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Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

Posted May 11, 2011 11:50 AM

From DVICE:

This week at the at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics in Shanghai, China, a bunch of Japanese researchers led by Yusuke Sugahara at Tohoku University showed off a prototype transport that hovers inches above the ground without maglev rails. To put it into geeky Star Wars speak: this is the Landspeeder you're looking for.

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Usbport
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#1

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/11/2011 1:43 PM

This is an interesting article -- but I wonder why the link was to the "dv!ce" blog (which included pointless editorial comments by the blogger) instead of to the original source material at IEEE Spectrum. The IEEE Spectrum article is also a blog (by writer Evan Ackerman) but this is the original article with an actual explanation of why a ground-effects train might have an advantage over a maglev train, and doesn't have any useless editorializing.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/ground-effect-robot-could-be-key-to-future-high-speed-trains

Am I the only one tired of seeing bloggers taking credit for material they've merely added a few editorial comments to, to avoid the outright charge of plagiarism?

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jack of all trades
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#2
In reply to #1

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/11/2011 3:52 PM

Am I the only one tired of seeing bloggers taking credit for material they've merely added a few editorial comments to, to avoid the outright charge of plagiarism?

What's your problem, the media do it all the time (I just wish the media didn't change the material they report on).

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Tobugrynbak
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#3

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/11/2011 5:50 PM

Hmm, Ekronoplan anyone?

Wing In Ground effect machines have been around for a long time, the Soviets/Russians have been building and using them for various applications, though not as trains..

Cute how the winglets keep the craft away from the walls of the chunnel. I think the cost of infrastructure makes this a not so practical application of a WIG craft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_vehicle

http://www.vincelewis.net/ekranoplan.html

http://www.randomconnections.com/?p=2488

http://orbitalvector.com/Aquatic/Surface%20Effect%20Watercraft/SURFACE%20EFFECT%20WATERCRAFT.htm

Personally, I think they're pretty groovy.

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#4

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/11/2011 11:03 PM

One helluva cow-catcher...! (And a space hog.)

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34point5
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#5

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/11/2011 11:11 PM

A completely confounding idea.

A. You'd be better off building an electric train as light and putting it on rails.

B. if you must use air as a propulsion and/or suspension media; Chop the wings and put it in a tube, and have it suck itself along.

C. drag is a function of lift - so how could it possibly have less?

D. speed of travel is largely becoming an obsolete parameter.

E, F, G etc.

This is what it's about "The researchers are looking to use this robot to generate a dynamic model of how vehicles like these operate"

And fair enough - so why add the ridiculous extrapolation?

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nikolay
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#6

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/12/2011 1:03 AM

Henri Coanda designed an even faster air cushion transportation system decades ago.

After all, if goes fast and is at least as safe as a maglev than it's cool.

Maybe, instead of that channel the system could be built using a round wing arround the track. (just a thought).

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#7

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/12/2011 5:59 AM

Sorry to put a dampener on this, but, it's too vulnerable to vandalism/terrorism.

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GKC
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#8
In reply to #7

Re: Levitating Train Flies Like a Plane, No Magnets Involved

05/12/2011 9:20 AM

LOL... true. Does this mean I get to drive a Panzer

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