Beyond science!

[zed]

Yes I realize batteries is the field (along with fusion, hydrogen power cars etc) where false promises breakthroughs are made like every second week.
So I'm not sure if this was the one, I was thinking of. I thought there was an ozzie link, so this is what I came up with a quick google, I'll have a look later to see if this was the one.

EDIT: Yes I think this was the one I read about some months ago, I guess we will see if it pans out, cause there has been a lot of unfulfilled promises in this field, one difference I see is they want something out in < a year unlike the 5-10 years that normally get banded around. Also it has the university of brisbane involved, which I assume dont want to sully their name based on a cash grab.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

 

[eloic]

A

Amazing! I still wonder how they make it so that people can fit into those suits to perform those stunts!

 

[zed]

seems like it was only a few years ago and they had those loud engines and were attached by wires to the ceiling.
Any idea how long they can keep this up for before the batteries run out? i.e. is it closer to 10 minutes or 10 hours? I'm guessing the former, but have no idea

 

[cheapchips]

seems like it was only a few years ago and they had those loud engines and were attached by wires to the ceiling.
Any idea how long they can keep this up for before the batteries run out? i.e. is it closer to 10 minutes or 10 hours? I'm guessing the former, but have no idea

Atlas runs for an hour off an 3.7Kwh battery. It's not a product though. You'd probably ring more out of something that was. Spot does 90 minutes.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

When the batteries become more efficient these bots would be ideal for space/planet exploration.

 

[cheapchips]

When the batteries become more efficient these bots would be ideal for space/planet exploration.

Spot can return to its base station to charge, so you could potentially have a big rover as home for a few limbed robots to go exploring things in more detail. No one's proposing that for an actual mission yet. JPL are a Boston Dynamics customer but not sure what they're doing with it.

Tesla have obviously announced their 'Bot. That'll inevitably end up in SpaceX's efforts if it works. They have a lead on battery efficiency. Using more efficient mechanical actuators is viable as well, in a way it wasn't when Boston Dynamics started.

Autopilot failures obscure the fact that Telsa's neural net world perception/machine learning/navigation stuff is pretty amazing. Humanoid robots could become useful beyond tech demos if you can leverage that.

A humanoid robot much more limited physically than Atlas could do useful jobs with a good enough perception of it's environment.

 

[Davros]

Tesla have obviously announced their 'Bot.

Cue musk telling everyone it will be cheaper than a roomba, do all your housework and when your not using it it will go out and freelance for work earning you $20k a year and it will be on sale in 2023

 

[cheapchips]

Cue musk telling everyone it will be cheaper than a roomba, do all your housework and when your not using it it will go out and freelance for work earning you $20k a year and it will be on sale in 2023

He said it's could eventually go to the shops for you, which is even more far flung than housework.

Like most of the soundbytes Musk generates, it's not really relevent. The bottom line is that Tesla may end up with the first actually useful for something hominid robot, that actually ends up as a product and can be itterated from there.

 

[cheapchips]

Is it beyond science when the science is done and the engineering starts?

MIT/CFS have made a record breaking high temperature superconducting magnet. It puts small tokamaks with net energy production within reach (existing tokamak designs use lower temp superconducting magnets, which forces a massive size if they're ever to achieve net energy production).

They have a very serious chance of achieving net energy in the next 5yrs.

https://cfs.energy/news-and-media/cfs-commercial-fusion-power-with-hts-magnet

 

[eloic]

 

[eloic]

I'm happy to see popping up more and more alternatives to plastic. Hopefully, we'll get rid of this poison in a few decades.

I just bought a pair of Munjoi shoes for a gift, BTW.

I miss the taste of beef, even though I find that meat disgusting (I haven't eaten beef in years, I don't eat mammals).

 

[eloic]

MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy

Photo Credit
Gretchen Ertl, CFS/MIT-PSFC, 2021
It was a moment three years in the making, based on intensive research and design work: On Sept. 5, for the first time, a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet was ramped up to a field strength of 20 tesla, the most powerful magnetic field of its kind ever created on Earth. That successful demonstration helps resolve the greatest uncertainty in the quest to build the world’s first fusion power plant that can produce more power than it consumes, according to the project’s leaders at MIT and startup company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS).

https://climate.mit.edu/posts/mit-designed-project-achieves-major-advance-toward-fusion-energy-0

 

[cheapchips]

https://climate.mit.edu/posts/mit-designed-project-achieves-major-advance-toward-fusion-energy-0

It's a huge step for them. They're not the only fusion group/company pursuing magnets using high temperature super conductors. Hopefully some of the others will also have prototypes working soon as well.

It's encouraging stuff.

 

[cheapchips]

Commonwealth Fusion have secured $1.8bn in their latest funding round. That should mean their '2025' SPARK test reactor, using the HTS magnets above, is pretty much guaranteed to be built. Obviously no guarantee it'll be on time or work...

https://www.cfs.energy/news-and-media/commonwealth-fusion-systems-closes-1-8-billion-series-b-round

 

[eloic]

It's time for graphene to start shining at last! I'm still waiting for cool transparent smartphones (ahem, The Expanse ), though, but yeah, I know...

 

[eloic]

Superinteresting! Hopefully, this can be done and scale up.

 

[Sxotty]

I watched some of that guy's videos in the past and they were not that good. I probably should not write him off yet but I sort of have.

 

[eloic]

I watched some of that guy's videos in the past and they were not that good. I probably should not write him off yet but I sort of have.

In my case, I think it's the first time for me, so I don't have a very complete opinion yet.

 

[eloic]

How China plans to lead the world in sustainable food with latest five-year agricultural development plan

• Lab-grown meat and plant-based eggs among food production technologies that will be supported to cut reliance on overseas know-how
• Inclusion of cultivated meat in the five-year plan will drive more research funding and investment in the nascent industry, says Ziliang Yang of start-up CellX

China has given prominence to alternative proteins such as lab-grown meat in the latest five-year agricultural plan. Photo: Shutterstock
China’s decision to include alternative proteins in its five-year agricultural development plan shows Beijing’s desire to nurture home-grown technology to ensure sustainable food supply, industry watchers say.

Lab-grown meat, plant-based eggs and recombinant protein production are among the food production technologies that will be supported, according to the 2021-25 blueprint published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs last month. Recombinant protein production, also known as precision fermentation, can “programme” microorganisms to manufacture dairy and meat from animal or plant cells.

“By 2025, [we] strive to make major progress on indigenous innovations in various areas currently subject to high reliance on foreign technology,” the document said, adding it aims to build a “low carbon, sustainable, smart and integrated” agricultural system.

https://www.scmp.com/business/artic...ustainable-food-latest-five-year-agricultural

Hopefully this will rouse the US to do something similar by supporting research and an open-minded FDA. We need this thing to happen and a big push from global powers can suppose a substantial boost.