Latest news with #RobertDawson
Gizmodo
05-07-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
This Weird Pyramid Always Lands on the Same Face, Confirming 40-Year-Old Theory
'Bille' is the first-ever monostable tetrahedron, or a pyramid-like shape with four triangular faces that has one stable resting position. What this means is that Bille, no matter how you throw it and how it lands, will flip back on exactly the same side every single time. In a recent preprint submitted to arXiv, mathematicians revealed the first physical model of Bille, closing a decades-old theory proposed by the renowned British mathematician John Conway. Made of lightweight carbon fiber and dense tungsten carbide, Bille represents an array of ridiculously sophisticated engineering decisions—making this as much a technological achievement as a mathematical one. It's no surprise, therefore, that its self-righting property additionally hints at some exciting applications for the spaceflight industry—which notably experienced two recent landing mishaps with toppled-over lunar landers. In his initial conjecture, Conway surmised that a tetrahedron with unevenly distributed weight across its sides would always flip to the same side, although a few years later Conway himself rejected the idea. Some mathematicians still thought there could be something to it, however, namely study co-author Robert Dawson, who almost succeeded in proving Conway right in the 1980s using lead foil and sticks of bamboo. 'But my recollection was that this only almost worked because of angular momentum,' Dawson, now a mathematician at Saint Mary's University in Canada, told Gizmodo. 'In the way that if a car comes across a bump in the road and it's already moving, it'll get over it thanks to angular momentum. But it might have a hard time starting up against that bump.' Ideally, the monostable tetrahedron shouldn't need another push to flop back on the 'base' side. For a while, it seemed like Conway's theory would end up in a box of really-cool-but-unlikely math ideas—until about three years ago, when mathematician Gábor Domokos and his student, Gergő Almádi at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, reached out to Dawson. Domokos, a long-time expert on tricky balancing problems in geometry, had already discovered the gömböc, a roundish object that balances only on two points like a roly-poly toy. While an impressive discovery, the gömböc, with its mostly round, multi-sided design, features relatively easy conditions for self-balancing, Domoko told Gizmodo. The fewer sides a figure has and the smaller the angles are on each side, the harder it is to make that figure monostable, he said. Picture the common six-sided die. 'If it is a fair die, it will land on each face with equal probability,' Domoko explained. Even if someone cheats and modifies the die by putting some extra weight on a couple of surfaces, the probability will shift slightly, but it should still be possible for the die to stand on all its faces. In that sense, the tetrahedron, with its pointy corners and tiny acute angles across its four sides, makes it the 'most difficult problem, the highest category' of shapes in terms of monostability—barring some kind of engineering miracle. Which really happened. After deriving a theoretical model to calculate Bille's dimensions, Almádi, an architecture student, spearheaded the quest to build a structure that, somehow, had one side made from a 'really heavy material, the lighter parts almost air, and an almost empty skeleton,' Domokos said. The team settled on carbon tubes for the skeleton and, for the base, dense tungsten carbide—a metal alloy twice as heavy as steel. Even after all that, an issue remained: For some reason, Bille kept landing on two different sides, not the one intended side. 'Then we looked at it, and there was a very small glob of glue which was sticking to one end!' Domoko exclaimed. Despite the chief engineer's assurances that it made no difference, Domoko insisted on removing the tiny blob of glue—the density and shape of which were also calculated with ridiculous precision. And—voilà. Bille made mathematical history. That said, the engineers played a huge role in making this possible, Domokos clarified. 'They were all part of the creation process—the geometry, engineering, and technological design. They all needed to click. If you take out any of these, it doesn't work.' To make sure Bille wasn't just a one-time dud, Domokos' team succeeded in making a second model—though this probably isn't something one could easily make at home. 'We wish good luck to anyone doing it,' Domokos joked. 'But somebody doing it now has a huge advantage compared to us, because we didn't know whether it would work.' Domokos is particularly excited to see what might become of Bille further down the line. One reason Domokos didn't want to stop at merely modeling Bille was because of gömböc, he explained. Like many aesthetically pleasing mathematical breakthroughs, gömböc got a lot of love from artistic communities and natural scientists drawing parallels between turtle shells and gömböc—which Domokos more or less expected. What he didn't expect was that Novo Nordisk, in collaboration with MIT and Harvard, would take interest in gömböc's design principles for an insulin capsule that self-rights itself once inside a stomach, eliminating the need for needle injections. 'And it sounded so outlandish—like science fiction,' Domokos said. 'Gömböc taught me that physical objects are crucial—there are many bright people out there who are not mathematically minded, but they can look at something and it will reflect in their minds many other things.' Still, it'll probably be a while—if ever—before Bille ends up in the blueprint for the latest lunar lander, which Domokos knows will be extremely challenging. 'When you develop something, you have to wait and technological innovation will catch up. Sometimes it takes 100 years, sometimes it takes 10 years. Mathematics is always a little bit ahead.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RF Industries Ltd (RFIL) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Sales Growth and Improved ...
