TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Bump helps workplace
social distancing
Peer-to-peer system issues alerts
JASON FORD reports
Advanced robotics specialist
Tharsus is addressing the
complexities of returning
to work during Covid-19
with Bump, a technology
solution to aid safe social
distancing.
Bump’s technology uses
wearable and static devices
(including freestanding hubs
and location beacons) that
communicate with one another
using active Radio Frequency
technology. This creates a Personal
Motion System that immediately
alerts wearers when they are
ge ing too close to another person.
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and
Douglas Hurley have travelled to the
International Space Station (ISS) aboard
a spacecraft built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX
corporation.
Launched aboard a reusable SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy
Space centre, the SpaceX Crew Dragon
docked with the ISS after a journey
that saw it orbit Earth at speeds of up
17,500mph.
The mission marks the fi rst time
According to Brian Palmer,
CEO of Tharsus, the device works
in the same frequency bands as
Bluetooth and other standard radio
equipment operating in a freely
available spectrum.
Bump does not track
movements but alerts users with
sound or lights when they are too
close to another wearer.
Hubs are free-standing units
with a display and can positioned
at the entrance and exit of areas
people need to work in. According
to Tharsus, the hub – which has
its own internet connection -
recognises when wearers are in
July 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk 8
A study carried at Cranfi eld
University suggests that the
use of zinc alloys rather than
aluminium could greatly enhance
the longevity and sustainability of
automotive components.
Conducted by a team at
the university’s Sustainable
Manufacturing Systems Centre
and published in the ‘International
Journal of Sustainable
Manufacturing’, it compared
Aluminium-A380, Magnesium-AZ91D
and Zinc-ZA8.
When examining sustainability
alongside traditional factors
such as time, cost and fl exibility,
Cranfi eld’s research demonstrated
that the zinc rather than the
aluminium or magnesium alloys
offered the better choice for
automotive manufacturers.
The zinc alloy proved to
be a more sustainable and
higher performing option, when
considering measures such as the
environmental impact caused by
the extraction of the metal and the
quality of the parts it produces.
Despite the aluminium alloy being a
lower cost option, the study found
that the zinc alloy also offered
better value for money as the parts
it creates are likely to have a much
longer life than the other alloys. JE
Read more at
www.theengineer.co.uk
the building, and automatically
downloads information about any
contacts their device has had with
other wearers.
SPACEX CREW DRAGON DOCKS WITH ISS
“The hub simply needs to
be plugged in, the Bump devices
allocated to wearers and registered
online and you’re up and running
with your fi rst Bumps operating
within minutes,” said Palmer.
As part of the system, location
beacons can be placed in areas
where employers want more detail
about potential risks. This could
be a particularly busy workspace,
or a canteen. Tharsus add the
beacons will not know exactly
where people are ge ing too
close but can highlight a general
hotspot. The bump system comes
also with recharging points and
hand sanitising units.
The peer-to-peer system
records the interactions between
devices every time someone
comes into contact with another’s
so-called Bump zones. The
wearable device will alert them
if contact is made, with each
interaction recorded and made
available for the individual wearer
to review.
Bump units also contain an
accelerometer, making them
suitable for offi ce workers.
“Although you may think you
are still when sat at a desk you
are in fact moving, even if ever so
slightly, so Bump will spot this
and know it is being worn,” said
Palmer.
ZINC ALTERNATIVE
TO ALUMINIUM
JON EXCELL reports
that NASA astronauts have launched
from US soil aboard a commercially built
spacecraft.
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 is an
end-to-end test fl ight to validate the
SpaceX crew transportation system and
help pave the way for the spacecraft’s
certifi cation for regular crewed fl ights.
Whilst en route to the station,
Behnken and Hurley took control of
the spacecraft for manual fl ight tests,
demonstrating their ability to control
the spacecraft should an issue with its
automated system arise.
At the conclusion of the mission,
Behnken and Hurley will board Crew
Dragon, which will then
autonomously undock,
depart the space
station, and re-enter
Earth’s atmosphere. Upon
splashdown, the crew will
be picked up by the SpaceX
recovery ship and returned to
Cape Canaveral.
“You can look at this as the
results of a hundred thousand
people roughly when you add up
all the suppliers and everyone
working incredibly hard to make this day
happen,” said Elon Musk, chief engineer
at SpaceX.
/www.theengineer.co.uk
/www.theengineer.co.uk