Join RoboEarth is a “World Wide Web” for robots
You know how the Internet has become a place where billions of people are coming together and learning all sorts of things they never heard of before?
Now, imagine that system of interconnected computers, but for Robots. This is the basic concept from RoboEarth, which its creators are saying is a “Wikipedia that’s just for robots”.
So, if a robot is having trouble doing a certain task, it can essentially download how to do it from another robot. As far as I know, that is what RoboEarth is all about.
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Pelican Imaging’s Plenoptic camera for camera phones
This is a prototype for camera phones known as the Pelican Imaging’s array camera.
Pelican’s array works on the same principle as those antennas that work together so that they can see things light years away. Have you ever seen photos of the VLA (Very Large Array)? If you’ve seen movies like 2010, Contact, and Terminator Salvation, then you have seen at least one of the 27 giant antennas in some form.
Now imagine this VLA technology miniaturized in what Pelican Imaging calls the plenoptic camera. You can see the 25 ball-shaped lenses, which all work together all of the small images to create a larger one. I have a video of it after the jump that demonstrates this tech in action.
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Chinese Amusement Park to have sub-parks devoted to Starcraft and WoW
What you are seeing here are plans for a park known as Joyland World, and these are some of the sub-parks. You know how Disneyland has Tomorrowland and Adventureland? Well, Joyland World has Universe of Starcraft and Terrain of Warcraft.
In case you are wondering, Blizzard Entertainment, actual makers of the games that these sub-parks are obviously emulating, are not officially endorsing these attractions. I can’t imagine why. Then again, I’m not certain how big Blizzard is in China. Also, how many American players are going to fly to China to see these amusement parks?
If you want my opinion, the gaming company probably fears that these parks will face budget cutbacks and will absolutely suck, and doesn’t want any official name attachment whatsoever. I’m sure there are a lot of Disney attractions that aren’t endorsed by the creators that inspired them. I always wondered how Walt Disney would feel about Star Tours.
Continue reading » Chinese Amusement Park to have sub-parks devoted to Starcraft and WoW
Shaving Helmet turns a head bald, quickly
When I saw this picture of the shaving helmet, I couldn’t help but think of the beginning of Full Metal Jacket which showed the several men getting their head shaved for the army.
All I could think of was how easy it would be for multiple head shavings with this shaving helmet. It can actually turn a head with some hair into a cue ball in about 20 seconds, without cutting the cranium.
This shaving helmet has four blades mounted on Teflon-coated aluminum rails that can slide up and down. The head gets a bath of shaving cream before the harvest of hair begins. You should be able to see this in action in a video after the jump.
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Now there is a way to lift fingerprints off fabric
I think that we all know that most of the technology that we see on that CSI show is more advanced than actual forensic science or, in some cases, just plain non-existent.
However, some researchers in Scotland have just discovered some new techniques that could crack a case on the next episode of CSI: Whatever city we’re in. The technique involves getting fingerprints off of clothes.
It involves vacuum metal deposition, which is already good for plastic and glass. In the case of fabric, it is put in a vacuum chamber, and heated and evaporated and spread in a fine layer over the fabric. When heated zinc is applied, it attaches to the gold layer where the fabric has no fingerprints, and leaves the treated fabric to shine out where the contact has been made.
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Esper Dominoes re-defines the domino effect
It seems like we as human beings just have to put technology in things that don’t require it. Case in point: Dominoes.
I believe that Dominoes are one of the oldest games in the world, and these particular stones (I believe that is the term for individual dominoes) can be adjusted for different values. All you have to do is shake it one way to increase the value from 1 to 5, and shake it another way to decrease it from 5 to 1.
Not only that, these dominoes can fall by themselves. I have a video after the jump so you can see all the fancy combinations. I highly suggest that you watch it.
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Black Pyramids could harness solar energy in the UAE
Did you ever wonder why the Egyptians built the pyramids? It wasn’t because the desert was too boring, but they were tombs for the pharaohs.
In the case of this particular concept design known as Lunar Cubit, these pyramids could be built for the purposes of solar energy.
Lunar Cubit is the winning entry in Land Art Generator Initative, a contest in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made for designing green energy installations that look really nice.
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iCar has discovered the secret of flight: It’s the wheels
I always love to report on flying cars as much as I can.
This one, which is called the iCar, doesn’t need any wings or magic to fly but uses specially designed wheels. Apparently round spinning surfaces can create lift, which is called the Magnus Effect.
The iCar takes advantage of the Magnus Effect to turn its wheels into wings. On the ground, the iCar is a one seater sports car with four traditional wheels and giant cylindrical hubs. To get airborne, it extends its hubs outward to create a larger lifting surface, the hubcaps on the two front wheels swivel forward to turn into propellers, and the car is ready for takeoff. As it starts to move forward, the cylinder wings spin (driven by electric motors), and they generate enough lift to get the iCar airborne in about 1,500 feet.
Continue reading » iCar has discovered the secret of flight: It’s the wheels
