The latest development in speakers from the sound-quality experts at Waterfall Audio are like none you’ve ever seen before. There are no crazy or cutesy shapes like Lego or Sanrio characters, and no three-in-one capabilities like reading lights, alarm clocks or microwaves. In fact, the Serio Glass Speakers are innovative and stylish because of their minimalism — small, square, flat, and therefore widely versatile, these speakers can be mounted on the wall, sit discreetly on your desk or shelf, or perch atop their optional floor stand. They come in black, white, or silver, but in case you want to take their sleek little design up a notch, they also come with optional color grills for anyone who thinks they’re just too cute to stay camouflaged!
Robotics is an admittedly geeky field dominated by engineers and not designers. But one thing I really appreciate about it is that, in the fields of robotics not dedicated to anthropomorphizing metal, it is relentlessly creative in a way many other fields are not. For example, cell phone designers look to the iPhone, and both Hollywood and Detroit have resorted to mining their pasts to create “new” releases; but roboticists are still tinkering away in pure creativity, absent any focus groups and driven only by “Will this thing work?”
A case in point is the wide variety of solutions that roboticists have developed for how to get a low-lying robot up a staircase. Some use insect-like legs, others use wheels and treads/tracks; there is such a diversity of approaches that for this entry we’ll just look at a few of the wheeled and tracked variety. Even within this category, I’m struck by the variety and creativity of the solutions.
First up, check out this four-wheeler designed by Japan’s University of Tsukuba Intelligent Robot Laboratory. (You really only need to watch from 0:16 to 0:46 to get the idea; the rest is repetitive filler and seems like it was filmed during an earthquake.)
Then there’s Israel’s Ariel University Center of Somaria’s Mechatronics contraption, which uses four rotating components at each corner that each have three wheels. (Warning: Turn your volume down–for some reason they have a hack remix DJ blaring a butchered version of Midnight Oil’s “Beds are Burning.”)
France’s University of Angers-designed B2P2 Unmanned Ground Vehicle uses tanklike treads whose overall shape can be altered by the interplay of a third axis at the front, which can raise and lower independent of the two rear axes:
This design by China’s Gaoyuan University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering uses conventional wheels augmented by four pistons for leverage:
The iLean robot from the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab has the absolute nuttiest way of getting up stairs we’ve ever seen:
and here’s a longer video featuring Schroll on “The Circuit,” a program on tech innovation. His device is completely nuts, as you’ll see in the specific coverage of it beginning at 1:45.
Chris Reilly and Taylor Hokanson, two Chicago-based artists who teach at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, have just completed the DIYLILCNC, an open-source set of plans to make a fully functional CNC mill for around $700.
This lil’ guy is perfect for doing highly detailed three dimensional work on smaller scale objects like mechanical parts, circuitboards, and small sculptures. The machine can even make ink drawings, like this self portrait in ball point pen:
It’s clear that Hokanson and Reilly’s real interests go far beyond the build-out: their documentation is an open source gem, written so that others can replicate and understand what they’ve done. Their 65 page manual outlines everything from assembly to optimization.
As Reilly puts it, “building a DIYLILCNC is a great way to learn about the burgeoning field of digital fabrication; owning a DIYLILCNC is a great way to have personal access to the precision of a CNC device.” He’s right, of course, and it’s all drawn up for us now.
Visit diylilcnc.org for more info or hit the jump for some milling samples.
Le Litl Webbook est un mini-ordinateur à la fois netbook et cadre photo numérique grâce à un écran réversible. Il est doté d’une prise HDMI pour envoyer clichés et vidéos HD sur le téléviseur. Un positionnement familial autour d’un usage multimédia. Plus d’images dans la suite.
Finally — an alarm clock for the sleeper who really doesn’t want to get up. Since my alarm isn’t within arm’s reach, I always have to physically haul myself out of bed every time I want to smack the snooze button! The techie braniacs at Moshi clearly had everyone’s lazy-bum side in mind when they invented the Voice Control Alarm Clock. Now you can shut your alarm clock off (or set the time, or check the temperature, or even set your next alarm time) by simply telling it off — with its trusty voice control technology. I’m kind of thinking this device is dangerous for those who sleep like the dead (or those who talk in their sleep), but it does sound awfully convenient for us anti-morning people!
Let’s face it — we live in a technology-dependent world in which our daily routine is shattered when our PDA battery depletes to empty. But while we make the necessary room in our budget to get all the latest electronic gadgets, that old jalopy you’ve been driving may not have the modern accommodations to keep you wired on the go. Welcome PowerCup, a 200-watt outlet inverter for your car, complete with a USB hub to charge your phone, iPod, PDA, laptop — whatever your techie heart desires! And the coolest thing? It’s shaped like a coffee cup to fit perfectly in your car’s cup holder! How genius is that? You can finally call off the search for separate car chargers for all your gadgets!
Price: $32.50 Who Found It:xgalexy was the first to add PowerCup to the Hive.
Une installation interactive réalisée par le studio de design belge Lab[au]. Le concept : des centaines de cadres d’aluminium fixes se déplaçant en simultané. Une inspiration artistique imaginée pour la Nuit Blanche 2009, dans la basilique de Saint Denis à Paris.
Best comment this week: “We’ve given a bird a piece of bread designed to drop at the exact spot where over heating for the particle acceleratot. [sic] Lets see if the scientist notice.” From This PopSci story (thanks Eric!)
Best tweet EVER: “Twitter is like daytime TV for working people.” From @nikroope
Years ago the futurist, inventor and sci-fi author Sir Arthur C. Clarke had a brilliant idea: Instead of launching rockets to get up into orbit, why not build a “space elevator?” The idea was that a space station would be tethered to the Earth by an extremely long, straight cable. The station would be held in place by the centrifugal force of the earth’s rotation, and an elevator could ferry supplies up the cable, inching skywards the same way tourists get to the top of the Empire State (except the distance would be a bit longer, around 62,000 miles). Check it out:
Sure we might need a rocket to get the thing up there in the first place, but consider how ingenious this is. Rather than having to build subsequent rockets that all have to escape the Earth’s gravity with massive engines, we could simply ferry parts up the elevator bit by bit, and assemble a craft in space, which would presumably require far less power to travel around in a vacuum.
Surprisingly, progress on this idea is actually being made. The Spaceward Foundation is dedicated to building a space elevator and is now holding their Power Beaming (Climber) Competition to see if anyone could make the actual elevator part of it. (The cable’s a whole ‘nother story.) A company named LaserMotive built a contraption that has thus far performed the best, scaling a cable nearly a kilometer high (held up there by a helicopter) at nearly 4 meters per second, placing it in the $900,000 prize money range. (The winner gets a cool $1.1 million.)
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
