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March 31, 2005
Atair Aerospace Becomes the First Company in the World to Demonstrate Flocking and Swarming Capabilities on Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
For the first time in history, autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have flown using flocking and swarming algorithms. “Flocking and Swarming” are two words used interchangeably to refer to modeled flight that is biologically inspired by the flight of flocking birds and swarming insects.
BROOKLYN, NY (PRWEB) March 31, 2005 -- “For the first time in history, autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have flown using flocking and swarming algorithms,” reports Daniel Preston, chief executive and lead engineer for Atair Aerospace, Inc. (Atair AS).
“Flocking and Swarming” are two words used interchangeably to refer to modeled flight that is biologically inspired by the flight of flocking birds and swarming insects. The capability of biological systems to autonomously maneuver, track and pursue evasive targets in a cluttered environment is vastly superior to any engineered system.
Atair AS is pioneering the development and implementation of flocking and active collision avoidance algorithms on UAVs. Atair AS’ technology was first tested December 16–18 in Eloy, Ariz. where two fleets of five Onyx™ systems were airdropped and successfully flocked in tight formation to target. Onyx systems are autonomously guided parafoil systems (UAV gliders) designed to allow military cargo to be parachuted from high altitude and horizontal stand off and land accurately on target. Atair AS developed the Onyx system under contract with the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center - Natick. Onyx systems can be dropped at up to 35,000 ft altitude, autonomously glide for 30+ miles, and land on a preprogrammed target—accurate to about 150 feet.
The importance of flocking and active collision avoidance towards the application of precision resupply is critical. With this technology multiple systems (50+) can be deployed in the same airspace, guiding to one or multiple targets without possibility of mid air collisions.
Atair AS’ inventive technology has advanced the state of the art in guidance and control systems. This technology will open the door for advanced autonomous flight capabilities on a variety of UAV platforms from fixed wing to rotorcraft, with applications from sensor and munitions delivery to surveillance.
Atair Aerospace, Inc. is a Brooklyn-based defense company dedicated to modernizing military and industrial airdrop techniques through its range of innovative autonomously guided parachute systems and UAVs.
For more information, contact Rick Zaccari at e-mail protected from spam bots or visit the Atair Aerospace website at www.atairaerospace.com.
Posted by Industrial-Manufacturing at 03:14 AM | Comments (0)
LatchTool PowerCylinder™ Named a Top 100 Product of the Year by Design News Magazine
The LatchTool PowerCylinder™, a mechanical force amplifier that turns pounds into tons, was selected by Design News Magazine as one of the best 100 products of the year in its March 7th issue.
Colorado Springs, CO (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) March 30, 2005 -- The LatchTool PowerCylinder™, a mechanical force amplifier that turns pounds into tons, was selected by Design News Magazine as one of the best 100 products of the year in its March 7th issue. Design News is a Reed Business Information publication serving design engineers. This group of engineers defines the $900 million plus U.S. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) market, a group that produces just about every new product that hits the market.
As an OEM component, engineers now have the ability with the PowerCylinder to add the features of hydraulic power to their product designs without the weight, size, complexity and cost of a hydraulic system.
LatchTool predicts their PowerCylinder will find use as a power boost for hand and power tools and the ability to add strength to prosthetic limbs and a variety of uses where conventional hydraulic power is just too heavy and expensive. The National Fluid Power Association has petitioned the National Science Foundation on behalf of its members to fund $18 million in research at select engineering colleges to develop compact and efficient fluid power technology.
LatchTool CEO Bob McPherson says "Clearly, the fluid power industry recognizes that its technology cannot satisfy the insatiable demand for smaller, simpler and less expensive components and products. There is a huge gap between the force and displacement fluid power can deliver and that delivered by electrically driven systems. But the electrical systems are catching up. The PowerCylinder spans this gap, effectively offering fluid power at the end of a wire. Here the company sees a plethora of applications such as automobile breaking, power steering, robotics, automation and aviation.
"A hundred years ago, the Wright Brothers took their first flight and look where we've ended up. The LatchTool PowerCylinder has just begun, but it won't take a hundred years to see how big an impact the PowerCylinder is about to make."
Company Information:
Bob McPherson
LatchTool Group
14760 Cherry Hills Place
Colorado Springs, CO 80921
USA
Phone: 719-488-8800
FAX: 719-488-0939
www.latchtool.com
Posted by Industrial-Manufacturing at 03:12 AM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2005
The Lighter Side of Nanotechnology
Grey Goos, the first comic strip for the nanotechnology community, has been released by NanoApex - one of the Internet’s leading resources for information about nanotechnology.
