bridges
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A 3D-printed bridge is being built using reinforced concrete
3D printing is a massive category that covers everything from small, DIY, plastic projects to metal meant to be used in Boeing's 787 airplane. Yet another usage has come to light, courtesy of the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Researchers there have started manufacturing parts for a 3D-print reinforced concrete meant for a cycling bridge. When the construction is complete, it'll apparently be the first bridge to use 3D-printed, reinforced concrete (but not the first 3D printed bridge using other materials -- or even concrete itself. (The image above shows a 3D-printed concrete test done at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; the one below comes from the Eindhoven University of Technology.)
How an AI took down four world-class poker pros
"That was anticlimactic," Jason Les said with a smirk, getting up from his seat. Unlike nearly everyone else in Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino, Les had just played his last few hands against an artificially intelligent opponent on a computer screen. After his fellow players -- Daniel McAulay next to him and Jimmy Chou and Dong Kim in an office upstairs -- eventually did the same, they started to commiserate. The consensus: That AI was one hell of a player.
Libratus, the poker-playing AI, destroyed its four human rivals
The Kenny Rogers classic profoundly states that "you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em," and for the first time, an AI has out-gambled world-class players at heads-up, no-limit Texas Hold'em. Our representatives of humanity -- Jason Les, Dong Kyu Kim, Daniel McAulay and Jimmy Chou -- kept things relatively tight at the outset but a ill-fated shift in strategy wiped out their gains and forced them to chase the AI for the remaining weeks. At the end of day 20 and after 120,000 hands, Libratus claimed victory with daily total of $206,061 in theoretical chips and an overall pile of $1,766,250.
The Big Picture: a London footbridge that fans open for boats
What you see above is a bridge of a slightly different flavor. Taking inspiration from Japanese hand-fan design, the Merchant Square Bridge uses a cantilvered deck to cross the Grand Union Canal in Paddington, London. Each of the five steel beams open in sequence and use what designer Knight Architects calls shaped counterweights to assist the hydraulic jacks that raise and lower the planks. Just how much weight is needed to aid the spans? Architecture & Design says 40 tons worth -- about the heft of an average humpback whale. The design of the bridge allows boats to pass under freely, and pedestrians to cross the 20 meter-wide (roughly 65 feet) body of water. To see it in action (and in the down position), check out the video we've embedded below if you can't make it to London to peep in person.
Japanese bridge inspection robot has magnetic wheels, shuffles up walls
Most wall-climbing robots rely on advanced forms of suction to keep them adhered to a flat surface, but Japan's latest wall crawler employs a different method: magnets. Hailing from the Osaka City University Graduate School of Engineering, BIREM (which stands for Bridge Inspection Robot Equipping Magnets) is designed to -- as the name suggests -- inspect bridges. Riding four spoked wheels adorned with eight magnets a piece, it can creep across metal girders at a rate of 7.8 inches per second. Its flexible midsection promises to give it an edge over uneven structures, and its creators hope that it will eventually lower infrastructure inspection costs. You won't see it crawling across the Golden Gate any time soon, however -- the team doesn't expect to commercialize it for another three years.
China has built the longest bridge in the world... so you don't have to dig that hole
Yes, in addition to being one of the coolest and largest nations in the world, China now has the distinction, at least for the time being, of having the longest bridge in the world. The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge -- at 26.4 miles long -- in Shandong Province is almost three miles longer than the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, which was the previous record holder for the longest bridge over water in the world (the longest bridge in the world period is also in China). The bridge took four years to build -- lightning fast by American construction standards -- and cost around $8.5 billion dollars. It was designed by Shandong Gausu Group and built by about 10,000 workers.
One Shots: Bridging cultural differences
Now this is something you don't often see in MMOs every day! No, not the grass, trees and sky -- or even the perky little flowers. The odd thing in this Lord of the Rings Online image is the presence of two very markedly different architectural styles, which you perhaps don't often see close to one another. Finudir, Captain of Gondor, sent us this lovely screenshot and explained:When I walked across these two bridge just before getting to Duilond, I thought "whoa, I have to send this in to the good people at Massively!" In this shot we see two cultures, two architectural styles that don't often occur so close together. The bridge on the left is of Dwarven mastercraft, and the bridge on the right is of Elven make. Nice, eh?Indeed. It's always great to see "foreign" cultures working well side by side in games. Now if we could just get our PUGs to go that harmoniously....Do you have something that caught your attention in your normal game world? Something just a little bit off the beaten path? If so, send it to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. We love to see what's going on in your game worlds!%Gallery-9798%
UK blames sat navs for damaging 2,000 bridges per year
We've already seen plenty of evidence of the potential damage that sat navs can cause, but the UK's Network Rail has now put a figure on at least some of it, saying that the devices are responsible for damaging some 2,000 bridges per year and causing 5,000 hours of delays. That, thankfully, is not from the satellites falling from the sky, but rather from over drivers relying a little too heavily on GPS units (in particular those driving trucks too large for the bridges), a problem apparently so bad that some places in the UK have taken to putting up signs warning of the dangers. That's apparently not quite enough to solve the problem, however, and now , in addition to warning people to use a little common sense, Network Rail is also reportedly attempting to map all of the UK's low bridges and level crossings so that the information can be added to GPS software.[Thanks, Charles H]
MIT's handheld FAR-NDT device sees cracks in structures
We've already seen radars come in handy when dodging impending attacks and avoiding accidents, but researchers at MIT are utilizing the technology to make sure our roadways and structures aren't pushed beyond their limits. A newfangled handheld device uses FAR-NDT (far-field airborne radar nondestructive testing) in order to "see through the fiberglass-polymer wrapping often used to strengthen aging concrete columns to detect damage behind the wrapping not visible to the naked eye." Furthermore, the technique can be executed from about 30 feet away and "requires no dismantling or obstruction of the infrastructure" in order to provide instant feedback. Unsurprisingly, creators are suggesting that it will be best used on bridges and piers which are typically difficult to carefully inspect, and while there's no word on when this stuff will hit DOT offices nationwide, current prototypes are panning out quite well.[Via Physorg]
