Slashdot Mirror
Underground Freight Networks
morphovar writes "The German Ruhr University of Bochum is conducting experiments with a large-scale model for an automated subterranean transport system. It would use unmanned electric vehicles on rails that travel in a network through pipelines with a diameter of 1.6 meters, up to distances of 150 kilometers. Sending cargo goods through underground pipelines is anything but new — see this scan of a 1929 magazine article about Chicago's underground freight tunnel network (more details). Translating this concept to the 21st century would be something like introducing email for things: you could order something on the Internet and pick it up through a trapdoor in your cellar the next morning."
you insensitive clod!
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Did someone get ahold of an old Popular Mechanics or something?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I hear that Harriet Tubman has experience with this sort of thing.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
From the article: "Note that pneumatic systems could deliver physical objects, which is hard to do with email..."
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
This would be such an amazing improvement over the current state of affairs, where I can order something on the Internet and pick it up through a front door in my living room the next morning.
I read Usenet for the articles.
I believe you mean Aperture Science Vital Apparatus Vent.
Not to mention that it's underground, and therefore it is subject to raiding by the devil, cave trolls, gremlins, etc.
I got a catholic block.
email for things
I already get about 40 emails a day pertaining to my thing. How is this new?
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
Troglodyte infestations will probably be their biggest problem. Luckily, this is Germany we're talking; they're the birthplace of the plucky hero.
From the Damn Interesting article: ...and some of these lines remained in operation until 1953. Ultimately, however, trucks proved more efficient at information-moving than the series of tubes.
Ha! How wrong they were! Everyone knows that series of tubes are much more efficient than big trucks.
Yep, it would cost a fortune to develop the new technology to make waterproof pipes. :-)
I thought the first rule of Freight Club is that you aren't supposed to talk about it?
With the first link, the chain is forged.
I have already formed HamsterGram LLC, a company that sends messages by tying them to the back of hamsters and then letting them loose in the giant network of empty fiber-optic conduits that cross the United States.
Routing is easy, as different hamsters have been trained to prefer different types of food - Chicago hamsters prefer pizza, New York hamsters prefer vended hotdogs, Wisconsin hamsters prefer sharp cheddar, etc.
To solve the last mile problem I have issued them all armored hamster balls, so if you see one rolling down the street for the sake of your car I'd recommend avoidance.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Three major hospitals around my city use pnuematic tubes to transport drugs, lab samples, and paperwork from labs, clinics, and other offices.
It's real fun when the tube's routing switches go wacky and start directing stool samples to the billing department.
No no no. We'll just have to make designs open-source!
The government can't save you.
I am in awe. Your Google link already lists this slashdot article as the third result, noting that it was posted "three hours ago."
I'm not sure if I'm in awe of your Google-bombing skills, or of Google's spidering skills. Either way, I'm in awe.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.