(PRWEB) March 30, 2005 -- Grey Goos (www.nanoinvestornews.com/goo.php), the first comic strip developed for the nanotechnology community, has been released by leading Nanotechnology portal NanoApex. The weekly cartoon, currently in its fourth episode, examines the lighter side of nanotechnology and brings a diverse global audience together through its wry, but relevant humor.
"Nanotechnology can sometimes feel intimidating,” said Grey Goos creator Joel Fisher. “We wanted to put a friendly face on the technology—humanize it, give people a chuckle.” Grey Goos has already generated some positive attention in technology circles. "The first time I saw the cartoon I immediately sent it to everyone in my office," said Jon Nowick, a programmer with HSI Technology in Chicago. "The humor is insightful enough for techno-savvy readers like me and light enough to hang on an office refrigerator," he continued.
The Grey Goos cartoon is produced by APOKOLIPSTIK, Inc., an entrepreneurial company dedicated to developing nano-age comic strips and graphic literature. This Nano-Comic is building a global fan base and attracting readers from the US, UK, China and India and is generating interest in Nanotechnology through humor.
About the Grey Goos Comic
In the Grey Goos comic, a group of "nanobots" dubbed “Grey Goos” have escaped from the National Transistor Assembly Labs. Each with a different technical specialty and a distinct personality, they end up in a New York City loft with Dorothea (Dot) Kalm and Globo Bill, a couple of “constructs” who also have escaped from the same lab. Meanwhile, scientists at the lab have created a nanocop they’ve named Blue Goo, whose job is to round up the wayward Grey Goos and return them to the lab. What happens next is "a lot of fun" said Joel Fisher. The strip is currently being offered exclusively by NanoApex, one of the Internet’s leading resources for information about nanotechnology.
To see the Grey Goos in action, visit www.nanoinvestornews.com/goo.php
Posted by Industrial-Manufacturing at 04:10 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2005
McKeesport Teens Seek Support In Order to Fulfill Dream of Competing in FIRST National Robotics Competition
Local Students Win Regional Robotics Competition But Lack Funds to Move On to the Championship
Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) March 25, 2005 -- Engineering students from the McKeesport Area High School and Technology Center, also known as "Team 1708 - Natural Selection," overcame great odds to win the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Pittsburgh Regional Robotics Competition. Thirty-two teams of high school students from across the U.S. and Canada, including four Pittsburgh area teams, were tasked with the challenge of designing and building an original robot to compete in the Pittsburgh regional, which took place at the University of Pittsburgh's Petersen Events Center on March 10-12.
The McKeesport team was offered the chance to compete in the regional as a result of a contact David Richardson, Chairman of the Pittsburgh FIRST Planning Committee, made to staff members of the Mon Valley Education Consortium's initiative, The Future Is Mine (TFIM). Mr. Richardson asked for help in finding a student/teacher team to participate in the competition. "We know that Mike Dischner and his engineering technology students filled the bill," said TFIM Project Director, Aimee D. LeFevers.
As a rookie team, the students and their engineering teacher, Michael Dischner, did not know what to expect. They did not have any corporate sponsors, nor did they have any mentors from the local technology community. They were also behind in the development of their robot. Participating teams are given six weeks to build their robot. But considering team 1708's late entry, they only had two weeks. Fortunately, the team was awarded a grant by the Heinz Endowments, which enabled them to purchase the required FIRST robot kit and quickly prepare for the competition. The team also received support from the Mon Valley Education Consortium. The students built, tested and crated up their creation, called "Charles (as in Darwin)" and shipped it off to the regional competition.
The team was competitive during the challenging game, called Triple Play, which took place on a twenty-seven foot by fifty-four foot tic-tac-toe shaped field. The teams did not play one-on-one like other competitions. Instead, two three-team alliances, one on either side of the playing field, used their robots to stack large tetrahedron shaped game pieces, called tetras, onto nine individual goals. Team 1708 was eliminated from the finals, but through an incredible twist of fate, they were placed in the final round after one of the finalists experienced a game-ending mechanical failure. And despite all of their early tribulations, the students from McKeesport ended up winning the Regional Competition and now automatically advance to the FIRST Championship.
"The FIRST Robotics Competition is an exciting, multinational competition that assimilates teams, sponsors, colleges, and technical professionals with high school students to develop their solution to a prescribed engineering challenge in a competitive game environment," LeFevers said. "We couldn't be more proud of these kids. They worked hard, under great pressure, and they won. We hope the Atlanta experience is just as exciting and successful for them."
"The students on our team not only learned about overcoming adversity, they also learned about the importance of sportsmanship and teamwork," states Michael Dischner, educator, McKeesport Area High School and Technology Center. "But now we face our next challenge. We do not have the resources to send the team to the nationals in Atlanta. We are anxiously raising funds to allow these talented kids to test their robot, technical skills and sportsmanship against the best young roboticists in the country."
