Design Thinking | E Design

Designing processes — 245 comments
01
Dec 13

The Design Processes- Engineering

We all know that all the things are designed to meet human needs. even our plastic water bottles are designed in such a way that it could withstand huge amount of force and pressure. We know that designing may seems easy but when we really do hands on designing, it starts to get tedious, stressful and takes huge amount of time. That is the reason why designing is not done by one person but many designers working together. Some may disagree with the preveious sentence but if you look at the efficiency and most of the areas of designing processes, we can easily announce the winner.

So how does engineers design something? The picture below shows basic designing processes that are used by engineers commonly.

To begin with, we first have to identify the main problem. What do we want to change and why do we need something to be designed. If we do not have the basic things done, we may eventually give up designing when we face a challenging problem.

Then, it comes to the researching for the needs or problem. We may think that we know everything but we are not Einstein and even he do not know everything. Through this process, we are able to know basic concepts, history, background and details that we never heard through researching and reading up on other people’s ideas and stories. Hopefully, we may have some kind of inspiration through some catalysts.

Thirdly, it comes to the process that develops solutions for the problem. This is the point where it may literally takes loads of time depending of the situations but mostly because of the brainstorming. No matter how long it takes, one of the most important thing is that we have to let all the ideas flow smoothly even though you may think they are ridiculous. Every ideas may combine to form an engineering masterpiece. For example, it was a ridiculous idea for someone to design a phone without the number pad. However, nowadays we all carry a phone with only couple of buttons.

The next step is when you start striking off or rejecting the ridiculous ideas after looking at the feasibility– Dermining which solutions are best. This is one of the most important processes because we have to analyze and put all our heads together to determine the most suitable solutions. Sometimes, we may have to mix some of the ideas generated previously to make it more suitable.

The next two steps are basically construction and testing the solutions’ prototypes. Through this process, we are able to evaluate our design then, finalize the design. Because our brains are not that great to visualize or simulate possible situations accounting different vairables.

The last process is communicating the solutions. Most of the engineers work for others. That is to design and meet the main purpose of the customers. One of the most criteria is to meet the problems but also satisfy them. That could be done through communications. After going through all these processes, we are now ready to start building things!

In a nutshell, this is like a guideline. It is one of the easiest way to design something for both beginning engineers or even professional designers. However, in my opinion, we should not be constricted and stuck at this narrow minded that other designing process should not be done and they are wrong. This is just a guideline to make the designing process easier, not a law. And hopefully design something that is sustainable and last the longest!

Reference:

http://www.themetroschool.org/assets/images/centers/design_flow.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_engineer

Social impact — 18 comments
01
Dec 13

Meeting Human needs through compromisation

Short cut means another way that shortens the distance one has to travel. One of the most important factors determining economical efficiency is time. As the phrase says, “Time is Gold” it is one of the most important things in our life. We have couple of ways to reduce the time that we waste but one of the ways is by making a short cut, like what Panama did.

Being one of the largest canal made, Panama Canal is famous for making the sea route shorter. In fact, it is the shortest short cut human ever made. It is a canal that connects Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.by doing so, it helps the ship crossing by cutting down the time taken by 2weeks for the same destination.

How Does It Work?

It is in fact a simple logic that greatly improved the way we transport the goods. Ship floats on water so by adding more water, ship rises at the same time. With this concepts, engineers were able to raise a gigantic cargo ships up to 85ft above the sea level without using tonnes of energy. By using 3 locks of doors, it prevents the sea water mixing with lake’s fresh water. The reason behind such inconvenience is that it creates a current when salinated water and unsalinated water mix. In a nutshell, it is a water elavator!

Since the canal takes about 30% of the Panama’s economy, they are expanding by making another canal that is wider so that larger ships can pass through and allows more ships to pass through at the same time. Hoping that it would bring more money, the Government has invested about $5Billion on the project.

This project is one of the engineer’s great work done that are designed to meet the Human and Social needs. As the world develops and globalisation expands, it is true that time is one of the most important factors. Indeed, this engineering marvel met our needs to make the world moves faster, cost efficient and less time consuming. Furthermore, common sense tells me that it would naturally bring more money and hence build stronger economy for the country. However, I have rather different opinion. As an engineering student, I personally go against the idea of such canal on this planet and the project of making another wider canal side by side because it destroys the natural habitat and the environment. We have to first priotized what is really important and rethink about what really benefit us!

