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Author Archives: mharris

DevCon 2012: Robot cars (and their student creators) race to win

By Missy Harris It started out slowly, with testing and retesting, reworking of sensors, adjusting code. In the couple of hours before the Micom Car Rally and during prelims, the student competitors reprogrammed furiously to ensure their cars literally stayed on track the whole way round. Unfortunately for some, that remained a problem. The big [...]

DevCon 2012: Where Renesas brings your designs to life

By Missy Harris The Tree of Life, a glowing modern sculpture centering the exhibit hall at DevCon 2012, appears to sprout from the ground up, like some futuristic flora from another world. This glowing gorgeousness continues onto the ceiling, in the shape of halo-like orbs furthering the energy-filled, but peaceful atmospheric quality. Surrounding the Tree [...]

Around the World While Staying Home

The Navy’s new robotic lab reproduces Earth’s ecosystems, all under one roof… How do you give scientists and researchers the real-life experience of being in the desert, the rainforest, or at the ocean shore, without flying them halfway around the world on costly and time-consuming training expeditions? Now there is no longer a need, since [...]

IndyCar Engineer: A Driver’s First Line of Defense

In addition to winning any race, in this case at Sonoma, CA, the main focus of IndyCar engineers is that of protection: Protect the car and protect the driver. This is because they know that the game of racing itself is about engineering: Electronic, mechanical and aerodynamic engineering. And in order to have a fast [...]