Net Sales: $19.2 million, a 42.7% increase year-over-year. Gross Profit Margin: 29.8%, up from 24.5% year-over-year. Operating Income: $56,000, compared to an operating loss of $2.1 million last year. Net Loss: $245,000 or $0.02 per diluted share. Non-GAAP Net Income: $397,000 or $0.04 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA: $867,000, improved from a loss of $1.1 million in Q1 2024. Backlog: $15.2 million as of January 31, 2025. Cash and Cash Equivalents: $1.3 million as of January 31, 2025. Working Capital: $11.7 million with a current ratio of approximately 1.7:1. Inventory: $13.5 million, down from $18 million last year. Revolving Credit Facility Borrowing: $8.1 million as of January 31, 2025. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Signs with RFIL. Release Date: March 17, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. RF Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:RFIL) reported a significant increase in net sales, reaching $19.2 million, a 42.7% rise compared to the previous year. The company achieved an operating profit for the second consecutive quarter, demonstrating improved profitability despite challenging market conditions. RF Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:RFIL) has successfully diversified its customer base, reducing reliance on large Tier 1 wireless carriers and expanding into new markets such as aerospace. The company's gross profit margin improved to 29.8%, up from 24.5% year-over-year, driven by a better product mix and cost-saving initiatives. RF Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:RFIL) has a strong backlog of $15.2 million, indicating healthy demand and future revenue potential. Despite improvements, RF Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:RFIL) reported a net loss of $245,000 or $0.02 per diluted share for the first quarter. The company faces ongoing risks and uncertainties related to tariffs, which could impact procurement and supply chain activities. RF Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:RFIL) has borrowed $8.1 million from its revolving credit facility, indicating reliance on external financing. The company's inventory levels decreased to $13.5 million from $18 million last year, which may impact its ability to meet increased demand. RF Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:RFIL) is still navigating the challenges of transitioning from a product company to a solutions provider, which may involve execution risks. Q: Can you provide an update on the backlog, particularly regarding the lower-margin hybrid products? A: Robert Dawson, CEO: The backlog has been stable around $15 million. We've been drawing down older hybrid fiber items and replacing them with newer product lines like DAC and small cell solutions. The backlog is a good indicator, but not the only one. We aim to keep it above $10 million and below $20 million for optimal visibility. Q: What contributed to the sequential sales increase during the typically slow first quarter? A: Robert Dawson, CEO: The increase is largely due to new product lines, particularly DAC thermal cooling systems and small cell solutions. These have started contributing significantly, with some impact from carrier OpEx spending. The growth is not solely from traditional distribution-centric products. Q: How do you see the gross margin evolving throughout the year? A: Robert Dawson, CEO: We're targeting around a 30% gross margin, with potential for improvement as we optimize production and mature our new product lines. The mix of newer products can influence margins positively as we refine our offerings. Q: Has the new sales team contributed to recent growth, and will you invest more in expanding it? A: Robert Dawson, CEO: Yes, the new sales team has played a role, but long-standing relationships and strategic positioning have been crucial. We don't plan a significant increase in sales team spending but will continue to leverage existing resources to capitalize on current successes. Q: Can you elaborate on the shift from components to integrated solutions and potential new market opportunities? A: Robert Dawson, CEO: The shift aims to control more of the bill of materials and add value. This strategy has opened doors to new markets like aerospace. We are exploring similar opportunities across other sectors, leveraging our solutions to address broader market needs. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
