bbkshop's Blog

In the future there may not be as many casualties on the battlefield as in previous human wars and this is because of new technologies being developed by the United States military's research and development arm; DARPA. New non-lethal weapons along with robotics may in fact dominate the modern net-centric battlespace.

Indeed, what we think of as war today may not be anything like what it is in the future. For instance consider if you will be non-lethal weapon, which would put your enemy to sleep. Perhaps for five or six hours and you would drive into the area and remove all the weapons and take the boots off of each soldier and then leave and throw tacks around the perimeter making it impossible for them to walk to out.

It would take them days to pick up all the tacks and they have nothing to fight you with except sticks and stones. You therefore automatically win victory over your enemy without killing them. And since human wars are a matter of political will and the result of political impasse it makes sense not to kill your enemy where he will be your future trading partner and ally.

Non-lethal weapons make a lot of sense and this is why the United States military is working on ways to use these weapons to their advantage. And you know what, it makes a lot of sense really. Please consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Can the latest futuristic 3D visualization software assist in assessing aircraft fatigue in high time airframes? Can this new innovation assist in helping NASA with space shuttle safety? All this new technology holds promising safety uses in transportation indeed. It was there for brought up recently between a couple of Think Tank participants when Swift from Las Vegas stated;

“I was thinking that it would possibly show stress factors in 3-D objects, particularly aircraft. Even though there are ways they test for metal stress, something always appears to occur. I don't know if they look at how an object would fold to become the shape if it was constructed of paper, but it would be interesting to see if points were different.”

Well now if you look at the granularity being used in Video Games these days you can see how things work like this so this visualization could indeed help instantly identify problem areas. I always enjoyed building; Balsa Wood, dope and fabric and models because you would cut out the material in a sheet and fold it around the aircraft into place, from linear to 3D and since you could see thru it, it gave you a 4D perspective. In the future remember the skin of the aircraft will be the strength and it will be 'see thru' sense it will be made of carbon nanotube or some other element nanotube construction and thus you will be able to see airframe fatigue readily.

If we resurfaced our older aircraft with extremely high-time airframes with nanotube construction, they would be lighter, better fuel economy and we could re-enlist our aging B-52, C-141, C-17, C-5, C-130, KC-10 fleets for another 40 years? Consider that too?

Lance Winslow

The study of vortex flows can assist scientists in studying Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Cyclones, Typhoons in weather. Vortex flows are also important in efficiency of motion of boats, aircraft and Jacuzzis. Then there are ways to use these flows to generate energy too. Indeed pipelines and even toilets must use the physics of vortex flows. Perhaps it is for this reason that recently a couple of think tank members brought up the question, as one of the members stated

“I was also reading about this interesting study from the Technical University of Denmark, where physicists have been studying liquids in cylindrical plexi-glass containers. The container doesn't actually turn and a plate is attached to a motor driven shaft and spins at up to 7 revolution per second inside the container, while the vessel remains still. They used both water or viscous ethylene glycol. The spinning platter swirled the liquid above to create whirlpools, whose throats tapered to some interesting shapes at the platters surface. The shape transformed as the speed increased, changing from circular to elliptical to propeller shapes to squares to pentagonal and finally to hexagonal shapes.”

Vortex fluid flows are interesting to study in Space from waves, air from wing tip vortices, tornadoes, hurricanes and etc. I have been doing studies myself but all in my mind, visualizing them. Fun stuff. I have been considering so many uses from generating wind to take out hurricanes, propulsion in space, wind cars, CO2 Laser post exhaust power for aircraft, ships, cruise missiles, cars, trains etc. I think it is very interesting and relevant to everything in this dimension actually. Fascinating stuff and humans only seem to be able to comprehend some of it, they cannot seem to imagine the rest? Interesting, because I can quite easily? It is as if the human mind and creativity cannot easily imagine things that it does not experience, see or know to exist, I wonder why that is really. Or should I say most all humans? Consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Hurricanes are devastating indeed, but did you know that more damage is done from flooding than from the intense winds? It is true and just imagine the muddy mess after a hurricane to a downtown are of an Urban City? Can you even consider a 35-foot storm surge in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York or Tampa Bay? How on Earth Could you ever clean that up? Well, ask the folks in Cozumel and Cancun, as they had a 25-foot surge take out the entire tourist region there with Hurricane Wilma.

Can Robotics help FEMA in the clean ups? Perhaps they can and one online think tank is addressing this issue as a Member Swift from Las Vegas states;

“I was looking at something about an autonomous lawnmower and wondered if there is something to them that could be used for urban vehicles. The one I was looking at was made by RoboMower, the biggest seller in the US, made by Friendly Robotics in Israel. It would see they would be great street cleaning machines and could be dispersed to do clean up after flood waters receded.”

This is a good idea and not long ago there was a giant sand storm in Beijing and they seeded the clouds to make it rain; yes you guessed it a muddy mess? But what if they had SUV size robotic units designed like the RoboVac concept only bigger? What if they had hydro-twister units underneath and a filter system to collect the mud and reuse the water then dump the mud and continue? Well, what if; consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow