Lego Mindstorms Automated Car Factory

It's not exactly the new Volkswagen glass factory, but this has to be one of the coolest Mindstorms-based project I've seen. And there are a lot of them out there.

A bit on the slow side, but amazing nonetheless. I can only imagine how much time this must have taken to think through and build.

Geek Armed Forces?

Not sure what this is really about, but what a low tech vehicle for such high tech companies. Marketing bit? Tech consultant / off-road fan? Wannabe Geek Squad? Puzzling... (see update)

Well, low tech is actually not quite appropriate, given the marvel of engineering that the Pinzgauer 710M was and still is.

Spotted on November 2nd 2006, at the corner of Sherbrooke Street West and Union Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Related links:

• Pinzgauer High Mobility All-Terrain Vehicle: Wikipedia entry
• Steyr-Daimler-Puch: Original manufacturer
• Automotive Technik (ATL): Current manufacturer
• Armor Holdings, Aerospace & Defense Group: parent company
• Pinzgauer information: detailed fan/owner site

Update: See comments below for more information, provided by the owner and his Pinzgauer blog for more photos.

MDI Compressed Air Technology (C.A.T)

Digg.com led me (1, 2) to a short article on what could prove to be a promising technology: a vehicle powered by compressed air, also available as dual energy hybrid engine.

Being a syndicated article formatted for print and broadcast, there were no links to further references, so I researched the subject a bit deeper and found a slew of information on this clever French-built innovation (though the concept isn't new).



Here are a few of the links I found interesting:

• mdi.lu: Moteur Developpement International (MDI). French content only, but labeled as the only official site for the MDI products.
• theaircar.com: English version of a multilingual site. There are some basic coding error in the site that make it sometimes switch language though...
• Compressed Air Technology systems: nicely detailed engine technical specifications in English. Links to technical drawings, animations, videos.
• Science Channel video report: In case the attached YoutTube version goes belly up. Narrated by Jay Ingram, from the excellent Daily Planet Canadian science news show.
  
• Air engine: Wikipedia entry on the concept.
• How Air-Powered Cars Will Work: older article on How Stuff Works that also introduces the similar concept of Cryogenic Heat Engine.
• Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine: article on a another interestig take on compressed air hybrid engine technology.

The reasons and challenges involved are obvious, but I hope MDI finds an effective way to muffle the vehicle's rather loud audible output. Zero or reduced emissions are definitely a very respectable and timely achievement, but noise/sound pollution can also be quite a scourge, particularly in urban areas.

All in all, I can picture a great future for this technology, especially in the Third-World in the short term, which has so far been more opened than wealthier countries to fossil fuel alternatives.