It’s well known that public speaking frightens a lot of people. Many millennials are also afraid of private speaking, at least on a telephone. Fortunately there is mitigating technology: texting. There is also mitigating technology for risks driven by piranhas, sharks and fire ants. Alternatively, innovation can be inspired from imitating, rather than fighting, jellyfish and squid. A hidden hazard, but with much higher risk, is making decisions based on poorly executed analysis. Happy reading.
Robot Jellyfish Could Help Service Offshore Windfarms
In a quest for both manoeuvrability and efficient long distance travel, researchers turned to an obvious muse for a robot: a jellyfish. Propulsion resembles an underwater umbrella, but not Mary Poppins’. Prototype testing confirmed vibration theory, and energy usage is minimal at the natural frequency.
The Conversation, February 2021
Untethered Squid Robot Could Help Study Coral Reefs
And the squid-jellyfish robot war begins.
The Engineer, October 2020
Modern Finite Element Analysis Achieves Accurate Results with Little Effort
Garbage in; garbage out. Even though modern FEA software offers automated decision making, solution accuracy and believability shouldn’t be sacrificed for ease-of-use. Sometimes effort and experience are needed to avoid misleading results.
IMechE News, December 2020
Phone Call Anxiety: Why So Many of Us Have It, and How to Get Over It
For a lot of people, millennials in particular, a phone call can be stressful. Visual social cues are absent, yet an immediate response is necessary, without the time for reflection that email or texting allows. At least auto-correct can’t skew the message. Exposure to calls reduces anxiety.
The Conversation, February 2021
Innovations Against Risk, No Matter How Small
Ever-present dangers like quicksand, shark bites and fire ants have been neutralized by inventors. Sleep easily. However, an engineering assessment would probably conclude that the original risk is low enough to be generally acceptable. Other mitigating strategies are also available: don’t swim in water with piranhas.
ASME, January 2021