Why are Robots Shaped like Humans?

According to the Greek mythology, it is said that we make and imagine our inventions to always look like us. We even imagine an alien or a ghost that look like us. This can be the probable reason why we design robots that look like humans. Technology that is now making the robots intelligent is also teaching them how to be humans. As humans, we try to align our imageries and take inspirations from our environment, which also inspires us to design robots in a humanoid shape.

Many factors may govern our imagination of a human-like robot:

  • To impose the same constraints on them, as the world imposes on us.
  • The closer the design is to humans, the better it will navigate and manipulate the human world.
  • To make them interact with us as we interact with each other.

After being able to design a humanoid, we are still far from the technology that will allow these humanoids to adopt the human abilities completely. If we ever reach such a level of technology, we will give rise to a new species, for whom the human race will simply be like a cannon-fodder in military combat.

5G in Space

The fifth generation of mobile communication is on its way to bridge the numerous gaps by its preceding technologies. Most of the network issues arise when people wish to watch 4K videos, video chat or when they want to interact with the different IoT devices.

Similar problems occur in the satellite communication mechanism. As more and more satellites are launched into the space, they face issues in transferring data. The 5G technology can easily resolve such issues.

  • 5G uses high frequency for establishing communication between different devices.
  • These frequencies are in the range of 30 to 300 GHz.

Millimeter Wave Satellite

To make the communication better, researchers from the European Space Agency (ESA) are making efforts to develop satellites that will communicate on millimeter-wave frequencies. These satellites are named as W-Cube. Some of their features are:

  • Communication devices installed in these satellites will test and use the 75 GHz frequency band.
  • The body of these satellites will be based on Reaktor’s Hello World CubeSat platform.
  • They will weigh less than 5kg.

Finland based Reaktor Space Lab and the VTT Technical Research Centre will develop these satellites. The signals transferred by them will be observed at the measurement station in Graz, Austria. This technology will provide a unique opportunity to achieve high expertise in the field of telecommunication in the space.

Innovation Engineering on its Way

Today’s thriving engineering technologies have been surprising us constantly. And, with the changing technologies, we can still expect how things change across different technology domains and industries. Here are ten most groundbreaking innovations in engineering that gives it a new definition.

3D Printing: The computers here converts the digital image of the model into a tangible physical product. The technology can print almost anything by laying layers of materials with the help of 3D printers.

Floating Train tracks: Researchers are now working to develop steel platforms on which trains can pass. These will have flexible bearings that will let the light rail tracks stay in a line. 

 

A Roof that closes like a Camera: One of the Atlanta’s newest stadium, now has a set of eight 500 ton steel petals that unfurl 200 feet above the ground. They can shut quickly in nine minutes shielding the players and the fans from the weather outside.

 

Replicating the Robot Arms: Robotic arms can now reassemble clones for itself and is cheaper than most of its market competitors.

AquaRefining: The method uses an electrochemical system to dissolve the Lead at room temperature without smelting harmful emission which occurred in the traditional methods.

Genetic Code printing: The new Digital-to-Biological Converter is now able to print genetic code following the digital instructions.

Synthetic Spider Silk: This fabric is developed artificially using yeast and is later spun into fabric using machines. These are the renewable protein-based fibers now available as a merchandise.

Thin Rail Roller-coaster: Designers are now using durable and less amount of steel to develop the Raptor Track roller coaster which easily fit into the intended spaces and offers a highly smooth ride.

Floating Wind Farm: Scotland is now using a floating wind farm to generate power from wind. Although they are currently close to the seashore, researchers are working to install them at farther distances where the winds are strong.

Underwater Snake Bots: The technology can be stationed on the seabed to repair infrastructure damages.

Nasa’s 2020 Mission: The Mars Helicopter

NASA is working on its next mission to launch a helicopter to the Mars. The project is scheduled in July 2020. The project is in the development phase at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) since the year 2013. Some of its features are:

  • The Mars helicopter will weigh around 1.8 kg and will be designed to operate in the planet’s extremely thin atmosphere.
  • Earth, being several light minutes away, the helicopter will be highly autonomous.
  • It will receive and operate on the commands from the ground to share information.

The Mars helicopter is a high risk- high reward project and if successful, it may open new opportunities in interplanetary exploration.

The Future of CAD: Emerging Trends in Product Design

The CAD/CAE industry is now able to manage more activities with the help of advanced enterprise or global solutions. The design engineers across multiple sectors are currently working with the new industry standards insisting the middle managers to work with the advanced design patterns. These patterns are also more inclined towards the customer demands as well as their own creative ability.

Simulation Workflow Management (SWM)

Although, the simulation activities carried out using the traditional desktop applications are capable of leveraging the power of global enterprise solutions across boundless data centres, the new technologies will make the complex design simulation task simpler. One of such a method is the Simulation Workflow Management (SWM).

  • It is a concept that integrates workflow management with the simulation technology.
  • SWM is used across the design industry for simulation purposes.
  • It also aims to make the simulation task of a complicated design simpler and readily available through its different features and functionalities.

Simulation Challenges

  • Simulation, in the traditional approaches, required computational resources and rigorous data transfers which is not always a good approach as the technology is transforming every day.
  • The emerging technologies also challenge the leaders with the large global simulation workflows across the multi-domain environments.

However, over the next few years, technologies such as the increased bandwidth, data centre capabilities on a worldwide basis, and the new business technologies will resolve these challenges.

The ESTECO Project

ESTECO, a software provider has gained extensive experience in this area. They align the optimization and simulation techniques with the standard industry. The company also have accepted the norms and the different notations to mitigate these challenges. It is currently working and testing a groundbreaking multi-domain SWM solution. The application will help different industries to innovate the different customized tools for the CAD/CAE industry.

SMW Making Product Design Easy

Such a technology breakthrough will be highly beneficial for the people working in the CAD/CAE technologies.

  • The technology will allow them to develop and store the simulation workflow process as the people at the different managerial levels controls and tests new ideas and concepts from any other computing device.
  • It will help the product and service designers and developers to explore new design alternatives and techniques to achieve them.
  • The technology will also be able to maintain a history of their SWM concepts and techniques.

The SWM technology, therefore, makes working in the simulation environment easy for the research and development teams. Moving forward, we can also expect new opportunities in this technology.