ANS TechGlance

It seems that a robot must be an excellent tool for students to learn engineering ideas. "e- nuvo ", an educational robot series supplied by ZMP INC must be the one. It was first launched in 2004, and since then, over 300 units have been used in educational facilities and research laboratories in Japan and foreign countries. This robot was an award winner at the 2008 Robot Award held in Tokyo. The supplier, ZMP INC. offers a few other robotic products, such as " muro " which is a network music player equipped with robotic technology, " ＰＩＮＯ ". an interactive humanoid robot, etc. Source: DigInfo news via YouTube ZMP's web-site 1/27/09

About one year ago, February 2008, I introduced at this blog site  Spiral Magnus  wind generator designed and manufactured by MECARO .  It seems that the new generator is now in commercial production.  The first commercial unit reportedly installed in Ogata Village, Akita Prefecture, Japan last November.  This video is a brief presentation on the product. According to the supplier, MECARO , the strong advantage of Spiral Magnus are in low speed rotation, exceptionally quiet operation, long lasting durability as well as high efficiency and stability in power generation that have been enabled by Spiral Effect together with MECARO's patent technology. Typical specifications data extracted from the supplier's web site are as follows. Wind Turbine Diameter: 11.5m Rated Output: 12kW Rated Wind Speed: 11m/s Rated Rotor Speed: 30rpm Cut-in Wind Speed: 3m/s Cut-out Wind Speed: 30m/s Wind Load Survival Rate: 60m/s Source: MECARO's  promotion video via Y...

Airdolphin is the name of a cute wind power generator.  Airdolphin is compact, light and simple no-screw body structure inspired by traditional Japanese handcraft techniques, the supplier, Zephyr says.    The core rotor has three ultra-light carbon fibre blades that are uniquely designed dramatically to reduce air flow noise.   The robust body generator cuts in at a wind speed of 2.5m/s and cuts out at a 50m/s, while a windload survival rating is 65m/s.  A rated power figure is 1kw at 12.5m/s wind speed. Typical figures of Model Z-1000 are extracted from Zephyr's specifications sheet as follows. Rotor Diameter: 1800mm Mass: 17.5kg Mount Diameter: 48.6mm Number of Blades: 3 Blade Mass (per piece) : 380g Body Material: Aluminum die cast Body Construction: Screw-free joints (based on traditional Japanese handicrafts) Product Finish: Teflon-based paint Control System: Built-in Zephyr-Original Power Management System* (ZPMS) with: Power-Assist Function Stall Mode Safety Control Batt...

Another one, an advanced humanoid robot, is actually a toy but with it you'll just forget time passing. The 16.5cm-tall and 350g-weight robot is programmable and driven with rechargeable batteries. Its price seems to be within a very reasonable range. Several key technologies developed for the robot seem to be applicable for other industrial products. Enjoy it! Source: DigInfo News Takara - Tomy's web-site 1/16/09

An active scope camera proposed here is a rescue robot. Covering the entire cable of robot in cilia , the camera is capable to propel itself forward if the cable is contacting with the surface. According to this video reported by DigInfo, some discussions and technology evaluation are in process for commercial production. Source: DigInfo News via YouTube 1/15/09

Transforming ocean wave power to electricity seems to be an excellent solution to save natural resources! Hope it will be in commercial use shortly. 1/13/09

The Peltier element is a semiconductor element that can control heat emission and absorption using electric current.  The supplier of the element, Ampere, newly developed a skeleton type Peltier element that eliminates thick ceramic covers to replace with ployimide  film material.  A proven survival rate of heat cycles is more than 100,000 which is significantly higher than conventional ones. Application fields of this product seems to be expected in manufacturing and inspection processes as well as medical and biological areas. Source: DigInfo News on YouTube Ampere's web site

Nanotechnology Research Institute, a part of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology ( AIST ) announced on October 14, 2008 that it successfully developed a mobile type of super ink-jet equipment.   According to the released information , the equipment is almost 1/600 in cubicle dimensions of those currently available and is driven at 5V (DC).    It is expected that this technology will significantly contributes to reducing energy consumption as well as volumes of ink.  Application areas of this technology will vary ranging from electronics manufacturing processes to security fields where high precision printing technology is required.    Source: AIST's press release 1/11/09

This energy controller seems to be pretty good for  controlling a stand alone solar battery system and wind generator system together located in a remote site.     A brief interpretation and summary of the product catalogue written in Japanese are attempted by me as follows. This device controls charging and discharging electric power generated both by a wind generator and photovoltaic power generator.  This hybrid controller has features all -in-one required for an ecological power generation system of 12-250W or 24V-500W.  Applications areas of this controller will be stand alone systems, such as emergency lighting, street lighting, eliminating, water-pumping and so on.   With data communication interface, this controller can communicate with a central control office where all the data is monitored and controlled.  Dimensions are Ｗ１２０×Ｈ３００×Ｄ８０ｍｍ.   Source: Web-site of Ftech Co., Ltd 1/3/09

I wonder why this kind of machine has not been available until now. It seems that there is no special technology required. But if you think of its sofisticated movement, there must be a variety of consideration needed to create this. It will be helpful for people who have some handicaps or stay on the bed for quite a long time but love to read books. I hope it will be further improved, become popular and be available with a reasonable price level. 1/2/09