My brother sent me a link to this. Its quite impressive to see paper worked in this way.
Category: Japan
Hayabusa Nearing Itokawa
The Japanese mission to land a 10cm high robot names ‘Minerva’ on an asteroid is still on track even if the spacecraft is not in the best of health. Three of its four reaction wheels (devices used to maintain correct orientation) have failed and is now using precious propellant to stay on target.
The images that are being sent back are stunning. The survey of asteroid Itokawa is sure to produce a wealth of data on solar objects.
I’m looking forward to seeing if the tiny rover will be able to stay on the surface for any length of time or if it will bounce off and float away. If everything works as planned this will be the fist controlled landing and exploration of an asteroid in the history of mankind.
[ via BBC News ]
Gundam Razor
Pretty sweet and no, you can’t have one you have to win it. There are 1000 of them so there is a slim chance that you might get lucky. For the rest of us, we will just have to settle with the triple bladed razors that have all sorts of cool suspension and nifty Gundam markings on it.
[via Akihabara News]
The Fujitsu ‘Slab-o-Glass’ Concept Laptop
These look smooth. I like the flat slab-o-glass look these have. I wonder if the keyboard is soft – meaning that you can alter the layout to whatever your needs are. Lacks the tactile feedback of a normal keyboard but looks great.
Godzilla Final Wars
Karakuri the tea Robot
This Japanese tea serving robot showed up on a few places on the ‘net today. I have long wondered if anyone would ever offer one of these in kit form and now I have my answer.
You can get one from the Robotstore for $90US ($170US if your a wimp and can’t build it from the kit).
The driving force of the original tea-carrying doll came from a spring made of whale whiskers (actually whale teeth). All the other components, such as its gears, body and escapement for speed adjustments, were made of wood. How does it work? When a tea cup is placed on the tray, the stopper is released by the whale spring attached to the doll’s arms; the spring forces the stopper to engage again when the cup is lifted from the tray.
[via Engadget and MAKEzine]
Karakuri kit