In this episode, we talk about a new machine learning model developed by NIST to predict flashover in burning buildings and protect firefighters, NASA’s new ultrasonic additive manufacturing approach, and an affordable, high performance athletic prosthetic.
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(0:50) - AI To Save Firefighter Lives:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a machine learning model that can analyze the temperature patterns in a burning building using smoke detectors and extrapolate potential areas where flashover can occur.
(10:00) - NASA’s New Additive Manufacturing Approach:
Heat exchangers are critical for spacecraft operations but they are prone to failure since they are traditionally composed of multiple parts that are joined together. Ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) promises a reliable way to create complex parts composed of dissimilar metals as a single piece without compromising material properties. Here’s a quick video from Fibrosnic - the subcontractor that brought this capability to NASA - which displays the UAM process.
(16:25) - Plug & Play Prosthetics:
Levitate was founded by an amputee who wanted an athletic prosthetic without having to pay the $8,000-$16,000 price tag of one; so, naturally, he decided to build one himself with the help of a talented composite engineer at the Technical University of Denmark that can be used with an existing sleeve thus significantly reducing the overall costs.