• UK start-up to build 65 mini airports for flying taxi services

    Often described as flying taxis, eVTOLs are typically small electric planes or larger drone-inspired vehicles that are designed to carry a small number of passengers relatively short distances. German firm Volocopter plans to introduce a service in Paris by the time it holds the Olympics in 2024, while aircraft-leasing company Avolon issued a $2bn order in June for 500 eVTOLs – also with a 2024 commercial service launch date in mind. Urban-Air Port said that the burgeoning eVTOL sector currently lacks the infrastructure needed to support the vehicles and could be a major block on market growth. Only 3 per cent of the investment so far this year ($150m) has been targeted towards the physical infrastructure. It aims to establish a global network of urban-air ports with plans to build 200…

  • Lengthen the life, strengthen the relationship

    The UK Government’s recent ‘right to repair’ law may be a step in the right direction for consumers and for the environment, but should the legislation have been wider reaching in order to further incentivise the transition to circularity and servitisation? To require manufacturers to become providers not only of products, but of outcomes, experiences and ongoing services too? The regulations, which cover domestic white goods, televisions and some non-consumer products including electric motors and commercial refrigerators, mandate that manufacturers must provide spare parts in order to extend the lifespan of products for up to ten years. Parts deemed ‘simple and safe’ to replace are to be supplied direct to consumers, with spares for more specialist repairs made available to qualified technicians…

  • Predictive system could prevent repeat of Gatwick Airport’s 2018 drone incident

    University of Cambridge researchers used a combination of statistical techniques and radar data to predict the flight path of a drone, and whether it intends to enter a restricted airspace, for instance around a civilian airport. Their solution could help prevent a repeat of the Gatwick incident as it can spot any drones before they enter restricted airspace and pre-determine whether they are likely to pose a threat to other aircraft. In December 2018, two drones flew into the airport’s airspace forcing the closure of its main runway and causing 48 hours of chaos for thousands of passengers. Anti-drone tech was later installed at the airport in a bid to prevent another incident. The researchers said their system’s predictive capability can enable automated decision-making and significantly…

  • Can tech improve care for people with dementia?

    As an elderly woman listens to a Geordie folk tune she hasn’t heard since she was a girl, her face lights up. After seven decades, the song has evoked her childhood. When she was 18, Dorothy Stein moved from Newcastle, UK, to Canada, and now lives in a US care home. Though dementia has robbed her of her memories, the 89-year-old remembers the words to ‘Blaydon Races’ and sings and claps along; her delighted laughter is magical. “She was connecting deeply to her past,” says her carer, who’d found the song after contacting a Newcastle community group on Facebook for help. She was overwhelmed by the response – and played the tune for Dorothy as suggested. From across the Atlantic, memories flooded back. Back home in the UK, a Twitter video last summer of former music teacher Paul Harvey…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Hydrogen submarine could collect microplastics as it cruises

    The autonomous vessel, nicknamed Esmeralda01, is designed to be “net positive” by running on hybrid green hydrogen and battery power and collecting microplastics as it cruises between Scotland and Northern Ireland. Esmeralda01 is equipped with a three-phase microplastics filtration system. Its developer, Oceanways, is preparing the submarine for its first sea trial. The Department for Transport (DfT) is supporting its development as part of a £23m round of green maritime R&D funding . It said a fleet of the submarines could secure 27 tonnes of CO 2 emissions in its first year of operation with an overall mission to reduce 300 million tonnes of CO 2 as the fleet grows. Dhruv Boruah, founder and CEO of Oceanways, said: “Time is running out and it is imperative we don’t settle for 1 per cent…

  • OneWeb launches 34 more satellites as it edges closer to commercial service

    The successful launch, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, brings OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation to 322 satellites. This amounts to nearly half of its planned fleet of 648 low earth orbit satellites that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity on the ground. Liftoff occurred yesterday around 7pm BST and after leaving the Earth’s atmosphere the satellites were separated from the rocket and dispensed in nine batches approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes into the flight. OneWeb confirmed it had made contact with all 34 satellites following their deployment. In July last year, the UK Government purchased a stake in OneWeb , which had fallen into bankruptcy before its proposed internet service was able to get off the ground. It was bought as a means to expand…

