That English language competence is a significant aspect of an engineering student’s academic life and prospective career.
I disagree with the statement.
I would like to distinguish the language as a tool and the language as an expression. Two of them can be the same language. The difference is whether speaking it is an intentional choice or a natural inclination.
English language is indeed a useful tool in the engineering aspect. Majority of computer programs are written in English. Many thesis, papers are published in English or translated to English. Being competent in English is indubitably an advantage for engineering students to get updated with the latest technology. However, language as a tool is supposed to service the world which has a majority of non-English speakers. For example there will be non-English internet domain names in future so that people do not have to learn English in order to use the internet. Furthermore, language is not the sole ingredient for success. Everyone has different strength and weakness. Without English competency, one could be strong in other areas, or other languages. Therefore being incompetent in English will not stop them being successful in life and career.
‘You can speak to God in any language.’ No matter who has invented languages, the diversity should be preserved, instead of conforming to one language. English is the lingua franca by force, not choice and the force is diminishing nowadays, as the world is more aware of language preservation. Furthermore, the population of speakers, the widespread of usage should not determine one’s inclination of language. That’s why people find it fake when someone speaks ‘Queen’s English’. Eloquence, fluency may be advantageous especially for businessmen and lawyers. In my opinion, being genuine is more important for a complete person. For engineering students, it is especially important when we be are truthful to our work, instead of over-representing it in fanciful words.
To sum up English as a tool is useful but not almighty. The command of language is one of the aspects of an engineering student’s academic life and prospective career, and the language is not necessarily English.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Importance of English to Engineers
Decades ago, there was a pervasive misconception about the importance of English to engineers. Engineers were thought to be people who were always doing technical things behind stage. Therefore, English is not playing an important part in their career. However, more and more people are holding another view that English is an indispensable part for an engineer.The change of people's view may also reveal the significant change of demand for engineering skills.
First, English is important for communication in a large project team. As a matter of fact, big project teams consisting tens or hundreds of engineers are very common nowadays. There is a trend that projects will need teams with more and more engineers to support. In this sense, engineers need to have a good knowledge of the English language to maximize the efficiency in collaboration and quality in output. With the background of globalization, high chances are a project team would have engineers from different countries. Due to the education and culture differences, they may have different approaches to a same problem. Only by communicating effectively, collisions and misunderstanding would be minimized with inspirations created.
Second, the importance of English also lies in the selling of engineers' designs. The fact is that most of the techniques developed for solving a same problem would be similar or at least not easily distinguishable. Thus, Engineers need the skill to sell the best points of the design, to make people believe in the value of his/her design. Take Apple as an example, the mac notebooks designed by Apple are definitely not much better than notebooks produced by others in terms of performance. It is the concept behind the design that counts. It is easy to see the importance of English to engineers.
In conclusion, English is playing an important role in the career of engineers. It not only help engineers achieve higher efficiency of collaboration, it also adds value to the designs of engineers.
First, English is important for communication in a large project team. As a matter of fact, big project teams consisting tens or hundreds of engineers are very common nowadays. There is a trend that projects will need teams with more and more engineers to support. In this sense, engineers need to have a good knowledge of the English language to maximize the efficiency in collaboration and quality in output. With the background of globalization, high chances are a project team would have engineers from different countries. Due to the education and culture differences, they may have different approaches to a same problem. Only by communicating effectively, collisions and misunderstanding would be minimized with inspirations created.
Second, the importance of English also lies in the selling of engineers' designs. The fact is that most of the techniques developed for solving a same problem would be similar or at least not easily distinguishable. Thus, Engineers need the skill to sell the best points of the design, to make people believe in the value of his/her design. Take Apple as an example, the mac notebooks designed by Apple are definitely not much better than notebooks produced by others in terms of performance. It is the concept behind the design that counts. It is easy to see the importance of English to engineers.
In conclusion, English is playing an important role in the career of engineers. It not only help engineers achieve higher efficiency of collaboration, it also adds value to the designs of engineers.
The Significance of English Language in Engineering Students' Academic Life and Prospective Career
As we know, there are a lot of language in the world. Different countries have different languages, for example, Chinese speak Mandarin and Indonesian speak Bahasa Indonesia. They need a language that both of them understand to be able to communicate each other. This is where English takes place as a language to connect people in the world.
