invention

Football superstar Ronaldinho popularises teqball, a Hungarian invention

Origo.hu writes that Ronaldinho became the ambassador of teqball, a Hungarian invention. The 36-year-old Ballon d’Or winner Brazilian star visited Budapest to popularise teqball, a sport which combines table tennis and football tennis. The inventors hope to conquer the world and make it an Olympic sport. Ronaldinho even sent teqball tables to Messi and Neymar.

“When we thought about which world-class football player, who represents the same technical football on the big pitch we represent with the teqball table, could be our ambassador, we all thought about Ronaldinho” said Gábor Borsányi, one of the inventors of teqball.

Ronaldinho has his own teqball table at home. The 36-year-old Ballon d’Or winner superstar was glad to become the ambassador of this sport, because he sees great potential in it. “I predict a bright future for teqball. My Brazilian friends and I frequently play with it. Anyone who likes playing with a ball will love this game.”

When asked about whether or not the sport could be introduced as an Olympic event at the 2024 Budapest Olympic Games, Ronaldinho funnily answered: “I wish to God that this soon becomes an Olympic sport, because then I might have the chance to become an Olympic champion.”

[box] Teqball is a football based new sport equipment, which practically combines table tennis and football tennis. The table was finalised after long years of mathematic and physical calculations. On a teq match players have to hit the ball every 2-3 seconds, which highly improves ball safety and the first touch of the ball. [/box]

The Brazilian football star also expressed how much he wanted to play teqball with his former Barcelona teammate, Lionel Messi and his fellow countryman, Neymar, hence he sent both of them teqball tables as a gift so that they could practice.

At the press conference, Ronaldinho also said that he thinks that Pelé is the all-time best Brazilian football player and that he wouldn’t list himself among the top players on the imaginary ranking. Then, he demonstrated how the game is played and even went out to an outdoor table, where he was welcomed by hundreds of fans.

Mechanical designer Viktor Huszár said that their aim was to show that less is sometimes more. “This is basically a curved ping pong table; we measured the curve for three years with empirical tests to achieve that the ball bounces in a way that it has an acceleration and that the tool is operable. If you play teqball, you become a better football player.”

Millionaire businessman György Gattyán also supports this sport. “I’ve always found this invention very exciting and I trust in its success. With this Hungarian invention the world wouldn’t only get a new sport equipment, but hopefully a new Olympic sport as well.”

The onetime iconic football player, Tibor Nyilasi, was also present at the press conference on the side of the Hungarian Football Federation. “In the beginning I doubted the success of teqball, but I am now completely convinced of its significance. I encourage everyone to try out this sport. I advise every kid to use this table, because if they want to become great football players, then technical perfection is indispensable. I’ve always said that a good player doesn’t kick the ball, but strokes it and this is what teqball teaches you.”

Photos: MTI

October 18, 2016

Airbus picks Hungarian Aero Glass for 6-month innovation accelerator – Video

With its spectacular concept, Aero Glass managed to conquer even non-aviation websites and blogs a few years ago. The inspiration to re-imagine aerial navigation came from founder Ákos Maróy’s media art background, his passion for flying aircraft, and his serial entrepreneur spirit.

Aero Glass is a Mixed Reality application that provides pilots with navigation information in true 3D whichever way they are looking. By this, the burden of processing some of the information and the hazards of taking the pilot’s eyes off the sky are eliminated. As statistics show that pilot error is the cause of 60‐70% of aviation accidents, this goes a long way in improving flight safety.

The development of the 3D, 360° augmented reality (AR) solution began in 2013, and an early version of the app was distributed to 200 beta testers in 2014. In 2015, the project won a 2-year grant in the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument programme for research and innovation.

“Aero Glass is one of the most impressive concepts in the area of Augmented Reality for aerospace. At Airbus BizLab we believe it has the cutting-edge innovation factor that could revolutionize the way pilots experience their flights”, said Stefan Holst of Airbus BizLab. “We are excited to see where we’ll go together and the effects Aero Glass can have on piloting aircraft worldwide.”

Airbus BizLab strives to speed up the transformation of ground-breaking ideas into valuable business propositions. Participants have access to the entire innovation ecosystem of the aircraft manufacturer, to an entrepreneurial community of BizLab “graduates”, and, eventually, to an implementation programme to prepare a hand-off strategy.

