Robotic Lifts

By: Liam Godin

I decided that I would do my blog on cascade elevator designs, as it would motivate me to do both this blog and research for our summer project.

There are several designs for cascade elevators, many of which were used during this years competition. Almost all of these designs however, are not new. Many teams in the past have used them with success.

The two main designs that I've found are the cascading elevator, and the continuous elevator. A cascading elevator moves all of its sections upward at once, while a continuous elevator moves the highest section to its maximum first, then moves the next section, etc. These are both viable options for our needs, and deciding between one or the other will be a group effort in designing our new intake.

An example of a cascading elevator

A cascading elevator has the advantage of speed, however it does not have the same amount of control that a continuous elevator would. Cascade lifts also seem to be a simpler build and easier cable management.

Cascading Vs. Continuous lift

 The advantage of a continuous lift would be the control of it. being able to move only the intake would be good. This however comes with the price of the rig being much more complicated. A continuous rig is not anchored in the same way as a cascade lift, and the chaining is far more complicated.







There is also the option of an articulated arm, though that would involve very strong motors and metals in order to not flex or break. Overall, I think our best two options for lifts would be a variation of a cascade or continuous lift.

Here is an example of a possible lift design.

A variation of these lifts

Moving Rivers

             

Prior to 1988, the Woonasquatucket, Moshassuck and Providence Rivers, were buried beneath railroad yards and the post office in Providence, and were not considered civic assets.  Providence, known as "the world's widest bridge" due to its nearly contiguous asphalt carpet of rail tracks, parking lots and bridges, was much in need of a revitalization. 

Enter Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, often credited with the re-birthing Providence as "the Renaissance City."  His vision called for unearthing and moving the three Providence Rivers to create artistic river walks, a waterfront park and an amphitheater, which would serve as a focal point for tourism, arts and cultural events.  Additionally, he sought to fill abandoned office buildings and construct a $350-million shopping center (now known as Providence Place.)  In truth, the "Capital Center Plan" began in 1979, and was led by the Providence Foundation.   It took 10 years to implement the plan, which required rerouting the rivers, diverting the rail yards, and extending Memorial Boulevard.  Although many individuals, companies, and State Agencies were involved, the late Mayor Cianci continues to be reveled as "the Prince of Providence" to which most credit is given.

Back to the moving of rivers, which is no small feat and required a $40-million investment from city planners - and engineers.  The plan called for the Woonasquatucket River to flow through the center of Providence, pausing at a small cove in a park, before joining the Moshassuck River to form the Providence River, all in all, moving the rivers 500 feet to the southeast.

In the end, the beauty of three rivers was recaptured, producing eleven acres of urban riverfront parks and 1.5 miles of river-walks.  Additionally, the immensely popular WaterFire has become a draw for both locals and tourists far and wide.

Yes, we can move mountains ... and rivers, just ask an engineer how.

Righting the Costa Concordia

On January 13, 2012 the world watched in disbelief as images emerged of the Costa Concordia cruise ship grounding on rocks off the island of Giglio, Italy.  Thirty two lives were lost, a Captain shamed, and marine ecology threatened - all with millions of followers riveted to the unfolding story.

It triggered the largest maritime salvage project ever attempted spanning a period of nearly two years, all orchestrated by the minds and brawn of engineers.  Over 500 workers of 26 different nationalities were involved under the guidance of two major firms; Titan an American Salvage Company, and  Micoperi, an Italian Engineering Firm.

The 114,000-Ton ship was laying on its side, and in danger of rolling down over the rocks further into the ocean.  Underwater platforms had to be built to "catch" the ship as it was manipulated back into an upright position. 

The process of parbuckling rotated the enormously heavy ship using a series of cables and hydraulic machines for a total of 65 degrees.  Initially the rate was slow, only three degrees an hour, but accelerated to nine degrees an hour as gravity chipped in and the water-loaded port-side caissons added to achieving the upright position necessary to tow the gnarled water-stained wreckage out of the Italian waters.  

This first-of-its-kind feat was envisioned and carried out safely and effectively.  It permitted recovery teams to go into the waters and the ship itself in search of two bodies that had not been previously recovered.  Additionally, personal items were returned to family members providing some sense of closure.  Perhaps most importantly, the marine waters and ecosystems were respected and preserved.  Theses challenges were assessed and surmounted by the collaborative and brilliant minds of engineers - ever present and essential in the past, present and future!

