” says the Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). That summer, she came to Singapore to join the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) as the first principal investigator in residence for the Future of Urban Mobility Research Program.

“In 2010, nobody was talking about autonomous driving. We were pioneers in developing and deploying the first mobility on demand for people with self-driving golf buggies,” says Rus. “And look where we stand today! Every single car maker is investing millions of dollars to advance autonomous driving. Singapore did not hesitate to provide us, at an early stage, with all the financial, logistical, and transportation resources to facilitate our work.”

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Hoverboards and certain cell phones powered by lithium-ion batteries occasionally go up in flames. Scientists now have a new plan for squelching these fires before they flare out of control: incorporating a flame retardant in the battery that’s released if temperatures get too toasty.

Within lithium-ion batteries, ions travel between positive and negative electrodes through a liquid called an electrolyte. But commonly used electrolytes are highly flammable. And if a short circuit in the battery produces enough heat, the electrolyte can ignite.

Source: New ‘smart’ fibers curb fires in lithium-ion batteries | Science News.

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Sounds pretty neat, eh? Wouldn’t it be nice never to have to worry about running out of fuel or charge ever again? And also to not have to pay for it would be even better! Well, that is potentially what is about to happen over in Israel right now as testing continues into electric roads that can wirelessly charge electric vehicles as they’re moving along.

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