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Robojelly

‘Robojelly’, a first generation of the ‘biomimetic jellyfish robotic’ vehicle being developed by alex villanueva,
is an underwater surveillance robot that is powered by the ocean water of its surroundings. the device is modeled
as closely as possible after aurelia aurita, the moon jellyfish, for its mechanisms of movement. in addition to
potentially serving in the future in underwater recovery efforts, the vehicle provides insight on jellyfish propulsion
mechanisms, and concomitantly offers an example of how a hydrogen-fuel-powered machine might eliminate the need
for batteries, fuel, or external electricity.

Prototype Video

http://youtu.be/U2OSJQhHQp8

Ubi-Camera

For decades, photographers, directors, and their hopefuls have framed images with their fingers,
a gesture that has also come to symbolize the chance of fame for its subject. now the ‘ubi-camera’,
developed by japan’s institute of advanced media arts and science (IAMAS), lets users actually capture
such scenes as a digital image.

the tiny camera fits onto one index finger, while the shutter is tripped with the thumb of the other hand as it completes
the framing rectangle. via infrared sensors, the device actually registers its distance from the user’s face, and calculates
the image frame accordingly (see a demo in the video below from 1:11 - 1:29). zooming is accomplished in the way
it always has been for ‘finger framing’: by moving one’s hands closer or further away from one’s face.

the ‘ubi-camera’ is a prototype that the design team hopes to improve by making wireless, and by improving
the facial recognition sensor which currently occasionally malfunctions as a result of poor lighting conditions.

8bitfuture:

Robotic dinosaurs to be made with 3D printers.

Palaeontologists at Drexel University are using 3D printers to reconstruct dinosaur skeletons, which will be animated using robotics to see how the dinosaurs might have moved and behaved.

The team is first using a 3D scanner to analyse existing bones, before using a 3D printer to construct an exact replica of the skeleton. A mechanical engineer is working with the team to develop the robotic side of the project, but the 3D printing will also allow them to create small-scale models for educational use, and to create exact-size replicas for museum display, without the limitation on the number of copies made and materials and storage hassles of traditional casting methods.

The first goal is to have a working robotic dinosaur limb constructed by the end of 2012. A complete robotic dinosaur replica will take one to two years to create.

While 3D printers have been available for a few years, they have been slow to catch on with home users, instead finding niche markets like in medicine, where they have been used to print organs and tailored prosthetics for patients. The Pirate Bay launched a new category for 3D designs last month, predicting a world where “you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.”

Who knows, maybe in the zoo of the future we will be wearing downloaded Nike shoes and watching a robotic Tyrannosaurus chase a newly cloned woolly mammoth!

(via 8bitfuture)

Quantum Levitation

skwerlyful:

engineers of DARPA (the US defense advanced research projects agency) have set a new land speed record
for a legged robot with the ‘cheetah’, capable of galloping at speeds of up to 18mph.

the robot was developed by DARPA’S maximum mobility and manipulation (M3) program, in collaboration
with boston dynamics tech and robotics production firm. its top speed of 18mph means that the ‘cheetah’
can run a mile in 3 minutes and 20 seconds, using a flexible spine and movements modeled after the mechanics
of fast-moving animals. the current human world record for running a mile is 3:43, by hicham el guerrouj of morocco;
although the robot’s namesake animal has been recorded as running at speeds up to 70mph.

while the video displays the ‘cheetah’ in its current state, running on a treadmill while powered by an off-board
hydraulic pump, testing of a free-moving prototype is planned for later this year.

the-absolute-funniest-posts:

blameitonalex:

The Defibrillator Toaster

My mom would be so annoyed… every morning I would run into the kitchen screaming “WE’RE LOSING THEM!!! BEEP BEEP BEEPBEEPBEEP!”

“DON’T YOU DIE ON ME, DAMNIT!!!  NURSE, WE NEED 12 CC’S OF CREAM CHEESE, STAT!!!”

He’s bread, Jim.