“Airbus BizLab is a huge opportunity for us. It validates Aero Glass; it is a recognition of our efforts and results by one of the most significant industry players. I think that Airbus’ decades of experience and Aero Glass’ disruptive startup approach could complement each other nicely. The combination of these factors has the possibility to drive our solution to success in commercial aviation as well,” explained Aero Glass’ Ákos Maróy.

Startups that apply have to go through a strict selection process to be accepted to the six-month accelerator. The screening committee includes Airbus Chief Innovation Officer Yann Barbaux and Bruno Gutierres, Head of Airbus BizLabs. Last year, 15 external startups and 27 internal projects were admitted.

The selected projects are given the resources needed to become a commercial reality. BizLab mentors offer support in numerous domains – such as technology, finances, marketing and legal issues –, and help the entrepreneurs with prototyping and market access. The projects also participate in a demo day to raise funding for commercial operation.

October 13, 2016

The Airbnb of weddings created by two Hungarian women

Letting strangers come to your wedding, one of the most intimate days of your life, might seem weird at first. But in India, where weddings look like huge and expensive festivals, the opening up of your wedding to tourists, who are even willing to pay for it, seems much more logical. According to index.hu, this is what two Hungarian women realised when they started Join My Wedding, the Airbnb of the wedding industry.

Most people love to go to weddings. Imagine a couple with a completely different cultural background from ours, whose wedding wouldn’t only be a party or a feast, but also a cultural experience. If you fancy the idea, then you can have the chance to travel to faraway weddings and get an insight into local traditions by favour of a Hungarian startup.

The idea of Join My Wedding came to the minds of two young Hungarian women, Orsolya Parkányi and Márta Matécsa in 2015. Orsolya had been living in Australia for some time when she met Márta. Orsolya complained about how she missed all of her friends’ wedding due to living abroad, while Márta talked about an Indian wedding she’d been to and how amazing that experience was.

Then came the idea to visit other couples’ weddings as tourists for some money. This wasn’t only a flush, they immediately started brainstorming and working out a business model that would be suitable for both sides. And this is how Join My Wedding was born.

They launched their site in the April of 2016, which works just like Airbnb; the only difference is that you register your wedding instead of your apartment. You can check out the profile of each wedding before choosing and paying for the most attractive one.

The reason why they choose India as their starting point is that a traditional wedding is a real jollity and spectacle there, through which western tourists can get into the depth of things.

There are usually 20-30 spots for a wedding of 1000 guests and participation costs around 100 dollars/day which basically equals the price of other cultural programmes in India. In exchange, you can take part in all wedding programmes, eat as much as you want, and even get accommodation in case of a longer wedding.

The media played a great role in the spreading of the initiation as several foreign papers have reported on the company, not to mention that BBC went to shoot at one of the weddings.

The main target group of Join My Wedding is basically any western tourist who desires an original programme and is interested in other cultures, traditions. “We count with the population of the first world countries as guests, because our experiences show that people in developing countries are more likely to open up their weddings to strangers. However, we don’t seclude ourselves from the idea of Hungarian weddings appearing in the repertoire in the future. We want to focus on India first, and expend later.”

Besides the geographic expending of Join My Wedding, the founders have further plans regarding weddings. One is a wedding crowdfunding application that would replace the money physically given at weddings. This way relatives and friends could contribute to the new, married life even before the event.

Photos: www.facebook.com/JoinMyWedding

Copy editor: bm

October 1, 2016

Moroccan students in the „Puli” Space Project – VIDEO

Although many people found it strange that a Hungarian-Moroccan space research agreement came into being in the beginning of the year, there are already visible results. Three Moroccan young adults joined the Puli Space team in Budapest for two months.

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September 18, 2016

The eyes of robot drivers will be put together in Budapest

Index.hu reports about a new use of artificial intelligence by Adasworks, because Budapest will host the process of putting together items that will function as the so-called ‘eyes’ of cars in the future. They are necessary for robot drivers to be able to identify everything while moving.

Predictably only electric cars will be allowed to travel with in just a few decades’ time, and, as their structure is rather simple, anyone may join their production. Therefore, the hardware would lose its value, and so the software will take over control on the automotive industry.

László Kishonti, founder and director of Adasworks told the site that they aim to become a really significant participant of this technology in travelling. The company works on the development of computer-based sight, supported by artificial intelligence, which would function as the eye of the car.

The surroundings will be observed through the photos of simple and cheap cameras. Thereafter the on-board computer will decide on where to go, and also what speed the car will go with. Adasworks also initiated a standard by which the system of the hardware would consume energy of less than 10W instead of 500W.

