On January 16th 2019, major northeast grocery store chain, Stop & Shop, announced that it will be testing its new driverless robotic grocery stores in the Boston area. The new venture is in partnership with a San Fransisco start up called Robomart. The self driving vehicles will act as mini convenient stores loaded with convenience items, produce, and meal kits. One could think of the vehicles as Amazon Go stores on wheels.
Robomart will maintain and control the mini stores. If a consumer wants to place an order, they use an app to hail the autonomous vehicle. When the Stop & Shop mini store arrives, the consumer makes their choice, or choices from the items found within. Purchases are made through the use of RFID technology, which will recognize the items that have been chosen and the Robomart app will charge the consumer accordingly.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
China Lands On The Far Side Of The Moon
On January 3rd 2019, China announced that it had successfully landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, making it the first country to do so. The Chang'e 4 lander touched down in what is known as the Von Karman Crater at 2:26 GMT. The lander sent back the first close up images of the Moon's far side. They were transmitted back to Earth via a relay satellite called "Queqaio" or "Magpie Bridge," which was placed in orbit before the mission.
12 hours after the Chang'e 4 landed, a rover named Yutu 2 or Jade Rabbit 2 drove off the lander and began exploring the lunar surface. The Chang'e 4 lander also carried along a mini bioshpere which contained a small arabidopsis plant, which the Chinese hope will produce the first flower on the Moon. Cotton, rapeseed, and yeast are present there as well. The mission will also carry out the first astronomy observation from the Moon's far side.
12 hours after the Chang'e 4 landed, a rover named Yutu 2 or Jade Rabbit 2 drove off the lander and began exploring the lunar surface. The Chang'e 4 lander also carried along a mini bioshpere which contained a small arabidopsis plant, which the Chinese hope will produce the first flower on the Moon. Cotton, rapeseed, and yeast are present there as well. The mission will also carry out the first astronomy observation from the Moon's far side.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
On January 2nd 2019, NASA announced that its space craft, New Horizons had reached "Ultima Thule," and released the first photos from the event. "Ultima Thule," is an object in what is known as the Kuiper Belt, orbiting at 4 billion miles from the sun. Those photos have revealed that what was once thought of as being shaped as a bowling pin is now being observed as a two spherical lobed rock, about 21 miles in diameter.
Dr. S. Alan Stern, the mission's team leader, believes that the object once known as MU69 2014, is "Two separate objects that are joined together," or what's known as a "contact binary." Images taken with New Horizons color camera revealed that "Ultima Thule" is reddish in color. As New Horizons flew by "Ultima Thule," it collected some 50 gigabits of data that the space craft will transmit back to Earth. The data download is expected to take about two years
Dr. S. Alan Stern, the mission's team leader, believes that the object once known as MU69 2014, is "Two separate objects that are joined together," or what's known as a "contact binary." Images taken with New Horizons color camera revealed that "Ultima Thule" is reddish in color. As New Horizons flew by "Ultima Thule," it collected some 50 gigabits of data that the space craft will transmit back to Earth. The data download is expected to take about two years
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)