VW prototype undercuts the 1-litre level... Smart, isn't it?

Volkswagen study XL1 – the dream of a 1-litre car was already dreamt by Ferdinand Piech two decades ago. Now the time has come: The company from Wolfsburg get things going and present an extremely economical XL1 hybrid with gullwings. This premier is staged in the oil-wealthy desert state of Qatar of all places, where the petrol price is of no importance. Volkswagen presented another study of its 1-litre car on the eve of the Qatar Motor Show which takes place from 26 to 29 January. The plug-in hybrid car whose official name is XL1 is designed to consume only 0.9 litres on 100 kilometres which means that the vehicle only emits 24 grams of CO2 per kilometre to the environment. This efficiency is also achieved by the light construction of parts of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic and the cW value of 0.186 which is obtained thanks to a particularly aerodynamic shape.

(Sources of the German text: www.wiwo.de and www.handelsblatt.com)
See also: (VDI nachrichten, 11 February 2011, no. 6)

Fischertechnik video

dance robot



roboexplorer



Industrial construction

Learning to fly...

I think I'll try to follow these instructions:
»»» http://www.mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/en/LearningToFly


Image source: http://plischka.at


it's anything but easy... but this site helps:
»»» http://forum.mikrokopter.de/forum-24.html


Image source: http://plischka.at


NOTE: make sure you have a liability insurance covering model flights before the first flight!

Source:
»»» http://www.mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/en/Mikrokopter-Get-started

hold on to your hat
:)

Has anyone done this before or does anyone have information for me? Please reply to BBasi@yahoo.de

Bob the Builder...

I am totally captured by my new field of interest, I will try to build something like this myself:



here's an introduction to the subject:
»»» http://www.mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/en/Mikrokopter-Get-started



building something like this should cost around € 450 to 1000... relatively expensive, but I'll try anyway

you might even install a camera on board of the small flying object... or a guinea pig...
up to 250 g are no problem

A trace of curiosity...

here's something for tinkerers:

»»» http://mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/

I came across this in an old Technology Review in an article about the company HiSystems ("Ein Anflug von Neugier", 12/09).

»»» Information about HiSystems

this is what they can do:

»» http://vimeo.com/4381833

and they were also a much-noticed guest at the Hanover Trade Fair:

»» http://vimeo.com/4247544

Special mission on Europe's largest port construction site

...admittedly, this was some time ago, but it is still worth having a look at:

The dimensions are gigantic. In this huge project, 37000 tons of sheet piling steel are processed, 10000 tons of reinforcing steel are laid, 60000 cubic metres of concrete are processed and ten million cubic metres of sand are dredged. The construction of the sheet piling on the water side in the river Weser under full tidal influence is the most important and at the same time most complex stage of the entire project. Therefore, numerous cable dredgers from the Liebherr plant in Nenzing with special add-on units are used. In the years 2004 to 2008 bremenports constructed a further 1681 metres of riverside quay, Container-Terminal 4, out of the bare earth as it were. This gigantic project required a total of ten million cubic metres of sand to create a new working area for the terminal on a site of approx. 90 hectares, where four new berths were built for mega-container vessels.

»»» http://www.bremenports.de/1896_2

Gutting an office building in Essen

... I really would like to know how this was done...

With a weight of 61,890 kg attaching importance to good looks...
...a Hitachi Longfront, here's the exact data:

Technical data

• Operating weight (kg): 61,890
• Engine model: Isuzu
• Engine rated power (kW): 260
• max. pin height (mm): 25,000
• max. horizontal reach (mm): 13,800
• max. attachment weight (kg): 3,000
• Undercarriage width (mm): 3,490

»»» http://www.kiesel.net/en/construction-machinery/

What is a dragline excavator?

Dragline excavation systems are heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. In civil engineering the smaller types are used for road and port construction. The larger types are used in strip-mining operations to move overburden above coal, and for tar-sand mining. Draglines are amongst the largest mobile equipment (not water-borne), and weigh in the vicinity of 2000 metric tonnes, though specimens weighing up to 13,000 metric tonnes have also been constructed.

A dragline bucket system consists of a large bucket which is suspended from a boom (a large truss-like structure) with wire ropes. The bucket is manoeuvred by means of a number of ropes and chains. The hoist rope, powered by large diesel or electric motors, supports the bucket and hoist-coupler assembly from the boom. The dragrope is used to draw the bucket assembly horizontally. By skillful manoeuvre of the hoist and the dragropes the bucket is controlled for various operations.

»»» Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragline_excavator

For practising...

without causing any damage...

Be the Boss of Your Own Construction Company and Build and Demolish With Heavy Equipment!

Build 'em up, tear 'em down: You're the Boss with Construction Destruction!

A top construction simulation game, Construction Destruction puts you at the controls of ten tons of heavy machinery!

Get in the driver's seat of seven mammoth machines, from earth movers and dump trucks to cranes with wrecking balls.

Take contracts to build, demolish, and transport buildings and materials. Bank a river, prepare a landscaping site, do whatever it takes to get the job done, but be careful - flatten an extra house or two along the way and you'll be in big trouble!

»»» www.download-free-games.com

Did you know?

...about the history of construction machines

The origin of these modern steel monsters dates back to medieval times. Men have always tried to use technology to dig the earth and reach the treasures deep under the surface. Gold, silver and especially ore for manufacture of tools and weapons were the most important raw materials to improve life and make it more comfortable. During industrialisation the multi-faceted coal complemented the list of important raw materials: a corner stone gaining more and more in importance at the beginning of the last century.

No sweet without sweat: these natural resources are hidden under a layer called overburden. This overburden must be removed to reach the actual raw material.

For illustration
Nowadays every person on earth uses 50 - 70 kg raw material per day. To bring this material to the surface 20 billion cbm of overburden must be loaded, transported and levelled. This job is done by small, large, gross and thin excavators.


Source: www.erstes-deutsches-baumaschinenmuseum.de

Around 1850 - birth of the excavator:

»»» detailed information can be found here

Simulation and animation of excavator and crane

Interesting simulations of construction machines using VRML models:



»»» Link: Project Information – Research Lab – NIST

VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language, pronounced vermal or by its initials, originally — before 1995 — known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind. It has been superseded by X3D (Source: Wikipedia).

But first you need to install a corresponding plug-in / player, e.g. here:

»»» www.octaga.com

Digger driver certificate - what's that?

Construction site - come on in!

In this park, you can obtain a digger driver certificate.



»»» Here are a couple of pictures.