School is (almost) out, summer is on the horizon, and it’s time to hit the amusement parks. Luckily, when it comes to dreaming up the wackiest, scariest rides and slides, engineers have got you covered.

This summer, Noah’s Ark Water Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., will be opening the country’s first looping water slide. Made to mimic the thrill of riding an upside-down roller coaster, The Scorpion’s Tale speeds passengers up through an angled loop before the final wild splash. This loop-de-loop is the result of some clever engineering, as the makers had to be sure people won’t get stuck or injured.

Here’s how your ride might go: Computer sensors determine that the water is flowing fast enough to propel you through the slide, and also ensure that there’s no one else still inside. After the lifeguard gives the go-ahead, a 55-foot drop accelerates you to about 30 mph. This momentum carries you upwards through the loop, which is angled at 60 degrees so that you don’t fall backwards. A few seconds later, you’re out, hitting the water with a splash. As an added bonus, the slide’s semi-transparent Plexiglas allows you to wave to your family as you zoom by (if you’re not too busy yelling, that is).

Meanwhile, in the world of high-speed roller coasters, there’s a new guy in town. The Intimidator 305 at King’s Dominion in Doswell, Va., is a treat for any coaster aficionado, climbing over 300 feet and topping out at speeds of over 90 mph. Here’s an animated simulation of what your ride might look like:

So what goes into designing a roller coaster that is both thrilling and safe? See for yourself at Learner.org, where you can design your own coaster. For more about the physics behind roller coasters, see this excellent article.

Between daring coasters, loopy slides, and countless other summer amusements, it looks like engineering might just be all fun and games.

More:

– Meet Oksana Wall, a civil engineer who builds roller coasters for Disney
– The Discovery Channel Show Build It Bigger goes behind the scenes of roller coaster building

Images:
daveynin/Flickr
Noah’s Ark Water Park
The Intimidator 305

Filed under: Architectural, Civil, Computer, e-News, Mechanical | 20 Comments »

ARES is swallowed in parts and assembles inside the body (ARES Project)

How would you feel about having robots crawling around inside of you? Get used to the idea, because Italian scientists have developed a concept robot called ARES, which would assemble inside the human body.

Patients would have to ingest a liquid in order to inflate the stomach and then swallow up to 15 parts which would magnetically assemble once inside the stomach.

The surgical robot would minimize pain for patients, avoid incisions, and expedite the recovery process.  It would also bypass external surgeries all together, reducing the risk of procedures such as open heart surgery.

However, this new technology would deprive surgeons of their sense of touch, preventing them from sensing tension or pressure, and it has not been determined how the robots would exit the body and whether or not they would leave any potentially hazardous elements behind.

Similar to the ARES robot, biomedical engineers at Boston University have created a surgical robot that can change shape, navigate inside arteries, and evade vital organs.

Called a concentric tube robot, it combines flexible steering with needle-like stiffness.  The tip of the robot can pull and push on tissue and can be fitted with cutting, gripping, and cauterizing tools to be used during surgery.

The surgeon controls the device with a joystick, while software helps plan the route and steer the robot.  Unlike the ARES robot, however, this robot would have to reach the heart via the veins in the neck, resulting in a small incision.

While the concentric tube robot has already successfully plugged holes in the heart of a pig, its software still needs to be verified as safe: erratic hiccups would be lethal.  The researchers working on its development are confident of its future success, however, and note that the robot can help expand the scope and number of minimally invasive surgeries.

Filed under: Biomedical, Computer, e-News | 2 Comments »

Gesture-based computer interfaces are finally within reach. MIT researchers have designed an easy to use system that involves a standard webcam and a multicolored Lycra glove.

The glove is covered with 20 irregularly shaped patches with 10 different colors so that the computer can distinguish the colors from each other and from background objects.

If two colors overlapped, the computer would not know which patch of color to respond to, so the placement of the patches prevent the same color from ever touching. For example, since the fingers might clench to make a fist, the colors on the tips of the fingers cannot be repeated on the palm of the hand.

The glove, which could be manufactured for only a dollar, can gauge the position of the hand in three dimensions with speed and precision, and since it is made from stretch Lycra, it can change size from one hand to the next.

For gamers, the technology would allow players to pick up and wield objects in a virtual world.   For engineers and designers, the system would allow 3-D models of commercial products or large civic structures to be manipulated.  And if the patterns were replicated onto shirts, whole-body information could be captured to evaluate the form of athletes or convert actors’ live performances into digital animations.

Image: Jason Dorfman/CSAIL

Filed under: Civil, Computer, e-News | 2 Comments »

Will Lark Jr. realizes that there are thousands of city drivers, all looking for speed, convenience, and the elusive parking spot.

So he came up with a better way to get from point A to point B while also reducing pollution and the other problems associated with driving.

Working in MIT’s Media Lab among designers, artists, scientists, and engineers, Lark created the City Car, an automobile that tailors to the needs of urban drivers.

Its wheels can turn fully sideways, allowing for easy parallel parking, u-turning, and even O-turning.

The electric motor is in the wheels so there is no need for an engine in front.

The car can also fold inwards and become half as long to accommodate for tight spaces, and there is no traditional steering wheel – everything is controlled through a computer.

Lark’s vision for the City Car is a shared experience where people can use one and then drop it off, similar to modern urban bicycle sharing programs.

To personalize the experience, Lark plans to create a system where individuals can swipe a card to login so they can access their favorite music settings or even change the exterior color of the vehicle.

Clearly Lark is one engineer who will be going places.

Filed under: Computer, Mechanical, Trailblazers, Transportation | Comments Off on Bettering City Driving

Regina Dugan is the director of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which is responsible for the development of new technology for the military.

DARPA is in charge of many high-risk science and technology projects, including thinking computers, shape-shifting machines, and soldier telepathy.

DARPA also funded BigDog, the dynamically stable quadruped robot created by Boston Dynamics.

After receiving her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, Dugan worked as a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses and then as a program manager at DARPA’s Defense Science Office where she led the “Dog’s Nose” mine-detection effort.

She is also the co-author of “Engineering Thermodynamics” and formed the company RedX, which builds security gear, including an explosives detector that relies on fluorescent ink.

Filed under: Mechanical, Trailblazers | 1 Comment »