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Doesn't really sound sexy, but this is of utmost importance for next generation grids for renewable energy.

I agree on the significance indeed - a small boost also for my favourite Desertec project ... Though their language is a bit too "grandiose": "ABB has successfully designed and developed a hybrid DC breaker after years of research, functional testing and simulation in the R&D laboratories. This breaker is a breakthrough that solves a technical challenge that has been unresolved for over a hundred years and was perhaps one the main influencers in the 'war of currents' outcome. The 'hybrid' breaker combines mechanical and power electronics switching that enables it to interrupt power flows equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station within 5 milliseconds - that's as fast as a honey bee takes per flap of its wing - and more than 30 times faster than the reaction time of an Olympic 100-meter medalist to react to the starter's gun! But its not just about speed. The challenge was to do it 'ultra-fast' with minimal operational losses and this has been achieved by combining advanced ultrafast mechanical actuators with our inhouse semiconductor IGBT valve technologies or power electronics (watch video: Hybrid HVDC Breaker - How does it work). In terms of significance, this breaker is a 'game changer'. It removes a significant stumbling block in the development of HVDC transmission grids where planning can start now. These grids will enable interconnection and load balancing between HVDC power superhighways integrating renewables and transporting bulk power across long distances with minimal losses. DC grids will enable sharing of resources like lines and converter stations that provides reliability and redundancy in a power network in an economically viable manner with minimal losses. ABB's new Hybrid HVDC breaker, in simple terms will enable the transmission system to maintain power flow even if there is a fault on one of the lines. This is a major achievement for the global R&D team in ABB who have worked for years on the challeng

Sante, this thing is made of a superconductor-metamaterial hybrid. Should be non-linear enough for you :)

The device consists of a layer of superconducter, complemented by several layers of metamaterial. And the authors are afraid of potential abuse of this cloak to smuggle forbidden objets on airplanes etc. Hillarious! Another example how good research makes itself completely ridiculous by means of absurd claims about their potential usage.

New study on NASA strategy - though with strange hybrid mandate to on the one hand take the Obama strategy and then assess how well the strategy fits national goals (which I assume should be also Obama's) .... Leopold

Nice video featuring the technology. Plus it comes with a good soundtrack! Google's project wing uses a lifting wing concept (more fuel efficient than normal airplane layouts and MUCH more efficient than quadrocopters) but it equips the plane with engines strong enough to hover in a nose up position, allowing vertical landing and takeoff. For the delivery of packages the drone does not even need to land - it can lower them on a wire - much like the skycrane concept used to deliver the Curiosity rover on Mars. Not sure if the skycrane is really necessary but it is certainly cool. Anyways, the video is great for its soundtrack alone! ;-P

Fair enough, but even if you consider advanced/robust/efficient AI, why would you use a drone? Do we envision hundreds of drones above our heads in the street instead of UPS vans, or postmen, considering delivers letters might be more easily achievable. I am not so sure if personal delivery will take this route. On the other hand, if the system would work smoothly, I can image that I'm send a mail with the question whether I'm home (or they might know already from my personal GPS tracker) and then notify me that they are launching my DVD and it will come crashing into my door in 5min.

I'm more curios how they're planning to keep people from stealing the drones. I could do with a drone army myself and having cheap amazon or google drones flying about sounds like a decent source.

Navigation for robtos. That's how we should have done the hybrid controller study.

Well, it has always been a long discussion. Fungi are according to the most recent findings definitely no plants. Since they have always been in botanic textbooks, I would assume that they were never considered animals.No fauna, no flora, no stones. Maybe they are extraterrestrials. But that wouldn't solve the questions. Maybe they are just "fungi"?

what about then: "can we use them for space?"

for Mars? should we compare this to solar panels? or hybrid of the two? internal or possible ariadna?

An interesting review about a technology crucial for hybrid contollers.

new programming language - hybrid between c and python .... from google .... of any interest for us?

See the other post for my comments....

sorry - did not see Juxi's entry ....

Powered by solar energy, Thales Alenia's Stratobus has an operation lifespan of five-years and only needs ground maintenance just a few days a year Can hover 12.4 miles (20km) in the air and reaches altitudes of 20,000 meters.

of interest to Tom's project?

Some interesting ideas for our crowdsourcing game in here.

nice development! - not sure if it survives a crash test in this form at 70 or 110 km/h

This work establishes a methodology for scavenging light-wind energy and body-movement energy using fabrics.

And the video

A hybrid image classification method was employed for this specific purpose by incorporating the advantages of both pixel-based and object-based image classification approaches. This was performed in two steps: firstly, a pixel-based image classification method, i.e., artificial neural network was applied to classify potential targets with similar spectral reflectance at pixel level; and then an object-based image classification method was used to further differentiate animal targets from the surrounding landscapes through the applications of expert knowledge. As a result, the large animals in two pilot study areas were successfully detected with an average count error of 8.2%, omission error of 6.6% and commission error of 13.7%. The results of the study show for the first time that it is feasible to perform automated detection and counting of large wild animals in open savannahs from space

And Paul, it includes neural networks!

I kept telling you guys but you just laughed and laughed :))

Stacking laser printed supercapacitors (no clean room required btw) has lead to about 1100F/g and thus about 20-40Wh/L. For supercapacitors thats pretty damn good. For reference, Li-ion recently reached 650Wh/L. The gap is closing, although for supercaps of this type the theoretical maximum is 1400F/g.

Berkeley Lab researchers are using M. thermoacetica to perform photosynthesis - despite being non-photosynthetic - and also to synthesize semiconductor nanoparticles in a hybrid artificial photosynthesis system for converting sunlight into valuable chemical products.

Genetic algorithms are a competitive alternative for training deep neural networks for reinforcement learning. For paper see: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.06567.pdf

Interesting pointers in this one! I would like to explore neuroevolution as well, although it seems extremely resource-demanding?

Not necessarily, I think it can be made to be much faster hybridizing it with backprop and Taylor maps. Its one ideas in the closet we still have not explored (Differential Intelligence: accelerating neuroevolution).

A new class of exotic materials could find its way into next-generation technologies that efficiently convert waste heat into electrical current according to new research. Both the exotic materials and the means by which they generate electricity rely on a hybrid of advanced concepts-including string theory combined with black holes combined with cutting-edge condensed matter physics.

Sounds spooky