Robotics
Automation and employment: what the evidence supports
The research is more equivocal than either the enthusiasts or the alarmists suggest, and the distributional findings are clearer than the aggregate ones.
Ravi Shankaran
29 articles by Shankaran
Neurotech
Reading a neurotechnology paper
What to look for in a study, and which sections tell you whether the headline is supported.
Electric Vehicles
Buying an electric car: what actually to check
A short list of specifications that determine daily experience, most of which are not in the headline figures.
Robotics
Simulation, sim-to-real and how robots learn now
Training a controller in a physics simulator and transferring it to hardware became practical, and it changed how the field works.
Energy
Demand flexibility: the cheapest thing nobody buys
Shifting when electricity is used costs almost nothing and displaces generation, storage and network investment. Most of it remains unexploited.
Neurotech
What we would need to know to build a real brain interface
Reading motor intent works because motor cortex is comparatively well understood. Almost nothing else in the brain is.
Space
Space law and who owns anything up there
A treaty framework from the 1960s, written for two states and no companies, now governing a commercial industry it did not anticipate.
Electric Vehicles
Electric trucks and the freight problem
Heavy freight is where battery mass, charging power and duty cycles all bite hardest, and where the answer differs sharply by route length.
Robotics
Drones: the robotics that quietly became normal
Autonomous flight is a solved problem for most practical purposes, and the remaining constraints are airspace regulation and battery chemistry.
Energy
Grid inertia and why frequency matters
A power system stays up because enormous spinning masses resist change, and replacing them with electronics required rethinking how stability works.
Neurotech
Cognitive enhancement claims, examined
Transcranial stimulation, neurofeedback and nootropics all have research literatures, and the effect sizes are smaller than the marketing.
Space
Small satellites and what changed about spacecraft
A standardised form factor originally intended for teaching turned into a serious platform, and the consequences run through the whole industry.
Electric Vehicles
Total cost of ownership: running the numbers properly
Purchase price is the worst comparison available, and the honest calculation depends heavily on where you charge and how long you keep it.
Energy
Hydrogen: where it makes sense and where it does not
A genuinely useful decarbonisation tool for a specific set of applications, promoted enthusiastically for several where it is a poor fit.
Neurotech
Prosthetics, exoskeletons and neural control
Controlling an artificial limb from nerve or muscle signals is a solved problem in the laboratory and a much harder one at the clinic.
Space
Space weather and why it matters more than it did
Solar activity affects satellites, power grids, aviation and navigation, and the exposure has grown considerably as infrastructure has electrified.
Electric Vehicles
What the EV transition costs the grid
Total electricity demand rises modestly. Peak demand is the problem, and it is almost entirely a question of when people plug in.
Energy
Heat pumps and the electrification of heating
A technology that delivers several units of heat per unit of electricity, and a set of practical obstacles that have very little to do with the physics.
Neurotech
Deep brain stimulation: the neurotech that already works
Hundreds of thousands of people already have electrodes implanted in their brains, and the field has learned things worth carrying forward.
Electric Vehicles
Charging at home: what actually matters
The single decision that determines whether living with an electric car is convenient or tiresome, and it is mostly about electrical supply.
Electric Vehicles
Self-driving levels, and why the numbers mislead
A six-point scale describing who is responsible, routinely used as if it described how good the software is.
Electric Vehicles
Vehicle-to-grid: the idea that keeps not arriving
A parked fleet of electric cars is an enormous distributed battery, and every attempt to use it runs into the same obstacles.
Neurotech
Non-invasive neurotech and the physics of the skull
Reading brain activity through bone is limited by physics rather than by engineering budget, which sets a ceiling on what consumer devices can do.
Electric Vehicles
Charging infrastructure: the problems that are not technical
Chargers fail for reasons of payment systems, grid connections and maintenance contracts far more often than for reasons of engineering.
Electric Vehicles
Battery chemistry, without the marketing
Every chemistry trades energy density against cost, longevity, safety and materials. There is no chemistry that wins on all of them.
Energy
Why grid storage is the hard part
Generating clean electricity is largely solved economically. Having it available at three in the morning in February is not.
Neurotech
Brain-computer interfaces: where the science actually is
Decades of academic work, a small number of implanted participants, and a gap between demonstrated results and marketing that is worth measuring.
Electric Vehicles
What actually limits charging speed
A charger rated at 350 kW and a car that peaks at 250 will not give you either number for very long.
Electric Vehicles
Why EV range figures never match your dashboard
The number on the sticker comes from a laboratory cycle. The number on your screen comes from a Tuesday in February.