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_expansion_project

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-19/panama-canal-has-to-accommodate-megaships-and-compete-with-climate-change

Curiosity — 18 comments
17
Nov 13

F/A-22, Most advanced Fighter Plane

It is really hard to determine which plane is the best, capable, and most feared fighter plane in the world. However, we can have a short list on which are equipped with the most advanced technology that could possibly be feared by most of the fight pilots around the world. One of them would be F/A-22.

F/A-22 was developed in USA, in 1980s, so as to counter the soviet unions developing new, advanced fighter plane. At that point of time, US released their latest F-15 that they thought could control the skies of the world. However, not long after the release of the F-15, The pentagon detected new, larger fighter plane tested by Soviet Unions. That was the time that they knew their F-15 could no longer live for a long period of time.

After evaluation of what is really needed to build the 21st century fighter plane, they released and asked contractors such as Lockheed to propose new design for the Air Force. At first, 7 company proposed the idea including Lockheed who built F-117, Northrop who built B-2, but Eventually, Lockheed won the contract and that was the time when they started producing F-22.

Why was the F-22 chosen?

One of the main focus that Air Force demanded was the stealth capability. Both Lockheed and the Northrop were leading on building stealth plane. However, Lockheed design was more feasible and after running hundreds of flying tests, it was proven that F-22 outdo the plane made by Northrop.

One of the greatest engineering marvel of the F-22 is that the angle of all the pointed edges actually faces the same angle. Despite relying very little on radar absorbent materials unlike F-117 or B-2, they were able to be considered stealth. Being “stealth” does not mean invisible but to be less visible on radar. F-22 was able to achieve this by reflecting the radio waves away from the radar, rather than towards it. Some of the crucial parts are also covered with materials that absorb radio waves to make it more invisible.

Furthermore, its wings are diamond shaped that refines to improve the aerodynamic, strength and as mentioned above, stealth technology. Because it must withstand huge amount of stress and heat, high strength titanium were more widely used compared to other fighter jets.

Despite the fact that it cost $93million per F-22, which are currently the most expensive fighter plane around the world, they were able to win the contract because they were fast, stealth, flexible and has all they need to be on the air safely. They are flexible in as sense that they do not rely on the coating that absorb radio waves which allows them to fly on extreme weather conditions.

Equipped with AN/ACR-94, a passive receiver, 30 antennas are used which reduces the chance of being located by radar. Furthermore, Designers designed the plane in such a way that missiles are kept inside the body of F-22. One of the reason is because the missiles conflict with the angle that F-22 possesses. This will cause the radar to detect the change of its signals and allows them to detect this high-tech jet.

Just looking at this, we can tell that so much work is done to create and design something that is so vital, complex. And I really respect the designers and Engineers who could possibly think of such brilliant engineering marvels! Hopefully, we could all be one of those who makes the world full of interesting, innovative and intelligent design to make our lives here more comfortable and sustainable!

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/f22.html

Sustainability — 52 comments
30
Oct 13

Gardens By the Bay and its sustainability

Sustainable, by definition, refers to the ability of a system to maintain its own viability over an extended period of time. In other words, sustainable designs are made of recycled material, uses renewable energy, non-toxic to the environment, using least amount of energy or it is beneficial to the people and the consumers.

The word Sustainable has become one of the most important vocabulary for the designers. However, almost all or possibly all products are not fully sustainable. The topic itself to become fully sustainable requires both technology and design for a product to be fully sustainable. So far, we have yet to reach such level but we are reaching to a point where we can call something sustainable.

One of the man-made monuments that is reaching the sustainability level is Gardens By the Bay, Singapore. Gardens by the Bay is one of the most celebrated
new addition to Singapore’s growing tourist hot spots. Even though it is
man-made, it often brings out astonishments similar to natural wonders because
of its cleverly designed architecture and diverse species of plants never
before seen in one pristine habitat all together.

To measure whether Gardens by the Bay is sustainable, we would have to determine if:

Gardens by the Bay will be able to endure the test of time and maintain its conditions in the years to come
Gardens by the Bay will function not solely as a tourist hotspot but also as a functional research and conservation institute that promotes the conservation of diverse fauna and as a mode of education to the public.