According to their plans, 6 cameras will be implemented in every car to ensure safe travelling, of which 2 will be in the front, in a way that their view could overlap, so in case something goes wrong with one camera that will not affect the driving, nor cause any trouble. Also, when it gets dark sensors using infrared would be activated.

A radar will be used too as a safety backup, but as it is not so trustworthy it would come handy only in extreme cases, when something covers the car completely blocking the view in a way not even a human driver could drive properly. Thus, the task in such cases is to make sure that the car can get aside on the road without crashing into something.

Another option instead of the radar would be the laser radar called lidar, which is used by Google as well, however, it is far too expensive (even the cheap version costs about 2 million HUF) and has a far too short lifespan. Furthermore, it would use gigabytes of data on every kilometre. The lidar’s greatest advantage is that the distance of every pixel is known.

The system uses numerous kinds of data when searching for safe roads for the car: the on-board maps have to be updated real-time, the objects appearing in the streets – e.g. bicycles, people, and vans – shall be identified, just like local territorial characteristics, such as Vespas in Italy.

Physical attributes of cars are also taken into account in relation to their brands and types. Also, one of the most important tasks of AI is to understand how the recognized objects will probably move: a standing person is likely to set off somewhere, whereas someone tottering is likely drunk, and thus requires more caution from a driver.

But before the robot drivers could be used they have to undergo several tests. In order to get some data, the team of Adasworks hacked a video game by which the AI could learn what different types of cars look like from different angles to ensure the recognition of the vehicles.

However, the game could not be used for business purposes, so the company made their own one, which included pedestrians and bikers as well. The team expands quickly: there are more than 100 employees nowadays, whereas a year ago there were only about 15. Also, they opened an office in the Silicon Valley just recently.

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Besides, the team working in Budapest is about to move to a new office where even 200 people could work together. Employees were invited to Adasworks by offering them shares and 10% of the company was given out already. A capital of about 10.5 million EUR has been involved so far and the investors include the Robert Bosch Venture Capital.

The main goal of Adasworks is to be present in Europe, America and Asia, to make sure self-driving cars with a system that works well and is compatible with all cars that are used on these continents. According to Kishonti, the product, which does not control yet, but warns and breaks, would become available in 2018, while the version capable of driving a car around 2020-2022.

Photos: facebook.com/AdasWorksGmbH

Copy editor: bm

September 16, 2016

The Hungarian Puli in Morocco

The boys – Hatim Mounib, Ali el-Alaoui and Azzedine Zouitin – are the students of the Casablanca College of Electronics and Mechanics who won the opportunity to work for two months in Budapest at a competition. The scholarship is implemented by the agreement of the Moroccan Aeronautical and Space Research Association and the Hungarian Interstellar Association. Space technologies are quite new to Morocco, but there are many enthusiastic youngsters and the country has a lot of potential in space research.

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The Puli has been to Morocco, as the first model was tested in desert field conditions. The Hungarian-Moroccan aeronautical and space research relations have been dynamically improving since then – Hungarian companies participated in the North African country’s air show, which is Africa’s most prestigious aerial show, and several notable businesses are on their way. The Moroccan youngsters already started their work in Budapest in the beginning of August and they’ll be staying in Hungary until the beginning of October, but they’ll continue to take part in the joint work after their return to Morocco, as well.

The Puli Space Technologies is one of the most innovative participants of the Hungarian space industry. Their goal is to develop new technologies that would make the sending of space-crafts to the Moon regular, thus, the opening of new dimensions and guaranteeing quality solutions to future-oriented investors, who are interested in the exploitation of space’s business opportunities. But first, Puli has to get to the Moon, thus executing the Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge. The space herding dog would explore the close-by regions after landing and send high definition photos and videos of the location and itself to Earth.

Read more in the next bilingual Tropical Magazine!

Copy editor: bm

September 11, 2016

The manufacturer of stringbike changes its marketing strategy

The story of the stringbike started after the regime change in the early nineties, when a group of Budapest Technical University students became interested in designing a chainless bicycle. After years of work in 2010 they introduced the first prototype of the chainless bike to the public at a trade fair in Italy. But despite, the positive feedback from the general public retail sales remained slow, hungarianambiance.com reports.

There are several reasons for this said the company’s Marketing Manager János Podonyi. To focus on retail sales both in domestic and foreign markets was clearly a failed strategy. Potential customers that plan to buy a new bike in retail shops, in general, have preconceived ideas – they already know what they want before going to the store. It is difficult to change cutomers’ minds in the store especially, if they encounter with an unfamiliar product Podonyi explained.

