Tech Archives - Mechtraveller

If we are past the winter solstice, why is sunrise getting later?

Alastair — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 18:47:48 +0000

Ok, I’m sure this has been troubling you, as it has me. I had an alarm set on my phone to mark the winter solstice (3.03pm Sun 21st Dec). Ok, it’s a little geeky, but it meant that when the moment came I could rejoice in the idea that we were heading back to the […]

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Some New Year Predictions

Alastair — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 16:27:58 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! What does the New Year hold for us, in the Mechtraveller worlds of engineering and technology? Well, off the top of my head, there are a few anticipated/scheduled events and a couple of predictions… Autonomous cars in London – We know Waymo has been human-driving their cars in recent months, gathering […]

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What would happen if your preferred Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) shut down?

Alastair — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 15:36:08 +0000

This is some interesting engineering. Have you wondered, as you watch your Amazon parcel “just 5 stops away”, what our world would look like if we suddenly lost GPS? It’s not just you, and a squillion delivery drivers. It would effect all transport systems (apart maybe for rail!), and it’s estimated that just a short […]

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AI Extraordinaire

Alastair — Sun, 23 Nov 2025 09:56:39 +0000

The potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerates by leaps and bounds, in all aspects including creativity. This is not really “cornerstone Mechtraveller” in that it hardly meets the ‘extraordinary engineering, history, industrial heritage, technology… and where you can see it criteria’ for a Mechtraveller post. Nor is it, technologically-speaking, new. So, in that respect, posting […]

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1 Million Deliveries by Autonomous Drone

Alastair — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:11:30 +0000

Zipline, a company specialising in autonomous drone delivery systems, announced on Friday that it had just completed one million paid commercial drone deliveries to customers. The company, headquartered San Francisco, has developed and operates its own autonomous drones which have now flown more than 70 million commercial miles across four continents and delivered more than […]

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Hurtigruten Norway Reveals Concept Designs for a Zero-Emission Cruise Ship

Alastair — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 16:25:41 +0000

Under project name Sea Zero, Hurtigruten Norway has unveiled plans for its first zero-emission ship, but we’re not going to be cruising around the fjords on it any time soon. The cruise ferry company, together with a consortium of 12 maritime partners and the research institute SINTEF, has been looking at ways of achieving emission-free […]

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Golden Globe Race 2022 – Sailing ‘Old School’!

Alastair — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 17:21:34 +0000

Twelve days ago, 16 sailors in small yachts set out from les Sables d’Olonne on the French Atlantic coast to race around the world, non-stop and single-handed in the 3rd edition of the Golden Globe Race. There’s nothing particularly unusual about that. There are a number of crewed round-the-world races these days and the Vendée […]

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An Electric Amphibious Boat with Foils

Alastair — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 09:01:58 +0000

French boat builder, Iguana Yachts, unveiled its latest amphibious boat at the Cannes Yachting Festival 2022 last week. The Iguana Foiler – “A boat that sails, lands and flies” – is an electric version of their previous models… with foils. The Normandy based company says that sustainability is important to them and, independent of heavy […]

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Blue X on the move

Alastair — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 14:39:08 +0000

It’s a serious piece of engineering, can you guess what Blue X is? Blue X is a wave machine, designed by Mocean Energy to generate green energy from the movement of the waves. Essentially, it pivots in the middle, and that’s where the generator is. This 10-kW prototype was pulled from the waters of Scapa […]

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Chinese company, Autoflight, has unveiled its design for an autonomous eVTOL passenger aircraft

Alastair — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 13:59:14 +0000

Shanghai-based avtech company, Autoflight, has debuted its autonomous fixed-wing passenger electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) concept at the China Airshow in Zhuhai. The V1500M, which is designed to carry 3-4 passengers at 200 km/h for up to 250 kilometres, is expected to have its maiden flight “in the near future”, with a target […]

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