One of the way in which they were designed cleverly is that the heating within the glass conservatories were minimized by the strategic placement of the beams, the irrigation system was also designed for optimum productivity. It is also partially self-sufficient,
with its own power production by burning its own bio-waste or having solar
panels attached at its Supertrees.

A central on-site energy centre will provide cooling and power to the biomes and the primary energy source for this will be waste wood. The National Parks Board is responsible for some 3 million trees in Singapore which generate about 5000 tonnes
of timber clippings a month. Instead of being dumped this will be be chipped and burnt in a steam biomass boiler and used to drive the CHP system. Ash from the boiler will be re-used in the garden whilst heat from the CHP unit will be used to regenerate a liquid dessicant. This dessicant will be used to remove moisture from the fresh air supply. This helps cut power consumption; dry air requires far less energy to cool it than
moist air does.
Waste water from the dessicant circuit will be exhausted to the atmosphere through a flue concealed in the trunk of one of the on-site ‘Supertrees’. These giant steel and concrete sculptures will have planting around their trunks creating striking vertical
gardens whilst their branches will also support solar hot water collectors, PV panels and rainwater harvesters. The tallest trees will contain lifts for access to a high level walkway and a treetop café.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, non of the products are fully sustainable by itself.

Regardless of their efforts to make this development as self-sufficient as possible, the designers were not able to make these gardens completely self sufficient, and they instead pride themselves by claiming that the cooled conservatories only consume as much electricity as a similar sized commercial building.

While those who have visited the gardens may be impressed that such extensive amount of air conditioning in the two giant conservatories can only cost as much as a normal commercial building, I found it extremely ironic that we are spending so much energy in sustaining, simply put, a bunch of producers. Plants are the producers of this planet, and they are supposed to be receiving the Sunlight and converting the light energy into usable forms of energy for other consumers, not the other way round! At this rate, as the energy becomes more and more scarce in the future, the possibility of maintaining the cool and pleasant inner temperature of the gardens may become tougher, thus the garden is not very sustainable.

However, what’s important is that we are one step closer to create a sustainable design and hopefully all the man-made products are sustainable.

Reference:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wilkinsoneyre.com%2FMedia.ashx%3Fid%3D2c8d9cce-3083-4855-aa1a-9c6300a7342a&ei=dw5xUpOHB6LfsASIl4LYDw&usg=AFQjCNH925jxwH2xLLJfBkig9JpPDUT_3A&sig2=2a0HCeL6MLalSYqQ9PfI4Q&bvm=bv.55617003,d.cWc&cad=rja

https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-the-gardens.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_design

Safe design — 21 comments
28
Oct 13

This is what you call a safe design!

Ever heard of a Saw that cuts almost everything except a finger? Well, we may all think it is impossible because our fingers are much more vulnerable to any cuts than cutting a piece of wood.

Fortunately, a guy called Steve Gass invented one of the most advanced saws in the world. A man whose faith in his own technology and design was so great to test with his own bare hand, proving to the world that his table saw is guaranteed. So, what is this saw about? Basically, they are a sawstop table, a saw that is equipped with a technology that stops its blade only when our skin or any conducting material come in to contact with the fast rotating blade.

Its Mechanism

Very small electric current flow through the blade. Wood being a poor conductor of electricity, it does not affect the electric current flowing. On the other hand, our hand/skin, being conductive allows some current to flow. This flunctuation of electric current in the blade is detected and that causes a block of aluminium block catrige connected to a fast acting spring under compression to be activated.

For example, when a carpenter or a user accidentally touches the blade, unkowingly and unintentionally, normal blade would cut the fingers or any part of the body as if it is slicing a piece of paper.

Further Design safety added to this amazing device is that the blade’s angular momentum causes the blades to hide under the table to prevent further contacts, at the same time, turning the power off!

By resisting a huge amount of force of the blade in order to decelerate the turing speed to zero within milliseconds, the aluminium catrige that cost $69 is only for a single use. However, it is probably worth more than that than losing our precious fingers that we can’t imagine living with one or more missing on our hand!

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SawStop

http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/

http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/monitor-and-detect/

http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/brake-activation/

http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/white-paper/

Design application — 76 comments
29
Sep 13

Boeng 787 (Engine)

As we fly over to another country, or state, we usually use plane as a mode of transportation. However, how many of you really know about the machine that you are relying your life on and how they are made. We may think that the plane that we ride on are just a simple machine but I think they are one of the most complex machine in the world. Amongst all the parts in a plane, I would say that the engine itself is one of the most crucial part.