Teams that qualify for the FIRST National Competition in Atlanta must pay $5,000 to enter the event, plus travel expenses. The team also lacks the proper tools to ensure that their robot is in top shape for the nationals. Organizations interested in making a donation can send a check to the Mon Valley Education Consortium and include "Donation for Team 1708" in the memo field or contact Mr. Dischner at 412-664.3650 x2164.
"FIRST Robotics is not just an event - it's a workforce development tool for our region," states David Richardson, Chairman, Pittsburgh FIRST Planning Committee. "If we can encourage our students to learn valuable real-world skills and build relationships with mentors while in high school, perhaps they will consider seeking higher education locally or return to Pittsburgh to contribute to the growing technology and business communities."
To view images of the team and their robot, visit http://www.mvec.org/roboticsfullstory.htm.
About FIRST
Accomplished Inventor, Dean Kamen, founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, NH, FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering. With the support of many of the world's most well-known companies, the non-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition for high school students and the FIRST LEGO League for children 9-14 years old. To learn more about FIRST and the FIRST Robotics Competition, visit www.usfirst.org.
About The Mon Valley Education Consortium
The Mon Valley Education Consortium (MVEC) is a non-profit, community-based Local Education Fund (LEF) which raises money, seeks out resources, designs initiatives and convenes community to respond to the challenges faced by school districts in southwestern Pennsylvania. Through its ongoing major initiatives - Public School Excellence, Literacy for Life and The Future Is Mine - it focuses on making sure all children have the opportunity to learn and succeed. The Consortium works with more than 100 schools, 55,000-plus students in grades K-12, some 7,000 public school employees, and 122 communities. For more information, visit www.mvec.org.
Media Contact
Jessica Jordan Pedersen
e-mail protected from spam bots
(412) 681-1697
Posted by Industrial-Manufacturing at 02:41 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2005
Woman’s and Children’s Hospital Installs Acoustic Magic’s Voice Tracker™ Array Microphones for Handsfree Recording in Pathology Cut-Up Room
Women’s and Children’s Hospital needed a recording solution for its pathology cutup room that was hands-free and could pickup the doctors from several feet away. They chose the Acoustic Magic Voice Tracker™ array microphone and Lexacom Talk & Type digital dictation management software.
North Adelaide, Australia (PRWEB) March 10, 2005 -- Women’s and Children’s Hospital needed a recording solution for its pathology cutup room that was hands-free and could pickup the doctors from several feet away. They chose the Acoustic Magic Voice Tracker™ array microphone and Lexacom Talk & Type digital dictation management software. The Voice Tracker™'s long-range allowed the doctor to be recorded as he moved around the table. Lexacom’s foot pedal control completed the hands-free operation. The recording computers were no longer required to be near the pathologists.
Dr. Tony Bourne of Woman’s and Children’s Hospital noted “this solution was so effective that we implemented it in the mortuary as well, with equally good results. In the Mortuary, the microphone is attached to the ceiling, several feet above the bench. Both microphones are separated by some metres from the computers, which are linked through the hospital network to the secretarial workstations. The system has worked very well for us and our secretarial staff indicate that the quality of the dictation is much improved over our old tape based system.”
Karl Francois, National Solutions Manager for Voice Perfect Systems, who worked with Women’s and Children’s Hospital on this application, noted "when Voice Perfect first looked at the Voice Tracker™, it was originally intended to be used with Dragon NaturallySpeaking™ speech recognition software as a desktop microphone option. Since then we've been able to apply it to video conferencing, as well as meetings, interviews and clean room recording. It certainly has proved how incredibly versatile this product can be in any application requiring a powerful, long-range microphone.“
Bob Feingold, CEO of Acoustic Magic, notes that “The Voice Tracker™ is unique in its capability of scanning a full 180° and of picking up talkers at ranges of 25 feet or more.”
The Voice Tracker™ locates a talker and electronically steers a “listening beam,” like an acoustic searchlight, in that direction. This creates spatial filtering; sounds and reverberation from other parts of the room are not picked up. In addition, digital noise reduction processing removes background noise. This two-stage noise reduction, coupled with the sensitivity of eight microphone elements, gives the Voice Tracker™ outstanding range and sound quality.
About Voice Perfect Systems
Voice Perfect Systems is a 100% Australian owned company, formed in early 1994 to address the growing interest for large vocabulary speech dictation for computer users. Recognizing the potential for speech recognition systems, Voice Perfect became one of the pioneering distributors of speech activated dictation software. For additional information, visit www.voiceperfect.com or contact Karl Francois
About Acoustic Magic, Inc.