As we know, English is a very important language. People accross the countries communicate using English as their language of communication. English is the only way to connect people with different race, country, and language. They who can not speak English fluently will have difficulties to communicate with people who do not share the same language as them. So why do engineering students have to be able to speak English fluently? What is it for to them?
In real life, engineering students will not be able to do all kind of things by themself. They will face many problems that can not be solved without asking other people with other knowledges to help them. Those people may be from other countries also, because sometimes engineering student's will not find the answer for their questions from people from their own country only. This is why English is very important.
Another importance of English is that because engineering students have to use English to express their thoughts, ideas, and inovations in order to make every person in the world understand what exactly his or her ideas are. Hence, in my opinion, English is a very important language that every engineering students need to study it.
As we know, English is a very important language. People accross the countries communicate using English as their language of communication. English is the only way to connect people with different race, country, and language. They who can not speak English fluently will have difficulties to communicate with people who do not share the same language as them. So why do engineering students have to be able to speak English fluently? What is it for to them?
In real life, engineering students will not be able to do all kind of things by themself. They will face many problems that can not be solved without asking other people with other knowledges to help them. Those people may be from other countries also, because sometimes engineering student's will not find the answer for their questions from people from their own country only. This is why English is very important.
Another importance of English is that because engineering students have to use English to express their thoughts, ideas, and inovations in order to make every person in the world understand what exactly his or her ideas are. Hence, in my opinion, English is a very important language that every engineering students need to study it.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Portfolio 3 - Issue on Roundtable Discussion
Our last roundtable discussion which was being held on Week 10, was discussing about nuclear reactors and its future. Nowadays, people are too scared with nuclear reactors. The reason is because nuclear has a very destructive power which can destroy the entire city, like what happens at Chernobyl. In the last twenty years since Chernobyl disaster, scientists around the world are searching for a better solution to reduce the risks on using nuclear reactors. They try so hard so that they can fulfill the demands on energy without making people scared on it. They try to make it as safe as possible. Last year, scientists came up with new types of nuclear reactors which are claimed to be safer and also more efficient in producing energy than the old nuclear reactors. These new types are called nuclear reactors Generation IV (GEN IV).
GEN IV consists of 6 types of nuclear reactors. They are gas-cooled fast reactor, very high temperature reactor, lead-cooled fast reactor, molten-salt reactor, sodium-cooled fast reactor, and super-critical water-cooled system. These six nuclear reactors is different each other. Although, six of them are the solution from scientists to surmount the problems regarding nuclear reactors, there are still some arguments whether they are really safe or not. Many people still suffering because of Chernobyl disaster, therefore, some countries still do not want to use that. Hence, one thing that scientists should do is making a prove that these new types of nuclear reactors is safer. If they do that, I am sure that GEN IV will be developed faster and finished sooner than now.
GEN IV consists of 6 types of nuclear reactors. They are gas-cooled fast reactor, very high temperature reactor, lead-cooled fast reactor, molten-salt reactor, sodium-cooled fast reactor, and super-critical water-cooled system. These six nuclear reactors is different each other. Although, six of them are the solution from scientists to surmount the problems regarding nuclear reactors, there are still some arguments whether they are really safe or not. Many people still suffering because of Chernobyl disaster, therefore, some countries still do not want to use that. Hence, one thing that scientists should do is making a prove that these new types of nuclear reactors is safer. If they do that, I am sure that GEN IV will be developed faster and finished sooner than now.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Portfolio 3 - Issues on Roundtable Discussion
From the round table discussion held in October, 2009 by our classmates, it was the consensus that the nuclear power will be the sole solution to meet the increasing demand for energy. In addition, the Generation IV Nuclear Energy System is believed to be safer and more efficient. However, the approach to the problem is mainly from a technical point of view. Which I strongly feel is deviating from the real life situation.
Discarding the engineering approach, or rather looking into the problem from a broader base, does a single solution solve the problem of population increase, environmental pollution and providing safe and abundant energy? If it does, it will be more dangerous. The demand of Man is never satisfied. One propulsion which makes us ‘engineer’ the world at our convenience.