Introducing Dynamicland

“Dynamicland is founded by Bret Victor, it is a non-profit long-term research group in the spirit of Doug Engelbart and Xerox PARC. They’re inventing a new computational medium where people work together with real objects in the real world, not alone with virtual objects on screens. They’re building a community workspace in the heart of Oakland, CA — the entire building is the computer.”

Imagine that any objects you touch could interact with data, without the need of a screen. It is the augmentation of reality but without any headsets. 

           

Still cannot grasp a closer idea of Dynamicland? Alright. Here are some real-life related examples that Dynamicland could possibly achieve:

1   Plan a round trip with your friends only using a coffee table;

2   Open up a birthday invitation on your fridge, and your Apple Calendar or Google Calendar projected next to it;

3    Or build an algorithm or a flowchart with sticky notes, and have it digitized immediately;

4    Or make music by arranging building blocks.

These are some examples of goals that Dynamicland is trying to achieve. In Dynamicland, screens and devices are not needed, but instead, ordinary physical materials that you can find in daily life – such as paper, cardboard, clay, building blocks, or toy cars are involved. Their concept is to make “literally working together” come true. Everyone is able to get their hands on everything, people can communicate face-to-face with eye contact while working together. Computational media is not hidden away in isolated virtual worlds. 

Dynamicland did not reveal the full details of their actual technology yet. But through their website and twitter, videos of their projects are posted. In those videos, ordinary blank paper with colorful circle-like scraps are placed on the table, and above there is a projector. Every scrap of paper can be used as a computer, while it also remains the fundamental function of the paper. When people move the blank paper or the scraps with hands, the shadow that is projected from above is moving at the same time. People can program without a screen, only a piece of paper and a keyboard. With such simple computational media, everyone can make what they need for themselves, and programmability is for everyone. 

Increasingly, working on a computer isolates us more than it connects us. Human beings might have lost what it means to work side-by-side with real people, to work with our eyes and hands, to learn from our surrounding. But Dynamicland’s concept could possibly be the future, where people can actually live in the magic, instead of looking through the glasses into magic. Quote on a quote from Dynamicland’s website: “Dynamicland is a communal computer, designed for agency, not apps, where people can think like whole humans. It’s the next step in our mission to incubate a humane dynamic medium whose full power is accessible to all people. The computer of the future is not a product, but a place.”

Further reading: http://blog.concord.org/dynamicland-a-new-direction-for-immersive-simulations?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social%20Media&utm_campaign=Dynamicland-Blog-Post-20180323

Dynamicland on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dynamicland1

Dynamicland's website: https://dynamicland.org

Debugging on a piece of paper. 

Working with other human beings, face-to-face, in Dynamicland.

Destiny Gwann- Blog

Chemical sensing chip sniffs out cocaine within minutes

By : Destiny Gwann

There is a creation being made that is very cost efficient that has been in the police wish list for a long time.  The chip could be integrated into a handheld, portable device for detecting drugs in biological samples such as blood, breath, urine or spit. Qiaoqiang Gan, PhD, associate professor of electrical engineering in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences made a chip and it sensed cocaine in a few minutes. It is so cheap you can make it from different materials that can cost around 10 cents. They are also hoping that in the future as the chip develops they can use it to detect marijuana as well. "The new chip is an engineered nanostructure that traps light at the edges of gold and silver nanoparticles. When biological or chemical molecules land on the chip's surface, some of the captured light interacts with the molecules and is "scattered" into light of new energies. This effect occurs in recognizable patterns that act as fingerprints, revealing information about what compounds are present. Because all chemicals -- cocaine, opioids, and active ingredients in marijuana -- have their unique light-scattering signatures, researchers can use the technology to quickly identify a wide range of chemicals." It also resembales an optical layered cake because the chip has like several

horizontal layers.  

Ocean heat wave kills coral reefs

         Tyler Santilli
          5-18-18
          Heat waves under the sea are becoming more and more common thanks to global warming and thanks to two heat waves off the coast of Australia the Great Barrier Reef has taken devastating damage. Heat waves such as these are so devastating because underwater animals base where they live heavily on what temperature the water is because some animals cannot live in colder or warmer water. A heat wave is not just any random streak of slightly warmer weather, scientists have defined a heat wave as 5 or more days and the water must be unusually warm for that region of the ocean.

