After initially unveiling his concept for a “fifth mode of transport” back in 2012 (i.e., the Hyperloop system), Elon Musk stayed relatively quiet while unaffiliated businesses and startups raced to develop the innovative tech. That is, until now. According to a recent announcement, Musk’s aerospace manufacturer SpaceX has officially tasked the construction and design firm Aecom with building a Hyperloop test track just outside of its headquarters in Hawthorne, California. For those keeping track at home, that’s now three separate Hyperloop test tracks currently in development, with each tentatively scheduled to begin test operations in 2016.
Based out of Los Angeles, California, Aecom is no stranger to the Hyperloop concept, having previously doled out funding to Hyperloop Transportation Technologies‘ own project. Additionally, the company’s own legacy lies with its laundry list of premiere construction projects such as Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the Ottawa Light Rail Transit, the Hong Kong Science park, and the Alameda Corridor freight rail expressway. Considering it sees itself as a facilitator to “develop and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most complex challenges,” it seems more than fit to develop Musk’s futuristic Hyperloop system.
“Aecom has designed and built some of the world’s most impressive transportation systems, so we appreciate how the development of a functioning Hyperloop with SpaceX can dramatically expand the ways people move across cities, countries and continents,” Aecom CEO Michael Burke said in a statement. “What we are delivering is more than just a test track to test pod prototypes; it’s a glimpse into the future.”
Built nearby SpaceX’s offices in Hawthorne, California, Aecom plans to begin construction of the 6-foot-wide, 1-mile-long test track this spring. Though pricing has not yet been disclosed by SpaceX or Aecom, the latter did unveil a bit more of the test tracks specifics, saying “the test track’s 6-foot diameter steel tube will include a non-magnetic sub-track.” It added further that the track would be “cradled in place above ground” and will “serve as a vacuum-sealed, high-speed proving ground for transport pod prototypes being developed as part of a SpaceX design competition.”
The competition, officially dubbed the “Design Weekend” and taking place January 28 and 29 at Texas A&M University, tasks thousands of students with designing capable Hyperloop test modules. Whomever SpaceX and Aecom deem the eventual winner will then have the opportunity to put their design to the test by building a life-size version, and running it on Aecom’s completed test track. To make the weekend more intriguing, the startup Hyperloop Technologies also plans to be on hand during the competition, having already inked a partnership with SpaceX to officially sponsor the contest.
According to the press release, Aecom remains mum on which company it intends to move forward with past the test phase saying “multiple groups are involved in Hyperloop development efforts, and Aecom has not endorsed or validated any technology or approach. Despite its noncommittal stance, the fact three separate test tracks remain tentatively scheduled for development in 2016 shows Hyperloop tech is poised for an incredibly momentous year.
San Francisco startup Dimensional advertised for people to walk robot dogs through city streets. The New York Times reported that the job could include carrying a roughly 33-pound robot back to the office if it overheated. A lift home is an awkward requirement for a labor-saving machine.
Keeping the hardware running is only one challenge. Anthropic's robotics tests found that language models mostly failed when controlling joints directly, but did better when directing trained controllers. Giving an AI agent a body doesn't teach it to handle ordinary household objects.
Soon, a mattress protector may be more than a bed cover. Australian medtech company Sleeptite and researchers at RMIT University have received a US patent for FlexiSense, a smart bedding technology that tracks body position and posture to help caregivers identify when older residents may be at risk of falling.
The technology is being developed for Sleeptite’s in-bed monitoring system, REMi, and was recently on display at The MedTech Conference in Boston. A peer-reviewed study in Flexible and Printed Electronics says the sensors can also be made at scale without sacrificing performance or durability.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.