Nuclear power fanatic claim that the Gen IV system is the best in many aspects. It seems true because right now our scientific knowledge can only enable us to implement in such way. However, decades later there will be Gen V, Gen VI and so on to replace the current one, with knowledge gained probably from the failure of Gen V reactors. Previous nuclear power systems were also thought to be the ‘best’ at that point of time. Therefore the current claim is invalid.
Professionals tend to present the advantages with jargon, to shy the general public away from discussing with them in technical aspects. Though it is ‘safe’, in real life the risk is never 0. Theoretically risk can be minimized (from research), assumed (by the public), transferred (to other institutions such as an insurance company) or avoided. For the public, avoiding a tame monster is still better than living next to it, no matter how tame it is. However, technocracy has determined that with/without our consent, the program will still carry on. (And we have to support one of the reactors in order to complete EG1471)
Discarding the engineering approach, or rather looking into the problem from a broader base, does a single solution solve the problem of population increase, environmental pollution and providing safe and abundant energy? If it does, it will be more dangerous. The demand of Man is never satisfied. One propulsion which makes us ‘engineer’ the world at our convenience.
Nuclear power fanatic claim that the Gen IV system is the best in many aspects. It seems true because right now our scientific knowledge can only enable us to implement in such way. However, decades later there will be Gen V, Gen VI and so on to replace the current one, with knowledge gained probably from the failure of Gen V reactors. Previous nuclear power systems were also thought to be the ‘best’ at that point of time. Therefore the current claim is invalid.
Professionals tend to present the advantages with jargon, to shy the general public away from discussing with them in technical aspects. Though it is ‘safe’, in real life the risk is never 0. Theoretically risk can be minimized (from research), assumed (by the public), transferred (to other institutions such as an insurance company) or avoided. For the public, avoiding a tame monster is still better than living next to it, no matter how tame it is. However, technocracy has determined that with/without our consent, the program will still carry on. (And we have to support one of the reactors in order to complete EG1471)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
On the safety and security issues of VHTR from the roundtable discussion
Though the outlook of the new generation nuclear energy reactors is bright, the safety and security issues are still concerning to most of the people. From the roundtable discussion we had, I have gained more insight into this problem.
According to my knowledge of this topic, the safety level of VHTR is promising in most of the situations. It was because VHTR adopts the passive safety design which only depends on physical phenomena such as convection, gravity or resistance to high temperatures, not on functioning of engineered components. The passive safety engineering design excludes any unreliable engineering components or human interventions which are believed to be responsible for the worst nuclear disasters seen in human history. Unlike most positive feedback systems, the VHTR system tends to cool itself down when an abnormal rise of temperature is detected. Another design also prevents local bumping which might harm the apparatus.
Apart from the safety issue, many people are also concerned about the security issue – whether the VHTR would become the victims of terrorism. Taking all the possibilities into account, the terrorists would not be able to damage any nuclear energy reactors around the world in 99.99% situations. As a matter of fact, VHTR is actually among the most “hard” targets, which is much more resistant to terrorist attacks than any other civil installations. Thinking of the worst situation where a largest commercial airplane is hijacked for suicide attack, a group of scientist in America has done a group of experiments. The experiments gave the results that even a fully-fueled large aircraft at its full speed would not cause any critical damage to the reactors.
Therefore, we would be confident enough to conclude that VHTR is safe and secure. Installing VHTRs would not lead to potential disasters that would wipe out the human beings. VHTRs are also free from any malicious attacks by terrorists. VHTR is one of the promising energy sources in the future.
According to my knowledge of this topic, the safety level of VHTR is promising in most of the situations. It was because VHTR adopts the passive safety design which only depends on physical phenomena such as convection, gravity or resistance to high temperatures, not on functioning of engineered components. The passive safety engineering design excludes any unreliable engineering components or human interventions which are believed to be responsible for the worst nuclear disasters seen in human history. Unlike most positive feedback systems, the VHTR system tends to cool itself down when an abnormal rise of temperature is detected. Another design also prevents local bumping which might harm the apparatus.
