Technical objects who are becoming more intelligent !

Article 1 : A robot can finally sew a t-shirt

The garment industry has long resisted automation for one key reason: soft fabric is difficult for robots to handle. Whereas cars and computers are made of rigid metal and plastic, clothing is by its nature malleable. It requires a great level of precision to feed a piece of cloth into a sewing machine and create a straight seam. That's meant that humans still need to manually perform many of the steps in clothing production.

Web developer and inventor Jonathan Zornow has found an ingenious way to get around robots' difficulty with cloth. He uses a water-soluble thermoplastic to coat the fabric, making it as stiff as cardboard and easy to handle for the robot. His robot, Sewbo, can grab this fabric and feed it through a regular sewing machine. When a piece of clothing is finished, it's merely immersed in hot water and the plastic coating melts off to reveal a complete garment.

Robots already do a lot of work in clothing manufacturing, like cutting fabric, so Zornow's invention intentionally focused on their weak spots. Right now, the robot takes about 30 minutes to make a shirt, which isn't bad considering the labor is free after the robot's cost.

Co.Design reports that Zornow has received a "large amount of interest from investors and manufacturers" since launching Sewbo in September. If this technology takes off, it could revolutionize not just the way clothes are made, but also the dynamics of the global economy. Right now, the West outsources much of its garment making to places with cheap labor, like China or Bangladesh.

Garment making is often dangerous and many workers are treated and paid poorly, so it's easy to see the automation of this industry as a net positive. But millions of poor workers would also be out of jobs and it's unclear what kind of effect the loss of this massive industry could have on developing nations where it's a central source of income. Whatever happens, watching the Sewbo work, it's clear that automation is coming very soon—whether we like it or not.

Resume :

Robots will change the clothing world and especially in the level of production. This method will produce more clothes faster. This can increase the economy but there are several problems in this system. Indeed, as the article says, many Western companies are relocating their production to Asian countries such as Bangladesh because it's countries have very low labor prices. Many Asian can work through outsourcing and the emergence of robots in this sector can be catastrophic for them. Now we must ask if it is better to produce more clothing by removing labor or if you must limit the number of robots to allow humians to keep their jobs. Perhaps that new technologies find here their limits. Robots do not need to create more unemployment to increase production.

Article 2 : New electric bus 

A new electric, zero-emission vehicle has an impressive range: The city bus can travel 350 miles (560 kilometers) on a single charge, potentially being able to complete a full day's work without needing to be recharged.

Set for release next year from the startup Proterra, the Catalyst E2 Series electric vehicle debuted last week at the American Public Transit Association (APTA) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Proterra named the new bus for its unprecedented battery, which can store up to 660 kWh. In comparison, the Chevy's electric passenger car

the Bolt has a 60 kWh battery, and the largest Tesla Model S has a 100 kWh battery.

Last month, an E2 vehicle logged more than 600 miles (965 km) on a single charge under test conditions at Michelin's Laurens Proving Grounds in South Carolina. 

With a nominal range of 194 to 350 miles (310 to 560 km), Proterra claims that the Catalyst E2 series is capable of fulfilling a full day's mileage on one charge for nearly every U.S. mass transit route.

"Proterra's primary goal has always been to create a purpose-built, high-performance electric vehicle that can serve every single transit route in the United States. Today, with the unveiling of the Catalyst E2 Series, that goal has been achieved," Ryan Popple, CEO of Proterra, said in a statement. "With the Catalyst E2 offering a no-compromise replacement for all fossil fuel buses, battery-electric vehicles have now broken down the final barrier to widespread market adoption."

One hurdle for electric vehicles can be the need for charging infrastructure. For public buses, however, there is no need for extensive charging stations because the vehicles drive along defined routes. They are also usually parked overnight, so the long charge times — a Catalyst E2 Series takes 3 to 5 hours for a full charge — are less problematic. 

Interest in Proterra's existing lineup of electric buses is on the rise, according to the company, with sales that are 220 percent higher in 2016 than they were in 2015. Due to the demand, the manufacturer plans to double production in 2017.

To date, Proterra has sold more than 312 vehicles to 35 different municipal, university and commercial transit agencies. The company estimates that its buses across the U.S. have displaced 540,000 gallons of diesel fuel and eliminated more than 10 million pounds of carbon emission. 

"We just surpassed one million miles of revenue service with our battery-electric Proterra fleet, and we're looking forward to many more miles to come," Doran Barnes, executive director at Foothill Transit in Southern California, said in the statement. "Since our first EV bus procurement with Proterra in 2010, we knew that zero-emission buses were the future of mass transit. Now, with the new Catalyst E2, this vision is a reality. We're excited by the possibilities of an all-electric future."

Resume :

This electric bus is a revolution for the transport.  These buses represents the future of transportation. The aim is to cover a maximum of kilometers and consume as little as possible. This type of transport grows very well in the US, indeed the company that produces these buses, Proterra, developed 220% her production compared to 2015. These bus opens new horizons for transport. One day trains, cars and maybe airplanes will not need fuel and emissions will decrease significantly.