  • AI-driven robotics key to recycling’s challenges

    China’s Operation National Sword policy initiative curbed the country’s imports of most types of solid waste for disposal, and imposed stringent limits on the materials that it will accept for recycling. The policy’s ramifications have hugely impacted the many foreign economies that for decades relied on China’s materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to deal with the bulk of their recyclable waste materials, from plastics and packaging to glass, metals, and wood. Before National Sword came into force in 2018, 70 per cent of plastics collected in the US and 95 per cent of plastics collected in the European Union (EU) were consigned to a slow boat to China, according to the Yale School of the Environment. A study by the University of Georgia estimated that by 2030, the policy could have ‘displaced…

  • Apple's autumn announcement brings bumper crop of newness

    At its annual event, Apple announced updates to almost all of its iOS lineup of products (except the iPads Pro and Air), along with the latest iteration of its Watch wearable and new additions to its Fitness+ health and wellbeing service. All of the new products are available for pre-order and shipping either immediately or within the next few weeks. As widely rumoured and expected, Apple unveiled the iPhone 13, in four different guises: Pro, Pro Max, regular 13 and Mini. Apple claims the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be "more pro than ever before" and will have "the most advanced pro camera system ever on iPhone", with new Ultra Wide, Wide and Telephoto cameras. Image credit: . The new technology is designed to enable new photo capabilities, such…

  • An eco-friendly method for dyeing jeans

    Dyeing denim jeans is one of the top sources of pollution within the fashion industry. That is why researchers from the University of Georgia (UGA) developed a new indigo dyeing technology that’s kinder to our planet. According to the researchers, the technique reduces water usage and eliminates the toxic chemicals that make the dyeing process so environmentally damaging. The technology also streamlines the process and secures more colour than traditional methods. “The textile industry is a classic example of an environmental polluter, and one of the major causes of pollution in the industry is colouration,” said Sergiy Minko, a professor of fibre and polymer science at UGA and a corresponding author of the study. Originally, natural indigo was used to dye textiles. Introduced to the…

  • 3D-printed sensors a step towards ‘intelligent’ furniture and custom controls

    The objects were created using a new method for 3D-printing mechanisms that detect how force is being applied to an object. The structures are made from a single piece of material, meaning they can be rapidly prototyped. The researchers integrated electrodes into structures made from metamaterials – structures engineered to interact with light in a certain manner – which are divided into a grid of repeating cells. They also created software which allows users to customise these devices. “Metamaterials can support different mechanical functionalities, but if we create a metamaterial door handle can we also know that the door handle is being rotated and, if so, by how many degrees?” said co-lead author Dr Jun Gong, who has since left MIT to work at Apple. “If you have special sensing requirements…

  • Hands-on review: Nexar Beam

    The Beam sits in the middle of Nexar’s range of dashcams – mini cameras designed to film through your windscreen as you drive. Above it is a pricier model boasting a second camera that points backwards into the cabin for Carpool Karaoke-style interior footage. Below it is a cheaper model without built-in GPS. Like Goldilocks’s porridge, the Nexar Beam is just right. The camera is compact, not much bigger than a matchbox, so it’s designed to hide behind your car’s rear-view mirror, out of sight. It records 1080p full high-definition footage that’s GPS tagged, recording the location for the benefit of police and insurers. The field of view is 135° (measured diagonally). Unusually for an affordable dashcam, it comes with “free unlimited cloud storage”. Like smart cameras and doorbells, it…

  • Letters to the editor: volume 16, issue 9

    The Shame of Wasteful Design How ironic as the IET celebrates 150 years of engineering expertise that I sit surrounded by expensive electronic devices where changing the battery – or anything else – is something not even a repair specialist would attempt. The device is likely to be destroyed in the process. Note the comments on repairability in the Teardown article on a fitness watch  in a recent issue of E&T, for example. I am afraid to say, dear engineers, that you are falling down on the job here. Take motor vehicle lighting. For many years we had the simple pleasure of changing defective light bulbs. But read your car handbook now and it will tell you: “If your car is fitted with LED lighting you will need to consult your dealer as the unit will need to be replaced.” Manufacturers should…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • View from Washington: Theranos 4 – First do no harm