Apart from the safety issue, many people are also concerned about the security issue – whether the VHTR would become the victims of terrorism. Taking all the possibilities into account, the terrorists would not be able to damage any nuclear energy reactors around the world in 99.99% situations. As a matter of fact, VHTR is actually among the most “hard” targets, which is much more resistant to terrorist attacks than any other civil installations. Thinking of the worst situation where a largest commercial airplane is hijacked for suicide attack, a group of scientist in America has done a group of experiments. The experiments gave the results that even a fully-fueled large aircraft at its full speed would not cause any critical damage to the reactors.
Therefore, we would be confident enough to conclude that VHTR is safe and secure. Installing VHTRs would not lead to potential disasters that would wipe out the human beings. VHTRs are also free from any malicious attacks by terrorists. VHTR is one of the promising energy sources in the future.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Do you think that homosexual sex should be criminalized?
If we remove ‘homosexual’ in this question, the answer is a definite ‘no’ in all countries, except for the Vatican City. The controversy lies in the word ‘homosexual’ because the degree of acceptance differs in every continent. As indicated in the geographic distribution, countries which severely criminalize homosexuality are mostly in the Middle East and Africa, less severe in other places of the world.
Homosexual behavior should not be criminalized due to several reasons. In my opinion, human are not absolute homosexual/heterosexual. Their sexual orientation is not absolute until they are in love with someone who may be from the same gender, which leads to a new self-discovery. Therefore no one should accuse the others for being homosexual, as they may become one under the same circumstances. Besides, it is normal for human to develop fondness between each other. For example the ancient Greeks are well known for their special affiliation between men. We can infer that scholars, philosophers found mutuality easier amongst themselves, compared to women who were less educated. The famous term ‘Platonic love’ originated from ancient Greek too, between Plato and his students. It suggests the spiritual attraction between people, an alternative term is Agape in Greek. In another way, sex can be driven by the basic physical need, known as Eros. The former is what distincts Man from other animals because we don’t ‘mate’ by the instinct to generate offspring like animals. This has proven that ‘mating’ for homo sapiens is not restricted to opposite genders.
In conclusion, homosexual sex should not be criminalized especially in a secular society, as there’s no specific reason to prosecute the homosexuals. When two souls are devoted to each other, whether they proceed with physical intimacy is their own choice. The negative perception on homosexuals is their openness of relationship and having more than one partner, made them being blamed for spread of STDs. This should not confuse with the criminalization of homosexuality because infidelity is to be condemned, in both homo or heterosexual relationships.
Homosexual behavior should not be criminalized due to several reasons. In my opinion, human are not absolute homosexual/heterosexual. Their sexual orientation is not absolute until they are in love with someone who may be from the same gender, which leads to a new self-discovery. Therefore no one should accuse the others for being homosexual, as they may become one under the same circumstances. Besides, it is normal for human to develop fondness between each other. For example the ancient Greeks are well known for their special affiliation between men. We can infer that scholars, philosophers found mutuality easier amongst themselves, compared to women who were less educated. The famous term ‘Platonic love’ originated from ancient Greek too, between Plato and his students. It suggests the spiritual attraction between people, an alternative term is Agape in Greek. In another way, sex can be driven by the basic physical need, known as Eros. The former is what distincts Man from other animals because we don’t ‘mate’ by the instinct to generate offspring like animals. This has proven that ‘mating’ for homo sapiens is not restricted to opposite genders.
In conclusion, homosexual sex should not be criminalized especially in a secular society, as there’s no specific reason to prosecute the homosexuals. When two souls are devoted to each other, whether they proceed with physical intimacy is their own choice. The negative perception on homosexuals is their openness of relationship and having more than one partner, made them being blamed for spread of STDs. This should not confuse with the criminalization of homosexuality because infidelity is to be condemned, in both homo or heterosexual relationships.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
My opinions on decriminalization of homosexuality
According to Wikipedia, homosexuality refers to romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or in an enduring disposition. Homosexuality is usually taken as abnormal or even immoral by some communities. Though legalization of homosexuality has raised heated debate over this issue and drawn much attention to the marginal community these years, it may have a history as long as human’s history itself. As the term “Greek love” implies, homosexuality might even be a common practice among ancient Greek. However, in some countries like Singapore, the practice of homosexuality is still a taboo, which is even forbidden by the law.
