Lifeboat Foundation

Self-stabilising wheelchair from Israeli technology start-up lets you cruise through town while standing. Matthew Stock reports.

Nearly 20 years ago Amit Goffer suffered an accident that confined him to a wheelchair. Increasingly dissatisfied with what was on offer, the electrical engineer built this — the UPnRIDE. It’s a robotic exoskeleton that helps people paralysed from the waist down to stand tall in the outside world. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER AND FOUNDER OF UPNRIDE, DOCTOR AMIT GOFFER SAYING: “The UPnRIDE device, the whole idea is that you can use it outdoors as well as indoors and in a safe manner because they, it automatically balances you and stablizes you… The concept is new because you don’t see any disabled person rolling outside in a standing position so this is a breakthrough in the industry of wheelchair manufacturing, I’m sure that others will follow.” It goes from seated to standing at the push of a button. A gyroscope — similar to that in a two-wheeled Segway — along with self-stabilising software helps manoeuvre upright over uneven urban terrain.

Want to know what it looks like to travel at the speed of sound…in a windowless pod? Well, here you go.

What would it be like to ride on the Hyperloop—the 700 mph (1,100 km/h) propulsion-driven transportation of the future?

Continue reading “Your First Look At What It Would Be Like to Ride the Hyperloop Pod” »

In a future where cars drive themselves, how does a company like BMW, which engineers ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’ stay relevant? Embrace change even if it challenges company tradition, advises Salim Ismail of Singularity University.

All aboard the Sky Train.

China’s first sky trains came off the assembly line in the city of Nanjing on Saturday, with China becoming the third country to master sky train technology, after Germany and Japan.

The Nanjing Puzhen Company Limited, affiliated to China’s largest State-owned rolling stock manufacturer CRRC Corporation Limited (China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation), took only four months to design and complete the elevated railway trains, said CRRC.

Continue reading “China’s first sky train off assembly line” »

Wish I could attend.

The Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC) will promote its new generation aircraft at China’s upcoming aerospace trade show, the aircraft manufacturer said Thursday.

The company’s heavy transport aircraft Y-20 and stealth fighter J-31, the major models in the new series, will be demonstrated at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which opens on Nov. 1 in the southern port city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

The new planes represent AVIC’s advances toward the fourth generation of aircraft technology, the company said.

More things keep being revealed; and this only what the public knows to boot.

With an aim of detecting ever object within the range, China has developed a new radar technology that is capable of detecting stealth jets, claims a Chinese firm. According to the reports, the branch of defence and electronics firm CETC — Intelligent Perception Technology created the quantum radar which can detect any target withing a 60 miles range and it was successfully tested last month.

Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the radar uses has superior detection capabilities as it uses quantum entanglement photons which is better than traditional detection systems. The new technology will enable the radar to even detect modern aircraft that can escape the radar, uses stealth technology or baffle the enemy radar system.

Continue reading “Nothing can escape from this new Chinese quantum radar, not even stealth jet” »

NASA researchers reveal how today’s airlines can save over $250 billion by incorporating their green related technologies.

Green-related technologies developed by NASA could be the key to airlines saving over $250 billion dollars. “If these technologies start finding their way into the airline fleet, our computer models show the economic impact could amount to $255 billion in operational savings between 2025 and 2050,” said Jaiwon Shin, NASA’s associate administrator for aeronautics research, in a recent press release.

For the past six years, NASA’s aeronautics researchers have been working on the Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project, which sees airlines cutting fuel use in half, pollution by a quarter, and putting noise down to just an eighth of today’s current levels.

Continue reading “New Era of Flight: ‘Green’ NASA Research Could Potentially Save Airlines Billions” »

Medical supply transportation is a serious problem in remote regions, where it may take weeks to transport a vaccine where it’s most needed. But a British student has developed a simple device that might help get supplies where they need to go and save millions of lives in the process.

Will Broadway of Loughborough University created the tank as a way to extend the life of fragile medical supplies, like vaccines, samples, and organs.

The device uses a simple ammonia reaction that creates a cooling effect when charged. It can keep vaccines within a stable temperature realm for up to 30 days. While it’s currently designed for vaccines, Broadway next wants to make it transport organs and tissues to people in need.

Continue reading “A Refrigerator Backpack Could Help Transport Vaccines And Organs” »

“Apple started looking seriously into building an electric car about two years ago. It expanded the project quickly, poaching experts in battery technology and so-called machine vision, as well as veterans from the automobile industry.”

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