Rolls-Royce Trent 1000

GE GEnx-1B

These engines are made through different processes that includes precision engineering. Bcause this is a massive machine that requires extremely skilled engineers, that only two companies are capable in produce Boeing 787’s engines. They are GE and as most people know, Rolls Royce, one of the best car manufacturer.

With extremely complex work of art, the main component of the engines are made in 8 different sections of modules. However, ultimately, each enignes requires thousands of thousand components in order to build one.

What’s so special about the engine?

Well, basically in the past, what really distinguishes the old engines and Boeing 787 engine is the huge fan at the front. In the past, engines used to rely fully on the jet exhaust to thrust the plane forward. Unfortunately, this method was inefficient and was extremely noisy. With technological advancement and complex engineering design, they were able to achieve this new ideas of having a fan in front.

How does it work? As the jet exhausts, energy of the exhaust is harvested to turn these massive blade. Just for your information, each of the gigantic blade cost as much as a family car. When the huge blades starts turning, they push huge amount of cold air quietly into the side of the engines which thrust the plane forward.

Many parts of the engine requires loads of designing and thinking but one changes that made from the past was the blade. Well, when you look at it, it looks like a simple piece of metal blade fitted into the engines. However, they are actually made of 3 sheets of metal (Titinium) bonded together. However, they inner part of the blade is actually hollow to make it super light but super strong.

Furthermore, these blades must have a perfectly balanced for engines to turn perfectly and smoothly. Hence, each blade are measured, tested and weighed in order to improve the precision and balanced.

While assembling of the 5/8 sections are pretty simple due to the gravity assisting the engineers’ job, 3 remaining parts are regretfully much tougher and requires much more concentration as even small scratch could make a disasterous accidents.

Being a freshman in Engineering student and its my first time that I am actually evaluating and researching about designs, I am unable to elaborate any further. However, what I learnt is that although computers have the ability to do what humans are unable to do, they still need engineers in order to carry out their duties and most of extremley complicated duties. And that is the charm of being an engineer!

References

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy4A-z2WKhw

http://www.rolls-royce.com/news/press_releases/2013/19062013_787_9_first_flight.jsp

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/2012_q3/2/

http://www.rolls-royce.com/news/press_releases/2013/08082013_derby_flyover.jsp

Design application — 6 comments
28
Sep 13

Where’s the limits?

As technologies advances, the main objective mainly consist of the speed, and the quality of services provided to make our life comfortable. We all want faster car, comfortable chairs, house, faster smartphones, and faster Internet which I am going to elaborate about now.

Here is what I’ve got. As most people know, Korean has the fastest, world-leading technologies and telecommunication systems. Due to the extreme competition to attract more customers, KT, SK Telecomm and LG UPlus imposed different strategies. However, their main base was the speed of the internet that they could provide.

So, what’s so special about Korean Internet speed? Well, basically they have something called LTE A. It is another level of network system by using different network frequency that greatly improve the speed of the Internet speed on a phone. LTE-A is known to be twice as fast as the originally fast LTE. It’s like a expressway of expressway by using another network systems. So far, only the latest phone released such as Galaxy S4 are capable of providing LTE-A to the users.

It all started with the bidding of a specific frequency for their networks. They all have different advantages but what’s common is that they provides extremely fast speed. Theoredically, it is known to provide 150mbps on a smartphone. This speed is equavalent to downloading 8 books, 1music video and 17 images per second.

Many people are extremely fascinated by such speed available in Korea. However, I have a very different opinion about the speed that are available. What is the point when we are unable to process and absorb that much data available by our brains. People nowadays are exposed to too much information. With too much information available, there are always people who misuse these information. Likewise, with such technologies available, many people use it for their personal gain and interest.

In a word conscience, we can separate the word, “con” and “science”. Con means to work together. It basically means when we are using technologies that are developed by the inventions through science, we have to know that we are sharing.

Furthermore, there must be restrictions to how fast these technologies gives us because we are not living to have a quick phase life. We need some freedom against the time restrictions and have some leisure. And that is how i think is living a great quality of life.

Reference

http://blog.naver.com/poohlee2000k?Redirect=Log&logNo=50180062639

http://blog.naver.com/qhfk0719?Redirect=Log&logNo=50179126924

http://www.seoulfn.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=172902

Design application — 5 comments
22
Sep 13

Water supply for Singapore

Water recycling in Singapore began in 1974, but the experimental treatment plant was closed a year later because of costs and reliability issues.

