🥎 Major League Baseball could deploy robot empires, world’s first dual-tower solar thermal plant, US researchers pave way for extremely fast computer memory

INTERESTING ENGINEERING SHOP

Major League Baseball (MLB) is considering implementing robot umpires, known as the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system, as part of a challenge system in spring training next year.

If successful, this technology could be introduced in regular-season games by 2026. MLB has been testing the ABS in minor leagues since 2019, but it still faces challenges regarding the definition of a strike zone.

Commissioner Rob Manfred recently discussed this during a meeting with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, highlighting the importance of a spring training test before introducing ABS to the major leagues. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

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> ETS Engineer IV (ServiceNow Engineer)
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MUST READ

🥎‘Good to 100th of an inch’: US baseball league could deploy robot empires by 2026

MLB has made significant progress with the ABS, which is currently accurate to a hundredth of an inch. The technology effectively tracks the ball’s path, but unresolved technical issues still surround the strike zone’s definition.

Manfred noted, “We have made material progress. I think that the technology is good to a 100th of an inch. The technology in terms of the path of the ball is pluperfect.”

The ABS system has been used in Triple-A ballparks for two consecutive seasons, but MLB has been hesitant to implement the strict cube-defined strike zone described in the rule book. Instead, MLB has experimented with modifications during minor league testing. 

💾US discovery paves way for extremely fast and compact computer memory

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter have made a remarkable discovery that could revolutionize the electronics sphere, such as magnetic computer memory.

They have discovered that the layered multiferroic material nickel iodide (NiI2) exhibits the strongest magnetoelectric coupling ever observed in any known material of its kind.

Magnetoelectric coupling is a unique phenomenon where changes in an electric field can influence a material’s magnetic properties, and vice versa. This finding could revolutionize the development of ultra-fast, energy-efficient devices in various fields, including quantum computing.

☀️ World’s 1st dual-tower solar plant unveiled, will make 1.8 billion kWh yearly

China has reportedly developed the world’s first dual-tower solar thermal plant near Guazhou County in Gansu Province to enhance efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The plant will use solar heat instead of coal to convert water to high-pressure steam, which is used to rotate turbines and generate electricity.

To achieve that, power company China Three Gorges Corporation claims to have combined two adjacent heat-absorbing towers sharing a steam turbine generator. Nearly 30,000 heliostat mirrors are installed on the towers, covering an 800,000-square-meter light-collecting area.

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