(IEN) AMAZON DELIVERING DRONES

Amazon Prime Air drone MK30

Amazon is taking its drone delivery service to new heights, expanding its Prime Air program to Italy, the UK, and an additional US location.

The announcement comes as the company pushes the boundaries of delivery convenience, promising to drop prescriptions and other items right at your doorstep with the help of drones.

Prime Air's groundbreaking drone delivery system is set to revolutionize how customers receive their packages, with the company aiming to commence drone deliveries by late 2024. The official statement from Amazon revealed their vision for this venture:

"We have committed time and resources to build a safe and scalable service. We have refined the technology and are now building the right infrastructure to ensure the service provides the ultimate convenience for our customers," the company claims. Interesting Engineering - link - Can Emir - link - more like this - link

(NAT) FIGURE'S HUMANOID STARTS PERFORMING

The Figure 01 prototype's hip and knee joints each put out over 200 Nm of electric torque - Figure

After a year of development, Figure has released video footage of its humanoid robot walking – and it's looking pretty sprightly compared to its commercial competition. It's our first look at a prototype that should be doing useful work within months.

Figure is taking a bluntly pragmatic approach to humanoid robotics. It doesn't care about running, jumping, or doing backflips; its robot is designed to get to work and make itself useful as quickly as possible, starting with easy jobs involving moving things around in a warehouse-type environment, and then expanding its abilities to take over more and more tasks.

Staffed by a group of some 60-odd humanoid and AI industry veterans that founder Brett Adcock lured away from leading companies like Boston Dynamics, Google Deepmind, Tesla and Apple, Figure is hitting the general-purpose robot worker space with the same breakneck speed that Adcock's former company Archer did when it arrived late to the eVTOL party.

Check out the video below, showing "dynamic bipedal walking," which the team achieved in less than 12 months. Adcock believes that's a record for a brand new humanoid initiative. New Atlas - link - the brilliant Loz Blain - link - more like this - link

(IEN) CHINA'S STEALTH SUBS CAUSING US NIGHTMARES

Representational image: 3D rendered Illustration of a submarine.

China has made progress in building its latest Type 096 ballistic missile submarines, alarming the US and its allies.

There is growing evidence that China will be able to operate these submarines by the end of the decade thanks in part to technological advances from Russia, according to a defense research analysis.

"The Type 096s are going to be a nightmare," stated one of the researchers, a retired submariner and naval technical intelligence analyst, Christopher Carlson. "They [submarines] are going to be very, very hard to detect."

The U.S. Naval War College's China Maritime Studies Institute conducted research that was presented at a conference in May and then published in August with the conclusion that the new warships would be much more difficult to track. Interesting Engineering - link - Baba Tamim - link - more like this - link

(IEN) ALIEN TECHNOLOGIES

5 items of tech from the movie Aliens that we could build today

Have you ever wondered if we could build some of the most iconic technology seen in the 1986 sci-fi masterpiece "Aliens?""Aliens" is one of the most iconic and best-loved science fiction films ever.

Not only is it gripping as a story, but the technology doesn't, on the surface, seem too "futuristic" compared to today. So what, if any, of the guns and other technology featured could we come close to building today?

Released in 1986 and directed by James Cameron, "Aliens" is the second offering from one of the most popular science fiction franchises ever. Building on where the first film left off, this time, the humans "come packing" with weapons and other gear to level the playing field against one of the universe's "perfect organisms."

Interesting Engineering - link - Christopher McFadden - link - more like this - link

(RBC) DRIVING IN A BUS LANE

Just had a Penalty Notice and fined £70.00 (£35.00 if I pay pronto) for driving in an RGZ Revenue Generation Zone (bus lane) on Bath Road from Reading Borough Council - this is their photographic evidence - my car is (allegedly) the one at the top of the photo - 🤔

Other than Bath Road and the bus gate in Beresford Road, where 3,214 notices were issued, the rest of the top five places where drivers were caught out were in Reading town centre.

You can see the top 10 places where fines were issued listed below.

• Minster Street (westbound) – 7,582
• Beresford Road (northbound) – 3,214
• St Mary’s Butts (northbound) – 2,722
• Bath Road – 2,321
• Friar Street (eastbound) – 1,887
• Southampton Street – 1,820
• The Forbury – 1,795
• Friar Street (westbound) – 1,663
• A33 (southbound) nearside lane 2 – 1,488
• Hemdean Road – 1.410

The council spent £1,281,910 on enforcing bus lane fines in 2020-21, and made a total of £1,408,765, delivering a £126,855 surplus.

