Overcoming The Height Factor

I really liked this law enforement elevation product called the Mobile Adjustable Ramp System (MARS) made by Patriot 3 in the United States.

It is fitted on top of armored or unarmored personnel carriers and used by law enforcement or SWAT teams to carry out raids and rescues on multiple stories simultaneously.

Two independent moving hydraulic platforms can be fitted on a single vehicle and each ramp can extended independently by remote control.

The ramps extends over 40 feet, enough to gain entry to the second and even third stories of buildings, unto an aircraft, breach a fenced perimeter, or even be used as a sniper post. 

According to the Ideas and Discoveries Magazine (Dec. 2012), MARS has been fitted on the Ford F550 pickup truck and at $370,000–can seat 9, hold 40 gallons of gas in an armored tank, go up to 100 miles per hour, and as an armored-cased vehicle, it “can withstand up to 24 hours of relentless gunfire.”

While this vehicle may look a little funny, it serves it’s purpose which it to take the height advantage away from the bad guys–get in and get out–quickly and safely.

Military-Style ATV For Pleasure Or Kicking Butt

 

This is a very cool all-terrain vehicle (ATV) modeled after the Segway, that is built with military or extreme sports in mind. 

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the DTV Shredder runs on tank treads, has a motocycle throttle, and the mobility of a skateboard. 

The Shredder is made by BPG Werksand can go up to 30 miles per hour, has a three-foot turning radius, can haul up to 800 pounds over rocky terrain, and costs only $4,000. 

This is a cost-effective, energy-efficient, rugged transportation mule can carry people, equipment, or supplies through friendly or hostile terrain, and it can even be used through a remote controller. 

A precursor transit device from this company was the Uno–a very cool looking, self-balancing, all-electric unicycle–that won Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in 2007, was on the cover of Popular Science Magazine(2008), and secured $1.25 million from angel investors. 

When we talk about mobile technology, everyone first thinks of smartphones and tablet computers, but new and improved modes of personal transportation can also be innovative and high-tech with applications for everything from snowmobiling to beach patrol and hunting to overseas deployments. 

End of the world scenarios come to mind too–with a mobile device like this…outmaneuver, outwit, outlast. 

Of course, having to stand for the whole ride can be a bummer, and an open ATV certainly does not imply all-weather, so practicality limits its usefulness, but this is still my cool gadget of the week for fighting or for fun. 😉

>Fit For A King

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>A Boss that Looks Like a Vacuum Cleaner

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This is too much…an article and picture in MIT Technology Review (September/October 2010) of a robotic boss, called Anybot—but this boss looks like a vacuum cleaner, costs $15,000, and is controlled remotely from a keyboard by your manager.

So much for the personal touch—does this count toward getting some face time with your superiors in the office?

With a robotic boss rolling up to check on employees, I guess we can forget about the chit-chat, going out for a Starbucks together, or seriously working through the issues. Unless of course, you can see yourself looking into the “eyes” of the vacuum cleaner and getting some meaningful dialogue going.

This is an example of technology divorced from the human reality and going in absolutely the wrong direction!

>Why Take Out The Trash Anymore?

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I am fascinated by unusual uses of technology. And in fact, that’s what I love about technology—is that it literally applies to every aspect of our lives.

In a sense, I think of technology as one of G-d’s precious gifts to mankind to better the world—when it’s used for good—such as for improving communications, curing illness, and inventing new materials.

(Of course, there has been so much focus on technology being used to create “bigger and badder” weapons that can destroy the planet, but hopefully, we are spared from such morale and intellectual insanity and hatred.)

So now technology is striking again… but in an area that you wouldn’t necessarily expect.

Wired Magazine (July 2010) has an article called “Canada Sucks: Montreal’s vacuum system will make taking out the trash a breeze.”

“In 2012, Montreal will unveil an $8.2 million [4 mile] tube network to service a downtown arts district.” The trash system called Envac is already operational in other cities such as Barcelona, London, and Stockholm. It incorporates separate inlets/chutes for waste, recycling, and compost; sensors that relay load information to system operators; large industrial fans that can crank up from 45 mph to gale force to flush obstructions through a subterranean slipstream; and automated software that directs the trash to appropriate dumpsters in central collection facilities for transport to landfills, recycling centers, and composting plants; And the Canadian system will be controlled remotely from Envac headquarters in Stockholm 3600 miles away.

I was surprised and excited to see such an innovative use of technology for such a seemingly mundane task as garbage removal (i.e. I wouldn’t normally associate garbage and technology, but this article gave me a new reason to think more broadly on this topic).

Truly, technology is a game-changer. And we can think about everything we do, question it, reinvent it, and make for a better future.

The only condition is that we look beyond the surface of how we do things do things today and envision them anew for tomorrow.