    After a Covid-19-forced hiatus, the fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes began hearing from witnesses in earnest on Tuesday (14 September). Among them was Erika Cheung, a former lab associate, who was one of the main whistleblowers about the unacceptable unreliability and scope of the company’s Edison blood-testing system. Her testimony and comments elsewhere speak beyond the case to another of its broadly important aspects: trust in new healthcare technology. In a 2020 TEDxBerkeley talk , Cheung described why she joined the company in 2013 and quit just seven months later as a result of three ‘red flags’: an ongoing series of inaccurate Edison results across a number of controlled samples; the reporting of results from other approved testing hardware as results from Edison to…

  • Sea slug smarts recreated in material with potential as AI hardware

    An artificial general intelligence to rival human intelligence remains in the realms of science fiction. However, scientists have made progress in mimicking the intricacies of biology by recreating the most basic intelligence features of a sea slug. A study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, recounts how these intelligence features can be mimicked in a material in a step towards building better hardware for AI applications. “Through studying sea slugs, neuroscientists discovered the hallmarks of intelligence that are fundamental to any organism’s survival,” said Professor Shriram Ramanathan, a materials engineering expert at Purdue University. “We want to take advantage of that mature intelligence in animals to accelerate the development of AI.” Two significant…

  • National Grid erects the first less intrusive T-pylon

    They are the first new design for a pylon in Britain in nearly 100 years and plans are under way to install 116 new T-pylons in Somerset along a 57km route. The T-pylons have a single pole and T-shaped cross arms which hold the wires in a diamond ‘earring’ shape. At just 35 metres high, they are a third shorter than National Grid’s traditional lattice pylons, and have a smaller footprint using less land. The new pylons form part of National Grid’s Hinkley Connection project, a £900m investment to connect low carbon electricity from Hinkley Point C Nuclear power station. They will run between Bridgwater and Portbury, other than through the Mendip Hills AONB where the new connection goes underground. The project also includes the removal of 249 electricity pylons between Bridgwater and…

  • Time to get SMART in the office

    While employees will continue to spend more time working from home once the coronavirus pandemic has subsided, the need to visit an office at least occasionally won’t go away completely. The office of the future is likely to look considerably different from those we are used to, however. Organisations will rearrange their working spaces to meet stricter regulation around biosecurity to protect against future outbreaks while accommodating smaller numbers of employees at any one time. A survey conducted by the CBI and PwC last summer found that 74 per cent of financial services firms were reviewing their current office space requirements for example, primarily driven by a desire to redefine or reconfigure use of existing facilities. Very few were actively considering closing down their offices…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Manufacturing Futures 2021

    The Fashion District Innovation Challenge Prizes are designed to find solutions to current industry issues, develop new innovations and support SMEs. Sponsored by the IET, the theme for 2021 focuses on ‘Manufacturing Futures’, where the Challenge set out to uncover and support businesses with ideas that aim to revolutionise the fashion supply chain. This year’s shortlist was selected by a panel of industry experts. Ten start-ups made the cut, showing “true innovation and the potential to change the future of manufacturing”. Since May, the ten shortlisted entries have received business and investment advice from industry and manufacturing experts. Each pitched their innovations to judges from Pangaia, H&M Co Labs, Make UK, IBM, FIA and the IET, which was followed by an industry and investor…

  • Xiaomi unveils Smart Glasses with built in microLED display

    The Xiaomi Smart Glasses use “microLED optical waveguide technology” to beam an image onto one of the glasses lenses, which users can then use to check their messages and notifications; make calls; navigate; capture photos, and translate text. Xiaomi said it opted to use microLEDs because allowed for a petite imaging system that could fit seamlessly into the frame. MicroLEDs are an emerging display technology that combine the benefits of both LCDs and OLED displays, although they are not yet in mass production. The technology uses individually lit pixels that allows for brighter displays and deeper blacks. They also have a higher pixel density and longer lifespan while having a simpler structure which allows for a more compact display. Under a microscope, the display is roughly…

