Secondary Catalogue

Almost fifty years ago the first industrial robot was "employed" in an automobile assembly plant. Robots are regularly used for hazardous, super-heavy and difficult tasks in manufacturing, agriculture, entertainment, medicine, and space exploration. Welding robots with touch sensing and seam tracking abilities increase assembly plant efficiency, while robotic surgery results in less pain, quicker recovery and shorter hospital stays. NASA's robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity are mapping the terrain and searching for evidence of water on Mars. Honda Motor Company's humanoid robot, ASIMO, can walk, run, recognize people and identify sounds and voices. Show Less

The automobile industry is going through revolutionary changes. The standard petroleum gasoline fuelled engine has some new competition from gas-electric hybrids, electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, natural gas vehicles and even some automobiles that get some of Alternative energy sources are being researched and developed to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Fluctuating costs of oil, coal and natural gas, along with their possible negative effects on the environment, has made energy sources such as wind and solar more cost-competitive with fossil fuels. More energy strikes the Earth in an hour than humans need in a year. We are now hard at work developing a variety of technologies to convert its power into energy that we can use to heat, cool and light our homes and businesses. This program sheds some light on photovoltaic cells and concentrated solar power as well as how they are able to convert the suns energy into electricity. Show Less

Fossil fuels have long been the world's energy source, but it wasn't always that way. Ancient Eastern cultures developed the first known wind mills for drawing water and grinding grains into flour. The modern three-blade, computer-controlled wind turbine does what all wind turbines have always done - harness the energy from the earth's constant flow of air. This program explores wind power's alternative energy production in today's oil-dependent economy - how it works and the environmental factors that scientists are researching. Show Less