Part 2: Extreme Machines - land

Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60

The world's largest machine that can move is Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60. It is located in mining regions of Germany. It was built in East Germany in 1991 by VEB TAKRAF Lauchhammer. And after only 13 months of operation, it was shut down. The machine is owned now by the community and open for tourists.

From technical point of view it is steel giant, which is 502 metres long, 202 metres wide, 80 metres high and 11000 ton heavy. To get an idea of how long this machine is, if the Empire State Building fell over its length would fall about 60 meters shorter than the F60. So the machine is also called 'Lying Eiffel Tower'. Due to enormous dimensions it has 760 wheels which moves on its own set of rails. And an interesting thing is that such a big machine was controlled by only two persons.

Liebherr T 282B dumptruck

In 2004 Liebherr company introduced T282B becoming the largest dumptruck in the world. The massive T282B can haul 400 tons of material. Empty it weights 261 tons and stands 7.4 meters tall. Drivers compare it to driving four bedroom house. Precision mechanics takes six weeks to assemble T282B. The T282B has a monster 90 liter diesel engine that can consume 60 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers, producing 3650 horsepower.

Mammoet truck

Machine does not have to be long like train or have big tires like Liebherr dumptruck to carry large loads. If there is a need to transport hundreds tons weight and tens meters high building it can be transported by one of the most unusual truck ever build. This truck is manufactured by company specializes in transporting huge loads. It is achieved by using self-propelled modular transporters. These units can be joined together in a veriety of configurations depending on the weight and size of load. All the wheels can turn three hundred sixty degrees together or separately, so the transporters can drive in any direction. And everything comes to just a single point of controll, so only one person can operate the system with one or hundreds modules.

These are only several examples. Please post some other examples of huge machines used in the industry.
Have you ever heard about road trails in Australia?

Part 1: Extreme Machines - air

Have you ever wondered, what is the biggest airplane, truck or ship in the world? Have you ever seen it? Do you know the answers of all questions, because these are the main questions, which every engineer lover asks himself. I will try to answer these questions in my presentation.

"Spruce Goose"

When America entered the second world war its geographic isolation from the areas of conflict gave a distinct advantage over enemies. This advantage left the time and manufacturing power to deliver unending supply of the materials necessary to wage war. America also had to overcome the vast distances and find safety ways to deliver these materials. At the time, ships were the only way to get the job done. But it was very dangerous because of enemy submarines. America had lost about 800 000 tons of her supply ships to German U-boats. In the heat of World War II America needed a new type of transport witch could haul soldiers and gear across the Atlantic.

The idea for the flying boat came from Henry Kaiser head of one of the largest shipbuilding firms of thee day. Kaiser thought a ship that could fly over the danger might be the answer. Howard Hughes was known as an innovator in aircraft construction and design. So these two men, both legends, began designing a superplane in 1942. The new plane's official name was the Hughes H4 Hercules. But press called it "Spruce Goose" because it was so big no one thought it would fly. The plane took five years to design, build and assemble. Due too war time shortages, the plane was made out of wood. Although the plane was made out of wood, it wasn't spruce like nickname suggest, the plane was in fact made of birch. It was the largest plane ever built at the time weighting 190 tons. Even today it has the largest wingspan of any plane in the world at 97.5 meters. It is also one of the tallest plane ever built. Obviously unusual size and the magnitude of the project was amazing. But there were some unique innovations on the plane that are unusual for that era. For example hydraucli powered low pressure system to move heavy elements like the elevator and hydraulic powered fly controls. Moreover it has eight huge three thousand horsepower engines! It cruise speed would be 220 mph and a flight range of 3000 miles.

Hughes would prove to be a demanding taskmaster during the period of development and construction. His attention to detail, was largely responsible for not being ready to fly until after the war had ended. Howard Hughes was called to Washington D.C. to defend both the project and himself. He had one last thing to prove... that Hercules would fly. On November 2, 1947 the Hughes H4 Hercules flew for 1 mile at 220 kilometers per hour at an elevation of 22 meters. It was it's one and only flight. Spruce Goose still made a huge impression and still famous today. It rests at the Evergreen Aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

Antonov 225

Another flying monster is Antonov 225, world's largest transport aircraft. The Antonov 225 was involved in competition with United States in the race for space. It was designed for the Soviet space program as a machine able to airlift rocket's boosters and carry Buran space shuttle. This metal monster was build in Ukraine in 1988 and in the same year performed its first flight. After that in 1989 An-225 made its international debut by landing at the Paris Air Show with the Buran space shuttle on its back! It also flew during the public days at the Farnborough Air Show in 1990. But a few mounths earlier An -225 made its own history with one orbital flight an unmanned mission in which it circled the Earth twice. Unfortunately to 225 size is not everything. In 1991 Soviet Union collapsed and even size could not save the Antonov 225 from economic problems. The Buran space program was canceled and jet was decommited and placed in storage in 1994. And then reborn from the economic ashes of Soviet Union. The Antonov Group began searching for a way to make the plane profitable.

