Carbon Fiber Covers $4.6 Million Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini is celebrating its 50th anniversary in style with the debut of its new supercar, the Veneno, which is the fastest and rarest car the company has ever released.
Making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, the car can reach speeds of 220 miles per hour, sports a 12-cylinder, 6.5-litre engine, and a 7-speed ISR transmission. It can go from 0 to 60 in less than 3 seconds. Continue reading
Electronic ‘Nose’ Made From Conductive Composites
UK-based Peratech has developed an “electronic nose” using sensors made from special composite material that can detect the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The ultra-thin, low-power sensors could potentially be integrated with mobile phones or even into protective clothing. Continue reading
Electric Race Car Built from Recycled Composites
We’ll soon see the debut of a “green” race car built from composites and running on an all-electric engine.
Drayson Racing Technologies and The Lola Group designed the electric car, which they plan to enter into competition next year. The companies built a prototype all-electric racing car, the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV, using flax reinforced composites and recycled composites.
The Lola-Drayson car will compete in the FIA Formula E World Championship Series for electric vehicles in 2013. Continue reading
Self-Powering Robotic Jellyfish Debuts
Forget about insect-inspired robots; researchers are now working on hydrogen-powered robot jellyfish that could theoretically never run out of energy.
Jellyfish propulsion is elegantly simple: the “bell” portion of the animal’s body folds in (like an umbrella) and pushes it forward in the water. Virginia Tech researcher Alex Villanueva and researchers at UT Dallas are developing an unmanned underwater vehicle for the Office of Naval Research that would mimic this movement. Conceivably, the robotic jellyfish could be used for surveillance. Continue reading
A Whale of a Mini-Sub
As a kid, I remember fondly those ads in the back of comic books for the miniature nuclear submarine that only cost $7 — oh, how I wanted my own submarine. Imagine how much more I would have longed for it had it been disguised to look like a killer whale.
Well, here I am again, jonesing for my own submarine. Only this time, instead of being a cheap cardboard toy for naive ten-year-olds, it’s an actual operating submarine that looks like a killer whale. You can buy it from Hammacher Schlemmer for a cool $100,000 — a bargain compared to the other personal submarine the company sells, which retails for $2 million (to be fair, it also dives deeper).
The Killer Whale sub is actually the Seabreacher Y from custom aquatic vehicle designer Innespace. This particular unit is equipped with a larger modified tail fin to help the company potentially achieve a full 180 degree back flip — apparently a long-standing design goal for Innespace. Continue reading
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