Another challenge is the price – the basic model costs one thousand euros (310 thousand forints) plus taxes.. Due to the high manufacturing costs, the various models cost between 1800 – 3000 euros that most people can’t afford.
The high price is due to low sales volume, which has not yet reached the ideal, self-sustaining level; last year, for example, only one hundred stringbikes were sold, 75-80 percent of them abroad.

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As a result, the company has decided to develop a new sales strategy. Our prices are high, but we have a really unique product. The new sales strategy will focus on emphasizing the luxurious experience that stringbike offers; it targets those customers that are receptive to innovation, and beauty Podonyi explained. Among other things we emphasize the luxury of dynamic, vibration-free ride, lubrication free design, and ease of transportation – due to the special design both wheels of the stringbike can be easily removed, and it can be transported on the back seat of a passenger car.

As part of the shift toward exclusivity the manufacturer plans to cooperate with fashion designers and already started working on limited editions of various models.

Very soon, two new limited editions will be introduced which are designed by collaboration with motorcycle racers, and fashion designers.

The company has also started producing wheelchairs for people with disabilities. A special wheelchair version of the technology is already available.

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Recently, we have launched a web-based sales and marketing system; the primary focus remains on foreign markets mostly, on the US market, but all developed countries are targeted said Podonyi.

September 10, 2016

The Hungarian “Walkable Future” is a great success

The life of kids who have to live with lower limb weaknesses seems to get somewhat easier thanks to Walkable Future Ltd., a Hungarian company, which developed a brace operating by engines to help the walking process of those in need, reports portfolio.hu.

Many children in Hungary and around the world live their life affected by the cerebralis paresis (CP) disease, which usually develops at infancy. The brain damage causes disability: the upper and lower limbs get weak, the muscles too tense, and the limbs might become deformed. Unfortunately, the disease cannot be cured yet, however, the life-damaging effects of the symptoms can get eased.

And that is where Walkable Future could become significant. It all started with the 16-year old András, who lives with CP, when his father wanted to help him, so he designed a customized walking machine, a brace, which is bends at the knees, and is operated by an engine. The machine had been constantly developed, and in 2015 the Walkable Future Ltd. was created in order to apply for an EU tender.

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In less than a month they won the Horizon 2020 program, so the funding of the project became supported by the EU: the Hungarian company received a support of 50 thousand EUR directly from Brussels.

The coordinator of the project told portfolio.hu that the money was spent on research: they checked whether there is a need for the machine in the EU through a survey, and if so, how high the demand could be. The responses were very useful for the company, as it turned out that the demand is high, although, it seems to be difficult to bring the product to the Hungarian market.

But, luckily, the project did not stop, and the company is analysing the possibilities of the product’s acceptance by the National Health Insurance Fund. Moreover, they aim to further improve the brace, make it lighter, safer and more modern.

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The technical capacities do not enable the machine to be used for therapies currently, but the goal is to develop it until it would make the everyday lives and activities of the disabled people easier. In a few weeks’ time the engineering developments would be finished and so would the software updates.

The product of Walkable Future Ltd. will be marketable after the developments are finished and all the necessary permissions were given, so it is not for sale yet. However, the company is looking for further resources to carry out developments, they may apply for the H2020 program again, to finalize the research.

Copy editor: bm

August 31, 2016

New Hungarian super gadget for bicycles

Attention cyclists, a handy gadget is in sight! It is called Shoka Bell and is able to control, light up, and also signals if your bike is being stolen. According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, many people have already laid their eyes on this amazing gadget.

The gadget, developed by Hungarians, can become the new favourite of cyclists: Shoka Bell has been up for only a few days on Kickstarter’s site but already collected 85 thousand dollars of support. And they are still counting, as it seems that many people see potential in the invention.

The tool can do much more than alarming or warning – of course you can do this by pushing one button, but it is also a great navigator, a lamp, and it can even warn us if our bike is being stolen, because it signals if anyone touches it in a zone of 250 metres.

You don’t even have to put the gadget itself onto your bicycle, its case is enough, as Shoka Bell is connected to it magnetically. You can connect it to your mobile phone via Bluetooth and you only need to download an application, type in your destination, so Shoka Bell can lead the way with the help of its built-in LED-s. It runs on an accumulator, but one charging can last for 200 hours.

The gadget, registered under the name of Dániel Falusi, will be available for circa 109 dollars.

