Kickstart: An update from the Gulf Coast

Frank Esposito has an update to his story from earlier this week on damage near the U.S. Gulf Coast from Hurricane Delta.

As he noted on Monday, the Oct. 9 storm followed a similar path to that of Hurricane Laura in August. Laura didn't cause much direct impact to U.S. plastics operations on the coast, but power outages have slowed a complete reopening. Similar situations applied after Delta.

LyondellBasell media relations manager Chevalier Gray said that all company personnel in Lake Charles, La., "are safe and accounted for," Frank wrote. There were minor repairs needed, but LyondellBasell expected to restart later this week.

Jon Huntsman hasn't had much to do with the plastics company his father founded, Huntsman Corp. Instead, the second generation of leadership went to his brother, Peter Huntsman, who is president, CEO and chairman while Jon Huntsman Jr. went into politics.

Jon Huntsman has served as governor of Utah and as U.S. ambassador to Singapore, China and, most recently, Russia. He stepped down from that post in 2019.

Now Huntsman has joined the Ford Motor Co. board of directors. Or rejoined, if you prefer. He was a board member prior to his stint in Moscow.

"His career and accomplishments in global policy and trade are incomparable," Ford Chairman Bill Ford said in announcing the appointment.

By the way, if you Google the word Huntsman and a story about the Huntsman spider pops up instead of the company? Don't click on it if you're squeamish about insects.

The Roomba robot and its competitors are gaining popularity as a way to keep your floors clean. Now how about a robot to keep your floors warm?

Our sister paper Urethanes Technology International has a story on the Q-Bot, a spinoff from the Imperial College's Dyson School of Design Engineering in London. The robot is a "semi-autonomous" device to spray urethane foam insulation up onto floorboards from beneath them, and it is now available in the United Kingdom.

Q-Bot says about 20 percent of a home's heat is lost through floors, but adding insulation to an existing home is a complex system that involves removing furniture and carpeting to get beneath the floorboards.

The robot needs only an access hatch, then operators can either direct its movements or let the machine figure out the layout on its own.

"The robot may look like a Tonka toy, but it maneuvers in what can be quite a complicated space," Q-Bot's Martin Jervis said. "It scans the whole underfloor area, creating a 3D image, and also produces a video of where the insulation has been applied and gives information about how deep the foam is."