AUTONOMOUS ROBOTIC SYSTEMS TO MAINTAIN GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE The research has resulted in the launch of a spin-out company, Sabre Autonomous Solutions, which was developed to take these robotic solutions to market.
PUTTING THE QUANTUM INTO BATTERY A new study led by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies —Professor Meera Parish and ARC Future Fellow, Jesper Levinsen—has taken us a step closer to realistic quantum batteries by discovering that interactions within them are key to their charge advantage.
earlier theoretical research into individual, isolated quantum batteries to consider a more realistic, many-body system with intrinsic interactions, the researchers have shown that interacting many-body quantum batteries do charge faster than their non-interacting counterparts. The work demonstrates the merging of realistic condensed-matter systems with quantum thermodynamics, and is an important step towards realising a real-world application of the quantum battery.
With support from several ARC Linkage Projects grants, researchers at the University of Technology Sydney’s Centre for Autonomous Systems are developing autonomous robotic systems to assist in steel bridge maintenance, underwater structure cleaning, and to augment the strength of humans conducting physically demanding work. Led by Distinguished Professor Dikai Liu, the team, in collaboration with the NSW Roads and Maritime Service, has developed two autonomous grit-blasting robots that can assist in the maintenance of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. By performing assessments on the steel girder bridge and removing old paint and corrosion, the robots are reducing human exposure
to deadly workplace hazards—including a 134-metre drop to water from the top of the bridge, and a risk of exposure to lead-based paint and fine dust particles. The team has developed biologically-inspired climbing robots, and is now developing an underwater robot to clean and inspect the underwater parts of bridge and wharf structures, which are often dangerous to access in the high currents of the intertidal zone, and covered with thick growths of oysters and barnacles. As well as securing a number of US and Australian patents, this work has received recognition through research and engineering excellence awards at state, national and international levels.
Quantum batteries offer the potential for vastly better thermodynamic efficiency, and ultra-fast charging time, much faster and more efficient than the electrochemical batteries like Nickel Metal Hydride or Lithium Ion, in common use today. By expanding
The forcing of a quantum battery into a new, ‘charged’ state represents an example of non-equilibrium physics, in which systems are ‘forced’ out of equilibrium into a temporary state.
(Left): Autonomous underwater robot for cleaning and inspecting the underwater parts of bridge and wharf structures. (Right): Autonomous climbing robot for inspection and condition assessment of confined spaces. Credit: University of Technology Sydney.
The research group at Monash University, including three of the authors (front row, from right to left) Thao Le, Meera Parish and Jesper Levinsen. Also present are PhD students Emma Laird (left) and Thomas Kirk (centre). Credit: Steve Morton.
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