Photos: www.facebook.com/ShokaBell

Copy editor: bm

August 7, 2016

The Hungarian smart glasses achieve success around the world

Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu writes that a Hungarian idea may revolutionize aerial navigation, 100 million copies are expected to be sold of the invention of Hungarians, the smart glasses, by 2020.

A Hungarian start-up company developed smart glasses for pilots, which have the potential to radically change aerial navigation on the American and European markets. The invention, Aero Glass won an EU support of 1.1 million EUR, and operates by realistically expanding distant objects and information, by projecting them to a still visible space in 3D depth.

The distant points, terrains, important geological information, and settlements that cannot be seen by simple visual range are shown as the glass draws a digitally planned route into the aerospace. Therefore, the invention significantly improves the navigation capacity of the pilot by making it easier and safer than it was without the glasses.

Ákos Maróy, one of the inventors, told the site that they plan to get involved in the world of aviation through airline companies, aircraft manufacturers, and a million American and European pilots. Then, they would expand the technology to different industries, such as open pit mining and architecture, for these areas have already expressed interest in the Aero Glass.

According to the predictions, 10 million glasses would be annually sold by 2016, and 100 million by 2020. But at first, the tool has to be materialized, which process is said to be finished by the summer of 2017, financed by 1.100.750 EUR, and with the involvement of American and Hungarian (Ateknea Solutions) partners.

Photo: facebook.com/AeroGlassware

Copy editor: bm

July 23, 2016

Outstanding Hungarian inventions – An unusual video on Hungarian excellence

Graphic designer Gábor Filkor has created a pop-up book featuring some of the most notable Hungarian scientists and engineers, whose inventions and significant contributions to their field made a mark on the world.

The ‘inventive’ video showcasing the book in action was created as a commercial for the fictitious Rubik’s Museum. According to index.hu, there have indeed been plans to build a Rubik’s Cube-shaped museum in Budapest, which would exhibit Hungarian inventions, although the idea has not been realised yet. It does, however, have a great commercial already. Check out this video:

To see more of Gábor Filkor’s work, check out his website.

A short guide to the inventors and their inventions featured in the video:

Jedlik Ányos – szódavíz – carbonated water
Although artificially manufactured carbonated water has been around since the 1760s, the foreign methods of production were kept secret. Ányos Jedlik is credited with manufacturing and popularizing carbonated water in Hungary in 1826. He was also the inventor of the electric motor and the dynamo.

Irinyi János – zajtalan gyufa – noiseless match
János Irinyi invented the noiseless and non-explosive match in 1836, at the age of 19. This became his most well known invention, although he greatly contributed to the spreading of modern chemistry in Hungary as well. He also had a significant political role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

Puskás Tivadar – telefonközpont – telephone exchange
According to the American inventor, Thomas Edison, “Tivadar Puskas was the first person to suggest the idea of a telephone exchange”. The first experimental model was built in Boston in 1877, based on the plans of Puskás. Later, he also invented the multiplex telephone switchboard, which contributed a further step in the development of communication.

Bíró László József – golyóstoll – ballpoint pen
After noticing that newspaper ink, unlike the ink used in fountain pens, dried quickly and left no smudges, Bíró devised a pen which had a ball in the tip that carried the thicker ink from the cartridge to the paper. Although the idea of a ballpoint pen was not new, early attempts were unsuccessful, and Bíró managed to perfect the invention. The ballpoint pen was first presented in 1931, and is still widely referred to as a biro or biro pen in many countries.

Neumann János – „a számítógép atyja” – “the father of the computer”
John von Neumann, as he was known after moving to the US to teach at Princeton, made major contributions to many fields of science, most notably mathematics, physics, and computing. He was a key figure in the invention of the digital computer. His computer architecture, known as the von Neumann model is, to this day, the basis of modern computer design. He also worked on the Manhattan Project, together with Hungarian physicist Leó Szilárd who was the first to discover that nuclear chain reactions are possible.

Goldmark Péter Károly – mikrobarázdás hanglemez – microgroove vinyl record
The long-playing vinyl record, or the LP, was introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. Péter Károly Goldmark was the leader of the team that developed the record, which could hold 22 minutes of sound per side. The format has remained the standard for vinyl albums ever since.

Rózsa László, Lassú Gábor, Színi Béla – csuklós busz – articulated bus
Although the idea of the articulated bus did not originate with the Hungarian engineers, the contributions of László Rózsa, Gábor Lassú, and Béla Színi are recognised all over the world, and their work was essential to the development of public transport in Hungary in the 1960s. Urbanisation and growing need for bigger capacity inspired the buses which could transport 200 people, and thanks to their innovative design, could also navigate the narrow streets of cities.

