Explorer

When U.S. engineer Mark Rober — who worked on the design of NASA’s Mars Rover — saw a pair of thieves snatch an Amazon package off of his front doorstep, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Check out this article and video to see the device Rober engineered to teach greedy thieves a lesson.

The term “bug” is another way of saying something is wrong with our computer or software, but where did the term come from? While many attribute the reference to computer scientist Grace Hopper, this article from Curiosity explains that it dates back to Thomas Edison’s private journals.

Since its invention in the 70s, the Rubik’s Cube has entertained, challenged, and frustrated users around the world. Last month, a pair of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology devised a robot capable of solving the popular 3D puzzle in an astounding 0.38 seconds. Read the full story – and watch a video that shows the robot in action. http://news.mit.edu/2018/featured-video-solving-rubiks-cube-record-time-0316

Since the deciphering of the honey bee ‘waggle’ in the 1920’s by Karl von Frisch, researchers have been measuring the dance-like form of communication that allows bees to convey direction and distance to a food source. While this observation process was initially manual and time-consuming – requiring humans, protractors, and stopwatches – techniques have evolved with technology. Recently, a team from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Free University of Berlin, Germany

The Avro Arrow –a triumph of aerospace achievement in Canadian history. Launched in 1953, the Avro Arrow project was innovative for the times as the most advanced and fastest interceptor aircraft.

Engineers are constantly taking cues from nature when designing new technologies, and the robotic tentacle arm created by German robotics company, Festo, is a great example.