Next generation robotic suits

US soldiers now have access to special suits that give them super-human strength and speed. This is the result of a decade-long effort by a US defense agency, DARPA, that funded a $50 million project about a decade ago. The project, entitled “Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation” was designed to develop various types of exoskeletons that could be worn by soldiers in order to give them strength and speed as well as allow them to carry large quantities of arms and ammunitions and other heavy objects for long periods of time without tiring. The Wearable Energetically Autonomous Robot (WEAR) from SARCOS Research Corporation was one of the successful products resulting from this research. The suits will now be powered using fuel cells that will add to their utility.

Another interesting development has been the Springtail Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle, built by Trek Aerospace. This has a range of 125 miles, a cruising speed of 70 knots and the ability to hover dead still at altitudes of up to 8,000 metres. These flying suits, that can be worn individually by soldiers and allow them to fly to battle, are under development by Trek Aerospace.

Tiny robots: soldiers of tomorrow

Tomorrow’s armies will surely be intelligent robots controlled from thousands of miles away. The precision with which drones can be controlled, manipulated and used to achieve devastating results has been demonstrated by the repeated US attacks in the northern areas of Pakistan. However, the development of tiny remote-controlled “quadrotor robots” that can fly in complex formations adds a completely new dimension to modern warfare. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab have recently demonstrated how swarms of flying robotic helicopters, tiny in size, can perform fantastic maneuvers and be made to work together in harmony to achieve specific tasks. This is science fiction becoming reality. They were named “quadrotor robots” since they have four propellers that give them stability and maneuverability during flying. They can carry pouches of nerve gases to paralyse enemy soldiers or be armed with explosives that can simultaneously be delivered to hundreds of sites in a coordinated manner, thereby causing devastation and havoc in enemy lines. The flying robotic machines can navigate around objects and interact with each other intelligently, exhibiting complex “autonomous swarm behaviour”. Fitted with mini-cameras, they can also prove to be invaluable in surveillance and search/rescue operations.

New solar power technologies

There have been rapid developments in the use of solar technologies in recent years. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in Newcastle, Australia, has come up with an interesting technology that uses just the sun and air to generate electricity. This “Tower of Power” employs an array of some 450 mirrors that heat compressed air. This hot air is then expanded through a tower that is about 30 metres tall, and the expansion process is used to drive electricity turbines (“Brayton Cycle” turbines) directly. The power generated is sufficient to power over a hundred homes, though the system will be initially used for research purposes.

In another development, researchers at Oregon State University and Yeungnam University in Korea have succeeded in the use of continuous flow microreactors to produce thin film absorbers for solar cells. The technology involves depositing “nanostructure films” on various surfaces (such as copper indium diselenide) in a continuous flow microreactor system.

This innovative technology has the potential of significantly reducing the cost and the commercial development of new types of thin film solar cells.

Another development has been the use of silicon ink solar cells. A US company DuPont Innovalight has achieved a 19 per cent conversion efficiency, in contrast to normal solar cells that usually have efficiencies of about 15 per cent. The proprietary material comprises silicon nano-particles that are dispersed in an environmentally-friendly blend of chemicals to form the solar ink. This low cost process allows silicon ink to be printed on solar cells using thinner substrates as compared to traditional solar cells.

Graphene is a special material that has a honeycomb structure of a single layer of carbon atoms. Recently, researchers at the University of Florida have found that a graphene, when doped with a special chemical (trifluoromethanesulfonyl-amide, TFSA), increased the efficiency of the solar cells made with this combination to 8.6 per cent. This is a huge improvement over the previous efficiency of graphene solar cells that was at 2.9 per cent at best. The prototype solar cells comprise a rigid wafer of silicon coated with a single layer of graphene that has been chemically treated with TFSA.

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