Eclectic junk from the four corners of the ‘Net. And pictures too!
Aside from looking like you stuck your hed in a giant… somthing, this device is for virtual reality type simulations.
The still experimental 6-pound bubble-headed helmet has infrared sensors on top that detect which way the wearer’s head is moving. A projector in the back of the helmet displays corresponding images on a 16-inch screen right before the user’s eyes.
I’m sure in a few years they will have this cut down to a more manageable size.
Ok, the title is a little misleading, its not that the robots themselves are getting smarter it’s that the programming is getting better.
A "swarm" of simple-minded robots that teams up to move an object too heavy for them to manage individually has been demonstrated by robotics researchers.
The robots cannot communicate and must act only on what they can see around them. They follow simple rules to fulfil their task – mimicking the way insects work together in a swarm.
See? Nothing to worry about, no robot revolt is on the horizon. Well, the horizon is a long way off at any rate. But I will say, let me be the first to welcome our new robot masters. Let their reign be long and benevolent.
Robot swarm works together to shift heavy objects – tech – 17 October 2006 – New Scientist Tech
Ok, not 100 % invisible but it’s just going to be a whirring blur if you happen to spot one. The craft is powered by two propellers at one end and uses just a half of a wing to fly. Huh? Half a wing? Talk about cutting costs… Lift is generated by having the plane spin around its center of mass that is in space back behind the wing and between the motors. This gives an impressive amount of control to the craft while making it very hard to see. When coupled with the VeraTech proprietary panoramic camera system this will provide video surveillance within 75 feet of a target. The system is very light, only four pounds for the two foot version.
I seem to remember seeing plans for a model airplane that used a half propeller and a counter weight on it. This was in some papers that my father had from back in the 40’s and 50’s. He was pretty big into model planes back then. I don’t remember why it was made like this, perhaps it was to get higher speeds on the old ‘U-control‘ planes.
[via new scientist]
Comming soon to a sports network soon I hope. I’ve seen a few air races on TV and it’s hard to how they could go much faster. Seeing a prop plane zip around a pylon at 300 MPH and pull 8 Gs is impressive enough, I can’t wait to see them do that with rocket powered planes.
Another brilliant work by a master of the arts and sciences, Tim Hunkin. His cartoons that cover, well pretty much everything you can think of, are a joy to browse through and are sure to get your mind a churning.
These are brilliant works, very much in the same line as the works of Tim Hunkin (a personal hero of mine).
… he started researching kinetics and developed his own system for animating wood-carved figures with the turn of a crank. One of the results was a small body of work featuring important modern artists acting out some of their more eccentric or unfavorable characteristics. In “Picasso and Barbie,” the famously promiscuous Spaniard paints a portrait from a model, in this case a scantily clad blond doll in a suggestive pose. A crank on the piece powers a network of exposed gears that move the artist’s arm up and down, as if painting, and turn his head back and forth from the model to the canvas.
[via suicidebots]