Steorn's Orbo "free-energy" machine demonstrated!
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jul 4th 2007 10:04AM
posted Jul 4th 2007 10:04AM
Update 1: Still nothing from Steorn yet, but Irish RTE News has also "confirmed" the impending announcement. Moreover, a "very simplified version" of the technology will be viewable by streaming media over the Intertubes. So get ready kids, they say you'll be able to watch janky video of a prototype "lifting a weight" from four different angles starting at 6pm
Update 2: First picture of the mystical device! [Thanks, Jordy]
Update 3: CEO Sean McCarthy tells SilconRepublic how it works. Namely, the time variance in magnetic fields allows the Orbo platform to "consistently produce power, going against the law of conservation of energy which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed." He goes on to say "It's too good to be true but it is true. It will have such an impact on everything we do. The only analogy I can give is if you had absolute proof that God wasn't real." Whoa. Link to demonstration site now added below.
Update 4: Well, 6pm London time has come and gone. However, Steorn's site now says that the video will go live at 6pm "Eastern Time." Apparently, their demo is aimed at the US. A fossil-fuel Independence Day? Riiiiight.
Update 5: Jeebus, what a non-event. Even though they wield supreme control over the laws of physics, Steorn had to cancel tonight's event "due to technical difficulties." We'd laugh if it wasn't so pathetically tragic. The live stream is now rescheduled ambiguously to the 5th July. Now move along folks, there's nothing to see here.
[Thanks, Obi N. and Jonathan G.]
Read -- Kinetica museum (not announced yet)
Read -- rumored announcement
Read -- world's first "free energy" live demo (just not live yet -- hey is Orbo powering the London Eye!)
Awesome :) If it actually works, i hope they don't just get bought out by an oil company.
...and conveniently 'forgotten about'.
yeah, or even poisoned like Stanley Meyer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fuel_cell
It's a bit strange that its at Kinetica, for our American friends (happy birthday btw!) Kinetica is basically just a small (two rooms) art gallery, its not exactly the Science Museum. Steorn's claims are almost definitely bullshit, but we might aswell see what they've got to say.
I just want to know if it will charge my iPhone!
Why on earth would a scientific experiment take place in an art gallery?
In this day and age successful fine art is mostly about fame and hype. Witness that guy who takes photos of thousands of naked people. The photos mostly suck btw, but he's making pretty good cash.
The guy will no doubt reveal his hoax and make some sort of stirring statement about dwindling energy resources.
This whole thing is nothing but an ad folks. You've been viral marketed by an artist.
I'm very excited because either:
1.(extremely likely) it's all some silly hoax and we get to laugh at how stupid "perpetual-motion" devices are, since it doesn't take a genius to show that the thing isn't violating natural laws.
2.(extremely improbable)The team has somehow disproven hundreds of years of thermodynamics research and our energy problems are over. We stop emitting greenhouse gases, never worry about our oil supply, and all join hands as our hippie-bretheren imagined and sing "Kuhmbaya".
It's probably taking place at an art gallery because no respectable museum of natural science would host a "free energy" machine. it would be like screening a porn at Cannes.
If it really works, shouldn't there be some patents for it? How come no one has found them?
I'm really curious if this will work. But I'll probably still cry hoax if the device is hooked to my electronics and powers everything...
Steorn said there are no patents because they were refused to patent a technology which violates a physical law.
Well, there are many dozens of patents on US, Europe and other parts of the world relating to permanent magnet motors, which theorises perpetual motion. If you broaden search on free energy, there are much more patents granted. Nicholas Tesla, Gabriel Kron, Edwin Gray, John Bedarni, Thomas Bearden are few among those.
I think there are patents for it, and people have seen them. The folks at Magnetic Power, Inc (www.mpi.com) are developing solid-state devices based on the same technology (but seem to understand it much better-- you won't hear anyone at MPI saying that it "defies the law of conservation of energy"), and they have apparently reviewed some of Steorn's materials. I know they have spoken with Steorn and reverse-engineered their device based on photos. They believe it will work; they also belive their own devices will be far more powerful, but until they see Steorn's in action they can't say for sure. I'm heading out to visit MPI's laboratory tomorrow, so... hopefully this will be the dawn of a new energy age!
WELL i'm set in my sole 4 it. this will mean anti-gravity, all will never be as it was. I think
at last, I can power my personal flight machine. Those battery packs were getting ridiculous.