Time of deliciousness: 7:15 A.M

If we don’t restart his heart , he’s toast! 

JESUS CRUST.

JAM IT!

“Daddy’s in a butter place now, kids.”

LMFAO ^^

Follow this blog, you will love it on your dashboard

Omniscient Siri

Shapeways online DIY 3D-printing company recently held a competition that asked users to design a physical representation
of siri, the iPhone voice-activated personal assistant, using any combination of sketches, renders, video, or models.
the winning design in the 3D category is called ‘omniscient siri’, developed by saga design digital product design firm.

stretching over and occluding the iPhone screen, the cover ‘forces the user to interact with siri’ instead of using touch control,
although it keeps all volume, power, and other side buttons and ports of the device accessible. measuring 4.6-inches
(11.6-centimeters) high, the case can be ordered via shapeways here for 90 USD.

db revO

Produced by taiwanese bike manufacturers DK city, the ‘db revO’ wheel converts an ordinary bicycle to an electric bike
simply by replacing the front wheel. the device integrates motor, battery, and controller into a wheel produced in a variety
of colours. a small wireless console mountable on the handlebars controls the power and offers information about the ride.

produced in 20-inch and 26-inch models, ‘db revO’ fits a range of bicycles, featuring a 24V lithium battery and DC motor.
current colour options planned for production include white, red, magenta, orange, yellow, green, blue, and gray.

och-annie:

Your Heartbeat Could Be Your Password

A technology in the works might soon allow you to unlock your hard drive by simply touching your keyboard. Your unique heartbeat, emitted through your fingertip, would be your password.

Chun-Liang Lin and his team at the National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan translated a human heartbeat into an encryption key using an electrocardiograph reading from an individual’s palm. Their unique series of thump-thumpa generated a secret key.

The part that blows my mind is that your heartbeat is so unique that that pattern never actually repeats. You will never get the same exact timing of beats twice. So the encryption scheme is based on the math behind chaos theory, which dictates that outcomes are highly sensitive to initial conditions, leading to widely divergent outcomes (it’s sometimes referred to as the butterfly effect). The research will appear in an upcoming issue of Information Sciences. If they’re going to create a product, they better hurry up if they want to beat Apple, where engineers seem to have been working on something similar since at least 2010.

via: Gizmodo

(via skwerlyful)

themanipulateddead:

0Designed by Jonas Pfeil. This invention is cool. He writes:
“We present the Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera which captures a full spherical panorama when thrown into the air. At the peak of its flight, which is determined using an accelerometer, a full panoramic image is captured by 36 mobile phone camera modules.”
“Panoramic photography creates fascinating images. Very wide angle images are closer to the human field of view than conventional pictures. If seen through a panoramic viewer they let us experience a location as if we were there. Panoramic image stitching can create panoramas from pictures taken one after another. Unfortunately, acquiring the images takes a lot of time and moving objects may cause ghosting. It is also difficult to obtain a full spherical panorama, because the downward picture cannot be captured while the camera is mounted on the tripod.
In this work, we present a throwable panoramic camera that solves these problems. The camera is thrown into the air and captures an image at the highest point of flight - when it is hardly moving. The camera takes full spherical panoramas, requires no preparation and images are taken instantaneously. It can capture scenes with many moving objects without producing ghosting artifacts and creates unique images.
Our camera uses 36 fixed-focus 2 megapixel mobile phone camera modules. The camera modules are mounted in a robust, 3D-printed, ball-shaped enclosure that is padded with foam and handles just like a ball. Our camera contains an accelerometer which we use to measure launch acceleration. Integration lets us predict rise time to the highest point, where we trigger the exposure. After catching the ball camera, pictures are downloaded in seconds using USB and automatically shown in our spherical panoramic viewer. This lets users interactively explore a full representation of the captured environment.
We used the camera to capture full spherical panoramas at scenic spots, in a crowded city square and in the middle of a group of people taking turns in throwing the camera. Above all we found that it is a very enjoyable, playful way to take pictures. “