Shapeshifter - resource optimisation

Shapeshift is another business that is operating under the Canterbury Innovation Incubator

This kind of technology may be handy for optimising the amount of resources we wish to use if we were considering cutting frames from a single piece of material. It may also be handy for Kate as far as safety clothing goes.

Have a look at www.shapeshifter.net.nz

Blurb from CII site:
Shapeshifter provides optimisation software for manufacturers in the apparel industry. The founder, Dr. Hamish Dean graduated from the University of Canterbury with a PhD in mechanical engineering, having developed a mathematical optimisation algorithm capable of manipulating 2-Dimensional objects in software such that they can be rearranged in a more closely packed formation.

This technology allows savings in raw materials of 1%, converting to an impressive 10% increase of profit for apparel manufacturers. This kind of improvement can save large sewn-goods manufacturers millions of dollars in raw materials each year. Furthermore, new opportunities in diamond cutting and 3-dimensional object manipulation have been trialled with impressive results

FX Adventure lightweight MX / Mountain bike

Desynz has developed the FXAdventure, the world's lightest high-performance all-terrain motorcycle. At less than 45kg, the FX Adventure creates a new market category, filling the gap between motorcycles and mountain bikes.

This novel development encompasses the power to weight ratio of motorcycles with the manoeuvrability and convenient transportability of a mountain bike

Desynz is located in Christchurch. They are a small company that is working under the Christchurch City Incubator

Have a look at the videos, I have them and will put them in my outbox at University if you cannot be bothered downloading them.

Honda Parts

A cool little video of honda parts using domino effect with a range of actions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddbPoZjDaOA

81mph human powered

This site has some great footage of attempts at the bicycle speed record.
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2007/03/bikerecord_0330

Electronic towbars

Hi guys. I just checked and yes, there are already electronic towbars in development. They use infrared signals along with a "Lane Keeping System" and""Cruise Control". Distance between vehicles is longer than I was imagining (6-12m) but they are using trucks so... they also use them in series called ""Platooning".

It's called the "Chauffeur 2" project. An overview is at

http://www.itsforum.gr.jp/Public/E4Meetings/P01/fremont5_2_2.pdf

Oren

Designprice INTERMOT Cologne 2006

here is the link to the designprice:

INTERMOT / IVM Designwettbewerb 2006 “Fashion Motorcycles, Urban Scooters and their modern surroundings”

I found this article the other day which has some interesting points in it.
http://www.brookings.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb128.htm

I also found this, which is another idea for small 1-2 person car type vehicles
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3610083.stm

chris