Monday, June 13, 2011

Heads-up displays, "super-vision," via contact lenses

Engineers at the University of Washington have created a flexible, safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights witch create a heads up display on your eye. There are many possible uses for virtual displays. Drivers or pilots could see a vehicle’s speed projected onto the windshield. Video-game companies could use the contact lenses to completely immerse players in a virtual world without restricting their range of motion. And for communications, people on the go could surf the Internet on a midair virtual display screen that only they would be able to see. And, the engineers say, people may find many other uses they haven’t even thought of yet. So far only rabbits have worn the prototype, with no bad effects after up to twenty minutes. The engineers plan to add wireless communication to and from the lens, along with built-on solar cells and the capability to use radio-frequency power. The prototype doesn’t light up, but a version with a basic display showing a few pixels could be operational soon.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

fiber reinforced plastic (FRP)

Traditional structural materials are heavy and require a lot of maintenance. If a new breed of structural material could be produced that was lighter, stronger and more resistant to corrosion, impacts, parasites and chemicals, it could be a good substitute for steel, concrete, masonry and wood.
One new material that has the potential to meet these demands is starting to show up on the construction industry market, it is Fiber Reinforced Plastics . 

The benefits include low weight, high strength, ease of erection, and corrosion resistance. These factors combined lead to lower install costs and lower maintenance costs. When the manufacturing process is perfect and the standards have been developed, the initial costs may be lower as well. All of these factors could lead to lower life-cycle costs than using traditional materials.

the future of this product is carbon nano tubes high strength low cost tubes made from carbon a by product of steel even though thet are much stronger than steel and weigh only a fraction they're being used to design space elevators and other big projects.