Walking house 會走路的房子

They say it would make the ultimate home for beating floods or neighbours from hell, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The 10ft high home is solar and wind powered and can stroll at walking pace across all terrains. It has a living room, kitchen, toilet, bed, wood stove and mainframe computer which controls the legs.

The pod is set to take its maiden stroll around rural Cambridgeshire at the Wysing Arts Centre in Bourn. It was built by art collective N55 in Copenhagen, Denmark, in conjunction with engineers at MIT in Massachusetts, USA.

N55 artist Oivind Slaatto, who says he was inspired by meeting Romany travellers in Cambridgeshire, plans to live in the house when it returns to Copenhagen.

"This house is not just for travellers but also for anyone interested in a more general way of nomadic living," he said.

Designers say it provides a solution to the problem of rising water levels as the house can simply walk away from floods.

The prototype cost £30,000 to build, including materials and time, but the designers believe it could be constructed for a lot less. (Daily Telegraph)

Dutch unveil robot to fill car gas tank 荷蘭推出汽車加油機器人

A car-fuelling robot is seen in the rear view mirror of a car in Emmeloord, central Netherlands, Feb. 4, 2008.
Motorists nostalgic for the time they could sit tight while attendants braved windswept garage forecourts to fill their tanks may yet see those heady days return -- compliments of a Dutch robot.

Dutch inventors unveiled on Monday a 75,000 euro (56,296 pounds) car-fuelling robot they say is the first of its kind, working by registering the car on arrival at the filling station and matching it to a database of fuel cap designs and fuel types.

A robotic arm fitted with multiple sensors extends from a regular gas pump, carefully opens the car's flap, unscrews the cap, picks up the fuel nozzle and directs it towards the tank opening, much as a human arm would, and as efficiently.

"I was on a farm and I saw a robotic arm milking a cow. If a robot can do that then why can't it fill a car tank, I thought," said developer and petrol station operator Nico van Staveren. "Drivers needn't get dirty hands or smell of petrol again."

He hopes to introduce the "Tankpitstop" robot in a handful of Dutch stations by the end of the year. It works for any car whose tank can be opened without a key, and whose contours and dimensions have been recorded to avoid scratching.

Asked whether he would trust his car to a robotic garage attendant, Jelger De Kroon, filling his black Alfa Romeo at a nearby gas station, said: "Why not? I guess I could keep my hands free and clean, but I'd hope they have good insurance." (Reuters)

China's first solar-powered primary school 中國第一所太陽能小學

China's first solar-powered primary school was formally inaugurated on Monday in city Qingdao, east Shandong province.

Peninsula Metropolitan News reports on Tuesday that the Hushanlu primary school, integrated with solar energy heat and photovoltaic generating systems, can generate electricity to support its water supply and heating system.

With a combined generating capacity of 30 kilowatts, the photovoltaic generating system can produce150 kilowatt-hours of electricity everyday.
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Meanwhile, the heat utilization system, which is able to collect sunlight in an area of 600 square meters, can convert solar energy for heating and boiling water for 30 classrooms, 860 students and teachers.

The system, which costs about 3 million yuan, also less than one ninth of the total investment in building the primary school, can work even on a cloudy or rainy day because its stored electricity can support the normal need of the school for five days. There are also more than 100 solar-powered lights on campus.

Staff members of the school were quoted by the newspaper as saying that by using solar energy, the school will be able to save about 65 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and over 261tons of coal, reducing at the same time some 695 tons of carbon dioxide, 4.6 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 4.9 tons of industrial waste emissions, as well as decreasing atmospheric pollutants by 4 tons every year.

The authority of the school believes that their experiment will better help their students learn how important renewable energy resources will be in their daily life and studies.(CRIEnglish)