How to Change the World
by Mary O'Hara Smith, IEN Staff
November 7, 2008 -- The historic presidential election of 2008 is over, and all the problems we faced on November 3 -- and more -- are still with us on November 7: the Labor Dept. reports job cuts of 240,000 in October, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.5% and the yearly job loss total to nearly 1.2 million. Worse, the experts predict a continuation of the trend into 2009.
And Ford Motor Co. reported a $43 billion quarterly operating loss, with additional layoffs to come. In fact, according to this report, to find a success story in the automotive marketplace, you have to turn to Hot Wheels! The Mattel toys, unlike their grown-up counterparts, are hot again, accounting for $1 billion a year in global sales.
Every newspaper, magazine, and website we turn to these days is replete with advice for our new president, so we defer to the experts and turn instead to one of our favorite topics, the unquenchable spirit of innovation that continues to blossom amidst the wreckage of our economy.
For three days at the end of October, more than 600 thought leaders, influencers, and social change agents gathered in Camden, ME for Pop!Tech, an annual ideas summit that explores new ideas, technologies, and forces of change with the potential to shape our future. The organization, in its 12th year, describes itself as “a one-of-a-kind conference, a community of remarkable people, and an ongoing conversation about science, technology and the future of ideas.”
Three projects from Festo’s Bionic Learning Network were presented at this year’s Pop!Tech conference. Reaching beyond its core business, Festo Corp. developed the Bionic Learning Network program as part of a commitment to technical education and training. Through this network, in cooperation with students, major universities, institutes, and development companies, Festo supports projects and prototypes which may produce interesting application fields for the future. The aim is to make automated movements even more efficient and productive with the aid of bionics, a young scientific discipline that combines biology and technology to generate concepts for high technology and serve as inspiration for technical developments.
Biology Meets Technology
Air_ray, modeled on the manta ray, is a remote-controlled hybrid construction comprising a helium-filled ballonet and a flapping-wing drive mechanism. With its extremely light design, the Air_ray hovers by means of the buoyant force of the helium ballonet, floating through air just as the manta ray floats in water.
The flapping-wing module, which can be moved up and down by a servo drive unit, makes use of the Fin Ray Effect®, derived from the functional anatomy of a fish fin. Two alternating pressure and tension flanks are flexibly connected by ribs; when one flank is subjected to pressure, the geometrical structure automatically bends in the direction opposed to the applied force. A servo drive unit pulls on the two flanks longitudinally in alternation, moving the wing module up and down. The structure is supplemented by a torsion-resistant central spar, and an exterior servo drive unit enables the flapping wing to rotate about its transverse axis, so that Air_ray can fly backwards.
AquaJelly, an artificial autonomous jellyfish with an electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system, consists of a translucent hemisphere and eight tentacles for propulsion. A watertight, laser-sintered pressure vessel at its center comprises a central electric drive, two lithium-ion-polymer batteries, the charge control device, and the servo motors for the swashplate.
Tentacles are structured with the Fin Ray Effect® and move via a peristaltic propulsion system, or wave-like contractions, based on the reaction thrust principle of an actual jellyfish. The AquaJelly’s movement in three-dimensional environments is controlled by shifting its weight. Two servo motors integrated into the central pressure vessel actuate a swashplate, which controls a four-arm pendulum that can be steered in four directions. When the pendulum moves in a certain direction, the jellyfish’s center of gravity shifts in the same direction.
Communication between the AquaJelly and a charging station lets it control its energy supply independently: whenever the AquaJelly approaches a charger located above the water basin, it is sucked toward the charger and provided with electricity.
For communication on the water surface, the AquaJelly can use the energy-conserving short-range radio standard ZigBee, exchanging status details with the charger and signaling to other AquaJellies on the surface that the charger is occupied. The main underwater communication medium, however, is light: 11 infrared light-emitting diodes let the AquaJelly communicate over distances of up to 80 cm. The pulsed infrared signals are sent from inside an almost spherical structure around the AquaJelly. On receiving a position signal from an approaching jellyfish, the AquaJelly can start its evasion maneuver in plenty of time. Internal sensors monitor its energy level and a pressure sensor allows it to gauge its depth in the basin to within a few millimeters.
Each jellyfish decides autonomously which action to carry out on the basis of its current condition. This central electric drive, combined with an adaptive mechanical system and intelligent autonomous electronics, opens up possible new applications for self-controlling systems. A large number of AquaJellies, equipped with communicative abilities, could act like a shoal with the behavior pattern of a more highly developed system. Extending the principle to automation, numerous autonomous or semi-autonomous intelligent systems might be able to work together. Thus, large problems could be solved by small systems working together in harmony.
AirJelly’s element is air. Rather than swimming through water like the AquaJelly, it glides through the air with the aid of its central electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system. The remote-controlled AirJelly is kept in the air by its helium-filled ballonet.
The AirJelly’s only energy source is two lithium-ion-polymer batteries, to which the central electric drive is attached. Power is transmitted to a bevel gear and then to eight spur gears, which drive the eight jellyfish tentacles via their respective cranks. Tentacle structure is once again based on the Fin Ray Effect®. The AirJelly is the first indoor flying object to use such a peristaltic propulsion system; using a peristaltic movement to drive a balloon was previously unknown. The jellyfish glides gently through the air thanks to this new drive concept based on the reaction thrust principle.
The AirJelly steers through three-dimensional environments by shifting its weight. Its two servo motors are located at the “North pole” of the jellyfish and controlled proportionally. If the pendulum moves in one direction, the AirJelly’s center of gravity shifts in this direction, allowing it to “swim” in any direction. The propulsive force of the drive can be varied by moving the Fin Ray® tentacles more quickly or slowly.
How to change the world...
Quoted on the Pop!Tech website are these words from the anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” So rather than offering advice to the president, we offer this as a message for the rest of us.