by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
Elon Musk, the madman-genius-engineer behind Palo Alto-based automaker Tesla, made big waves when he declared that “Anyone relying on lidar [for self-driving cars] is doomed. Doomed.” Tesla’s current vehicles use radar, GPS, maps, ultrasonic...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
A Chinese device called the ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle is purported to emit a high-power laser beam that can incinerate you from over a mile away. Ouch! In 2015, the Chinese government dedicated 2 billion yuan to researching and developing compact laser devices of...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
After the recent 25% Chinese import tariff, OEMs in numerous industries are looking for ways to stabilize their supply chains and cut production costs. If you have traditionally sourced precision glass, ceramic or optical components from China, USA sources may now be...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
Everyone has a unique cardiac signature, which means your ticker beats in a slightly different way than mine or anyone else’s. It’s this novel biometric marker that the Pentagon is using to identify people with an accuracy rate of 95% from up to 200 meters away — no...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
The detection and mapping technology known as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) that was first developed by NASA and used on the Apollo 15 mission to map the surface of the moon is now leading to groundbreaking advances in driverless cars and robotics (and...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
A laser ranging retroreflector, a special kind of mirror that always reflects an incoming light beam back in the direction it came from, was placed on the lunar surface fifty years ago by the crew of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, close to the end of their...
