Sílvio Mendes | 110 anos do Técnico

Author Archive

Episode 61: Hounsfield, the testing machine

Friday, September 23rd, 2022

The Hounsfield testing machine was brought to Técnico in the 1970s to test the resistance of materials to be used, for example, construction materials. It was fundamental to the Metallurgical Engineering degree, created in the same decade, and there is hardly any student who has not used it. Understanding the mechanical behaviour of the various types of materials using a crank handle was the everyday life of students. Many years later, and after much technological evolution, it keeps the memory of trying to develop the steel industry and the production of nuclear energy in Portugal, and it is a rare piece in the country.

Acknowledgements:
Luís Guerra Rosa
Maria Emília Rosa

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 60: Crystals inside glass amphorae

Friday, September 16th, 2022

It is a rare collection in Portugal that includes 24 large crystals preserved in glass amphorae, dating from the 1940s. The exact chemical composition of some of these crystals is not known, nor their date of origin or when they were brought to Técnico. But it is known that these alumens (inorganic single crystals) continue to attract people from around the world, and that some of the most important metals in chemistry are sealed inside these glass amphorae. Soon, they will be exhibited at Técnico – Alameda campus, in the corridors of the South Tower, as part of the museum collection of the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Acknowledgements:
Clementina Teixeira
Dulce Simão

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 59: The locomotive on exhibit at the Civil Engineering Museum

Friday, September 9th, 2022

It is a reduced model of a steam locomotive, with more than two meters long and dated 1906. It was built in less than a year by Manuel Gualdino da Silva (1865-1914), a worker from Barreiro who was fascinated by mechanics, and two colleagues. The train, composed of a locomotive and six carriages with a capacity for 24 passengers, would become a great attraction in Barreiro Festivals, in the year of its creation. It arrived at Técnico in 1956, as part of the celebrations of the first centenary of the Portuguese railways. It is exhibited in the Civil Engineering Museum and bears witness to the enthusiasm that the railways and steam trains still exert on many people.

Acknowledgements:
José Pinheiro
Nelson Oliveira
Museu de Civil do Técnico
Clube de Entusiastas do Caminho de Ferro

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 58: ‘Gasparzinho’

Friday, September 2nd, 2022

‘Gasparzinho’ is a humanoid robot designed to engage in educational and entertainment activities, and to improve the well-being of children hospitalised in the Portuguese Oncology Institute (IPO), in Lisbon. From 2014 to 2019, ‘Gasparzinho’ interacted with people in IPO’s corridors, whistling, talking and inviting the children to play. The robot was created within the scope of Monarch project, an international research consortium coordinated by Técnico researchers, which took giant steps in the field of robotics: vision technologies, human-robot interaction, decision-making…

Acknowledgements:
Filomena Pereira
João Sequeira
Paulo Alvito

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 57: ELONICA, an interactive demonstrator of a visual prosthesis

Friday, July 29th, 2022

At the beginning of this century, researchers from Técnico / INESC ID were part of a European project with the ambitious goal of contributing to restoring some vision in blind people. The experience at Técnico, which involved computer models and computer architecture, tried to help solve the challenge of acquiring and processing images for a device implanted in the brain, without external physical connections. The project has contributed to advances in this field, but also gave rise to ELONICA, an interactive demonstrator of a visual prosthesis, which brings together interdisciplinary knowledge in the field of electronic engineering, and has aroused the curiosity of hundreds of young people over the last few years. It consists of a mannequin motorised head with swimming goggles, five electric motors, lithium batteries, a solar panel that captures the light produced by an artificial sun and a video monitor that features image processing of an artificial retina…

Acknowledgements:
Leonel Sousa
Moisés Piedade
Pedro Tomás

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 56: The crocodile skull

Friday, July 22nd, 2022

The skull of a crocodile with two feet long that lived nearly 100 years ago occupies a prominent place in Décio Tadeu Museum (Geosciences Museums), at Técnico – Alameda campus. It is part of a collection that was found in the former African colonies, in the beginning of the last century, and was used for teaching purposes. The biodiversity potential of this crocodile skull can make a great contribution to the scientific community. The paleontologist and Técnico/IPFN researcher Ricardo Araújo, has been using the fossils collected by the institution to improve his scientific research.

Acknowledgements:
Elisa In-Uba
Judite Alves
Ricardo Araújo
Museus de Geociências do Instituto Superior Técnico

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 55: The Spectrum at Técnico

Friday, July 15th, 2022

Spectrum is a microcomputer that delighted an entire generation of young people in the 1980s. It was released in 1982 for leisure purposes, and four years later it became an essential teaching tool in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Técnico. A device was created from the original ZX Spectrum console, which included several components mounted on a wooden board: a cassette player/recorder, an electrical transformer, a triple socket, two electrical switches and a hand-made circuit board. Eight similar models were made and used for data acquisition, working with various types of computers, machines and robots.

Acknowledgements:
Mário Ramalho
Luís Raposeiro

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 54: The Electromagnet Kit

Friday, July 8th, 2022

Manuel Abreu Faro was one of the greatest Portuguese scientists of the 20th century. He helped create conditions for a substantial growth in the number of scientists in Portugal, and he marked different generations of Técnico students with his unforgettable theoretical classes in the field of telecommunications and electronics. An electromagnet kit has been recently discovered in his old office, which demonstrates that he also had a genuine interest in technology and to prove what he taught. The object allows to perform multiple electromagnetism experiments. It is exhibited at the Faraday Museum and inspires the Técnico students to do scientific experiments.

Acknowledgements:
Moisés Piedade
Custódio Peixeiro
Maria Inês Queiroz
Museu Faraday

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 53: Early 20th century scientific charts

Friday, July 1st, 2022

There are 116 scientific charts from the early 20th century that are considered to be the first versions of the current PowerPoint slides. Each scientific chart is about 2 meters high by 1.5 meters wide, and includes paleontology and geology illustrations, and several figures including dinosaurs, mammals, sponges, trilobites, and plants, among others. For decades, until the 1950s, they were crucial for mining engineering classes. The scientific flip charts are exhibited in the Geosciences Museum, at Instituto Superior Técnico (Alameda campus), and are one of the rare collections of scientific “parietal drawings” in Portugal. Three scientific flip charts were made by Técnico students who attended the institute during the 1950s.

Acknowledgements:
Mafalda Paiva
Manuel Francisco
Marta Lourenço
Museu de Geociências do Instituto Superior Técnico

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 52: The Space CoBot

Friday, June 24th, 2022

The Space CoBot is a collaborative robot, a kind of drone with six propellers and sensors, designed to help transport cargo to a space station, interacting with humans and other robots in a zero-gravity environment. The project was created in 2015, at Técnico / ISR | Lisboa, and has resulted in new lines of research in the area of collaborative robots and artificial intelligence (autonomy, control, decisions). The Space CoBot has also enabled collaborations with NASA, participation in Mars analog missions, research with rovers (space exploration vehicles) and it was behind the creation of another robot used for 3D printing. The robot name is included in several master’s theses authored by Técnico students and has influenced teaching in the field of science and space technologies.

Acknowledgements:
Gonçalo Maia
Pedro Roque
Rodrigo Ventura
Instituto de Sistemas e Robótica (ISR | Lisboa)

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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