The plane is now in commercial use. It is used by Antonov Airline for exceptional transport missions. It can carry ultra heavy and oversize transporting objects, such as locomotives and hundreds of tons generators. It has ability to quickly transport huge quantities of emergency supplies or an expeditionary force into combat.

The dimensions of the An-225 are staggering - nearly a football field from nose to tail and wingtip to wingtip. It stands nearly seven storeys height and two heavy duty tractors are required to trawl it from hangar to airfield. Eight avarange sized houses could be stacked inside. If it is comming to lifting havy weight cargo, An-225 can lift up to 250 tons internally or 200 tons on the upper fuselage. To make it possible Ukrainian engineers equipped the An-225 with six turbofan jets. In fact the plane is also rear because it is only one in existence today.

Check if Antonov ever landed in Poland and if answer is 'yes' how many times and where?

What was the heaviest single cargo loaded onto an Antonov 225?

Intentionally I haven't written anything about passenger planes. So what is the largest passenger plane?

Japan part3

Today, in my last part I'll show you some other (less controversial) “best” things in Japan.

Now you should probably know some of the most unusual Japanese festivals, but have you ever wonder what do they watch in TV? Obviously not “m jak milosc”.
They have something better, something that could destroy entire TVP, TVN and even POLSAT.
This thing is Japanese TV (Japanese Game Show).

HUMAN TETRIS


There was an American version of the show (Hole in the Wall) – I bealive I watched it on TV4 but was it better than Japanese version?



Ok, but this one was (or maybe is) broadcasted in Poland so it's probably not strange at all.
Maybe one of these?

This basically just leaves me speechless.






Well, I'm not sure what this one is about


Japanese gameshows aren't famous only in Japan or on Youtube, in fact they are also famous in USA.. so they made they own "Japanese game show"



For more examples of unusual Japanese game shows visit http://listverse.com/2008/04/25/15-incredible-japanese-show-videos/

Questions:
What's your favorite show?
Would you like to participate in one of them? if yes which one?
Have you ever wondered what they watch on TV?

Things then and now - Japan part2

In this part I'd like to show you a few more interesting and unusual Japanese festivals, something that you probably don't know after HKJ.

Without a doubt, one of the most remarkable festivals in the world is Kanamara Matsuri ang. “Festival of the Steel Phallus” (sometimes refereed as “the Penis Festival”).
Kanamara Matsuri takes place in the beginning of April.



Nowadays, this festival become touristic attraction for thousands of people.
Japan is probably the only place where such festival can take place without protests and scandals.



As you can see main theme if the event is penis reflected in all kinds of forms (illustrations, candy, decorations).

Another, probably less famous is Hōnen Matsuri which is Japanese for "Harvest Festival" (Hōnen means rich harvest, Matsuri means festival).
Like Kanamara Matsuri it's also fertility festival.
Hōnen Matsuri is celebrated every March 15.

This festival is somehow similar to Kanamara Matsuri, you can also find all kinds of food and souvenirs in phallus shape.





The Hōnen Matsuri festival and ceremony celebrate the blessings of a bountiful harvest and all manner of prosperity and fertility.
Some say, the best is a festival that takes place in Komaki a town located about 45 minutes north of Nagoya.


Something worth mentioning is a fact that it's not just one festival, in facts it's there are two: vagina festival and the very next day penis festival.
Penis festival main event starts in shrine where 2.5 meter long wooden phallus is carried (in procession) to another shrine called Tagata Jinja.



Festival ends after procession, when everyone gathers near Tagata Jinja shrine waiting for the mochi nage when the crowd is showered with mochi (small rice cakes) thrown down by the officials from raised platforms.
I found some numbers, penis festival attracts (official) about 100,000 tourists.





Questions: Do you think it'd be a good idea to bring that kind festival to Poland?
Would you buy wooden or candy penis/vagina? ;)
Would you go to this festival?

Things then and now - Japan part1

When you think about Japan you probably imagine something like:



or ;)


And you're probably right. Japan and Japanese culture is modern but (in many cases) still very traditional.

An a interesting detail worth mentioning is how Japanese culture was sustainable by design, we also can use word “eco” as economical or ecological.
If you're interested, here's a link to the full article http://www.designobserver.com/changeobserver/entry.html?entry=12958



Since Edo period (about 1600-1870) a lot have changed. Now Japan is one of the most advanced country, with still many traditional customs survived.
One of them is (festival) Hadaka Matsuri – what mens literally naked festival

Hadaka Matsuri takes place in January and is a type of festival in which participant should wear almost no clothes, usually fundoshi (“traditional Japanese undergarment for adult males”) or something what would we call pants.

Naked festivals are held in many places around Japan every year, usually in the summer or winter. Every year, approximately 9,000 men participate in this festival. Originated in Okayama, it's most famous festival.