In 1998, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) initiated the Singapore Water Reclamation Study (NEWater Study). The aim was to determine if NEWater was a viable source of raw water for Singapore’s needs.

In 2001, PUB initiated efforts to increase water supplies for non-potable use. Using NEWater for these would help reduce the demand on the reservoirs for potable water.

Many people may have this common question, that is why do Singapore need to invest so much on water supply that are available readily in America? This is because Singapore is a tiny island that is not sustainable by itself. The longest side of the country is merely 43km, and 23km wide. Hence, they do not have luxury of producing fresh water from the country itself.

Where do they get raw water supply?

They do have some natural reservoir that stores up some amount of rain water. Despite setting aside about 30% of its extremely limited land, it is not self-sustainable in order to provide its 5 million population. Hence, the Singapore Government invested a huge amount of money to build infrastructures to desalinate sea water, and a filter systems to purify raw water.

The main source of water is provided by the its neighbor, Malaysia. These two countries are connected by two bridge where commuters are able to use it freely. As you cross the bridge, you will probably notice two huge pipes. These pipes provides Singapore with raw water that are treated for safe usage while the other, rather unusual, to provide Malaysia back with clean water.

Main water supply

Unfortunately, Singapore do not have a reliable water supply from Malaysia as there is always a treat that Malaysia could cut off their water supply that is vital for its supply. Furthermore, the treaty to sell water to Singapore by Malaysia only last until 2061. Hence, Singapore Government aimed to reduce their over-reliance on one of the most vital component for its survival on foreigners’ hand and for their long term needs. Therefore, Singapore’s main objective is to recycle used water and desalination to meet the people’s need.

The reclaimed water was given the brand name “NEWater.” NEWater is purified using dual-membrane and ultraviolet technologies in addition to conventional water treatment processes. This processes helps to kill most of the microbacteria, and filters almost all harmful substances. However, Singaporeans are reluctant to drink the NEWater despite the fact that it was scientifically proven that it is safe for human consumption. This is due to the fact that many people feel uneasy about drinking used water thinking that they are still dirty and unhygienic. Hence, NEWater are usually used in industry that requires high purity water ( Yes, That’s how clean the NEWater is!)

Reference

http://growingblue.com/case-studies/newater-in-singapore/

http://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/industries/industries/environment-and-water.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120812080620AA80qKf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater

Design application — 8 comments
15
Sep 13

Pagani Huayra, One of the best designed car

Most of us are aware that there are comapanies called “Ferrari” , “Lamborghini”, “BMW”, ” Audi”, “Mercedez Benz”, “Hyundai” and so many well-known car producer around the world. However, if you hear the word “Pagani”, will you be able to match a picture with a car? I doupt so because unless you are a car enthusiasts, this word “Pagani” is rather unheard of.

So, What is Pagani?

Pagani Automobili S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of sports cars and carbon fibre. The company was founded in 1992 by the Argentinian Horacio Pagani, and is based in San Cesario sul Panaro, near Modena, Italy.

Horacio Pagani, who formerly managed Lamborghini’s composites, founded Pagani Composite Research in 1988. This new company worked with Lamborghini on numerous projects, including the restyling of the 25th Anniversary Countach, the Lamborghini LM002, the P140 design concept, and the Diablo. In the late 1980s, Pagani began designing his own car, then referred to as the “C8 Project”. Pagani planned to rename the C8 the “Fangio F1” to honour his friend, the five-time Argentinian Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

So, why am I introducing about this Pagani, rather than choosing Laborghini, Ferrari, and many other manufacturers? It is because their designs are much more sophisticated, and most importantly it has a feature that other companies, were unable to apply in different way like Pagani did, the Spoiler. I am not saying that other manufacturers’ cars have crappy designs but I am saying that Pagani invest much more time on designing, and rather than mass producing, but to build a car that is engineering marvel and a work of art at the same time. Aiming to create a car that is considered a masterpiece that is perfect, this man of perfection has no constraint on time.

What is so special about Pagani, Huayra?

Amonst so many special features about this car such as equipping with Boshis ESP electronic stability program, its powerful engine, as an Aerospace Engineering student, I would like to focus more about its Aerodynamic “Flaps” and its body shape.