The recent chaos in the AWARE was also centered on the issue of homosexuality, which raised another round of fierce debate over whether homosexuality should be decriminalized. In my opinion, normal homosexuality should be decriminalized as long as they do not stir up too much trouble. Law, which functions as a treaty among all the citizens in a whole nation, should only maximize reasonable individual rights for everybody and keep the society ordered and free of chaos. Without evidence, we should not be arbitrary to conclude that homosexuality is wrong and would certainly lead to inconvenient consequences for the whole society. Moreover, law should not violate individual’s right to choose his/her companion only because of the gender as law would never ban a man from falling in love with a cat. The choice of companion should always remain personal and not judged by others.
However, some people may argue that we should ban homosexuality only because it is immoral. Though morality is rather subtle compared with the law, we have to admit that certain rituals and common practice in a society help keep the society united and stabilized. As soon as we violate it, uncomfortableness would be aroused among some people, which would result in unfavorable situation like conflicts. This reminds us that the process of decriminalization of homosexuality should not be carried out rashly. The changes of the law should be consistent with the changes of the morality. For example, people in China were very reserved before the reform and open policy. A scene of kissing would never appear on TV due to its “inappropriateness”. In the following decades, the morality in China has changed a lot which requires the law to update itself regularly. This is the same with the case of decriminalization of homosexuality. Since it is still a not-so-comfortable concept for some people, we should carry it out step by step.
In a nutshell, homosexuality should be decriminalized as it does not violate others’ rights and itself should be considered as normal human rights. However, in the process of decriminalization, we should be careful and not too rash.
The recent chaos in the AWARE was also centered on the issue of homosexuality, which raised another round of fierce debate over whether homosexuality should be decriminalized. In my opinion, normal homosexuality should be decriminalized as long as they do not stir up too much trouble. Law, which functions as a treaty among all the citizens in a whole nation, should only maximize reasonable individual rights for everybody and keep the society ordered and free of chaos. Without evidence, we should not be arbitrary to conclude that homosexuality is wrong and would certainly lead to inconvenient consequences for the whole society. Moreover, law should not violate individual’s right to choose his/her companion only because of the gender as law would never ban a man from falling in love with a cat. The choice of companion should always remain personal and not judged by others.
However, some people may argue that we should ban homosexuality only because it is immoral. Though morality is rather subtle compared with the law, we have to admit that certain rituals and common practice in a society help keep the society united and stabilized. As soon as we violate it, uncomfortableness would be aroused among some people, which would result in unfavorable situation like conflicts. This reminds us that the process of decriminalization of homosexuality should not be carried out rashly. The changes of the law should be consistent with the changes of the morality. For example, people in China were very reserved before the reform and open policy. A scene of kissing would never appear on TV due to its “inappropriateness”. In the following decades, the morality in China has changed a lot which requires the law to update itself regularly. This is the same with the case of decriminalization of homosexuality. Since it is still a not-so-comfortable concept for some people, we should carry it out step by step.
In a nutshell, homosexuality should be decriminalized as it does not violate others’ rights and itself should be considered as normal human rights. However, in the process of decriminalization, we should be careful and not too rash.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Do You Think That Homosexual Should Be Criminalized?
These days, homosexuality is becoming a new “trend” in the world. A lot of people is being affected by this “trend”. Do you know what homosexuality is? It is a condition or situation where someone likes someone else who is in the same gender. For your own information, guys who like other guys is called gay, and girls who like other girls is called lesbian. They can not be considered as normal because of their attitudes, although this abnormality is not 100% caused by them. There are several reasons why someone turns into a homosexual person. Now the question is, should homosexual be criminalized? Are they the one who wrong? Is it a mistake?
In my opinion, there is no need to criminalize homosexual because they do not do anything wrong to others. They do not act against the law. But, we can not say that their attitudes are correct either. They have already tought a bad habit to the society especially to children by doing homosexuality in public places. They also can affect people’s morality. So, despite the fact that we should not punish them, we should restrict them for showing their homosexuality in public. I mean it is okay if they want to do homosexuality in their own house, but not in public places so that the rate of homosexuality will not increase.
