I would like to know how high the Lift Buddy can lift. Most of the toughest tasks (for example, in my garage) require a reach of about eight feet. If the Lift Buddy can do that, they've got a customer.
Nancy, that sounds like an other great app for Lift Buddy. It's been several years since I had to lift a saddle, but I'd probably have problems now getting one onto a horse's back.
TI's gas sensing platform is another interesting one. Gas sensing systems are a growing market for the home. Emission testing stations can also use them for measuring exhaust gases. On the inside of the vehicle, there could also be a growing market in alcohol (breathalyzer) sensing, as well as carbon monoxide sensing. I've always wondered when someone would develop a CO sensor for inside the car. Anyone who's ever driven an old beater knows the importance of that.
When it comes to technology, most pronosticators have been notoriously inaccurate. Here's one of my favorites from Popular Science in 1949: "In the future, computers may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Reminds me of a funny story, Charles. When I was a kid, I interviewed my neighbor who happened to be an engineer for Texas Instruments for a school assignment. He told me that when the transistor first came out - they said it was just a fad...
Over the years, we've heard many prognosticators predict the demise of 8-bit, Nancy. The folks at Microchip always laugh about it. Seems like they've always had the last laugh.
I agree Charles - love 8 bit microcontrollers and leave it to Microchip to expand on its peripheral capabilities. Seems like there is a PIC for every task!
I agree Ann - after reading your post, I could hardly wait to see the Lift Buddy. I have had a similar prototype in the works for years that we call the "Saddle-Jack." Being a horsewoman, I have seen a need for something that would help folks who are prone to back problems to be able to saddle their horses by themselves. We have the two wheeler but are still in the brainstorming stage for making it work in a cost-effective manner. That Lift Buddy is a great idea for lots of applications!
It's amazing to see how many peripherals Microchip is able to integrate onto an 8-bit chip. I suppose that's why, after numerous predictions of ther demise of 8-bit, it's still going strong.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
Now that solar and wind harvesting technologies are a thriving market, researchers are seeking other environmentally related energy sources for which they can create harvesting devices.
Surveillance, reconnaissance, and search and rescue in military and first responder situations are popular applications for aerial robots. Yet not all the robots are considered unmanned aerial vehicles.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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