Planetary Gear

Honda produces first commercial hydrogen cars

Honda has begun the first commercial production ever of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered car.

The Japanese auto manufacturer ceremoniously launched production of its first hydrogen-powered vehicles on Sunday in Tochigi, Japan, and announced its first customers.

The four-door sedan, called the FCX Clarity, runs on electricity from a fuel cell battery that is powered by hydrogen fuel. Steam is the car's only byproduct. The car can get a combined (city and highway driving) fuel efficiency of about 72 miles per kg of H2 which, according to Honda's own estimates, is the equivalent of getting about 74 mpg on more

Humanoid Reem-B robot walks, talks, and listens

A new humanoid robot called Reem-B was unveiled on Wednesday at an event on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emerites.

The Reem-B robot from

By comparison, Honda's Asimo robot is slightly shorter and lighter, at 4 feet, 3 inches tall, and weighing 119 pounds. The Honda robot is also a bit faster, with a running capability of 4 mph, compared to Reem-B's 1 mph walking speed.

However, where Asimo claims 34 degrees of freedom, Reem-B claims to have 41 degrees of freedom, making it more flexible with movement.

Pal Technology Robotics began posting photos and

iRobot sets sights at sea

iRobot has secured exclusive commercial rights to develop an unmanned sea-faring robot from a group at the University of Washington.

The Bedford, Mass.-based company made the announcement Tuesday at

Specifically, the agreement is to commercialize an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) called the Seaglider.

The Seaglider was developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory and the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington in conjunction with the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, which funded the initial project.

iRobot believes the Seaglider has military application potential. The company's Government & Industrial Robots division, the same side of

Samsung's answer to iPhone mania: Omnia

Samsung Electronics South Korea released on early Monday preview details on the company's new smartphone, before the mania of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference begins in California.

The Samsung Omnia (SGH-i900) is similar in looks and function to the Samsung Instinct (SPH-M800), but with a few more bells and whistles.

For starters, it sounds like it has a very promising camera. With five megapixels and anti-shake technology, this may be the first camera on a phone that produces pictures you would actual think of printing, not just posting to Facebook. This is an improvement over the 2-megapixel cameras on more

IBM to cool layered chips with water

Scientists from the IBM Zurich Research Lab and the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin are working on a microchip that uses micropipes of water to cool itself, IBM announced Thursday.

The chip's components are built in a 3D stack instead of side by side on a silicon wafer.

Chips built in a three-dimensional stack formation offer more pathways for info to be processed and can shorten the distance chip information needs to travel by as much as 1,000 times, according to Thomas Brunschwiler, a senior engineer in the Advanced Thermal Packaging Group at the IBM Zurich Research Lab who more

Siemens to open Colo. wind turbine R&D center

Siemens Energy plans to open its first U.S. wind turbine research and development facility in Boulder, Colo.

The energy sector of the German company made the announcement on Tuesday in Houston, Texas, at

The center will concentrate on everything from designing better wind turbine components such as aerodynamic blades to conducting atmospheric-science research.

As part of the plan, Siemens Energy will collaborate with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to install a Siemens 2.3-megawatt (MW) wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center located just outside of Boulder.

"The creation of these green jobs is good for our

Mars lander's robotic arm makes contact

The Phoenix Mars Lander's robotic arm touched the planet's terrain for the first time on Saturday.

The effort, which came seven days after the lander touched down, is part of NASA's efforts to scoop up Red Planet specimens for experiments on the lander.

A behemoth "footprint" was left behind by the robotic arm's touch in the King of Hearts area of Mars. The mark, which was captured by the camera attached to the lander, looks like it could have been made by the mythological Himalayan snowman. In reference to this, NASA dubbed the impression area "Yeti."more