1V-Boost Driver for Power LEDs

The new PR4404 from PREMA Semiconductor is a LED driver providing more than 150mA out of one battery cell and up to 300mA from two batteries for one to three power LEDs. A hold input allows controlling the LED brightness via a PWM signal or switching the LED from a microcontroller.

Probo is No Toy

Probo may look like a simple cuddly toy, but this little piece of green artificial intelligence is no toy.

Several years in the making and a huge investment by the Brussels region, the project of the Robotics and Multibody Research Group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels Free University) is a fully-functioning robot with the ability to read your emotions and respond in kind. Called Probo, the 60-centimetre tall “huggable robot” will debut at the end of this year in the children’s ward of the university hospital.

Build A Precision Stereo Headphone Amplifier

For about $30 in parts for the core amplifier and a weekend of soldering, you can enjoy premium audiophile sound through your MP3 player or iPod.

Subscribers can read this article in Nuts & Volts online!

Fuel Cell Powered Airplane

Boeing announced today that it has, for the first time in aviation history, flown a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The recent milestone is the work of an engineering team at Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in Madrid, with assistance from industry partners in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“Boeing is actively working to develop new technologies for environmentally progressive aerospace products,” said Francisco Escarti, BR&TE’s managing director. “We are proud of our pioneering work during the past five years on the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane project. It is a tangible example of how we are exploring future leaps in environmental performance, as well as a credit to the talents and innovative spirit of our team.”

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts hydrogen directly into electricity and heat with none of the products of combustion such as carbon dioxide. Other than heat, water is its only exhaust.

A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 16.3 meter (53.5 foot) wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by BR&TE to include a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Three test flights took place in February and March at the airfield in Ocaña, south of Madrid, operated by the Spanish company SENASA.

During the flights, the pilot of the experimental airplane climbed to an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above sea level using a combination of battery power and power generated by hydrogen fuel cells. Then, after reaching the cruise altitude and disconnecting the batteries, the pilot flew straight and level at a cruising speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) for approximately 20 minutes on power solely generated by the fuel cells.

Near Space, 22 March 2008

Amazing!!  My FIRST Team, Team Tator #2122 just won the Sacramento Regional.  We’re now preparing to travel to Atlanta for the national competition on April 17-19.

Onwards and Upwards