The plane represented a big bet on new technology for Boeing: The plane's lightweight frame was to be built using mostly carbon-fiber composites, and it was to have an enhanced electrical system to power more systems and use less fuel than other jets.

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For example, the car's half-century-old design concept a lightweight space-frame chassis with a plastic composite body has at last found the materials and precision construction techniques necessary to make it reasonably buildable.

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On Sunday night, the image was projected on a piece of Mylar a highly reflective, lightweight plastic stretched on a clear frame.

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Designed to be lightweight and cheap to produce, the robotic bicep upgrade uses a (mostly) aluminum frame, battery-powered DC motor, cable drive system, racket braking and thumbstick controller for movement, with a BeagleBone board supervising the electronics that pull it all together.

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