A very impressive but short series of photos of sculptures made out of old cut up tires. Makes me think I’m slacking off in life.
[via neatorama]
LEGO NXT
LEGO has announced the next generation of the Mindstorm robotics line of learning toys. The NXT will have more input and output ports (3 in and 4 out), a cleaner design (no bumps, just holes – I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not), and a simpler programming language. Where the old Mindstorms used an optical IR tower to communicate with a PC for programming , the new ones will use a USB 2 interface. The new kits also come with sonar sensors and servo motors with built in rotational sensors and Bluetooth radio. There is no word if any of the parts will be compatible with the old Mindstorm kits but it will be programmable from both PC and Mac platforms. From what was in the Wired article it looks as if the NXT OS may be open to hackers that will want to make their own firmware revisions but that yet to be confirmed. LEGO has had a tough year and I’m quite glad that they have not scrapped the robotics product line in favor of saving money.
[via Wired, Gizmodo, NXT Blog, and Robot Magazine]
Insect Cyborgs
Researchers in Japan have been implanting microcomputers and electrode backpacks into the bodies of roaches in order to control them remotely. Their aim is to be able to give directional commands to them so he insects can search through small spaces like earthquake rubble or pipes. Using the electronics laden bugs as literal bugs for espionage work is also a possibility.
Virtual Humanoid Project
Humm, the Japanese are at it again. This time they are using a virtual reality head mounted unit to map the image of a real person over a 3D representation that is colored chroma key green. The idea is to enhance communications, for instance if you shake hands you will get tactile feedback from the dummy. They are working on a version that uses a robot and not a dummy to enable the user to interact better with the person that they are talking to.
[via engadget]
Virtual Humanoid Project (translated)
New Years Photo Safari
Sunday morning I got up at the crack of dawn and went over to some rather expensive loft/condos that are being built at 24th st and Camelback road here in Phoenix. I had all my camera gear with me and figured the low sun would make for some pretty good photos. I was right but I had this weird feeling. I’d have to call it a ‘Tokyo moment’. There I was surrounded by all these brand new buildings, sounds of traffic in the background, and not a person to be found anywhere. The exact same thing happened to me a few times when I was out taking photos in Japan. One in particular was when I went out to take photos of the Asahi Super Dry Brewery building in the Sumida ward of Tokyo. As I walked from Ueno station east to the Golden Flame I passed people but the closer I got to the river the fewer the people got. Once I got to the Flame there was no one to be found. I know that it was because it was early in the day on a Sunday morning but the effect was pretty cool. All alone in a city of millions. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos I shot of these buildings here in Arizona. I’m going to make an effort to go on a photo safari at least twice a month so hopefully there will be more. Please leave me comments on what you think of my work.
BitChar-G Modifications
I brought two BitChar-G car sets back from Japan about six months before the craze swept through the US. That was in 2002, nice to see that there are still a bunch of people that like to race them and ever better, do mods on them. The picture here shows new wheels made from the little rubber finger pads from a pencil. Pretty cool, eh?