To begin with, Huarya’s body was first designed to resemble a wing of an aircraft. A high performance car must maximize downforce but also minimize the drag. With the design that resembles the wing of an aircraft, Huayra was able to acheive this criteria without facing any problem.

However, with extremely powerful engine, it has to have a system to control the power. Hence, Pagani came up with this idea of having spoiler on a car. He was first inspired by the flaps of an aircraft. Many Sports car do have a spoiler at the back. However, it interrupts the aerodynamics of the car when they are not needed at low speed. After some time rethinking about the design, they came up with this solution of a full 4 independent retractable aerodynamic “flaps” that come into action only when they are needed. These four flaps helps to increase the downward force, giving extra grips, helps to act as a braking system. How does it work? Being independent allowed this flaps to be used at different situation. For example, when the driver applies brake, the flaps automatically rises to increase surface area and drag, disrupting the aerodynamics of the car.

One of the most important use of the flaps is when the car is turning a curve at a high speed. At a high speed making a curve, a car tends to have upward force at the inner body resulting a roll. However, with these four automatic independent flaps, they were able to reduce the chance to roll by couteracting to create even greater downward force by the inner flaps. By doing so, these flaps were able to reduce the chances of having a roll and hence it is much safer but at the same time faster since the driver do not need to reduce speed at a corner.

Ultimately, Pagani convinced me that they are one of the best car manufacturer since they are the perfect example of the philosophy of art and engineering. Not only did they use the most advanced technology, without compromising the beauty of designing world, it is one of the design that everyone would crave for. I would say Pagani, Huayra is an extremely rare piece of mechanical art, part aeroplane, part car, a unique piece of engineering design.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagani

http://www.pagani.com/it/huayra/default.aspx

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/How-the-Pagani-Huayra-is-made-2012-03-12?module=best&utm_expid=12261766-9.n3UKns_sT6uGHKlagvv2qg.1&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.topgear.com%2Fuk%2Ftags%2FPagani-Huayra

Curiosity — 3 comments
27
Aug 13

Anyone heard about drone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQJMqyPFb3s

Do watch the video before reading this post!

Amazing isn’t it? This would probably be our future delivery system and so many more.

Drone refers to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) controlled by remote control. They are usually used to take aerial photos, some are used in military and recently, Domino Pizza came up with this idea to use these drones as a delivery system. They are designed in such a way that it is portable, flexible and also reliable.

Untitled

This picture shows, professor Haya Seike, Japan, who designed and produced counterrotating propeller drone. By using Microcomputer, and sensors, this drone is capable of flying upwards or downward vertically.

With the help of microcomputer equipped in the drone, it is able have a stable flight by adjusting the propeller and the tail wings.

Unfortunately, this drone is not ready for mass production due to the safety issue that the drone is facing now.

There are so many use of this drones but you might not have ever imagined so many of this drones are used to take a scene in a movie.

For Example, watch this : http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/08/used_a_drone_to_shoot_of_dalla.php

Furthermore, I believe many of you do remember the terror attack at Boston, not long ago. It was when the drone really came in and played an important role to capture the suspects. Equipped with 21st Century technologies, such as night vision camera, heat sensoring camera, it played a huge role capturing the suspects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWcOEnXHfKo

Advantage of using the drones as a military use or for this case, for the enforcement on the law, is that we do not have participate and rist in the life threatening situations. The cost of such Drones may goes up from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Some of them may be extremely costly depending on its abilities and the technologies they are equipped with. However, how can money be compared with a person’s life?

Furthermore, the cost of drones are actually much more cost efficient and cheaper comparing to a real helicopter flying. Thus, many of the developed countries are investing more and more on the development of the drones.

Unfortunately, some argues that the use of drones may violate constitutional right to privacy. Like the development of Dynamite was intended to help the miners’ work done more efficiently. However, it became one of the worst inventions made by human, killing so many people.

Like all inventions have its own advantage and disadvantage, I think the idea of drone is actually really great. I hope that human think in such a way that technologies must only be used to help us, not misusing the technologies that were first developed to improve the way we live and improve our quality of life.

Links

http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1061461969

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicam

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/04/technology/innovation/dominos-pizza-drone/index.html

http://blog.naver.com/esjpark?Redirect=Log&logNo=110173193068

http://blog.naver.com/esjpark?Redirect=Log&logNo=110172239267