cargo

Robot tiltrotor boxcar may fly Navy supply missions

The vertical takeoff and landing tiltrotor is yet another aerial configuration the military would like to add to its unmanned-aircraft inventory.

One experimental model, the Mono Tiltrotor (MTR) by Baldwin Technology, is intended to integrate a coaxial rotor, a folding lifting wing system with a lightweight airframe and sophisticated kinematics to deliver a robotic flying box car. The U.S. Navy wants the MTR, or something similar, to deliver cargo to Marines on the ground.

The unit, referred to generically as Cargo UAS (for Cargo Unmanned Aircraft System), should be autonomous, to the extent that it can take off and … Read more

Laptop sleeve is a hoarder's worst enemy

This is one of those items that might look goofy at first but then, after some thought, might just make sense. All too often, messenger bags and other laptop totes are just excuses to carry around junk you don't really need. That can result in scratches and dents to your computer or, far worse, a bag that's so heavy it gets dropped or topples off a desk because of gross weight imbalance.

For the true road warrior who survives with only the essentials, the Cargo Laptop Sleeve from Built NY provides space for all the gear that's … Read more

How we know who's really won the format war: The Blu-ray makeup line

HD DVD, just in case you didn't get the word, you're toast. The cosmetics industry says so, and would like to blow you a high-definition kiss goodbye. Mwah.

Well, sort of. Cargo Cosmetics has launched a new line called Blu_ray, designed for makeup artists who need to adapt to high-definition cameras. Design blog Notcot notes that it's marketed toward filming, photography, bridal makeup jobs, and other occurrences where high technology means that the camera really doesn't lie--those HD cameras can highlight any flaw.

In case you were wondering, it's able to skirt copyright regulations by … Read more

No need to lock this cockpit

Three aircraft in the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) pipeline promise to change some assumptions we have about air travel--the assumption that there's a pilot in the cockpit, for instance.

In the works is an unmanned cargo plane with a 30-ton payload capacity. IAI could have gone for an unmanned passenger jet--the technology does exists--but "the world is not yet ready to be flown without a pilot at the stick," Shlomo Tsach, IAI director of flight sciences, told the Jerusalem Post. "A psychological obstacle needs to be overcome before people are willing to fly in unmanned planes.&… Read more