Homosexuality also against our morality. Usually men fall in love with women, and women will fall in love with men. It is what we call normal according to our morality. But, homosexual make it different. They love someone in the same gender. This will disturb the balance of the nature if it is continued without being controlled by the government.
In the end, I want to conclude that we do not have to criminalize homosexual. They have rights to be homosexual. But, we have to prevent it from spreading, so we can decrease the number of homosexuality. In this case, government have to take part in controlling the spreading of homosexuality by making some rules.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
How to Innovate
Due to some unforeseen technical reasons, one of our group member was not able to log-in to post. Please refer to the URL below.
Link to Wang Jing's ePortfolio:
http://zephyrus-back-garden.blogspot.com/
Link to Wang Jing's ePortfolio:
http://zephyrus-back-garden.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Adoption/Non-adoption of Technological Innovations
More than 100 students have turned up to a presentation made by Dr. Benjamin Sovacool from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy on Aug 28, 2009. He has brought up the adoption or non-adoption of technological innovations from a sociological approach, which reveals the underlying reasons from different perspectives.
This methodology, as knows as the social science systems approach, challenges the conventional way people analyses technology. In his presentation, Dr Sovacool had supported his views with examples of the Challenger accident and the picture phone, where the reasons of the failure or non-adoption were much sophisticated. Technology alone was not able to determine the success or failure of the innovation. By looking into the political and social aspects, the exact reason of failure becomes more perspicuous.
An invention might be successful in the laboratory, but might not be well-accepted by the general public. Or it might be adopted for a period of time like the picture phone, but eventually being eliminated due to certain reasons. Another strong example which Dr Sovacool has presented was the non-adoption of electric vehicles. Despite its benefits and advantages, the market of electric vehicles saw a shrink in 30 years time and was eventually overtaken by gasoline vehicles. From the social science systems approach, Dr Sovacool has listed the challenges posed to electric vehicles, including the declining cost of petrol, mass production of gasoline vehicle, advertising, availability of insurance, war, road tax and so on. Due to these economical, political and social challenges, gasoline vehicles became dominant in the market and continued up-to-date.
In conclusion, the social science systems approach suggests the acceptance of technological innovations from a broad sphere, not limited to technical factors. The key focus should be looking into the matter as a whole but not just a single factor. 'Technologies are holistic in the way they interact with the society.' said Dr Sovacool.
This methodology, as knows as the social science systems approach, challenges the conventional way people analyses technology. In his presentation, Dr Sovacool had supported his views with examples of the Challenger accident and the picture phone, where the reasons of the failure or non-adoption were much sophisticated. Technology alone was not able to determine the success or failure of the innovation. By looking into the political and social aspects, the exact reason of failure becomes more perspicuous.
An invention might be successful in the laboratory, but might not be well-accepted by the general public. Or it might be adopted for a period of time like the picture phone, but eventually being eliminated due to certain reasons. Another strong example which Dr Sovacool has presented was the non-adoption of electric vehicles. Despite its benefits and advantages, the market of electric vehicles saw a shrink in 30 years time and was eventually overtaken by gasoline vehicles. From the social science systems approach, Dr Sovacool has listed the challenges posed to electric vehicles, including the declining cost of petrol, mass production of gasoline vehicle, advertising, availability of insurance, war, road tax and so on. Due to these economical, political and social challenges, gasoline vehicles became dominant in the market and continued up-to-date.
In conclusion, the social science systems approach suggests the acceptance of technological innovations from a broad sphere, not limited to technical factors. The key focus should be looking into the matter as a whole but not just a single factor. 'Technologies are holistic in the way they interact with the society.' said Dr Sovacool.
Formula SAE Team
Formula 1 always attract people attention because it is a race that not only challenge the drivers to drive the cars as fast as possible, but also challenge the cars itself. After a competition, most of the viewers will have a question in their mind, who is the fastest driver in this race? What car that he use? Who build the car? That's why people always enjoy to watch Formula 1 races and they always curious about it.
Knowing that Formula 1 is quite famous in the world, NUS also create its own Team. They call it Formula SAE Team. It is a project under guidance of Prof Seah Kar Heng which started the project since 2001. The team consist of 12 team members which is divided by 6 student from year 4 and the others from year 3. Actually, every year, Proff Seah select 12 students from year 2 to be trained for preparing them join the main team. But, after 1 year selection, there will be only 6 students who will join the main team in year 3.