  • Toilet-trained cows go to ‘MooLoo’ to lower waste emissions

    On farms where cows relieve themselves as they graze, the accumulation and spread of cowpats and other waste can contaminate local soil and waterways. The alternative – confining cows in barns – does not only mean unhappier cows but also results in their urine and faeces combining to produce ammonia, an indirect greenhouse gas. Although the ammonia produced in cow waste does not directly contribute to climate change, when it leaches into the soil, microbes convert it into nitrous oxide - the most significant greenhouse gas after methane and carbon dioxide. Agriculture is the largest source of ammonia emissions, with livestock farming making up over half of that contribution. However, in uplifting bovine news this week, researchers have reported in Current Biology that cows can be toilet…

  • Pay attention, 007!

    A missile launcher cunningly disguised as a leg cast and demonstrated by Q to a bemused Pierce Brosnan in ‘GoldenEye’ was one of several bright ideas that didn’t make it into the field. Image credit: . The lethal properties of a bagpipe flamethrower and machine gun were seen briefly in ‘The World is Not Enough’. Image credit: . Desmond Llewelyn played Q in numerous Bond films and is the actor most closely associated with the character. Image credit: . “Experimental...

  • Gas boiler subsidies ‘baffling’ given net-zero target

    Documents from the Business Department show how the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), which uses funds raised from surcharges on energy bills to pay for efficiency measures such as insulation in fuel-poor households, could also see 20,000 homes receive new central heating systems with gas boilers. Homes account for around 14 per cent of the UK’s climate pollution. The vast majority of homes get their heating and hot water from fossil fuel-based boilers which contribute to carbon emissions. Cutting emissions from heating is a key part of the UK’s efforts to decarbonise in line its Paris Agreement commitments. Experts also warn that gas boilers expose families to air pollution. With gas prices on the rise, they could also lock households into a much more expensive option than heat pumps over…

  • Bizarre Tech: Trippy Paint, Cellfie and Pisces art lamp

    Trippy Paint Doodle obscenities at night and by the morning, begone! Sadly, there’s no sign of this on the internet any more. Perhaps the laser pointer was aimed at too many children’s eyes and therefore deemed a hazard? Because leaving your kid alone with a potentially blinding laser at bedtime is kinda, ya know, not the best parenting. For example: “Ah, Timmy can write on the walls all he wants at night using Trippy Paint . You can’t tell what he’s writing? Oh. I forgot to say, he can’t see what he’s doing any more as he’s blind from the laser. Oops.” So, you paint your kid’s walls with Trippy Paint, then when the lights go out, your child can wield the dangerous laser like a lightsaber and doodle whatever they want. The team behind Trippy Paint said: “With our revolutionary formula…

  • After All: No man is an island, but a rock with a lighthouse is!

    Among the responses to my June 2021 column ‘Bring the salt but leave behind wine and superglue!’ in which, among other things, I ventured to create a virtual ‘Campervan Owners Society’, there was an email from Terry Harris which I only received in mid-August. Having mentioned his recent holidays in a caravan he towed across Tasmania, Mr Harris remarked: “OK! I own up, I have never owned, or rented, a campervan! So, there it is, out in the open! Sorry... It would be good to hear of other experiences in a tent, caravan, or even, if you must, a motorhome!” Here I want to remind all readers that in the same column it was stated very clearly that the ‘Society’ was open to “every existing or potential campervan, caravan or camperhome-owing (or dreaming of owning) reader” as long as they “kept sharing…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • The bigger picture: Wearable air purifier

    The Air-Ring is worn around the neck and surrounds the user’s face with purified air, delivered by what the makers describe as a powerful, silent air turbine. Intake air is HEPA-filtered and UV-sterilised to remove particles and deactivate pathogens and viruses. Image credit: Cover Images Air-Ring operates for up to 8 hours on a single battery charge and is designed to be worn comfortably all day. No price has been given, but a crowdfunding campaign is scheduled to go live soon.

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

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