io9: industry

Know Your Nuclear Reactors with Illustrated Wall Charts

Lauren Davis — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:30:00 PST

Nuclear reactors are an unlikely source of art, but the complex workings of these machines have a strange, industrial beauty to them. These incredibly detailed wall charts explain the inner workings of the machines and display them in cutaways.

Nuclear Reactor Wall Charts [Flickr via BibliOdyssey]

Real-Life Stargate Discovered?

Annalee Newitz — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:30:00 PST

This is actually a massive boring device, captured by the Department of Energy. Geoff Manaugh of BLDG BLOG came across it a few days ago.

A Giant Robot That Kills Trees More Efficiently

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:46:18 PST

Check out this scary video of a Terminator-esque "harvester" machine that cuts a tree down, shaves its branches and bark off, and then spits it out in perfect, standard log lengths. (Thanks, Gregory!)

Meet Your New Robot Overlord: The Autonomous Mining Truck

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:22:27 PDT

So you already know about autonomous aerial vehicles being used in combat and surveillance — they're little planes that look almost like toys. Not so with the next generation of autonomous vehicles. A group of researchers at Carnegie Mellon have just won a contract to create a robotic system that would make this badass 797B Caterpillar mining vehicle into an autonomous hulk with no driver on board. This is clearly one of Skynet's minions in the making.

The 797B weighs 1,375,000 pounds, which means it can pulverize you and your whole gang of ninjas with no effort at all. This gives you a sense of the scale, with a human about half the size of one of its tyres:

Here is the Cat 3524B engine, below, which powers our mega-robot.

And here is a schematic showing how the already-computer-operated controls function. Presumably, the Carnegie Mellon team will create a way to control these computers wirelessly so that a remote operator can push the start button. If you want to see more, you can download a PDF with tons of information about the 797B from Caterpillar.

Generally, the 797B is used in mining operations purely as a hauler. It can haul 380 tons of rock at up to 42 mph. Imagine what would happen if the 797B got pissed that you weren't respecting its robot rights — that's 380 tons of rock moving toward your face at a pretty high velocity. So mind your manners, and always say please and thank you when dealing with the autonomous 797B, which will be hitting the market in 2010.

Images via Caterpillar.

You Call That a UGV? This is a UGV [via Ares]

Hot Running Steel

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:16:01 PDT

When you see a picture of molten steel pouring out of a faucet into the sink, you might guess it's a piece of art rather than an actual industrial machine. But this image is quite real, and I wouldn't recommend rinsing your hands in that sink. It's a photo from a French factory that manufactures steel tubes for oil and gas lines. Below, we've got more insane steel goo, plus an artist's homage to giant ladles of molten steel.

The image above is of a ferrosilicon factory in Xining, China. Below is a piece of large public art that was on display in Hemlington, England.

Top two images via Patrick Landmann/Getty. Bottom art image via Oobject (where they have a ton of images of molten steel), with thanks to David for the tip.

The Gold Smelting Factory of Kyrgyzstan

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:00:00 PDT

This gigantic tool is an ore-grinding machine at the Kumtore gold mine, the largest in Central Asia. The mine clings to the side of the Tien Shien mountain range, 4200 meters above sea level in Issyk Kul Province, Kyrgyzstan. Want to see the process of smelting gold up there in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan?

This picture isn't just gorgeous. It's also confirmation that mining technologies haven't changed much over the past two centuries, though the engineers' shiny Hazmat getups have. Images by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds via Getty.