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Transat lant ic
Cable
As Mr Wald describes it, the robot is studded with sensors. One is
a device that picks up the electrical disturbance produced from
electrical arcs if electricity is jumping through the air. Another
uses lidar (light detection and ranging) to establish the position
of distant objects. The lidar checks for sufficient distance between
the power lines and trees or the ground. An infrared sensor finds
hot spots, which could indicate a bad splice. And, Mr Wald wrote:
“[Ti] has a high-quality optical camera that would look at cables,
towers and tower foundations for signs of wear and tear” – and
even spot encroachments on the utility company’s right-of-way.
Ti can work autonomously, analysing data from its sensors and
sending a radio signal back when its computer brain discovers
something amiss. Or, MrWald noted:“It can function as a remotely
controlled probe, responding to commands and streaming data
back to a utility control centre.” At about 145 pounds and five feet
long, Ti is still in prototype. But the
Times
noted that engineers in
Lenox, Massachusetts, have been running it around a test track
where it must negotiate its way around towers as well as climb
cables at angles of up to 45 degrees.
MrWald reported a“clever trick”that enables the prototype to
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tap into energy travelling through high-voltage lines without
actually touching them: The alternating current in the
conductors creates a magnetic field. The field interacts with
the shield wire to produce electricity. Every night, the robot
docks at a tower where it connects the shieldwire to the tower,
creating a circuit and a current flow. It charges up its battery
and departs at dawn. (It works from dawn to dusk; it cannot
see in the dark to do its work.) The robot is to be tested on a
line that utilities plan to build through West Virginia, Virginia
and Maryland. At 285 miles long, the Potomac Appalachian
Transmission Highline, or PATH, would probably require three
robots to ensure that every stretch is inspected twice a year.
EPRI anticipates a future for Ti because rules imposed after
the great blackout of the Eastern US in August 2003 stipulate
more stringent monitoring of power lines. Today, that greater
stringency often calls for close inspection from a helicopter.
Tomorrow, it may provide work for robots.
Automotive
The Obama administration on 26
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th
January announced several
proposals intended to boost sales of plug-in electric vehicles
in the US, including a $7,500 point-of-sale rebate that would
immediately reduce the price of the car.
Currently, the buyer of a plug-in or battery-powered car like
the Chevrolet Volt or Nissan Leaf may qualify for a $7,500 tax
credit in the following year. A relatedWhite House initiative is
a $200-million grant programme for communities for electric
vehicle infrastructure, such as charging stations. Speaking at
a Greenfield, Indiana, plant on the same day, vice-president
Joe Biden said that these and other proposals are in aid of
the president’s goal of reducing the country’s dependence
on foreign oil by putting a million plug-in or other advanced-
technology cars on the road by 2015. Before awarding battery
manufacturer Ener1 a $118.5-million Department of Energy
grant, Mr Biden said: “We’re going to have batteries that go
300 miles on a charge, with ten bucks of electricity instead of
fifty bucks [of gasoline].”