In Japan, the month of January is a time of ritual purification ( often using cold water). During the winter season thousands of men are marching through the streets and shrines to celebrate the New Year in this uniquely Japanese way. The entire month of January features dozens of these naked festivals.



There is a belief (Shinto) that Shin-otokoa , a Naked Man absorbs all bad luck evil deeds and bring good luck in the new year to the men who touch him – no one is sure, but the ritual may commemorate the end of a plague, as the Naked Man takes on the ills of the community and is then expelled from it.



It is a great honour to be chosen as the Shin-otokoa. In preparation for the event he must undergo many prification rites and shave all the hair from his body.
Only the men dressed in fundoshi and sandals are allowed to touch the Shin-otokoa, special bodyguards line the route to splash cold water over them as the Naked Man draws near. This has the dual purpose of restraining the wild impulses of the "touchers" while creating an aura of mystery.



Some other facts:

sometimes mud is involved

Some locations are dedicated to young men's (or rarer still, women's) hadaka matsuris. This is more common in Western Japan.

Most naked festivals limit participation to adult males, but many have separate events where youth may participate

The nature of these festivals, could be controversy, but it's not usually an issue in Japan. In fact, when participants get naked, it is usually considered a healthy, sacred act, and not indecent.


Questions: Have you ever heard or participated in any unusual festivals?
Are there any in Poland?

Augmented reality - Part 3 – Where is it going?

Augmented reality has really picked up momentum in 2009. Nonetheless, we’re still a long way from the Minority Report-style sci-fi dream that people imagine when they hear the term “augmented reality”. The researchers agree that this field is just getting warmed up and augmented reality will one day bring us a truly connected world.

Augmented reality still has some challenges to overcome. For example, GPS is only accurate to within 9 meters and doesn't work as well indoors, although improved image recognition technology may be able to help.

People may not want to rely on their cell phones, which have small screens on which to superimpose information. For that reason, augmented-reality capable contact lenses and glasses will provide users with more convenient, expansive views of the world around them. Screen real estate will no longer be an issue. In the near future, you may be able to play a real-time strategy game on your computer, or you can invite a friend over, put on your AR glasses, and play on the tabletop in front of you.

Augmented reality is certainly a major step toward the virtual world intersecting with the physical, enhancing our perception, and providing clues about underlying data that we would not normally understand.

Thank you for your attention. I hope you found my presentation interesting.

Questions

• Do you think that augmented reality can improve our lives and how?
• What possible downsides of augmented reality can you think of?

Sources

• http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/ge-augmented-reality-iphone-app-past-present-and-future-how-it-impacts-our-lives/
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-augmented-reality-iphone-apps-games-flash-yelp-android-ar-software-and-more/
• http://computer.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality.htm

Augmented reality - Part 2 - Software and applications

Today I’ll provide some more information about augmented reality starting with:

Software

For consistent merging real-world images from camera and virtual 3D images, virtual images should be attached to real-world locations in visually realistic way. That means a real world coordinate system, independent from the camera, should be restored from camera images. That process is called Image registration. Augmented reality image registration uses different methods of computer vision, mostly related to video tracking.

Usually those methods consist of two parts. First interest points, or fiduciary markers, or optical flow detected in the camera images. In the second stage, a real world coordinate system is restored from the data obtained in the first stage. Some methods assume objects with known 3D geometry(or fiduciary markers) present in the scene and make use of those data. In some of those cases all of the scene 3D structure should be precalculated beforehand. If not all of the scene is known beforehand there are techniques that can be used for mapping fiduciary markers/3D models relative positions.

Where augmented reality can be applied?

• Advertising - Marketers started to use AR to promote products via interactive AR applications.
• Support with complex tasks - Complex tasks such as assembly, maintenance, and surgery can be simplified by inserting additional information into the field of view.
• Navigation devices - AR can augment the effectiveness of navigation devices for a variety of applications
• Military and emergency services - AR can be applied to military and emergency services as wearable systems to provide information such as instructions, maps, enemy locations, and fire cells.
  
• Prospecting - In the fields of hydrology, ecology, and geology, AR can be used to display an interactive analysis of terrain characteristics.
• Architecture - AR can be employed to simulate planned construction projects
• Sightseeing - Models may be created to include labels or text related to the objects/places visited. With AR, users can rebuild ruins, buildings, or even landscapes as they previously existed.
• Collaboration - AR can help facilitate collaboration among distributed team members via conferences with real and virtual participants.
• Entertainment and education - AR can be used in the fields of entertainment and education to create virtual objects in museums and exhibitions, theme park attractions and games.

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For more examples visit: 35 awesome augmented reality examples

Questions

• How in your opinion augmented reality can affect our lives now and in the future?
• Have you ever used something which was utilizing concepts of augmented reality?

Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-augmented-reality-iphone-apps-games-flash-yelp-android-ar-software-and-more/