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4 days ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. This week we look at Amazon’s Vulcan robot, magnetohydrodynamic ship propulsion, Waymo’s manufacturing scale up, Boom Supersonic’s new super alloy, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.
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1 week ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Among the most impressive manufacturing achievements of the US during WWII was the number of ships it produced. Prior to the war, the American shipbuilding industry had been moribund. Shipyards had been busy during and immediately following WWI, but the huge flood of wartime ships greatly reduced demand for new ones, and American shipyards didn’t produce a single oceangoing hull between 1922 and 1928.
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1 week ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure and industrial technology. This week we look at the blackout in Spain and Portugal, Chinese robot adoption, energy maneuverability theory, the Florida real estate market, battery manufacturing cancellations, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.
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2 weeks ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure and industrial technology. This week we look at enhanced rock weathering, driverless trucks, Home Depot’s garden experiments, hydrogen airplanes, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.
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2 weeks ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
You can’t throw a rock these days without hitting someone trying to build humanoid robots. The Humanoid Robot Guide lists 47 different humanoids made by 38 different manufacturers, and this Technology Review article claims 160 companies worldwide are building humanoids. Many of these manufacturers are startups that have raised (or are raising) hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital.
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3 weeks ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. This week we look at Astro Mechanica’s fundraising, BYD’s semiconductor division, drone deliveries in Texas, Starlink in Nigeria, an Alaskan volcano that might erupt, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.
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3 weeks ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
I’ve been writing Construction Physics since September of 2020. Over the past four and a half years I’ve written 186 essays, totalling around 600,000 words. The newsletter was originally focused on understanding the problems of construction productivity (though it’s never been entirely about that), but I have branched out to write more about a variety of topics, including energy, transportation, and scientific and technological progress.
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1 month ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. This week we look at solar PV adoption in Pakistan, a sodium-ion battery startup closing up shop, Figure’s humanoid robot progress, an AI-based artillery targeting system, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.
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1 month ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Modern civilization relies on electric power for almost everything, and even small disruptions to electric service are incredibly disruptive. Because of this, we demand a high level of reliability in electrical service. In 2023, the average US electricity customer was without power for only 366 minutes over the course of the year, equivalent to a service uptime of more than 99.9%.
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1 month ago | 
construction-physics.com | Brian Potter
Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. This week we look at China’s sulfur emissions, Japan’s new semiconductor effort, declining sunbelt housing construction, water competition in Texas, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber.