Most recent 10 articles: PHYS.ORG - Technology
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Amazon wants to be everything to everyone - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 13, 2024) |
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Oct 13, 2024 · Amazon is bolstering its e-commerce empire while continuing a march deeper into people's lives, from robots to health care and entertainment.
Innovations unveiled in recent days by the Seattle-based tech titan included a delivery van computer system to shave time off deliveries by its speed-obsessed logistics network.
Amazon Stores boss Doug Herrington said that the technology enables vans to recognize stops and signal which packages to drop off.
"When we speed up deliveries, customers shop more," Herrington said.
"For 2024, we're going to have the fastest Prime delivery speeds around the world," he added, referring to Amazon's subscription service.
On ... Read more ...
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Volunteers bring solar power to Hurricane Helene's disaster zone - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 13, 2024) |
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Oct 13, 2024 · Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Helene downed power lines and washed out roads all over North Carolina's mountains, the constant din of a gas-powered generator is getting to be too much for Bobby Renfro.
It's difficult to hear the nurses, neighbors and volunteers flowing through the community resource hub he has set up in a former church for his neighbors in Tipton Hill, a crossroads in the Pisgah National Forest north of Asheville. Much worse is the cost: he spent $1,200 to buy it and thousands more on fuel that volunteers drive in from Tennessee.
Turning off their only power source isn't an option. This generator runs a refrigerator holding insulin for neighbors with ... Read more ...
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Integer addition algorithm could reduce energy needs of AI by 95% - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 12, 2024) |
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Oct 12, 2024 · A team of engineers at AI inference technology company BitEnergy AI reports a method to reduce the energy needs of AI applications by 95%. The group has published a paper describing their new technique on the arXiv preprint server.
As AI applications have gone mainstream, their use has risen dramatically, leading to a notable rise in energy needs and costs. LLMs such as ChatGPT require a lot of computing power, which in turn means a lot of electricity is needed to run them.
As just one example, ChatGPT now requires roughly 564 MWh daily, or enough to power 18,000 American homes. As the science continues to advance and such apps become more popular, critics have suggested ... Read more ...
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Reconfigurable manipulator robot designed to inspect pipes in challenging environments - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 11, 2024) |
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Oct 11, 2024 · The Interactive and Robotic Systems Lab (IRS) group at the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló has developed a mobile, lightweight, modular and reconfigurable manipulator robot, which includes a remote control station with 3D perception, modular and multi-device 3D simulation software that implements a digital twin for operator training, with the aim of operating in hazardous scenarios for human health, initially in the inspection of plastic pipes by probing and artificial vision.
The new technology, which has been validated on an experimental scale at the UJI's Centre for Research in Robotics and Underwater Technologies (CIRTESU), is applicable to the inspection of pipes and ... Read more ...
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Renewables revolt in Sardinia, Italy's coal-fired island - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 11, 2024) |
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Oct 11, 2024 · The bolts securing the towering wind turbine were unscrewed under cover of darkness, an act of sabotage symbolizing a vehement pushback against renewable energy in Sardinia.
Long summers and strong winds make the Italian island a prime location for wind and solar power, but intense investor interest has spooked locals who say Sardinia is being exploited.
The loosened bolts were discovered before the turbine on the edge of the village of Mamoiada toppled over, but it was one of several plants vandalized this year as regional authorities drew up rules determining where clean energy structures can be built.
"There's been a visceral rejection of renewables. The ... Read more ...
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Rooftop solar panels impact temperatures during the day and night in cities, simulation study shows - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 11, 2024) |
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Oct 11, 2024 · Widespread coverage of building rooftops with conventional photovoltaic solar panels may increase temperatures on hot days and lower them at night, says new modeling.
They found that in a scenario with complete RPVSP coverage in a city, the urban temperature could increase in the day up to 1.5°C during peak summer periods and decrease at nighttime up to 0.6°C.
The findings, published in Nature Cities, don't suggest that PVs aren't an important renewable energy solution in the transition away from fossil fuels. Instead, the researchers say it highlights the opportunity to develop integrated solutions for RPVSPs, such as reflective materials for rooftops and greenery ... Read more ...
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Telescopes can help bring renewable energy to isolated Chilean communities - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 11, 2024) |
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Oct 11, 2024 · Just published research in Nature Sustainability shows that building a renewable energy system for a telescope in Chile's isolated Atacama Desert could also cover 66% of a nearby community's energy needs, giving hope for win-win development around other remote infrastructure projects.
Integrating renewable energy sources into the design of the AtLAST telescope would introduce the astronomical community on the Chajnantor plateau and the nearby residential areas to more sustainable energy systems. This integration would reduce local reliance on fossil fuels and provide renewable energy.
Home to observatories like the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) and the Atacama ... Read more ...
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Tesla's Cybercab: Elon Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027' - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 11, 2024) |
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Oct 11, 2024 · Elon Musk on Thursday unveiled what he said was a robotaxi capable of self-driving, predicting it would be available by 2027 - about a decade after he first promised an autonomous vehicle.
The Tesla CEO said the fully electric car - which has no steering wheel or pedals - would be priced under $30,000, would be charged wirelessly with inductive technology and would be "10 to 20 times safer" than human-driven cars.
"You can think of the car in an autonomous world as being like just a little lounge," he told a crowd at the Warner Brothers Studio lot near Los Angeles.
"You're just sitting in a comfortable little lounge, and you can do whatever you want while you're in ... Read more ...
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Charging, not range, is becoming a top concern for electric car drivers - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 10, 2024) |
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Oct 10, 2024 · The Biden administration is using tax credits, regulations and federal investments to shift drivers toward electric vehicles. But drivers will make the switch only if they are confident they can find reliable charging when and where they need it.
Over the past four years, the number of public charging ports across the U.S. has doubled. As of August 2024, the nation had 192,000 publicly available charging ports and was adding about 1,000 public chargers weekly. Infrastructure rarely expands at such a fast rate.
Agencies are allocating billions of dollars authorized through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for building charging infrastructure. This expansion is ... Read more ...
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Engineers develop a way to streamline solar cell testing, accelerating a process that can be slow and costly - PHYS.ORG - Technology (Oct 10, 2024) |
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Oct 10, 2024 · The process of testing new solar cell technologies has traditionally been slow and costly, requiring multiple steps. Led by a fifth-year Ph.D. student, a Johns Hopkins team has developed a machine learning method that promises to dramatically speed up this process, paving the way for more efficient and affordable renewable energy solutions.
"Our work shows that machine learning can streamline the solar cell testing process," said team leader Kevin Lee, who worked with fellow electrical and computer engineering graduate students Arlene Chiu, Yida Lin, Sreyas Chintapalli, and Serene Kamal, and undergraduate Eric Ji, on the project. "This not only saves time and resources but ... Read more ...
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