Quantum CAD - Electronic and PCB Design Blog

A real life Sonic Screwdriver.

Over the past 50 years Doctor Who has amazed and wowed television audiences the world over. And now scientists are aiming to do the same by re-creating some of the gadgets that feature in the show.

A group of researchers from Dundee University have created a real life Sonic Screwdriver.  The researchers have created a machine which uses ultrasound to lift and rotate a rubber disc floating in a cylinder of water.

The long term aim of this technology is to help make surgery using ultrasound techniques more precise. 

The researchers claim that the ability to steer ultrasound waves to the precise spot where they are needed could make treatments even more effective. Also the ultrasound waves can guide drug capsules through the human body to where it is needed and then activate it, for instance right inside a tumour.

But what do you think?

Can this be a game changer?

Please leave a comment below.

 

London 2012

With the days counting down to London 2012, Quantum CAD are joining in the Olympic spirit and will be offering a whopping 20% discount to exhibitors and visitors at National Electronics Week UK 2012 that are developing sports related products. 

Also, to recognise 100 days until the Olympics (Wednesday 18th April), Quantum CAD will be offering to our first 100 visitors free entry to our Olympic raffle with the chance to win 2 tickets to an event at the Olympic games at National Electronics Week UK 2012! 

Were you lucky enough to get an Olympic ticket? Worried about how you are going to manage your work load over the summer? Fear not, Quantum CAD is on hand to take the strain, come and see us at stand 81.

What's New?

NEW 2012! New Quantum! New Investment! New Premises! New Lab!

Quantum CAD are proud to announce that they have recently moved to new premises and upgraded their software suites. To celebrate this we are offering special discounts to exhibitors and visitors at National Electronics Week UK 2012. 

Are you planning on attending the Package on Package (POP) Design & Assembly Centre Seminars at National Electronics Week UK 2012? If so, come and see Quantum CAD at stand 81 to discuss your needs. We have experience in this area and are giving free advice, exclusively to National Electronics Week UK 2012 visitors!

Is Facebook playing by the rules?

Social media has become the biggest thing in the world over the past couple of years, with websites such as Twitter and Facebook leading the charge. But with everything, faults will be found and people will have grievances against them.

Now it seems that the authorities have found faults with Facebook. It seems that Facebook isn’t complying with European Law, specifically in relation to the personal information about their accounts on Facebook.  

In 2010 Facebook released their Download Your Information tool, to some acclaim. But there were still people finding faults with this tool. One of those was Max Schrems, an Austrian law student who founded the Europe v Facebook pressure group. 

According to Max, the download tool released by Facebook supplies data in 22 categories, but European law demands that data be supplied in 84 categories.

And this isn’t an isolated incident, in 2011 the Irish data protection commissioner issued a report on Facebook's privacy policy. In that report, the Irish users of Facebook wanted better access to their data and wanted Facebook to do more to tell them what is done with it.

So do you think that the EU should do something?

Or have Facebook become too big to target?

Please leave a comment below.

Quantum is exhibiting at NEW:UK 2012

Hi there
Just a shout out to say that Quantum will be exhibiting at NEW:UK 2012 from the 18-19th of April. 

We will exhibiting from We will be at Stand 81. We will be offering free advice on Product design, Electronic design and PCB design. 

We will be at Stand 81, and we also have a special discount for New, we will be offering a 10% discount to all orders received during the show.

So if your going up for the show feel free to drop by the stand and come say hello. Or call us on 01639 881111 to arrange a meeting, just think if you contact us it could be the start of something beautiful.

Self producing Robots.

Over the past 50 years the technology we use has taken huge leaps and bounds. From putting a man on the moon, to unmanned aerial vehicles. And now a leap is being undertaken.

This leap is being taken by a group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The group have claimed to have the technology to create tiny robots that can join together to form functional tools and then split apart again after use. The team from MIT currently have 30 prototype smart pebbles and the software to run them.

The finished article that will be available in 10 years seems to be very simple. In a recent interview one member of the team Kyle Gilpin explained how it works, “if you are in an isolated situation and you need a certain tool, you can tell that to the bag by making a miniaturized model of the tool, drop it into the bag, shake it around - and what you would end up with inside would be a magnified copy of the tool which is usable.