Rátai Dániel – Leonar3Do
The most recent invention in the video is Dániel Rátai’s virtual reality kit, the Leonar3Do, which can create a complete three-dimensional virtual reality environment. The invention has won many awards, most notably six first prizes at the International Science and Engineering Fair in 2005, and it has a variety of practical applications in education, art, design, and gaming.

Rubik Ernő – Rubik-kocka – Rubik’s Cube
The final pages of the book show perhaps the most well-known Hungarian invention of all time, the Rubik’s Cube, invented by Ernő Rubik in 1974. The cube was initially created to be used as a demonstrational tool in the classroom, but Rubik soon realised that it would make a great toy as well. It took the inventor a month to solve his own puzzle. Today, world champions around the world can accomplish the same in less than 6 seconds.

Photo: vimeo

Copy editor: bm

July 18, 2016

Hungarian success in America’s Got Talent – VIDEO

Index.hu writes that in the latest show of the popular America’s Got Talent the jury was impressed by the combination of a Rubik’s cube and some magician tricks. Steven Brundage first solved the puzzle in a paper bag which was already enough to hold the audience. It was even more exciting when he gave Simon Cowell an unsolved cube and he perfectly copied it without looking.

The three-dimensional logic game was invented by Ernő Rubik in 1974 and patented in 1977. That is when it started its conquering way towards success. Originally, he wanted to create a 2x2x2 cube but he had to face technical difficulties. He found that the most optimal solution is to create the cubes themselves in a unique way so that they could hold themselves together stably while also being able to slide on each other easily.

Later, the sides were coloured with different vibrant colours so the shifts were even more visible. It has many different variations and what has always intrigued people is how to solve it. And this was exactly what happened in America’s Got Talent.

The writer of the article believes that the American jury probably hasn’t seen the tricks of Hungarian cube jugglers as it’s not that big of a deal that someone can remember what another person did with the cube 30 seconds ago. However, it is very good to see that the more than 40-year-old Hungarian invention can still awe the audience.

Copy editor: bm

July 15, 2016

Here comes the first drone delivery system in Hungary

According to orientpress.hu, the team of NetPincér is testing a drone food delivery system based on the example of Singapore. If the aerial couriers get brought into real action, then the delivery time could be reduced from the current 1 hour to 30 minutes. In a few years’ time the sight of drones flying in the air at 100-150 metres can become as natural as the sight of cars on the streets.

It was recently reported that Foodpanda Singapore has been testing the option of drone food delivery. If the practical tests turn out well, then the drone couriers could be put to work from next year. At hearing the news of their twin company, NetPincér decided to also start experimental tests.

Gábor Szórád, the manager of the company said that the option of drone delivery poses a lot of questions; however, they believe in the total automation of the delivery process in the long-run. An important step of this could be delivery by drones controlled by men, followed by the fully autoguided drone couriers.

“The preparation of the food usually takes up 15 minutes. The remaining 30-45 minutes of delivery are all about the logistic processes. This is what could be reduced to its half with the drones” said the manager. He also added that they are constantly looking for new, innovative delivery methods. “The 21^st century is all about ‘now’. We are not willing to wait for long, we want everything immediately. When it comes to food delivery, rapidity is especially important since people usually order when they are already hungry, not one hour before.”

The manager emphasized that the current tests are only the first step in the process. “We were mainly prompted by honest curiosity. We have to solve a lot of legal and technical questions before seeing drones flying with pizzas over the cities. But we take the challenge seriously, we are negotiating with possible partners at the moment.”

Szilárd Fülöp, the manager of FlyBySense giving technical support for the experiment said that the drones most widespread in civic life are inadequate for food delivery. Their theoretic bearing capacity is only 0.2 kg and all grams are at the detriment of safety. Although, the bigger, more professional drones could safely deliver even 5-6 kg-s.

“The other bottleneck is the control of the drone. They can only be controlled for 400 metres with unaided eyes. But the bigger drones can be guided for 2-3 kilometres with the help of their camera.” He added that the real challenge are actually not the technical questions, but the difficult regulation. “Ideally you have to get permission to fly all drones since the current regulation declares that you can only fly an aerial vehicle without pilot in a separated air space. This is not too life-like.”

The law-makers realised the indefensibility of the situation. The Ministry of National Development is currently working on an order regulating the problem, which will probably be operative from the beginning of next year. Szilárd Fülöp thinks that drones are the future.

