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F-35 Scheduled to Serve, Protect
The process for a new military aircraft began in 1996 when several aerospace companies began a five year competition to secure the winning bid for the next generation aircraft fighter. In 2001, Lockheed-Martin was awarded the largest contract in U.S. military history, possibly exceeding $200 billion. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is scheduled to serve the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and eight cooperative international partners.

The JSF aircraft design has three variants: conventional takeoff and landing for the U.S. Air Force; aircraft carrier-suitable variant for the Navy; and short takeoff and vertical landing variant for the Marine Corps, the United Kingdom, and the Air Force.

Fast and Sporty… Environmentally-Friendly
The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors. The Roadster has the ability to go from 0mph to 60mph in 3.9 seconds, with a top speed of 125mph, and is the only production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells. It also has the capability to travel more than 300 miles in a single charge. Tesla Motors has produced more than 1,000 vehicles, with a regular production rate of 25 a week. The majority of their deliveries have been in the United States.

When all you Need is a FRIEND
Developed at the University of Bremen in Germany, Project FRIEND II – Functional Robot with dexterous arm and user-frIENdly interface for Disabled people – is the successor of the FRIEND I system. The basic component of the Care-Providing FRIEND II is built from reliable industrial components, based on the wheelchair platform Nemo vertical – an electric wheelchair from Meyra.

The robotic arm/manipulator aspect of the FRIEND – the Light Weight Robotic Arm 3 (LWA3) seven degrees of freedom manipulator from Schunk – delivers the small manipulator wrist, the integrated force torque sensor in the wrist, and a manipulator body. The force-torque sensors, mounted at the robots wrist, perform force-torque-based reactive manipulative operations and are able to detect collisions.

This robotic arm is mounted on an automated panning arm so the arm can park behind the seat in order to navigate FRIEND in narrow passages. Equipped to the LWA3 is a prosthetic hand – SensorHand Speed from Otto Bock.