Acoustic Magic, Inc., located near Boston, manufactures the Voice Trackertm desktop microphone that has found application in speech recognition, meeting and transcription recording, VoIP and conventional teleconferencing, voice control for home automation, and security surveillance. The Voice Tracker™ Array microphone has been Certified by Dragon and ViaVoice speech recognition software, HomeSeer and HAL Home Automation software, as well as WinScribe and SoniClear dictation recording software. For additional information, see www.AcousticMagic.com or contact Bob Feingold (e-mail protected from spam bots, or 978 440 9384)
About Women’s and Children’s Hospital
The Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH) provides state of the art health care for women and children in Adelaide and South Australia. Each year, more than 30,000 people are admitted and around 4000 babies are born at the Hospital. In addition around 250,000 people come to the Hospital as outpatients.
Posted by Industrial at 05:22 AM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2005
Protonex and Millennium Cell Deliver ‘Industry First’ to U.S. Air Force
Southborough, MA and Eatontown, NJ--March 9, 2005-- Protonex Technology Corporation, a manufacturer of high performance fuel cell power sources for portable and remote applications, and Millennium Cell Inc. (NASDAQ: MCEL), a leading developer of hydrogen energy systems, announced that they have delivered to the U.S. Air Force the industry’s first fully-integrated 30 Watt portable fuel cell power system fueled by chemical hydride cartridges.
Southborough, MA and Eatontown, NJ (PRWEB) March 9, 2005 -- Protonex Technology Corporation, a manufacturer of high performance fuel cell power sources for portable and remote applications, and Millennium Cell Inc. (NASDAQ: MCEL), a leading developer of hydrogen energy systems, announced that they have delivered to the U.S. Air Force the industry’s first fully-integrated 30 Watt portable fuel cell power system fueled by chemical hydride cartridges.
This portable power system, (referred to as P1), is the first deliverable under a previously announced U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Dual Use Science and Technology (DUST) contract awarded to Protonex. The system integrates Millennium Cell’s hydrogen energy system into Protonex’s PEM fuel cell platform to provide a fuel cell power source for soldiers on extended field missions.
"The delivery of P1 midway through the DUST program represents a significant milestone in the development of soldier power systems,” said Thom Reitz, Research Leader, Fuel Cells for the Air Force Research Lab. “The Air Force is very interested in evaluating this system as a means for significantly reducing the overall power system weight burden carried by the war fighter. We are looking forward to testing P1 and providing feedback to advance the technology to the next readiness level for the final deliverable due later in 2005.”
The P1 unit represents a substantial improvement in energy density and cost over the batteries currently used by the U.S. Military. Today, to fulfill the requirement for 30 Watts of continuous power for a 72-hour mission, soldiers carry 13 primary batteries weighing over 29 pounds. The P1 system is capable of meeting these power requirements at less than 50% of the weight (including fuel cell platform and snap-in fuel cartridges).
“Protonex and Millennium Cell are delighted to deliver a superior power solution to the U.S. Air Force that provides both performance and cost advantages over incumbent battery technology,” said Scott Pearson, CEO, Protonex. “The P1 units clearly demonstrate the value and utility of our fuel cell systems for portable military applications and keep us on the path for potential deployment.”
”This is an important milestone for both companies,” commented Adam Briggs, Senior Vice President, Millennium Cell. “Later in 2005, we expect to deliver a next generation system to the Air Force that will further reduce the weight of the power system with its cartridges to less than 10 pounds. The benefits of this power solution will also be attractive in many other military and commercial markets that need reliable, long lasting sources of energy.”
About Protonex Technology Corporation
Established in 2000, Protonex manufactures long duration, portable and remote power sources. Protonex provides complete power solutions to OEM customers for portable and remote off-grid applications underserved by existing battery, generator, solar and other power technologies. The company’s innovative fuel cell products complement existing power technologies and are utilized in hybrid designs for customer applications in the 10 to 500 Watt power range. For more information, visit http://www.protonex.com
About Millennium Cell
Millennium Cell Inc. is engaged in the development of next generation hydrogen energy systems for use primarily in portable electronic devices for the consumer, medical, military and industrial markets. These energy systems offer runtime, weight, safety and cost advantages in an attractive form factor versus existing solutions. Millennium Cell is developing this technology in partnership with corporate and government entities. For more information, visit http://millenniumcell.com
Millennium Cell Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements:
This press release may include statements that are not historical facts and are considered” forward-looking” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect Millennium Cell’s current views about future events and financial performance and are subject to risks. Investors should not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from Millennium Cell’s expectations, and Millennium Cell expressly does not undertake any duty to update forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the cost and timing of development of Millennium Cell’s hydrogen fuel storage and delivery system; the cost and commercial availability of the quantities of raw materials required by the hydrogen fuel storage and delivery systems; and other factors discussed under the caption “Investment Considerations” in Millennium Cell’s Annual Report on Form 10 K for the year ended December 31, 2003
Posted by Industrial at 05:20 AM | Comments (0)