In this week’s episode of the Engineering Update starring Editor Kasey Panetta (@kcpanetta), Associate Editor Jamie Wisniewski (@JamieECNMag), and WDD’s Editor-in-Chief, Janine E. Mooney (@JMooneyWDD):
Folding drone takes off in a third of a second
Say goodbye to quadcopters. Swiss researchers have developed a self-deploying drone that takes off in a fraction of a second, then folds into a tiny square small enough to stash away in your pocket.
Smartpen digitizes doodles, eliminates need for paper
The Phree Bluetooth smartpen shoots a laser beam from its tip to allow you to write on just about any surface you’d like. It then monitors interference between this beam and the reflections coming off the surface. The information is processed by algorithms, converted into a motion signal and translated into digital doodles instantaneously.
The record-breaking hydrogen car
A hydrogen powered racing car built by Tu Delft has successful completed a lap on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. The car, called the Forze six completed the 13 mile course which includes 73 corners in under 11 minutes. That makes it faster than any hydrogen fuel cell car yet, though it’s not technically an official time.