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Monday, December 26, 2016

How about a little Tech feast..??

The word "technology" coined around the 17th century certainly has quite lived upto it's expectations in the 21st century. Well, technology meant the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Why am narrating all these..?? Actually, there's something which most of us are unaware of yet despite the exponential growth of media.
You guys would've heard about quite revolutionizing concepts ranging from Tesla's electric cars, CEL's Robox ( a 3D printer ), SpaceX progam, Google's self driving cars, Amazon's drone delivery system, and so on. Speaking of technology, the sole purpose of it's existence is for these to simplify and better our lives in an efficient & an effective manner. Agreed.
Here are two intricate & perplexing technological innovations we know not much about.

What is it..?? A teleporter? A green lantern power ring? The lightsaber from Starwars? Ironman's armor?  'No, a BIG Hellno.'


The Bloom's Energy Server

Umm, not self explanatory. Explanation coming right up.!

 Built with patented Solid Oxide Fuel Cell's ( SOFC's ) technology, Bloom's Energy Server is a new class of distributed highly reliable, power generators which intend to produce clean & affordable electricity. Sounds interesting... Isn't it.?
Fuel cells are devices that convert fuel into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process rather than the harmful & a dirty combustion. In other words, they're literally like batteries except that they are ALWAYS ON & also produce a large amount of electricity.
And, they're also quite different from their counterpart known as the "hydrogen fuel cells".
Different.? In what way.? I must say, in three distinct ways namely,
-Low cost raw materials ( neither do they use expensive metals like Platinum nor do they require corrosive acids to carry out the reactions )

-High Electricity Efficiency ( nearly twice as much as efficient in generation )

-Fuel Flexibility ( they are perfectly compatible with both conventional & renewable sources as fuels )

A fuel cell is like a battery that always runs. It consists of three parts: an electrolyte, an anode, & a cathode. Check out the video i've included below for a quick understanding of How a fuel cell works?



Just in case the video doesn't play, here's the link. Click here!

How much electricity can they produce?
 Well, surprisingly each Bloom's Energy Server provides about 200kW of power! Oh yes, you heard me right. Apparently, it seems to be more than enough to meet the baseload needs of over 100 average homes or an office building ( that too, on a 24 by 7 round the clock consumption ). Mindblowing isn't it.?
 Believe it or not. Companies like Adobe, Apple, Dreamworks, eBay,FedEx, Google, Honda, Kellogg's, Medtronic, Panasonic, Walmart, & Yahoo are using this revolutionizing clean technology to generate power for their needs. Apparently, they aren't actually made available to household needs yet due to innumerable reasons although they are highly successful in powering huge companies with their daily electricity needs. 
Score ONE for clean energy.!


Boston Dynamic's Atlas

Now, who's fascinated in the field of Robotics.? or would love to get themselves a robot.?

Well, here's the next generation of Robotics. Boston Dynamics, a robotics design company has come up with the Agile Anthropomorphic Robot named "Atlas" quite a while ago.
Want to hear more about Atlas.? Let's call it the Robo sapiens like in Homo sapiens ( scientific name of Human species ). 
Atlas, a bipedal humanoid robot primarily developed by the manufacturer named Boston Dynamics with funding & oversight from United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ). Guess what.. Atlas is 6 foot tall and serves the primary purpose of aiding the military in search & rescue operations.

What makes Atlas special.?
  Well, Atlas is designed to negotiate the rough outdoor terrain. It can walk bi-pedally leaving upper limbs free to lift, carry, manipulate, & interact with the environment. While given an extremely challenging terrain, it is strong and coordinated enough to climb using both hands & feet, and also can it pick its way through congested spaces.
  And, it turns out to have a well articulated sensor head which includes stereo cameras, & laser range finder. Atlas is powered from an off-board electronic power supply. It has an incredible number of about 28 hydraulically-actuated degrees of freedom, two-hands, arms, legs, feet & torso. It sure is a milestone achievement in the field of Robotics.
I've provided the video down below in which you can watch Atlas in action.




* Please be free to comment. Comments & feedback's are valued.

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