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May 19 2011
Laser-Equipped Wheelchairs Let the Blind “See” Obstacles in Their Path
The story of a PhD student weaving his way through a busy university corridor doesn’t usually make for breaking news. But then the average PhD student isn’t wheelchair-bound, visually impaired, and testing a new laser-based wheelchair navigation system. In front of a crowd of onlookers earlier this month, a student performed the first public demonstration of a wheelchair that lets blind people “see” and avoid obstacles, afterward remarking that it was just “like using a white cane” (presumably underselling the technology to blunt the jealousy blooming in the onlookers).
From the user’s perspective, the new high-tech wheelchair is quite simple: You hold a joystick in one hand to drive the motorized chair, while the other hand engages a “haptic interface” that gives tactile feedback warning you about objects in your path, be they walls, fire hydrants, or those mobile collision-makers called people.
Developed at Sweden’s Luleå University of Technology (who brought us the autonomous wheelchair), this wheelchair uses lasers that make use of the time of flight technique, wherein “a laser pulse is sent out and a portion of the pulse is reflected from any surface encountered,” and the distance ...
January 10 2011
How to Repel Pirates? Blast Them With a Laser Cannon
A shaft of green laser light spears out from a cargo ship, targeting a small skiff bobbing in the ocean almost a mile away. The armed miscreants aboard the skiff take one look at the dazzling light and shield their eyes with cries of distress. How can these pirates attack if they can’t see?
That’s the idea behind an anti-pirate laser cannon being developed by a UK defense company in response to the increase in hijackings off the coast of Somalia. The laser would be used in conjunction with ships’ high-frequency surface radars that detect the small vessels used by Somali pirates, and it would function as a kind of warning shot across their bow. New Scientist reports that the laser isn’t intended to fry pirates to a crisp, nor even to blind them forever:
“This is very much a non-lethal weapon,” says Bryan Hore of BAE Systems in Farnborough, UK, where the system was developed. By taking into account the range of the target, as well as the atmospheric conditions, the system can automatically regulate the intensity of the laser beam to ensure there is no ...
November 03 2010
Laser-Powered Helicopter Breaks Records, Is Pretty Cute
This little laser-powered quadracopter broke a world record on October 28th by flying for over 12 hours with the help of lasers from the ground. The previous record for laser-powered flight was 6 hours.
The laser beam that powered the ‘copter’s batteries has the strength of 250,000 laser pointers. The technology was developed by LaserMotive, a company developing beaming technologies to make power wireless (and obviously awesome).
The system of mirrors and lenses on the ground beamed the laser up to the craft 30 feet overhead, where the laser beam charged photovoltaic cells on the underside of the craft. The laser supplied the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with 2.5 kilowatts of power, which the team explained to MSNBC’s Cosmic Log isn’t all that much:
Jordin Kare, another one of LaserMotive’s co-founders and a pioneer in the field of laser propulsion, said the laser generated enough radiation to heat up your hand if you stuck it in the beam, but nowhere near enough to blast a hole in it. “We’ve actually cooked hot dogs with that laser, and it takes about four or five minutes,” Kare told me. “Not exactly a death ray.”
Hit the jump for video of the laser ‘copter in action.
The researchers also developed an autonomous control unit for the UAV, so it essentially flew without human interaction, the company explained in their press release:
Theoretically the flight could have continued indefinitely. “It was a scientifically exciting, yet a little boring experience to be safety pilot over night” Michael Achtelik, CEO of Ascending Technologies GmbH said.
The company has big hopes for lasers as a power source for future UAVs. Previously the company won $900,000 in the NASA-backed Beam Power Challenge, with a laser-powered tether climber. The researchers hope to procure funding to adapt their system for military uses, and are also looking for opportunities in orbit and beyond, they told Cosmic Log:
“I’ve actually done a design for powering a lunar base from Earth,” Kare said. He’s also fleshing out a concept he came up with in 1991 to launch single-stage vehicles into orbit using heat exchanger thrusters that are powered by intense laser light. Ultimately, LaserMotive wants to take beam systems where no lasers have gone before. “We’re going for solar system domination,” [company president Tom] Nugent joked.
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80beats: Video: Navy’s New Laser Weapon Shoots Down Drones
DISCOVER: Dude, Where’s My Jetpack?
DISCOVER: 29. First Step to Wireless Electricity
Image: Asctec.de
July 08 2010
A Fully Armed and Operational Lightsaber Earns George Lucas’s Wrath
Lightsabers have come a long way since the telescoping plastic toys of yesteryear. We’re not talking about realistic sound effects or iPhone apps. We’re talking flesh-burning, eye-blinding lasers.
Although this gadget is dangerous enough to require customers to fill out a “Class 4 Laser Hazard Acknowledgment Form,” the Spyder III Pro Arctic Laser looks like it might be found in a Toys-R-Us, next to rows of action figures and Yoda dolls.
At least George Lucas thinks so; Lucasfilm is now threatening to sue the manufacturer. As reported in DailyTech, where we first saw this story, Lucasfilm feels a great disturbance with the similarities.
“It is apparent from the design of the Pro Arctic Laser that it was intended to resemble the hilts of our lightsaber swords, which are protected by copyright…”
These are no toys, counters the seriously-named manufacturer, WickedLasers. They have added several security measures, including “training lenses,” but don’t appear to be willing to change their Jedi-like hilts anytime soon. Cue Duel of the Fates.
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Discoblog: National Pork Board to Unicorn Meat Purveyor: Lay Off Our Slogan
Discoblog: Scientists to Hollywood: Please Break Only 1 Law of Physics Per Movie
DISCOVER: The Science and the Fiction, in which Phil Plait critiques sci-fi science
Image: flickr / renfield
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