“Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don't have.”
– Anthony Bourdain
1. Finally! Industrial-Grade Arduino
Italian hardware and software company Arduino, previously known for catering to hobbyists and educators, has expanded into the industrial packaging sector. It will introduce Opta for industrial automation and its System on Modules line for quick electronic development. It’s about time. Industry researchers have been slapping these things on machines along with sensors for various machine monitoring calculations forever. Finally, we have a purpose-built one for industry. Now we just need Raspberry Pi to do the same.
2. DOE raises $45 Million With AM Hand
The Department of Energy will provide $45 million to explore wind and water energy. Them stacks will go to two projects researching large-scale domestic manufacturing and clean energy supply chains. GE Research will lead the first project to develop a tool suite to increase efficiency and reduce waste in hydropower production that's enabled by additive manufacturing. The second project involves multiple universities, companies, and national labs that will investigate integrating AM to optimize wind power production.
3. How Do AM Shoes Wear and Tear?
Adidas' 4DFWD shoe line, produced with Silicon Valley-based startup Carbon, is one of the most successful consumer uses of additive manufacturing. But how do the shoes perform? Well, after a year of use, the 3D-printed shoes provide exceptional comfort, help improve posture, and remain impressively durable – but cleaning the intricate lattice shapes in the midsole isn’t fun. While the shoes retail at over $200 a pair, prices are expected to decrease as scalability increases… but probably not. Because money.
4. Low-Emissions LEGOs
LEGO has halted one of its multiple projects attempting to create oil-free bricks. The Danish toymaker experimented with using recycled polyethylene terephthalate in the bricks, but it unfortunately increased carbon emissions. The challenge is finding an eco-friendly material that retains the color, shine, and sound of oil-based plastic bricks. LEGO will continue to test and develop other materials, with the goal of producing toys from sustainable materials by 2032. Hopefully they’ll get around this block.
5. "Alexa, Buy Anthropic."
…said Bezos, probably. Amazon’s investing up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic. The joint effort will give Amazon's employees and cloud customers early access to Anthropic's tech while the startup will rely primarily on Amazon's cloud services and train its future AI models on large quantities of Amazon's proprietary chips. The immediate investment is $1.25 billion, with the potential for $2.75 billion more from Amazon. The deal allows Anthropic to prioritize safety as it scales its models. OK, Jeff. Nerd.
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