Some Research Notes

• The Google Car
•   Google is still working on their self-driving car project, aiming to make driving safer, more enjoyable and more efficient. The Google Car has gone almost a million miles already on a test-drive, and no accidents have occurred. It even drove a blind man back and forth to a restaurant once!
• top of the Google Car is a laser range finder mounted on the roof of the car
• Velodyne 64-beam laser 
• generates map of the environment. 
• 4 radars, that allow the car to see traffic
•  a sensor that senses traffic lights
• GPS + wheel encoder
• which can tell where the car is

         Still, the car has some setbacks. It needs to be programmed to become more "aggressive."

• yields to other vehicles; but if other cars don't reciprocate,
•  it advances a bit to show to the other drivers

Pros: 

-Google boasts it's driverless car could save millions of lives every year

-The car has a already driven more than one million miles with no accidents

-The car yields to pedestrians, even a person who decides to cross the street at last minute!

-This will eliminate drunk driving-caused accidents.

-The google car could double the capacity of roads by allowing cars to drive more safely while closer together.

-They are very lightweight.

-They would decrease the amount of fuel consumption 

-They could even be ran on hydrogen and electricity which would definitely help air pollution and fuel consumption

-Robotic cars will eliminate about 94% of all car accidents!

Cons:

-It needs to be programmed to become more "aggressive." (see Setbacks)

-You can never fully rely on robots, so accidents may still occur

-Currently, these robotic cars are very expensive to make. It reach up to two million dollars!

-The system can become hacked: computer, software, everything. This can be a major problem if someone gets ahold of this and starts hacking these robots. They can track down where we are, how much time we spend there, and they can also control our cars. 

-We have to think of the economy. SO many people are in the car and transportation business. For example, there are 232,300 taxi drivers and chauffeurs.  Also, there are 647,500 bus drivers."

The Google Car does have more advantages. But would we allow our cars to be controlled by a simple program? Would be willing to take that risk? Surely, it's a wonderful idea, but it needs to be perfected before it can be released to the public.

• 3D Printer
• an Addictive technology
• creating a 3D image by laying down many layers to create the three-dimensional look.
•  The first 3D printer invented 
• was based on a technique called stereolithography 
•  invented by Charles Hull in 1984. 
• How it works
• several types of printers
• some work differently than others
• all 3D printers "print" the 3D objects 
• by transferring the substance in many layers onto a layered surface
• starting from bottom layer.
•  several types of 3D printers 
•  some work differently from others
•   all 3D printers "print" the 3D objects 
• by transferring the substance in many layers onto a layered surface
•  starting from the bottom layer. 
• Before printing, person must create a 3D image of the object they want to print on a CAD
• CAD= (computer assisted design) program.
•  3D image is then cut into myriads of horizontal layers. 
• These layers are then stacked on top of each other
•  until object is done.