“We have to accept that drones will become a part of our everyday lives. In a few years’ time the sight of drones flying in the air at 100-150 metres can become as natural as the sight of cars on the streets. In fact, these will be flying without human control. If all goes well, the autoguided car will be presented in 2017. Why would drones need human contribution then?”

Photos: NetPincér

July 14, 2016

The first Hungarian container house

Two cast off containers, a fanatic owner and money – these three conditions were necessary to design and build a very unique house. Then, you just have to find a spot to place it. And building your own summer house on the site of your favourite hotel is just as special as building a luxury camp from military tents. Divany.hu talked with Dániel Somogyi about Hungary’s first container house.

Dívány: Why was the building put at the edge of a hotel and a camping, after all?

D.S.: A house like this was an old dream of mine, but I couldn’t find a place to put it. We’ve been visiting Nomád Hotel regularly for quite some time when I told the owner, Bari, that I’d like to build our own room here. So he showed me some spots. First, I had a kick at it, because we had to put the containers on a gully, which posed a lot of technical challenges. You should know that there are houses like this in the southern states of the USA and Scandinavia, but I haven’t seen any in Hungary before.

Dívány: How did the designing process go?

D.S.: We had to make up a process as no one has ever done anything like this is Hungary. I had many versions in my head, I found a designer, whom I told what I wanted to see, and we started varying. We have a hall, for instance, which other apartments don’t usually have, but we wanted to show what it would be like as a dwelling house. It was quite easy to get the building permission, because this is not an actual dwelling house but a holiday house.

Dívány: What is there to be known about containers?

D.S.: Carrier containers were designed to stand on their four corners so that they could be packed up ten floors high and take 35 tons. They can also stand water as these are very hard-wearing structures. However, we cut out a lot of fenestration space from the side walls of the trapezoid panel, so we needed extra support to keep its stability. It is also supported from under and we used steel rails due to the characteristics of the location.
The first thing that comes to most people’s mind is the question of costs. A 60 m² house, standing on plain surface – depending on the materials used – can be built for around 10 million forints.

Dívány: If I have the money, how much time does the building take up?

D.S.: From the order until the delivery it takes 2-3 months, and it’s important to emphasize that you can think of it as a dwelling house. Heating and hot water are both electric in the house and they can be controlled from distance via internet. We didn’t want to install gas, but you could do so as well. I originally planned a heat-pump solution, but it wouldn’t have been remuneratory, so we designed an economic electric heating, instead.

Dívány: How can you insulate a container?

D.S.: The good answer to the cold-hot question is that the house has a 25 cm lagging. We haven’t put in air-conditioning; we want to see the house’s heat management without it. The windows are three layered and lag well. You could even put solar cells on top of the house, but this location is not suitable for this due to the closed treetop. If there were more houses like this in Noszvaj, it would be worth creating a settlement that would supply the containers with energy. Still, this is the future.

Photos: www.funeco.com

Copy editor: bm

June 17, 2016

Hungarian electric aircraft at the forefront of aviation – VIDEO

A plane from a hangar in Kecskemét, Hungary has taken the world of aviation by storm. The eFusion is the first all-electric carbon fibre plane in the world with aerobatic capabilities, hvg.hu reports.

The two-seater sport and training aircraft, developed by Magnus Aircraft with the help of Siemens, successfully completed its maiden flight on April 11. It was introduced at this year’s Aero aviation expo in Germany, where it won the eFlight Award, which is given to the best electric innovation each year.

The eFusion is the first plane in its category capable of aerobatic manoeuvres. This gives the plane a great advantage on the market. From 2017, instead of the formerly required 10 hours, flight training will include a 40-hour emergency training, which affects 170 thousand commercial pilots worldwide. Aerobatic planes, like the eFusion, are the most suitable for this kind of training.

In the Magnus aircraft the seats are positioned next to each other instead of one behind the other. This way the instructor can monitor the trainee more closely. The batteries last for 30 minutes in the air, and a training programme is completed in 15-20 minutes. Battery change takes 3 minutes, after which the next trainee can follow. Imre Katona, owner and CEO of Magnus Aircraft emphasized training as the primary function of the Fusion planes.

The eFusion’s predecessor, the Fusion 212 light-sport aircraft was introduced in 2012, and became a highly sought after model. Although this plane operates with a combustion engine, the carbon fibre construction makes it much lighter, and consequently its fuel consumption is lower. The plane uses 15-18 litres of 95 RON petrol, unlike other planes that use 85-100 litres of kerosene.