Hmm... Challenging the laws of the universe seems like a bad idea. Fifth Dimension of Zor, here we come.
The laws of magnetism are the LEAST understood of any physical property this it is safe to assume that there are still things we don't understand. No one can ever "break" laws but they can only prove that current laws are merely wrong or need changing.
The laws of magnetism may well be among the least onderstood; the laws of thermodynamics emphatically aren't.
There's a nice thing about the laws of thermodynamics: they hold everywhere, and that includes across all fields of Physics. It's actually a very useful tool: have a new field of Physics you don't know how to get results from? Apply conservation of energy. It always works. You can't get out more net mass-energy from a process than you started with. You can't reverse entropy. Ever.
Laws of magnetism least understood?
Man what a frusturating comment. Dude. Magnetisms well understood. Its been well understood for a long time. Now if you said "The interactions of Gravity and quantum physics" or even "Aspects of the strong or weak interactions" (which alas are actually well understood), we'd be going somewhere.
So thats it. This thing runs on magnets? Whats the facility to replace the magnets when they wear out. We do know that much about magnets. They wear out.
Do any of you know what thermodynamics refers to? Break it down. Second, we understand electromagnetics very well. When I say we, I mean people who have actually studied it. Like engineers and physicists. Unless this guy has come up with some new alloy, this thing will be a load of crap.
Do any of you know what thermodynamics refers to? Break it down. Second, we understand electromagnetics very well. When I say we, I mean people who have actually studied it. Like engineers and physicists. Unless this guy has come up with some new alloy, this thing will be a load of crap.
Lisa! In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!!!
Hey, that episode was on last night! Lol
Free energy.. hmm.. sounds a little too good to be true... but if this is true, where do I sign up?
Hmm, this is interesting. A google of the museum site for steorn unveils this link
http://www.kinetica-museum.org/new_site/event_seminar_main.php?id=35
Although dated 12/12/06, I don't recall this being presented in the past. The website is not very robust, this could just be the backdated announcement we'll see later today.
"Sean McCarthy, CEO of revolutionary Irish technology company, Steorn, will be presenting Steorn's new technology that produces free, clean and constant energy. This provides a significant range of benefits, from the convenience of never having to refuel your car or recharge your mobile phone, to a genuine solution to the need for zero emission energy production. Steorn's technology appears to violate the "Principle of the Conservation of Energy", considered by many to be the most fundamental principle in our current understanding of the Universe.
http://www.steorn.net"
Thomas
Thomas,
There was a short presentation of the technology at the end of last year, no demo device, just a talk and some videos.
There was some discussion on the Steorn forum about it.
http://www.steorn.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=30901&page=1#Item_0
As for the demo - well it lasts 10 days, so... bring it on.
We're going to get full Engadget coverage of this right?
Question: Is that out of genuine curiosity or because your a Steorn shill out to drum up as much publicity for this marketing event as possible?
Do you even think? If it is fake then Steorn will fall even harder if the event is covered.
Yea, its far more likely that they've rewritten the physics books. The possibility of them being idiots who are misguided enough to believe that any publicity is better than none is for more remote.
Not far from work... I'll take a look thursday when it reopens.
If this will actually wors, then there's two options:
1. a total "failure" during the presentation (oil companies will pay for that)
2. WWIII
Can you see another option?
How about humanity entering into a new and enlightened era. With a clean and unlimited energy source there'd be no more pollution and pillaging of the planet's resources. Oh how wonderful that would be!
But of course it won't happen.
Wasn't this the start to the plot of Quake I?
A scientist invents a free energy device, which then opens up a portal that demons come spilling out of . . .
Oops, I forgot. Quake I didn't have a plot. But if it did, this could totally be it.
That would be something, so to speak :) instead of enjoying free energy we would be slaying endless armies of daemons, bwhaha!
No, that was halflife. Quake engine though :P
Half life doesn't use the Quake engine, it uses the Source Engine (the first one.) They originally planned on using the quake engine but then changed plans, back in..1998 or so.
Halflife uses a heavily modified version of the Quake II engine. Source did not exist then.
No, Half-life 1 used a modified Quake Engine. The Source Engine was Half-Life 2.
Wiki of Half Life 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life
Wiki of Quake Engine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_engine
Wiki of Source Engine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_engine
Shenanigans.
$5 bucks says this is all a marketing ploy.
Agreed... my money says it's going to be a stunt for a strange flavor of Coke or perhaps a car from Ford. Advertising has jaded me for life.
