Year: 2018

Drones learn to navigate by imitating Cars and Bicycles Autonomously

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The commercial drones these days make use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to traverse. Such a method works fine when the drones fly at a high altitude. But the real hurdle arises when these drones navigate autonomously at a lower altitude. At such low altitudes, there are several issues such as

  • More density of building
  • Unstructured stress with the movement of several vehicles and humans.

The drones at this level have not reached to such a stage where they can react to an unforeseen event quickly. There are ways to enhance the functionalities of these drones.

Integration of autonomous navigation in drones

The development of DroNet by researchers at the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics and the University of Zurich shows that autonomous navigation of drone is possible. It is an algorithm that helps the drones to fly through the busy streets of a city safely. With the help of one input image, it produces two outputs:

  • A steering angle and
  • A collision probability

The former helps the drone to avoid accidents, while the later helps it to identify the dangerous situations and react to them.

Powerful artificial intelligence algorithm

A team of Swiss researchers sought the help of a powerful algorithm and a normal smartphone camera to make the drones smarter. The combination helped the drone interpret the real-time situation and react accordingly. The algorithm used, consisted of Deep Neural Network.

Teaching the Drones through Cars and Bicycles

The collection of training examples is one of the biggest issues in Deep Learning. The drones can learn by imitating the driving behavior in the examples. Thus, Prof. Scaramuzza, along with his team collected the data from cars and bicycles driving in urban areas.

Fully autonomous drones – The Future

Through this research, the doors are open to several applications such as parcel delivery, surveillance and much more. The drones can drive within the clustered roads, with ease and save a lot of time. However, the team cautions from expecting too much from cheap drones.

What’s new in Revit 2018

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The 2018 release of Revit has introduced some amazing features for the users. These features will enable the designers to model a complete, consistent, and coordinated designs for multiple disciplines. These features have the extensibility to both detailing and construction. The list of features are:

Co-ordinated Models

The new Revit feature, now allows the users to link their NWC or NWD files of the coordination models that are generated on Navisworks®. This feature can be helpful to compare the non-Revit and Revit model.

Scheduled Groups and Revit Links

The users can now select the fields that appear in the schedule on the Fields tab of Schedule Property Dialog Box. Also, the new feature allows the Revit experts to include the elements from a linked model.

Global Parameters

In the 2018 Revit updates, the experts can now embed designs with project-wide parameters. Furthermore, these parameters can now work with equality constraints and diameter and radial dimensions.

Multistory Stairs

The new feature of stairs allows the users to create multistory stairs by selecting the levels of the building. These stairs adjust automatically when the heights are changed. These stairs can be created from the existing stairs even at a later stage.

Railings

The new railing feature allows the users to modify the railing by chaining its height, shape, and number. Also, the path of the railing can be customized through sketch tools.

MEP Fabrication Model

The 2018 updates allow the experts build a run of connected MEP fabrication parts automatically by just clicking on the points of the model. The selection of the parts is automatic from the current fabrication service and group.

MEP Design and Analysis

With the help of the new updates in Revit, the users can now manipulate the pathways of the circuit. Also, the updates in MEP design and analysis allows the users to define their own type of space. They can also include the requirements of outdoor air.

Rebar for Complex Geometry

The latest rebar updates allow the placement of rebar as concrete objects that are of free-form. Also, it allows the reinforcement of concrete elements that are imported and their varying rebar distribution is improved.

 

These are just a glimpse of updates in Revit 2018. There are many more interesting features such as Rebar Graphical Constraints in 3D, Additional Steel Connections, Collaboration for Revit, Work-sharing, Parametric components, and much more.

Get Hired! Engineering Hiring Managers Top Secrets Revealed

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It is now easy to get noticed as a top engineering candidate. A recent survey has identified a few major evaluation techniques employed by the hiring managers to distinguish promising candidates.

First 15 Minutes

More than 54% of the managers shortlist the top candidates within the first 15 minutes of the interview.

Top 3 Hard Skills

  • 80% managers look for analytical or critical thinking.
  • 65% look for technical skills (system, computer, software).
  • 59% seek troubleshooting skills.

Top 3 Soft Skills

  • Teamwork is a very important soft skill which is preferred by almost 85% managers.
  • 79% managers shortlist the candidates who possess good listening and comprehension skills.
  • 79% managers prefer candidates who possess a sense of personal accountability.

Resume

Eight out of ten hiring managers interview the candidates based on the match of the job description with the resume. The most preferred format of a resume is the digital or electrical format.

  • 67% prefer digital resume.
  • 29% seek a traditional hard copy.
  • 2% seek for a digital portfolio.
  • 2% shortlist based on a LinkedIn profile.
  • Less than 1% prefer video resumes.

Interview Tips

  • Clearly express the personal achievements and weaknesses.
  • Boldly communicate the skills and their reason for befitting the job.
  • Remain conscious about timely appearance, politeness, grooming conditions, and graciousness.
  • Learn about the company.

Common Interview Mistakes

  • Inappropriate usage of mobiles phones during the interview
  • Arriving late for the interview
  • Lack of enthusiasm and passion for the job and carrier
  • Behaving weird, ignorant, or ungrateful.

Italian Architect Designs Folding House that can be built in 6 hours

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Wouldn’t it be nice if building houses became quick and moving them from one place to another became possible? An architect from Italy has proposed a new housing model which is completely different from the traditional way of building houses. He suggests a model where the houses can be folded. The assembling time of this house is not more than six hours with just three people working on it. Doesn’t that sound interesting?

M.A.Di Homes

Renato Vidal, an Italian architect and the founder of M.A.Di (Modulo Abitativo Dispiegabile) homes, assures of high quality and safe homes that can be built quickly and transported easily. M.A.Di homes are available in a few customizable models. All the models are equipped with the basic facilities such as toilets, furnished kitchen, and technical installations such as water and electrical systems.

Installation

The houses are built in modules to make the construction quick and simple. Multiple modules can be attached to build a huge house. The installation of the house does not depend on a concrete base. The house can be placed directly on any flat floor. However, for people who want a permanent house, are advised to build M.A.Di houses on foundation stakes.

Eco-friendly Optimization

Furthermore, these houses also support the installment of solar panels, LED lightings, and gray water treatment systems. Moreover, the external walls carry the color of customer’s choice. The walls basically come in wood veneers, which can be customized with natural fiber, aluminum, plaster, and much more.

Price

The smallest house M.A.Di home costs up to 30,000 USD and covers nearly 26 square meters. The maximum expansion possible is up to 84 square meters which can cost 75,000 USD on an average. The costs of the house, however, depends on the customization selected by the customers.

ETABS 2016 16.2.0 Enhancements

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This version of ETABS is stacked with stunning features for Analysis, Modelling, Result Display and Output.

Analysis

  1. a) Creep & Shrinkage: This feature includes the rebar effect, which can help reduce axial shortening of walls and columns. The feature lets you choose two options for Longitudinal Rebar Ratio- From Design and User Specified Ratio and two for Vertical Rebar Ratio- From Design and User Specified Ratio.

 

  1. b) Modal Damping: This feature provides more conservative and realistic results through linear and nonlinear direct-integration time-history analysis. Here you can choose options for Viscous Proportional Damping and Additional Modal Damping.

Modelling

The new updates consist of new codes for shrinkage, creep, and stiffness aging. The models are New Zealand Standard 3101-2006, Australian Standard 3600-2009, Eurocode 2-2004, and GL 2000.

Result Display and Output

The result is displayed on slab cracked-width on Eurocode 2-2004.