Transporting cargo across the oceans is vital in a global economy - yet ships sully our already polluted planet. Some of the design solutions to fix that sound straight from science fiction. In August, 2017 in San Diego, California, an engineer sat down at his computer and gripped a joystick on the desk in front of him. He wasn’t playing a video game – he was piloting a massive cargo ship thousands of miles away off the coast of Scotland.
Imagine if you could push a button to unfold a liveable house anywhere you could have it delivered. It sounds like a sci-fi film about future living, but it's more about physics meets architecture through a new concept by Ten Fold Engineering. The concept behind Ten Fold is simple. The key is a lever. Basically it's a counter-balanced folding assembly that's the DNA for a structure that can unfold from a compacted state (for transportation) to an expanded state.
2016 inventions that are making the world better, smarter and—in some cases—a little more fun include from Barbie Dolls that look more like real girls to Orange-Flesh Sweat Potatos loaded with much needed Vitamin "A". From a Soccer Field that fts anywhere to portable shelters that can instantly assist refugees around the world.
French aircraft maker Airbus has come up with a new way to shave off turnaround time between flights — detachable cargo compartments. The U.S. patent designs released detail removable cabins, which could be swapped in and out of an aircraft to increase efficiency for boarding passengers. The concept would also allow planes to fly more frequently, with less time sitting and waiting on the ground.
The plans preview how passengers could board a detached cabin from a docking station in advance of a plane's arrival. Passengers would then be able to seat themselves while ground crews store their luggage, reducing processing time all around. Once the empty aircraft arrives in the terminal, the fully-loaded cabin container would be lowered into the plane, firmly locking into place before the plane takes flight. Once the flight lands at its destination, it pulls into a new gate at the airport, where the removable cabin would detach and be lifted up into a docking station. The plane would quickly be prepared by ground crews to take on a new cabin of passengers.