More info here: http://www.steorn.net/orbo/technology/
"Orbo is based upon the principle of time variant magneto-mechanical interactions. The core output from our Orbo technology is mechanical. This mechanical energy can be converted into electrical energy using standard generator technology either by integrating such technology directly with Orbo or by connecting the mechanical output from Orbo to the generation technology. The efficiency of such mechanical/electrical conversions is highly dependent on the components used and is also a function of size."
Why the 10 day limit? Battery life? If it's really a "free energy" machine, there should be no problem leaving it on exhibit for several months.
Of course it's always possible that a secretive Irish inventor *has* created a device that runs off an inexhaustible free energy source, but I seriously doubt it.
"Why the 10 day limit? Battery life? If it's really a "free energy" machine, there should be no problem leaving it on exhibit for several months."
If it were really a 'free energy' or perpetual motion device, it would never stop.
If, as posted above "Orbo is based upon the principle of time variant magneto-mechanical interactions" it is in fact NOT a perpetual motion machine, it is simply another type of power generator, similar to all generators, coal, nuclear, etc, it needs to be " converted into electrical energy using standard generator technology ".
Their spin has made their 'orbo' sound like it defies the laws of physics, most likely to confuse the lay man. Also, their not getting a patent act is likely the same kind of pr stunt.
What I think is likely is that they've created (or dreamed of creating) a device to harness a renewable 'magneto' resource. This device would likely be very inefficient and probably would produce very little if any usable energy (much as other renewable energy resources in their infancy i.e. solar, wind).
> it's always possible that a secretive Irish inventor *has*
> created a device that runs off an inexhaustible free energy
> source
No, it isn't.
@tchiseen: it doesn't sound like you've been following this from the start. Their claims are blatant: "the energy produced is done so without recourse to external source".
They claim to *create* energy. By definition if you are creating energy, the process cannot be inefficient. It's already more than 100% efficient.
I'm a skeptic too... but at least go and read their literature before you make assumptions.
Its pure 100% bullshit, guaranteed. Steorn started up as a marketing company.
Wow you can't even wait less than 24 hours? Does it make you feel like a big alpha male to say "guaranteed"?
Oh it's guaranteed by an anonymous poster on the internet. I'm going to sleep better tonight knowing that.
Tomorrow is not that far away people
didn't the wright brothers start out with as bike builders? to this day i wouldn't trust a bike builder with my 172. however, its been done before.
if true.. Its going to make me cry.
Hey Gil, You've been working for Steorn how long? I'm not an alpha male but I guarantee you they haven't broken the law of conservation of energy.
You are almost certainly right. However, lets not rule out that this takes energy from either the earth's magnetic field or ambient temperature or gravity etc... There are many ways this could work and still not break the laws of thermodynamics.
I just hate people putting down a project (any project) based on preconcieved notions (especially if the demo is tomorrow).
Maybe they did it.
More likely they didn't. That doesn't mean I'm going to yell "FAKE!" even before they have a chance to make their point.
BTW I don't work for Steorn. I'm just very interested to see where this goes. Also if it's fake I'd like to know their motivation for all this hubub
Based on preconceived notions? I don't consider the laws of physics preconceived notions. Perpetual motion machines have been touted and proved false for centuries. This is just another one with better marketing.
Orbo technology can be true or fake, which not necessarily shadow the good old researchers who spent life perfecting methods of harnessing alternate or free energy. Unless the awkwardness of common investors who are scared of spending money over subjects which contradicts the text books, we would have enjoyed this rich sources of energy already.
There's a difference between alternative energy research and the hokum that Steorn are offering.
steorn may be BS or not but ppl really need to relax about the "laws" of physics. you need to realize that said laws are observations based on empirical evidence that have worked for humanity in the past. nothing more. even mathematical proof of some of them - e.g. maxwell - is ultimately based on empirical evidence.
these laws have held true so far but keep in mind that science is not religion and any theory is only good until a better one comes along.
as they say, past performance does not guarantee future results ;)
Exactly!!!
Everyone thought the world was flat until some guy decided to prove it wrong.
It is a remarkably common myth that the people of the middle ages thought the world was flat. The truth is, everyone knew the world was round. People simply thought that the world was too big to safely navigate. No one thought that it would be economically viable to sail around the world to get to India. The Greeks knew the world was round, monks from the 10th century knew the world was round. The only people who have denied that the world is round in the last 2500 years have been the Flat Earth Society, a decidedly modern group of quacks.