But one question remains, is this technology needed?

Please leave a comment below.

Gamers of Britain you may breathe again.

As a lot of people I’m sure are aware, over the past couple of weeks the company Game has fallen in a financial crisis. But now there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

And that light has come in the form of OpCapita. The purchase of Game has safeguarded the jobs of nearly 3,200 Game Group employees.

Early reports are indicating that OpCapita will not have to pay a large amount for game group. But they will take on the massive debts that Game accumulated and early reports indicate that the debt could be as large as £85m. 

But what now is the future for Game? 

Well at the minute the future looks bright. Henry Jackson who is a managing partner at OpCapita has said that "We strongly believe there is a place on the high street for a video gaming specialist.” 
Henry also went on to say that he believes that “Game is the leading brand in a £2.8bn market.”

Now how reassuring is that? But there is one remaining question. 

Do you agree with Henry Jackson, does the High Street need a video gaming specialist?

Please comment below. 

Swimming Robots.

Over the past 50 years in the world of movies the one concept that has kept audiences captivated are robots, and in the past 25 years or so robots have moved out of the big screen and into modern life. And now robots have taken the next step and are breaking records underwater.

The robots in question are called the PacX Wave Gliders and have recently broken the Guinness World Record for the longest distance covered at sea by an unmanned. The original record was 2,500 nautical miles (4,630km) and the PacX Wave Gliders have just passed the 3,200 nautical miles (5,926km). 

The PacX Wave Gliders have broken the record, in only the first part of their journey and are expected to cover 9,000 nautical miles (16,668km) by the time they complete their project, so expect this Guinness World Record to be broken again some time soon. 

There are two main aims of this project. The first is to gather data about the composition and quality of sea water. And the second is to gather data on how acidic the water has become and the shrinking size of fish stocks.

Now the next step is a very crucial one indeed, after a short stopover in Hawaii, the quartet will split. Two of the PacX Wave Gliders will swim to Japan whilst crossing the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth.Whilst the other two PacX Wave Gliders will swim to Australia, passing the equator. 

The researchers behind this project expect both sets of PacX Wave Gliders to reach their destinations by late 2012 or early 2013.

The Keyboard Jeans

Have you ever been typing away in work and just wanted to relax whilst working, and not be contained by wires? Well now you can thanks the group of Dutch inventors who have created the Keyboard Jeans. 

The keyboard Jeans also known as Beauty and the Geek, are jeans built with fully functional keyboard, mouse and speakers integrated into the upper leg of the fabric. 

The jeans are also very simple and very efficient to use. All you need to connect them to a laptop or computer is a USB device.

But surely the keyboard jeans would present a few problems, such as the way they look and how much would weigh. But according to the inventors Erik de Nijs and Tim Smit such problems don’t exist. 
The keyboard jeans look like normal jeans and are designed with a back pocket that has been specially designed to cover the mouse, and the mouse is attached to the jeans with an elastic wire. But when questioned about the added weight that the jeans would have Erik and Tim said that the keyboard jeans are only a little bit heavier than your regular jeans.

But the main question is would people buy the Keyboard Jeans?The inventors have claimed that if they would ever go to market they would go for £250 a pair.

Would you buy a pair of Keyboard Jeans.

The worlds first Invisibility Cloak is fast becoming reality

Becoming invisible is something that a lot of people dream of being able to do. The only person I know who can become invisible is the Invisible Women from the Fantastic Four comics. 

But now fiction is starting to become reality with the help of a group of scientists from Texas.

The group, led by Professor Andrea Alu, has successfully managed to hide a three-dimensional object. The group has successfully managed to make an 18cm-long cylinder completely invisible to incoming microwave light.

This project was successfully completed using metamaterials. Metamaterials is the process of modifying materials to have properties that cannot be found in nature. 

And by using the modified metamaterials, the metamaterials themselves would guide and channel light in unusual ways, to manipulate the light rays’ movement so when they arrive at their final destination they don’t look as though they have been reflected by a cloaked object.

But for now Professor Alu isn’t getting carried away with anything, as he was quoted saying that "There is still a lot of work to do, Our goal was just to show this metamaterial technique can reduce scattering from an object in free space”

But what do you think?

Could this really be the first step in developing a real life invisibility cloak?

Please leave a comment below.