          

       The ocean has had an increase of heat waves of over 50% since 1920 and heat waves have become 30% more common. Global warming is not just a danger to humans and other animals that dwell on Earth but it's also a major concern for marine life that cannot survive in such warm waters. Over 1/3 of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef has been destroyed. Scientists aren't looking at this as all bad however because some scientists believe this just to be a test of natural selection and have said that the coral that has survived is much stronger than the coral that had died.

         While it may seem like the marine world is doomed, hope is not lost, scientists have hope for a new kind of coral called staghorn coral, it is a very fast growing coral that could help rebuild what has already been lost because of these heat waves. Warm temperatures aren't going anywhere so it is crucial that species in the ocean continue to evolve and grow before becoming extinct.

Naval Ship's Intact Stability

Thought there are many aspects of naval architecture including: hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, flotation and stability, structures, arrangements, construction, science and craft, and the individual naval architect; the focus of this blog is the intact stability of naval ships.

There are many aspects of Intact Stability explained throughout the blog. This blog will detail the 3 types of equilibrium in naval ships, and things that affect transverse stability.

Intact Stability is the stability of the surface of the ship when the intactness of the hull is maintained. This information does not relate to any scenario where the water tank is damaged or freely flooded by seawater.

A fundamental concept of a floating body is Equilibrium. The 3 types of equilibrium depend on the relation between center of gravity and center of buoyancy.

Stable equilibrium is “when vertical position “G” is lower than transverse metacenter “M.”” The center of buoyancy “B” shifts and become “B1” when this happens. The distance between weight and buoyancy is the moment that brings the ship back to its original position, this is called the righting moment.

Neutral equilibrium is the most dangerous situation possible, avoid at all costs. “It occurs when the vertical position of “CG, center of gravity, coincides with the transverse metacentre “M””. There is no righting moment and the ship would stay heeled as long as a neutral stability prevails. Here there is no righting moment, which could cause the ship to heel more than desired. There is a risk here of cargo shifting enough to offset the equilibrium, then there would be a rise to unstable equilibrium.

Unstable equilibrium is “when vertical position “G” is higher than the position of transverse metacenter “M.”” After this shift, the ship heels and the center of buoyancy “B” shifts to “B1.” This shift makes the righting moment negative, creating a further heel and there is a possibility of the deck being immersed and then the ship is predicted to capsize.

Metacentric height is one of the most vital parameters in a ships stability. If its metacentric height is more than 0, then it is stable; equal to 0, it is neutrally stable; and less than 0 it is unstable.

Transverse stability can be affected by beam winds, lifting of weight by the sides, high speed turning maneuvers, grounding, tension on mooring lines, movement of weight athwartship, and water trapped on deck.

• Beam winds affects the part of the ship that is above the waterline. The resistance on the top of the boat acts against the resistance in the underwater part of the boat.

• Lifting of weight by the sides is when the weight or cargos on the side of ships get lifted up and out by a deck crane. THis causes a heeling moment and then a shift of center of gravity.
• High speed turning maneuvers is when the ship makes a turn, the “centrifugal force acts horizontally on the center of gravity of the ship, in a direction opposite” of the turn. The sharper the turn the more centrifugal force generated which makes more angle of heel.
• Grounding is when one side of the underwater part of the ship makes contact with the ground. Depending on what side hits the ground the opposite side would heel.
• Tension on mooring lines is when mooring lines are too tense, or the ship drift away from the mooring point, the ship can heel.
• Movement of weight athwartship is the movement weight athwartship, in transverse direction, will alter the position of the centre of gravity of the ship.The ship will heel to a point at which new centre of buoyancy is at such a position such that weight and buoyancy act through the same line.
• Water trapped on deck is affected when the sea water on the deck shifts periodically and creates a cyclic heeling moment due to the continuous change in the center of gravity.

The wreckage of the RMS Titanic and the Costa Concordia are just two examples of shipwrecks that have deeply affected the thought process that goes into designing massive ships such as naval vessels.

The RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early hours of 15 April 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.

The Costa Concordia was a Concordia-class cruise ship built in 2004 by the Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yards in Italy and operated from 2005 until 2012 by Costa Crociere. It capsized after striking an underwater rock off Isola del Giglio.

Chakraborty, Soumya. “Ship Stability – Understanding Intact Stability of Ships.” Marine in Sight, Naval Architectire, 27 Oct. 2017, www.marineinsight.com/naval-architecture/intact-stability-of-surface-ships/.

“Naval Architecture.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 May 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_architecture.