Wait and see.... I sincerely hope its true....
Says on the site now that the broadcast will be from London on the 5th, tomorrow, due to 'technical difficulties'. I can think of one, the thing doesn't bloody work!
I've been following this company for about a year now ( they have a public forum : http://www.steorn.com/forum/ ) and I've never been completely convinced that what they have is a free-energy producing device. I am however pretty sure that what they THINK they have is a free-energy device. It will be nice to finally get some sort of impression of the machine... Until then, speculation is futile.
Guys at Engadget, if you dont cover this front to back, i will die. Seriously this thing is the most incredible leap in technology in history (aside from iPhone).
I just spent the past hour and a half reading everything i could find on this thing and all i have seen is positive. This ... actually... looks... legit.
And i have two words for this: HOLY SHIT
What about it makes it look legit? The complete lack of technical details? A total dearth of proof, evidence or testimony from impartial 3rd parties? The fact they claim to undermine one of the cornerstones of physical law? Or maybe its the well put together website, which isn't surprising considering the companies origins.
I'm guessing you also work for Steorn because any legitimate Engadget patron could not possibly be so dense.
Ouch. My pride.
Maybe any engadget patron would have an open mind to a technological fucking leap through time, so what if it defies the laws of physics, the earth was once the centre of the universe to millions of people. Things change buddy, get used to it.
It doesn't follow, changes from believed facts such as being the centre of the universe and proven fundamental laws of reality are very different things. They haven't offered a shred of proof leading up to this, tomorrow is just going to be a big reveal of some marketing scam.
"It doesn't follow, changes from believed facts such as being the centre of the universe and proven fundamental laws of reality are very different things. They haven't offered a shred of proof leading up to this, tomorrow is just going to be a big reveal of some marketing scam."
Back when they thought the earth was flat, they didn't just guess or assume it was flat, they thought it was concrete fact, and inviolate. In that that time period, the earth being in the centre of the universe was also rock solid fact. Both those facts got proven wrong. The fact of conservation of energy could be proven wrong also. Just wait, and find out.
There's another very important fundamental law of reality- humans are not infallible.
Also, stop accusing everyone slightly interested in what might happen tomorrow of being an employee of Steorn. It makes me think that you're probably an employee of a major oil company.
Spoilers: PJK works for ExxonMobil.
How dare you call our national news agency a rag, you've insulted rags all over the world with that comment....
Jut kidding, RTE are a fine collection of journalists.
In fact, there is no challenge to the nature nor physics. It is just how you perceive the total system. If you ride the bike down hill, you may not need to peddle it altogether. Energy comes from the ambient (due to the setup) which moves the bike forward. In a way, Windmill, solar panels are perpetual systems, which generates power on its own. Magnetism is long misunderstood, thus the unnecessary fear on breaking physics laws.
If you stick a piece of magnet on a vertical Iron surface, it will stick there forever, or a very long time. So what powers magnet to hang on to the piece of iron, without falling?
The electromagnetic force. Which, together with gravity and the strong and weak nuclear forces is one of the 4 fundamental forces of nature. You may be surprised to know that it is the same electromagnetic force that keeps you from falling through the 99.9999% of your chair which is in fact completely empty space. Electromagnetic repulsion between atoms prevents them from passing between each other.
Magnetic interaction between the ferrous metal (iron) and the magnet keep them together. But there is no way to get "free" energy from this interaction, just as there is no way to get "free" energy from gravity. The situation you describe is akin to a bowling ball at the bottom of a well. These are conservative forces and you have simply put the system into a low energy state. You can't get energy from two things stuck together with a magnetic interaction anymore than you can from two things stuck together with superglue. Your misconception is thinking that force == energy. Physics doesn't work that way, energy and cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. Hence generators that convert mechanical motion (kinetic energy) through magnetic interaction to electricity (electrical energy).
This is where you will see the live streeming, later today....
http://www.astream.com/live/steorn/camera4.html
Has anyone heard of ZPEM zero point energy Module ?
called MEG generator ? Now thats cool, its even been granted a patent..
http://jnaudin.free.fr/meg/meg.htm
Isn't a ZPEM somthing from Stargate that the ancients use.
