Engineering Newswire: 580-Ton Machine Constructs Entire Viaduct

Pastry Chefs Inspire 3D Printed Solution to Dying Artificial Organs

Using a technique inspired by the intricate sugar glass cages crafted by pastry chefs, a team of bioengineers at Rice University and surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania have taken sugar, silicone, and a 3-D printer to create an implant with an intricate network of blood vessels.

The work could solve one of the biggest challenges in regenerative medicine: How do you deliver oxygen and nutrients to an artificial organ before it starts to die.

Self-Driving Delivery Robots.

Former Skype co-founders have announced the launch of a new company, Starship Technologies, to help improve the local delivery of goods and groceries, and making it virtually free with the help of robots.

The company plans on introducing fleets of the small delivery bots which would be capable of carrying the equivalent of two grocery bags.

580-Ton Machine Constructs Entire Viaduct

A 300 foot-long monster machine is being used to build entire bridges and viaducts in China. The contraption, called the Segmental Bridge Launching Machine, or SLJ900/32 acts almost like a snake to connect viaduct segments.

It was built by the Beijing Wowjoint Machinery Company and is made up of 64 wheels split up into four sections of 16 wheels each. Each section can also rotate 90 degrees, so that the entire machine can drive horizontally.