Science Robotics: "Autane: An autonomous crane for sustained port operations," by Yang et. al.

"Fully automated cranes are revolutionizing modern port operations by addressing labor shortages, improving precision, + enhancing safety." Toward this goal, [the researchers] present the Autane (autonomous crane) system specifically developed for rubber tire gantry (RTG) cranes handling standardized containers in port yards, enabling autonomous safety-critical container grabbing, transport, and placement with high accuracy, adaptability, + efficiency. 

"Autane overcomes the challenges of safe motion of large-scale cranes with centimeter-level precision requirements, providing long-distance high-precision perception." It uses multisensor fusion, real-time obstacle detection, + simultaneous localization + mapping to perceive the environment, identify container features, + dynamically adjust trajectories. 

"By tightly coupling perception, planning, control, + operation + maintenance, Autane achieves safe + precise alignment, seamless interaction with transport vehicles, + robust execution of long-distance handling tasks." Deployed in multiple ports, Autane shows round-the-clock operation + has autonomously handled more than 2 million 20-foot equivalent units [shipping containers].

"This work highlights the potential of fully autonomous RTG cranes to enable sustained, resilient, + low-intervention port automation." 

This article highlights issues of automation, robotics, labor displacement, continuous performance, + the "electrostate" we urgently need to fight climate change.

Montreal, QC. 62 years ago, November 7, 1964, the day they stopped the St. Lawrence river from flowing through the Le Moyne channel. They did this to build the metro line between Île Sainte-Hélène and Longueuil metro stations.
The bottom photo is how it looks today, taken from Google Earth. Superimposed is where the metro line is today. The corresponding points in both photos are matched to within a few feet.

Currently being inspected before it's lowered and moved

The suspension is in its layout very simmilar to what late 90s to early 2000s f1 cars used. In modern f1 the suspension still functions the same way but the layout is usually quite a bit different. This layout is still used in modern protoype cars for example in LMH/LMDh.

I used the CAD platform Onshape to create and animate this suspension.

Just sharing the machining of a small bevel gear as one of the components in a mechanical kinetic sculpture I’m making. Sculpture is mostly titanium but has some brass, Stainless Steel, and forged carbon fiber parts as well and is highly over engineered for what it will be, but that’s the fun of being an artist, machinist, engineer, and owning a small machine shop. I get to make whatever comes to mind. Enjoy and feel free to follow along, I’ll be sharing more as I get closer to finishing the project.

Here's a look at a Vertical Drag Finisher performing precision edge preparation on steel alloy bone taps used in dental implant manufacturing.

The tools are mounted in rotating holders and processed through finishing media to produce consistent cutting-edge radii while maintaining their geometry.

We developed this process for a dental implant manufacturer in Brazil, which subsequently purchased one of these machines for its own production.

The whole task is a force problem: make contact with the film, feel it depress, punch through and stop at the right depth without buckling the straw. It's an autonomous run at 1x speed, using frozen features from LingBot-Touch, an open tactile encoder released Nov 9. LingBot-VLA went from 35 to 59 on it (scored out of 100 with step-by-step partial credit) once the touch features were added.

https://youtu.be/-lw22LUM5uo?si=pKlQf4STLmEPNu89

It didn't make a graceful transition from CAD to reality, but that's why it's only V1.

Boston Dynamics attached standard electric-scooter wheels directly to Atlas’ ankle actuators using a single custom adapter, with no other major hardware changes.

The setup was created to stress-test the robot’s motors and study how well reinforcement-learning controllers transfer from simulation to physical hardware. Engineers measured the real actuators and refined their simulated motor models before training Atlas to roll, turn and dash sideways.

For the 360-degree jump, Atlas followed human motion data but adapted the movement by rolling its lower body into position before takeoff. The maneuver reportedly worked on its first physical attempt.

This is an experimental research platform rather than a planned commercial product. The related article explains the engineering and simulation work behind the demonstration.

Could a humanoid that switches between walking and rolling be more practical than one designed exclusively around legs?

BCIT's hot water tanks. Two insulated storage tanks holding the campus hot water supply, fed by the orange hot water piping overhead.