The car they use to compete at Michigan is a car that they build themself, by selecting the material, calculating, and even constructing it. The car being constructed not only to reach a maximum speed, but also look for the safety of the driver because in this race we can say that the drivers put his life on the line. One miscalculation, and it is over.
Every year they have to use different car with different model and machine. Until this year, the FSAE team has already built 7 cars which is being used to compete in 7 competition at Michigan, USA. The result is very good. They always raise their rank in the world each year. However, they still have a long way to beat teams from Europe.
Knowing that Formula 1 is quite famous in the world, NUS also create its own Team. They call it Formula SAE Team. It is a project under guidance of Prof Seah Kar Heng which started the project since 2001. The team consist of 12 team members which is divided by 6 student from year 4 and the others from year 3. Actually, every year, Proff Seah select 12 students from year 2 to be trained for preparing them join the main team. But, after 1 year selection, there will be only 6 students who will join the main team in year 3.
The car they use to compete at Michigan is a car that they build themself, by selecting the material, calculating, and even constructing it. The car being constructed not only to reach a maximum speed, but also look for the safety of the driver because in this race we can say that the drivers put his life on the line. One miscalculation, and it is over.
Every year they have to use different car with different model and machine. Until this year, the FSAE team has already built 7 cars which is being used to compete in 7 competition at Michigan, USA. The result is very good. They always raise their rank in the world each year. However, they still have a long way to beat teams from Europe.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Robotics: mobile manipulation
A new generation of robots incorporated the technology of mobile manipulation are turning human being’s wildest fantasy into tangible reality. Though the robots are still not remotely comparable to the androids we have seen in movies like I, robot or Bicentennial man, they will be active in many fields considered dangerous or inappropriate for human beings like planetary exploration and explosive ordnance disposal. In addition, these robots also function as auxiliaries in performing household tasks and navigating vehicles. With these robots, we are witnessing many impossible being turned into possible.
However, several obstacles must be overcome before those robots being produced in mass and widely employed. First of all, the primary problem a mobile robot is faced with is to map and localize itself, in other words, navigate. It may be much easier for us to walk than to teach a robot to navigate with its wheels. In order to achieve this, a generic algorithm for analyzing features of the surroundings and fast speed of processing mass data of images are essential. Second, unlike robots fixed in an assembling line, those robots are required to deal with all kinds of unmodeled or unanticipated situations. As a result, they need algorithms which are able to deal with ambiguities and take real-time actions. Lastly, even though all the theoretical problems are all solved, advances may be bottlenecked by technical limitation, because we have to build small devices which are able to generate disproportionate forces. That is extraordinarily difficult to construct mechanically. Hopefully, all of these obstacles will be overcome within several decades.
In a nutshell, an emerging trend shows the robots of next generation will have the core technology of mobile manipulation. With this new technology, people’s life would be improved and many unprecedented successes would be achieved within decades. However, we must first focus on the hurdles blocking the path leading to the bright future.
However, several obstacles must be overcome before those robots being produced in mass and widely employed. First of all, the primary problem a mobile robot is faced with is to map and localize itself, in other words, navigate. It may be much easier for us to walk than to teach a robot to navigate with its wheels. In order to achieve this, a generic algorithm for analyzing features of the surroundings and fast speed of processing mass data of images are essential. Second, unlike robots fixed in an assembling line, those robots are required to deal with all kinds of unmodeled or unanticipated situations. As a result, they need algorithms which are able to deal with ambiguities and take real-time actions. Lastly, even though all the theoretical problems are all solved, advances may be bottlenecked by technical limitation, because we have to build small devices which are able to generate disproportionate forces. That is extraordinarily difficult to construct mechanically. Hopefully, all of these obstacles will be overcome within several decades.
In a nutshell, an emerging trend shows the robots of next generation will have the core technology of mobile manipulation. With this new technology, people’s life would be improved and many unprecedented successes would be achieved within decades. However, we must first focus on the hurdles blocking the path leading to the bright future.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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