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(OEB) 53MW OF TIDAL CONTRACTS AWARDED - 08/09/23

Seven developers including British, Spanish and US companies, secured contracts to develop a total of 53MW of tidal stream energy across four locations in the UK.

These include Orbital Marine Power, which was awarded two further contracts for difference (CfDs) totaling 7.2MW – building on the previous year’s allocation round where it also secured contracts for the same capacity.

The CfDs will allow Orbital to expand its development of projects in Orkney with the construction of six floating tidal energy turbines now covered by the CfD scheme.

These additional turbines will be able to power to up to 9000 homes, supporting the UK’s security of supply, energy transition and broader climate change objectives. In addition, this means Orbital can make a significant investment in the UK supply chain as it sets about establishing series production of its innovative technology. Offshore Energy - link - Amir Garanovic muck rack link - tidal - more like this - link

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(NAT) WORLD'S FASTEST SAILBOAT

The SP80 and Syroco teams have both got their remarkable boats on the water. Looking like a pair of alien spaceships, and pulled by ultra-fast kites instead of sails on masts, both these machines are built to reach terrifying, unprecedented speeds.

The current world sailing speed record has stood for a little over a decade at 65.37 knots (75.23 mph/121.06 km/h), set by Paul Larsen in the Vestas Sailrocket II back in 2012.

There's a reason nobody's gone faster – rigid masts provide excellent leverage, so when you attempt to harness serious wind power, they want to roll the boat over. So if those record speed figures seem a bit 'meh,' take a look at the video in article - link - the brilliant Loz Blain muckrack - link - more like this - link

READING RACERS - TIME TO REBUILD

At the beginning of 2020 the team started to come together, only to be told by the BSPA that no nomadic teams could race unless they had their own track.

So the Racers decided to take a break from the 2020 season to concentrate on following up plans to raise funds and find a Willing sponsor to build their Dream track back in the Reading area.

After the Covid-19 outbreak the whole Speedway season was put on hold - link

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(WEV) ELECTRIC VANS

Britain’s light commercial vehicle (LCV) market grew for the ninth month in a row in September, up more than 28% according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT)

One of the most popular months for new van purchases, plate change September saw robust demand for commercial vehicles – with even more good news for electric commercial vehicles to follow in January.

The record for single month commercial EV registrations had been held by March 2023 with 2,534, but that figure was beaten by almost 14% last month. There are now close to 50,000 commercial EVs on the UK's roads.

One factor here is increased demand, but the upwards trend is also thanks to a large number of new models coming to market, seeing what was once a very small choice of models expand dramatically. Competitive commercial charging tariffs and equipment are also being made more readily available from the major operators.

Various grants, promotions and increasing model choice continues to boost demand for battery electric vans (BEVs). In September, deliveries increased to 2,882 units – with BEVs accounting for one in 16 of all new vans registered that month. Putting it way above any other month in the previous year. WhichEV - link - more like this - link

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Another great freshers event @ Lincoln College more like this - link - Oxford more like this - link

(NAT) 2023 COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTO AWARDS

The final shortlist for this year's Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards is in, showcasing grin-tastic animal antics captured by nature-loving snappers around the globe – including a dove getting rewarded for not paying attention, an otter auditioning for Swan Lake, and a kangaroo rocking out on air guitar.

The brainchild of professional photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam, the competition was set up in 2015 to focus on "the lighter, humorous side of wildlife photography" while also helping to promote wildlife conservation.

This year the Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards team has elected to highlight the work of the Whitley Fund for Nature, a UK-based charity that's funded conservation work in 80 countries to the tune of £20 million during its 30-year existence. 

"We are really chuffed to be able to shine a spotlight on the amazing work they do and hope you will join us in supporting them," said the Awards organizers. Paul Ridden Muck Rack - link - more like this New Atlas - link - more like this photography - link

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Green Templeton College - link - more like this - link

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(H2V) HH2E, SASOL & DHL TEAM UP ON H2 BASED SAF

An agreement to provide up to 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen-based sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) to the German market has been signed between HH2E, Sasol and DHL.

The partners plan to produce at least 200,000 tonnes of eSAF each year, with hopes to scale up to 500,000 tonnes utilising HH2E electrolysers and Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch technology.

With a production facility expected to be located in the east of Germany, the companies hope to serve multiple airports including Leipzig/Halle.

DHL Group, as one of largest logistics players operates a network of over 300 aircraft with operations in Germany, the US and Hong Kong. Planning to use at least a 30% of SAF in its air freight business by 2030, the group is expected to be a significant offtaker of the project.

Additionally, the companies have said Airbus could join the project as the aerospace firm strives to meet its goals of using 30% SAF in its internal operations by 2030. Charlie Currie muck rack - link - H2 View - link - more like this - link