At least the MEG generator is a more realistic device for producing energy but it is still not breaking any laws of physics.
yes the ZPM module is from stargate but it was based on a real source, Zero Point Energy does apparently exist, sciense says its actual what all matter sprung from and still exists all around us, its basically the lowest density of anything in the universe yet it's the most abundant and the most large...
Was reading about it on keelynet.com today because some scientists published a theory of the universe paper that pertained to it.
No, no; this is a meh generator.
"No, no; this is a meh generator."
Lucky I wasn't drinking soda, cos I would have just spurted it out my nose. :)
I think you're mistaking RTE with one of our many trashy free newspapers, RTE is a very good public broadcast service.
still, can't wait to see if the time machine works or not......
Good Luck to Orbo... but I think these guys are a bit more realistic in their approach:
www.ecosolinc.com
Check out the EEMP (Ecosol Energy Management Platform). A quote from the website, "Embed the Ecosol® Energy Management Platform into your application and discover a world where products are self-sustaining." Sounds 'Orbo' like but these guys have 100 patents (they've been working on this for 10yrs).
My monopoly money's on this being some crazy Lost ARG. They'll all be talking about magnetic anomalies, and then a giant smoky monster will eat everybody. Then Jack will turn up and be depressed, angry and boring all at the same time. Then we'll find out it was filmed last week, and we have to search for clues, whereupon it will be revealed that the polar bear is jacob.
"irish rag"? it's our biggest national broadcaster and the only one that does both radio and tv.
Here is a site that will give you all a little background information into the area of 'Free Energy':
www.zpenergy.com
Steorn are just one of many companies and private individuals that have been digging their teeth into Zero Point Energy, or similar physical manifestations.
The Casmir Effect (1948) may explain some of the forces involved within Steorns' device, though I have yet to receive any scientific explaination. According to Steorn, the scientific community are testing this device right now, their results will be published later in the year. To show the device to the public before this happens must be some effort to raise awareness, though, sadly, it only fuels my doubt. I want to it to be true! Perhaps I'll have a trip to London all the same...
http://dynimg.rte.ie/0000edf510dr.jpg
I really hope this is true, this would be completely amazing. However, for the sake of protecting myself from a massive let-down, I'm going to remain skeptical.
And if this thing really does exist, I wouldn't really want them to license their technology to other companies, especially here in the US--they'll just make customers pay a premium to use it, thus negating the purpose.
Is this possible ? I mean how can they stumble on this magnetism when they are working on another powersource?
The company stumbled upon the technology while working with wind turbines to power remote surveillance CCTV cameras for ATM.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0704/steorn.html
$200 says that this is some type of modern art bullsh*t....
Magnetism. Wikipedia it.
why i read Ileakfeatures in the article? what does it matters?
ENGADGET
RTE NEWS is not a rag. Its the Irish Equivalent of BBC NEWS.
a simple choice of words my friend, but it can offend
removed, no offense meant. I mean offence, ah hell.
Thomas
I'm an Irish native, feel free to call it a rag all you want.
I dunno about you guys, but the term "rag" is used in the Newspaper biz (here in the States, anyway) to refer to any paper. My dad, a newspaperman for nearly 30 years, refers to the NYTimes as a rag, i.e., the NY Rag, but he likes that paper a lot.
Lost in translation :)
*hides wireless power transfer device under floor of art gallery*
WOOHOO it works indevfinetly and with no wires !
Sorry for the double post, forgot to mention that Energy from the Vacuum - Concepts & Principles (available from all good dubious science websites) is a highly entertaining read - I got my copy for free, it was laugh a minute stuff
For a list of youtube videos and up2date news, check out
http://www.steornpower.com/
chears!! lets hope this is real.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0704/steorn.html
Is this the machine that is used to heat water and the netout put is higher then input? they had a wicked discovery channel thing on that. its used a a few fire houses to heat there water. heats it by spinning a device so fast the motion causes the water to heat. depending on pour size in the device you get different lvls of heat even steam.
Under the combined forces of magnetism and gravity the two modes again remain distinct. Gravity waves can propagate at frequencies less than ωBV at small horizontal wavevector (essentially the Lorentz force opposes the transverse variation), and at frequencies greater than vA2kx2 (Lou 1995). There are also a pair of upward- and downward- propagating waves at frequencies greater and less than ωBV respectively. Isn't this obvious to everyone !
takling of "free" energy, a recent news report at the BBC about a Supermarket's plans for using passing lorries - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshire/6262134.stm - made me wonder whether they've thought much about where that energy actually comes from.