Today Steorn unveiled their updated web site, and there’s a lot that’s new.
The video on the home page sums up the biggest news: Steorn is about to release Orbo, its claimed ‘free energy’ technology, to developers. They are calling for 300 qualified engineers to sign up for free, non-commercial development licenses. These engineers will be invited to join the Steorn Knowledge Development Base (SKDB), an online community of Steorn developers that includes a set of “e-learning modules” to walk potential developers through all of the physical principles necessary to understand how Orbo works. The SKDB, which has been in beta with a small set of members for over a year, will at first be open to 300 new engineers, but is then expected to open up to anyone who’s interested sometime in 2009. Commercial development licenses will also be available later this year.
In addition to the SKDB, Steorn has announced the release of several Orbo-related commercial products. Their USB Hall probe is used to record magnetic flux. The magnetic torque measurement system is designed to measure the torque of a rotary magnetic system, by subtracting away external influences such as friction, gravity, and air drag. ZeroF passive magnetic bearings eliminate friction by using permanent magnets to separate the moving parts. Each of these products appears to be geared at building and testing systems based on the Orbo technology.
Finally, the Steorn site now features a page briefly explaining how Orbo works, and announces a series of talks to be given at engineering universities around the world, beginning in the Middle East this month, continuing to Europe in the summer, and finishing in the United States in autumn.
It looks like Steorn is going ahead with the plans they announced in December, to begin the commercialization of Orbo in February. If it weren’t for the fact that Orbo is supposed to be impossible, and that there still remains not a single photo or video of a spinning, self-sustaining device anywhere on Steorn’s site, this would look like any other exciting but routine product launch. Orbo’s promise of free energy feels closer than ever today, but yet again it’s still too early to be certain that this isn’t all just smoke and mirrors. Hopefully we’ll learn more soon as these 300 engineers sign up and begin to try to replicate Orbo on their own.