Exo-Hand gives your arms a boost
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| The ExoHand can be worn like a glove and used for active finger motions, to increase the force of fingers and even to register movements of the human hand and transfer these to robotic hands in real time |
The engineers responsible for Exo-Hand worked with the objectives to “enhance the strength and endurance of the human hand” as well as to extend the hand’s scope of action.
All the joints and drive units are located outside the hand in the form of the exoskeleton. Fingers can be moved and strength amplified in this device also described as an active manual orthosis with sensitive fingers.
The operator’s hand movements are registered and transmitted to the robotic hand in realtime.
The Exo-Hand uses pneumatic actuators on each finger to simulate the range of human finger movement. The actuators move the fingers so that they can be opened and closed.
According to the German makers Festo, nonlinear control algorithms were implemented on a CoDeSys-compliant controller for precise orientation of individual finger joints. A “CoDeSys controller” registers and processes the positional and force parameters. It regulates the pressures in cylinders to ensure the correct finger positions and forces.
Further commenting on the design, Heinrich Frontzek, spokesman for Festo, said that at the back of the glove is a power-booster built in; “That’s done with little air cylinders that give power to every single finger through pressurised air that’s blown into it. Through that, we can reach a doubling of the grip force.”
This orthosis can be fitted over the human hand and also over an artificial hand made of silicone. The company foresees Exo-Glove in remote-manipulation scenarios too, where handling items poses risks. In this instance, the user’s motions would be emulated by the robotic hand away at a safe distance.
As such, it would enable performance of tasks in hazardous areas — whether because of natural disasters, accidents, or within scientific labs.However, the Exo-Hand is still only a proof of concept device.
Looking into that future, the company draws on experience in industrial training and education programs, and it recognises an aging work population where retirement is taken in later years than before and where older workers in assembly line jobs could be helped through a device assisting them with tasks demanding endurance or strength or both.
The “power amplifier,” as it is also called, might assist any workers in repetitive tasks that easily lead to fatigue. Rehabilitation for stroke patients has also been suggested as a possible application.
If connected to a brain-computer interface, it may help stroke patients suffering from paralysis to get a connection between hand and brain.
Printable liquid solar cells developed
Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) have found a way to cheaply produce stable liquid solar cells that can be painted or printed onto clear surfaces.
The technology relies on solar nanocrystals just 4nm in size, which, because of their small form factor, can be suspended in a liquid solution and printed like a newspaper.
While liquid nanocrystal solar cells are cheaper to fabricate than available single crystal silicon wafer solar cells, they are not nearly as efficient at converting sunlight to electricity.
This, according to Richard Brutchey, assistant professor of chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, is due to the fact that the organic ligand molecules that are attached to the nanocrystals to keep them stable and stop them from sticking together, also insulate the crystals, reducing their ability to conduct electricity..
Brutchey and his team discovered a synthetic ligand that not only works well at stabilising nanocrystals, but actually builds tiny bridges connecting the nanocrystals to help transmit current.
With a relatively low temperature process, the researchers' method could allow for the possibility that solar cells can be printed onto plastic instead of glass without melting – resulting in a flexible solar panel that can be shaped to fit almost anywhere.
Brutchey now plans to work on nanocrystals built from materials other than cadmium, which is often restricted in commercial applications due to toxicity. "While the commercialisation of this technology is still years away, we see a clear path forward toward integrating this into the next generation of solar cell technologi
This New Wind Turbine Produces Electricity and Water
French company Eole Water reinvents the wind turbine to harvest wind energy and fresh water out of thin air.
By Kevin Lee | PC World | 01 May 12
In our pursuit of clean, renewable energy, wind turbines seem to always take a backseat to solar energy. We're constantly looking into new ways to harvest the Sun's energy , but what can you do with something that is essentially an oversized fan?
As it turns out, quite a lot.
A French eco-energy company named Eole Water has developed a new wind turbine that can collect wind energy and fresh water from thin air. The company's WMS1000 wind turbine can condense water vapor from even the most arid weather conditions and produce gallons of drinkable water.
Eole Water's reinvented turbine looks and works like a regular wind turbine that can generate 30 kilowatts of electricity. However, in a separate process, the turbine takes wind into its body and forces it through a cooling compressor like the ones found in an air conditioner. As the wind passes through the turbine, it's cooled by the compressor, which draws the water vapor out the air.
The water condenses into water droplets that drip down through a series of stainless steel tubes. From there, the water runs through a filtration and purification system that's powered entirely by the turbine. It's a great self-sustaining system.
Eole Water currently has a working prototype installed in the desert region just outside of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The wind turbine can pull an average of 62 liters (16.3 gallons) of water per hour from air with an average humidity of 45 percent and temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (around 75 degrees for us fahrenheit-using folk). The company says that a single turbine could potentially pull 1,000 liters of water per hour in favorable weather conditions.
Read more: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/digital-home/3355150/this-new-wind-turbine-produces-electricity-water/#ixzz1tnITtdrU
The sensor may help non-experts interpret the results rapidly, especially in emergency situations and during humanitarian disasters.
The device works according to the ABO system, classing blood samples according to A, B, AB or O types, and also spelling out whether the type is Rhesus positive or negative.
According to the system, an A or B letter indicates which antigens are present in red blood cells. At times, people conducting blood tests at home, or even specialists in developing regions, make mistakes while interpreting a blood type test - and these mistakes may have grave consequences , the lead researcher, Wei Shen from Monash University, said.
"This is a nose we're growing for a patient next month. It's a world first. Nobody has ever grown a nose before," Seifalian was quoted by 'Daily Mail' as saying.
In fact, the scientists say that when the the nose is transferred to the patient, it doesn't go directly onto the face but will be placed inside a balloon inserted beneath the skin on their arm.
After four weeks, during which time skin and blood vessels can grow, the nose can be monitored, then it can be transplanted to the face, they say. Added Adelola Oseni , a team member: "Other groups have tried to tackle nose replacement with implants but we've found they don't last. They migrate, the shape of the nose changes . But our one will hold itself completely, as it's an entire nose shape made out of polymer."
Looking like very thin Latex rubber, the polymer is made up of billions of molecules , each measuring just over one nanometre, or 40,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Working at molecular level allows the material itself to be intricately detailed. "Inside this nanomaterial are thousands of small holes. Tissue grows into these and becomes part of it. It becomes the same as a nose and will even feel like one," Seifalian said.
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