One of the main drawbacks with electric cars has been the short duration that a battery can handle the load. The powerful batteries that have been developed have helped the cause of the electric car to a great extent, but it is the hybrid cars which can run on both the electrical power and regular fuel which have proved the most popular.

The main reason why electrical cars are not too popular with the buyers is the low speed that they offer. Most of them run with a top speed ranging between 30 to 40 miles per hour. Not exactly what you would call speed oriented. So there is now an ongoing effort to improve on this feature for electrical vehicles.

In fact now Volvo is out to develop the world’s faster hybrid truck. The project has been dubbed “Mean Green”. The diesel and electric hybrid truck is literally the fastest one around as there is no competition in its specific category. However Volvo is now out to improve its top speed and will be racing it for an official record.

In times to come we should have faster electrical cars and longer lasting batteries. The cost of the cars will also come down, to be more affordable to regular families. The breakthroughs that have taken place in the last decade show us the possible future of this industry. It is all down to the development of the clean tech that drives this science project.

In what it is being seen as a major leap for unmanned vehicles a group of researchers drove orange colored vans from Italy to China. Only they did not actually drive the vans at all. These vehicles were programmed to drive the route all by themselves. No drivers guided them and they covered the large distance on their own.

They had GPS systems which showed them the route and they literally drove themselves through countries and continents to arrive from Italy to China. There is also a special automated system which keeps track of the traffic situation on the road and guides the van accordingly.

So what exactly was the purpose of this huge exercise? The researchers said that it has been recorded time and again that the majority of road accidents take place due to human error. In fact the percentage is as high as 90%. These vehicles hope to reduce the number of accidents which occur on the roads by simply removing the human driver and replacing him or her with an automated system.

Sounds futuristic and impractical? It is not, as they have already developed the prototypes. These just need to be fine tuned and soon you may see driver-less vehicles being sold in the car markets. How’s that for an interesting science project?

This is one science project which all humans will watch with bated breath. In groundbreaking technology scientists in NASA have finally decided to send up a humanoid robot into outer space at the International Space Station. The robot in question is being called Robonaut 2 or R2.

The robot is expected to make a one way trip to the International Space Station on the Discovery Space Shuttle. The R2 is expected to assist the scientists and astronauts in the space station in simple chores to start with. There are lofty visions of the robot taking over all kinds of dangerous work from humans in the future.

This would include handling toxic spills, and repairs outside the space station. Of course other less dangerous but eagerly waited tasks such as cleaning the toilet are also being looked forward to by its co-inhabiting humans. It is currently only built with half a body. The torso and upper body exists for the humanoid robot but legs do not.

Made out of aluminum and nickel plated carbon fiber and standing about a meter tall R2 weighs 150 kg. The light weight robot is expected to lead to even more helpful robots in the future. The prototype is here and things can only improve. Learn more about the stars with this science project.

Studying the undersea organisms has always been a logistical nightmare for any science project. However with these new underwater robots that can literally swim with the fish and follow them over long distances under water, oceanographers are suitably excited. The robots are set to be used by a group of Australian scientists who are looking to reach new depths in the ocean.

In a similar study in the state of California there are robots being designed that will open up a new dimension in the study of creatures that live underwater. In Monterrey Bay in California this robot has already spent one week underwater examining organisms and sending back useful data to its human handlers on the shore.

The robot sends back information about the physical and chemical composition of the water around the creature that it is following besides a host of other details which the scientists would be hard pressed to find. The robot is being designed to stay underwater for months on end to effectively spy on and report back about the underwater creatures that it follows.

Perhaps now the ocean will reveal even more bizarre secrets than one had thought possible. We will find out more when these robots are deployed in larger numbers than they are at present. Thinking of doing more liquid based science experiments look for them here.

In a science fiction movie you would not be surprised to see a robot operating on a human in a hospital scene. However if you enter a present day operating theater and see the same thing, you would be a bit surprised. Not any more, as the first all robotic operation was recently recently conducted at Canada’s McGill University Health Centre.

The Surgery was conducted by the Da Vinci surgical robot with help from the McSleepy anaesthesia robot. They were controlled remotely by a surgeon and an anesthetist. The surgery was performed on Gilles Lefort a 68 year old man who is a patient of prostate cancer. His treating surgeon was Dr. Armen Apikian.

What is more the surgeon is ready with a study which proves that a robotic surgery is more effective in stemming the progress of cancer than a regular human surgery. Talk about machines doing a better job! Although these robots are remotely controlled by humans so we may not be quite redundant as yet.

There are a number of robots that can do jobs that are monotonous and boring to human beings with a consistency and efficiency that any human being would appreciate. The future is in robotics and if you want to learn more about this interesting field of science you can be assured you will not be disappointed. Look for more science fair projects here.