2000 passengers and a 600-member crew

The Aida Diva – so it is imperative for technology to be absolutely reliable.


Image source: Wikipedia

The same goes for the propulsion and control technology:

The AIDAdiva is equipped with a diesel-electrical machinery with four diesel generators as power station that supply the entire ship with electrical energy. All electrical system, the propulsion system and the monitoring equipment were developed and built by Siemens. To ensure highest possible operational reliability the machinery and propulsion systems are technically and spatially separated into two independent groups and equipped with extensive monitoring equipment (ship automation system "SISHIPCIS PAX").



Image source: Siemens AG

Propulsion

The AIDAdiva is equipped with a conventional propulsion system. The two propeller motors are 3-phase synchronisation machines of type Siemens 1DM5650-8DS06-Z transferring a capacity of 12,400 kW each (approx. 16,900 PS) to fixed 5-blade propellers via a shaft system. Each propeller has a diameter of 5.20 m and a mass of approx. 13.2 t. At a max. rpm of 130/min the ship reaches a max. speed of 21 knots.

For manoeuvring in ports and at low speeds two bow thruster motors with a capacity of 2,300 kW each (approx. 3,100 HP) and two stern thrust motors of 1,500 kW each (approx. 2,040 HP) are installed. Via a "dynamic positioning system" the ship can precisely keep to a predefined position.

Here some more information about the ship and the engines:

»»» http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/aidadiva/

Mowing with a spider

Unimog in action

Or it's just on its way from Dresden to Breslau:

»»» http://www.rallye-breslau.com/

That's one of the most demanding rallies in Europe and is compared with the Paris-Dakar race. Registration started in February, the date is: 26 June - 3 July 2010.

Here you can see what's going on all day (sorry only in German):

»»» http://live.abenteuerrallye.com/?topic=blog

Would you still call this a car?
By the way the control system of this Unimog is from Essen.

»»» http://www.hellgeth.de/motorsports/

If it's to be a bit more professional

"For 15 years I had been looking for the ideal programming language for robotics. Until I found LabVIEW..."

But what is LabVIEW?

National Instruments launched LabVIEW Robotics 2009, a new version of the graphic system design software providing a standard development platform to design autonomous robot control systems.

»»» More information: www.ni.com/labview/whatis/

I'd rather build my own little helper

Image source: www.nncn.uni-freiburg.de

With LEGO Mindstorms it's a child's play...

thanks to research it can walk quickly and slowly:

Scientists from Göttingen have developed an autonomous walking robot which can use different gaitsdepending on the situation by means of "chaos control"...

»»» http://www.nncn.uni-freiburg.de/

How you control an excavator arm

Now we go into the details and find the scientific world...

Modeling and controlling an excavator's arm

Authors: Daqing Zhang, Qinghua He, Peng Hao, HaiTao Zhang

22nd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction ISARC 2005 – September 11-14, 2005, Ferrara (Italy)

Controlling of excavator’s arm is an important and basic task in autonomous research of hydraulic excavator at present, but the behavior of the excavator’s arm is dominated by the nonlinear dynamics of the hydraulic actuators. To find a feasible way to control excavator's arm and realize autonomous excavation, firstly, Full kinematic and dynamic models of the excavator arm, regarded as a planar manipulator with three degrees (boom, dipper and bucket) of freedom...



The experimental robotic excavator


Further information:

»»» www.baufachinformation.de

»»» free PDF download