💥Sparknews💥 Vine-like robot grows towards heat to extinguish fires.
💥Sparknews💥 Vine-like robot grows towards heat to extinguish fires.
#8 2023 | Sparkmate
We hope your teams are doing well! 🦾
Here’s what we’ve put together for your weekly Spark News:
Stay on track with the best, most notable developments in AI 🤖
Make content in MINUTES with Piggy 📲
Vine-like robot grows towards heat to extinguish fires 🔥
Using glass waste for 3D-printed concrete 🍷
NEXT UPDATE BY MORGAN 🏢
💙 NEWS FROM OUR MATESFrench hardware start-ups preparing to cross the « death valley»
Altyor, with 30 years of industrial expertise, and Stratos, with their business acumen and extensive network of investors, have teamed up to create Make It! Academy. The program is designed to help French hardware start-ups overcome funding challenges and accelerate their growth over a 10-week period. The program will focus on refining business models and industrial strategies, leading up to a DEMO DAY where start-ups can pitch to investors who are genuinely interested in hardware. The inaugural edition of the program will select five start-ups, with a fee of 10k€ payable in two installments. Applications can be submitted via Make It! Academy until February 28th at midnight.
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💭 TECH FOOD FOR THOUGHTVine-like robot grows towards heat to extinguish fires 🔥
Bio-inspired robots and soft robotics is becoming more and more popular - and one that we’re excited for is this 2 metre vine-like robot by the researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As you may/may not know, vines have an ability to detect and move towards sources of moisture. So how does it work when we want it to move towards heat?
The basic concept of the actuator is based on pleated pneumatic artificial muscle. Made up of many segments, it’s made of thin “mylar” bags filled with refrigerant fluid called Novec 7000. These bags are separated by insulating, low-density polyethylene, of which each sleeve can expand while shrinking in overall length. This happens when the fluid evaporates past 93F!
🌱 TECH FOR SUSTAINABILITYUsing glass waste for 3D-printed concrete 🍷
Glass is one of the least recycled types of waste - i.e. Singapore produced 74,000 tonnes of glass waste in 2021, and only 13% of it were recycled. The solution? Grinding them down to replace the use of sand into our concrete! (Why do we need to replace sand? Through urbanization and infrastructure development, it’s also been becoming a scarce resource!)
So researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have been exploring exactly this for 3D concrete printing. They printed a 40cm tall concrete bench, and proved that this can be used for additively manufacturing everyday objects as well as boding high-strength construction well!
💥 WHAT’S ON @ SPARKMATEGive the Spark in PARIS: Featuring innovation expert and multipreneur Guillaume Rolland 🎉
Join us for the next Give the Spark in Paris, featuring innovation expert and multipreneur, Guillaume Rolland! From building an innovative perfume diffuser prototype in his garage at 16, to founding Sensorwake and ultimately being acquired by Maison Berger Paris in 2019, Guillaume has a wealth of experience to share. He'll discuss what it's like to build and grow hardware products, as well as share insights on launching and scaling a startup. Don't miss this #firesidechat on March 1st (Wednesday), from 18:00-19:30!
Exciting things are happening every day ⚡️ Follow us on social media to stay tuned!