UC San Diego shake table, robot win Best of What's New awards.
SkySweeper is V-shaped with a motor-driven "elbow" and its ends are equipped with clamps that open and close as necessary to move it down utility lines, searching for damage, inch by inch.
The biggest outdoor shake table in the world and a robot designed to move along utility lines have received Best of What's New awards from Popular Science, the world's largest science and technology magazine. The two projects are featured in the magazine's December issue, now on newsstands. The Large High Performance Outdoor Shake Table can handle structures weighing up to 2200 tons without height restrictions. The table's powerful hydraulic actuators—piston-like devices—can move at up to six feet per second, creating realistic simulations of the most devastating earthquakes ever recorded. SkySweeper, designed in the Coordinated Robotics Lab at the University of California, San Diego, is a robot made of off-the-shelf electronics and plastic parts printed with an inexpensive 3D printer. The prototype could be scaled up for less than $1,000, making it significantly more affordable than the two industrial robots currently used to inspect power lines.
"The Best of What's New Awards is our magazine's top honor, and the 100 awardees are selected from a pool of thousands," said Cliff Ransom, executive editor of Popular Science. "Each winner is handpicked and revolutionary in its own way. Whether they're poised to change the world or simply your living room, the Best of What's New awardees challenge us to the see the future in a new light." SkySweeper, a robot to inspect utility lines SkySweeper is V-shaped with a motor-driven "elbow" in the middle. The ends of the robot's arms are equipped with clamps that open and close to move it down a line in an inchworm motion. The clamps can also release from the line one at a time and swing in a hand-over-hand motion. This will allow the robot to swing past cable support points.
"This project is a stellar example of how, leveraging modern technologies, clever mechanical designs and control algorithms can be used to achieve important and complex goals with simple and inexpensive robotic systems," said Thomas Bewley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. In the future, SkySweeper could be outfitted with induction coils that would harvest energy from the power line itself, making it possible for the robot to stay deployed for weeks, or months, at a time. It could also be equipped with a camera, which would transmit images to an inspection crew. Other sensors could detect frayed cables, branches tangled in the line, and other issues.
SkySweeper is V-shaped with a motor-driven "elbow" and its ends are equipped with clamps that open and close as necessary to move it down utility lines, searching for damage, inch by inch.
The biggest outdoor shake table in the world and a robot designed to move along utility lines have received Best of What's New awards from Popular Science, the world's largest science and technology magazine. The two projects are featured in the magazine's December issue, now on newsstands. The Large High Performance Outdoor Shake Table can handle structures weighing up to 2200 tons without height restrictions. The table's powerful hydraulic actuators—piston-like devices—can move at up to six feet per second, creating realistic simulations of the most devastating earthquakes ever recorded. SkySweeper, designed in the Coordinated Robotics Lab at the University of California, San Diego, is a robot made of off-the-shelf electronics and plastic parts printed with an inexpensive 3D printer. The prototype could be scaled up for less than $1,000, making it significantly more affordable than the two industrial robots currently used to inspect power lines.
"The Best of What's New Awards is our magazine's top honor, and the 100 awardees are selected from a pool of thousands," said Cliff Ransom, executive editor of Popular Science. "Each winner is handpicked and revolutionary in its own way. Whether they're poised to change the world or simply your living room, the Best of What's New awardees challenge us to the see the future in a new light." SkySweeper, a robot to inspect utility lines SkySweeper is V-shaped with a motor-driven "elbow" in the middle. The ends of the robot's arms are equipped with clamps that open and close to move it down a line in an inchworm motion. The clamps can also release from the line one at a time and swing in a hand-over-hand motion. This will allow the robot to swing past cable support points.
"This project is a stellar example of how, leveraging modern technologies, clever mechanical designs and control algorithms can be used to achieve important and complex goals with simple and inexpensive robotic systems," said Thomas Bewley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. In the future, SkySweeper could be outfitted with induction coils that would harvest energy from the power line itself, making it possible for the robot to stay deployed for weeks, or months, at a time. It could also be equipped with a camera, which would transmit images to an inspection crew. Other sensors could detect frayed cables, branches tangled in the line, and other issues.
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