False depressurization caution alarms sounded on the International Space Station last night just after 8:30 p.m. EST waking the shuttle and station crew. The flight control teams on the ground were able to determine there was no depressurization occurring. The crew was never in any danger and ventilation fans were shutoff as a precaution. That shutoff [...]
THINK Together, a nonprofit leader providing out-of-school learning programs, has received a $250,000 grant from Southern California Edison intended to support a new STEM learning/robotics program across four Southern California counties. SANTA ANA, CA, November 21, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- THINK Together, California's largest non-profit provider of after-school and other academically focused learning...
All of these issues will become relevant over the next few decades, as robotics penetrates further into ordinary life. The safety and liability issues aren't insurmountable though, and after some initial period of experimentation during which there could be accidents (as there have been with robots in factories) eventually protocols and best practices will emerge, likely accompanied by some legal guidelines....
Via KurzweilAI.net — This is a concept that combines a lot of elements — excitement, concern, fear, hope and quite a bit of creepy. Medibots: The world’s smallest surgeons New Scientist Health, Nov. 20, 2009 Advances in robotics could revolutionize healthcare, pushing the limits of what surgeons can achieve, from worm-inspired capsules to crawl through your gut, and systems [...]...
Time magazine has named the bionic penguins developed at EvoLogics in cooperation with Festo as one of the top 50 innovations of the year This developments are based on 25 years research into the biology of penguins combined with EvoLogics expertise in bionics and robotics
Hobby Robotics » Camera Axe 3.0 : "The Camera Axe is a tool for photographers to trigger cameras or flashes based on signals from various sensors. In this version there are two ports for sensors such as a microphone, a motion detector, or light sensor; and there are two ports for camera/flash devices. The Camera Axe is useful for stop motion photography where an action happens too quickly...
Speaking of BEAM robotics , this "school" of robotic architecture celebrated its 20th anniversary on Nov 10th. Twenty years ago, on that date, BEAM creator Mark Tilden built his first BEAMbot, the Solarover 1.0, out of two dead calculators, two dead Phillips cassette mechanisms, and parts from Laser printer cartridges. Solarbotics has a little celebratory post, with some thoughts from Mark...
Speaking of BEAM robotics , this "school" of robotic architecture celebrated its 20th anniversary on Nov 10th. Twenty years ago, on that date, BEAM creator Mark Tilden built his first BEAMbot, the Solarover 1.0, out of two dead calculators, two dead Phillips cassette mechanisms, and parts from Laser printer cartridges. Solarbotics has a little celebratory post, with some thoughts from Mark...
It may look like some futuristic Christmas tree ornament, but the miniball is part of the BEAM robot family of "rollers." A miniball is a motorized hamster ball that, sadly, you don't see in the wild too often. Solarbotics used to sell a miniball kit. This Instructable, by MAKE contributor and Solarbotics intern, Jérôme Demers, shows you how to make your own. Solar Powered Miniball...
In order to spark kid’s interest in robotics at an Illinois’ Boy Scout Jamboree, Engineer Dan Toborowski built this amazing accelerometer-controlled marble maze. Check it out: I recently completed a project involving wireless control of a Parallax BOE-Bot using an accelerometer and decided to adapt this system to control a custom-built 2 axis maze assembly. Accelerometers [...] Related...
Flower Robotics has unveiled a prototype for a new digital lifestyle device that seeks to enhance the mobile phone experience, in part by linking it to the TV. Doubling as a charger, Polaris compiles information gleaned from the phone, such as minutes talked, kilometers walked, and purchases made over the internet. From this collected database, [...]
The Geeklets and I recently had the pleasure of attending our first VEX Robotics Competition. We took our team, The Screaming Weasels, to the Hilton Anatole in Dallas for the WOC VEX Robotics Invitational. It was an early start for us. I’m not accustomed to waking up at 6am on Saturday, but I’m willing to make [...]
Eldar Murtazin, the man/legend behind Mobile Review has snagged one of those already leaked SE Kurara handsets, and he's got some juicy info to share with the rest of us. Apparently, the CPU on that little goer is a Cortex A8 , backed by 256MB of RAM and a PowerVR graphics processor. It's no surprise then that the HD label we saw earlier has been corroborated by 720p video recording and playback capabilities,...
Hector of Make: en Español sent us this piece from the site: What happens when you give an Arduino to a student whose resources barely provide for the most basic maker needs, but is nonetheless eager to create something awesome? You get tech-art in the making. David Busto Torres, the newest member of the elite robotics club from ITESM SLP campus (Mexico), shares with us his creation. It is...
It may not be the first electric skateboard, or the fastest , or the least skateboard - like , but Xero's new eBoard Neo is controlled by a gun, and that's got to count for something. In addition to attracting attention from the law , this board will propel you along with ease at 14 miles per hour, hit 0 to 20 (kilometers, presumably) in just four seconds, and last for around 13.5 miles on a single...
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