However, just like on the ground, the technology is moving towards environmentally friendly solutions in aviation as well. The German corporate giant Siemens approached Magnus looking for a partner with experience in aviation as well as innovations. Siemens designed the electric drive, the battery and the engine system, and thus the eFusion, the world’s first aerobatic all-electric aircraft was born.

The demand for the aircraft is enormous. Although pre-orders open in 2017, need for at least 200 planes has already been expressed. The Benelux countries are looking to replace all their vehicles with electric ones by 2025, while China is planning significant developments in aviation which will require the training of 70 thousand pilots.

The company has to expand to satisfy the demands. Current resources only allow 2-3 planes to be completed in a month. The goal would be to finish at least 10 electric planes every month while also continuing the production of the combustion-engine models.

Photos: Facebook

Copy editor: bm

June 10, 2016

Hungarian design for energy storage system receives patent

Budapest (MTI) – Storing the energy produced by solar and wind is just round the corner. Hungarian engineers who have been working on a battery storage system for the past five years have a viable design which has received patents in Europe, the United States and Asia.

The system called IntelliStore is the product of AWE Mernökszolgálati. Plans are to manufacture the lithium-based battery system in Hungary, Bálint Dunai, the company’s business development manager told MTI on Thursday.

Talks are under way with energy companies in western Europe and the US on purchasing the product, he said.

The device officially tested in the European Union and approved by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity can store one megawatt and it is portable and easy to install, he said.

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June 10, 2016

Rubik’s Cube trademark contested

According to Maciej Szpunar, one of the Advocates General of the European Court of Justice, the trademark for the shape of the Rubik’s Cube should be abolished. Ernő Rubik’s invention has been a fan favourite for 42 years, origo.hu reports.

In 1999, the trademark of the Rubik’s Cube’s shape was registered at the European Union Intellectual Property Office. In 2006, the German Simba Toys requested the abolition of the trademark, saying that the technical solution, that is, the cube’s rotating capability should be patented, not trademarked. Their request was denied, and they took the case to the EU high court. The court ruled that the cube does not contain such mechanical solutions that would warrant the cancellation of the trademark.

However, no trademark should be issued in the case of products whose shape and structure are closely linked to their main function, the Advocate General argued in his statement on Tuesday. If the characteristics of the cube are reserved to the trademark holder, the competition’s options for releasing products that operate using the same technical solutions would be severely limited.

The opinion of the Advocate General is not binding, however, it is often considered and followed by the court.

Ernő Rubik, who was professor of architecture at the Budapest College of Applied Arts, initially intended the cube to be a demonstrational tool in the classroom. The 1974 prototype was made of wood and the sides were marked with different colours so the movement of the small cubes could be followed. He soon realised that it would make a great toy as well. It took the inventor himself a month to solve his own puzzle. Today, Rubik’s Cube world champions can do the same blindfolded, in less than 30 seconds.

Copy editor: bm

May 27, 2016

Here’s how the revolutionary Hungarian solar collector works

As Daily News Hungary has recently reported, China was fascinated by a revolutionary Hungarian invention which could help them use more green energy in the future, globoport.hu writes. According to the Hungarian Trade and Cultural Center (HTCC), the negotiations are going very well.

The Hungarian collector is unique and different because of the fluid that converts light into heat. A special black fluid is circulating in the collectors and becomes the surface that collects sunrays; the fluid is contained in glass bodies, and is able to convert more light into heat than any previously used material.

The collectors contain more fluid than traditional ones, and are able to give off more heat; the surface is not likely to overheat, because the ablative surface is also the cooling fluid. Therefore, it has a lower working temperature, and the difference between the delivered heat and the environment’s temperature is lower than in the case of traditional systems. The collectors don’t have to be kept under constant pressure, and the operating pressure is also lower.

The fluid only has to be changed in every three years, and, because it can absorb more fluid than any other system, it’s smaller and cheaper than its competitors. These features make it possible to use the solar collectors in non-traditional spaces, such as in different block of flats, and in houses which are not newly built.

According to inventor Péter Boda the solar collector can easily cover a family’s hot water needs. The Hungarian factory makes 30 collectors a day, but the Chinese TIANYUAN company is seriously interested in the product. The company said that the Hungarian invention can change the way people heat water not only in China, but in the whole world. If the negotiations end, the Chinese factory will produce much more collectors a day.

Copy editor: bm

May 8, 2016