Important Innovations

The Vantage - Personal Flying Machine With British Accent The captain of the British team Leap defines their personal flying machine The Vantage as a 5-rotor air bike.  It's also a top ten contender in Boeing's GoFly International Competition of personal flying machine prototypes. Loaded with Engineering This concept's design and technical specifications are stunning.  It has an internal combustion engine that produces electric power from a generator.  5 electric motors drive a rotor that keeps Vantage airborne.  2 more rotor-motor combos give it forward thrust.  And each rotor can be controlled independently. Real Deal - No Fairy Dust Captain Bruno Howard says "no need for fairy dust".  It's made of real components you can buy today.  He adds the principles of safety, controllability and redundancy are built into its design.  Team Leap is now building a working prototype with vertical takeoff and landing, low noise, able to fly non-stop 20 miles,

Boeing GoFly Top 10 Winner - The Hummingbuzz It's a personal flying vehicle with distinctive design and technical specifications that won top 10 status in Boeing's GoFly International Personal Flying Machine competition.  The Hummingbuzz is straight out of Georgia Tech. All Electric Flying Fan True, it looks like a flying fan with a motorcycle on top of it.  The rider sits on top of the motor bike that also houses a battery pack.  The vehicle is an all-electric, ducted fan equipped with counter-rotating coaxial rotors. Boeing Boeing believes that personal flying machines will be part of the transportation mix in the not-to-distant future.  That's one of the reasons their GoFly international competition with teams developing top, workable prototype vehicles, has $2 million in prizes.  The top 10 competitors from an initial field of 160 teams are now converting their designs and technical specifications into working prototypes. The vehicles must have vertical take-

NASA's Ikhana NASA has recently flown a large aircraft that is remotely-piloted unaccompanied in commercial airspace.  It's called Ikhana and it flew through Class-A airspace where commercial airlines fly.  Large, unmanned aircraft that are remotely piloted like Ikhana have required a safety chase aircraft as it travels through airspace used by commercial planes.  Not so for Ikhana. Great Significance NASA worked closely with the FAA for months to ensure safety and a successful maiden flight. It went off without a hitch and moves the US steps closer to normalizing unmanned aircraft operations in the commercial and private pilot airspace. New Roles for Unmanned Aircraft like Ikhana This successful flight opens the doors to service roles like fighting forest fires and new emergency search and rescue operations.  According to NASA test pilot Scott Howe, "We're flying with a suite of sophisticated technology that greatly enhances the safety capabilities of pilots

ECOSTRESS Orbiting Botanical Research With Agricultural Impact A new NASA instrument to measure plant water use in space can help the agricultural community on earth.  ECOSTRESS (ECO systemspaceborn thermal radiometer experiment on space system) was just launched on Space X. Taking a Plant's Temperature in Orbit The instrument measures the temperature of plants in orbit which will enable scientists to determine plant water use.  This, in turn, will allow them to study how draught conditions affect the health of plants here on earth. Land Plants Plants draw in water from the soil.  When heated, plants sweat water out through pores in their leaves.  That cools them off.  When there isn't enough water, plants close their pores and become heated.  If they continue to lack water, they starve, overheat and die. ECOSTRESS -- A Solution to Draught The exciting thing about Ecostress is that it provides insight into plants' health and water use while there is still time

The Harmony - Not Your Average Flying Machine Forget the jetpack.  The future of personal flying machines looks quite different, as in Texas A&M's The Harmony pictured above.  This flying machine is one of ten winners in Boeing's GoFly international competition.  It's cleared for take-off in Phase 2 of the competition. The Texans will be turning the concept into a working prototype. The Harmony's Winning Music The all-electric vehicle was created by Texas A&M engineers.  It's distinctive to say the least.  It's egg-shaped and looks a bit like a lectern. The engineers call it a personal rotorcraft.  The pilot sits above the open coaxial rotors.  The creators say the configuration maximizes hover and forward flight flexibility, pilot safety and reliability.  The Texans says it's practical, safe, green and efficient.  The next step is to take their winning technical specifications and design and build a prototype to fly. Boeing's GoFly 160

Cheetah 3 at MIT It's called Cheetah 3 and it's a standout robot developed by researchers at MIT.  Three key differentiators:  it's blind, fast and extremely dexterous.  It can climb stairs, jump on to a desk, move around 360 and shove.  All thanks to new algorithms the MIT team developed. Taking Over for Humans It's designed to do many things humans can't in a challenging environment. There's a key reason for the robot's "blindness".  Researchers want the robot to rely more on tactile information.  That way it can handle unexpected obstacles while moving fast.  Researchers say if the robot relies mostly on vision to make decisions, its speed slows down.  It's a robotic cheetah designed to move with great speed and agility. Like a Real Cheetah Cheetah 3's physical agility is amazing robotics.  MIT videos show it quickly climbing up stairs, shoving objects, slow trotting and jumping up on a desk.  It has all the moves of a real che

Your Avatar Digital Nurse Cora  Avatar Researchers have developed a simulated digital nurse to show patients how to recognize heart attack symptoms and call 911.  It's appropriately called SAVE app. Out of Australia - SAVE App The Flinders University in Australia team have developed SAVE app. It's an avatar-based app which helps recognize heart attack symptoms.  An avatar is a simulated digital character that can talk and use facial expressions and body language. They are calling the simulated nurse Cora.  Its purpose is to teach people heart attack warning signs and what to do when they occur. Life-Saver Because most deaths occur within a few hours of the warning signs of heart attack, the death rate can be reduced significantly if people get to the hospital quickly.  Delays happen when people don't recognize the warning signs. SAVE App Gets Results SAVE app users were significantly more likely to call an ambulance compared to a control group without the app.