Technabob » baby

TRON Stroller Perfect for Babies Named Flynn

Conner Flynn — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:30:12 +0000

If you never even thought about having a kid, here is at least one good reason to have one. This TRON lightstroller is the work of ILM research engineer Bhautik Joshi. Basically he took a standard baby stroller and tricked it out with EL wire.

The end result is a TRON lightcycle for babies, ready to leave light trails and cause accidents with other strollers. Check out the video below to see it light up. It’s the perfect ride for your little geekling in training and it’s not just for parents wearing Daft Punk helmets. Anyone can make one of their own using the same technique.

It’s perfect for those late night infant lightcycle wars that are soon to take place in empty parking lots everywhere. I think we have a new sport.

[via Ian Brooks via Obvious Winner]

Star Wars Figures Made from Doll Parts: More Freaky Than Mos Eisley Cantina

Conner Flynn — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:00:02 +0000

These freaky looking Star Wars toys mixed with doll parts aren’t exactly my thing, but I have to give them credit for their creepiness. There’s nothing more disturbing than dolls and when you play Doctor Frankenstein by mixing them with other parts.

These come from GeekyVixen on Etsy, who makes a bunch of doll mash-ups. These Star Wars versions are the weirdest. You want a AT-ST with a giant baby head? Check. A TIE Fighter with a baby head? Check. How about R2-D2 with baby feet and a baby head. You got it.

Hit the link above for more images of her work that are sure to give you nightmares. The only thing I didn’t see on her page that is missing is Jar Jar with baby parts. That I would like to see.

[via Obvious Winner]

Woman Giving Birth to Spider-Man’s Nemesis?

Hazel Chua — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:57 +0000

My sister is due in a couple of months, and the whole family is excited. She’s going to have a baby girl, and my parents are probably the most giddy set of soon-to-be-grandparents ever.

She got a 4D ultrasound done just last week, so we all got a good look at her baby. But before the 4D one was a sonogram that I did a bad job of interpreting. Where the baby’s head was, I saw a butt. Where her hand was, I saw a foot. Eventually my sister pointed out which was which and what part was where, so that settled that.

But if her sonogram looked anything like the one shown above, then I’d probably be more than alarmed – although I’d be able to recognize who (or what) she’s carrying insider her belly: Venom!

The sonogram was posted on Reddit by Venom’s proud father-to-be. Scary, huh?

[via Nerd Approved]

Skinless Robot Baby is the Stuff Nightmares are Made of

Hazel Chua — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:00:09 +0000

Babies are a huge responsibility. Every parent knows that, whether they still have one on the way or already have several kids in tow.

To prepare for parenthood, some parents-to-be get one of those baby dolls and take care of it with their partner as if it were a real baby. Some couples opt to do the egg experiment, where they care for an egg instead of the doll. But how would you like to care for this robotic baby instead?

In all seriousness though, this baby is the work of animatronics expert Chris Clarke. Aside from putting together lifelike robotic babies that mimic the movements of a real baby, he was also the special effects guy behind that puppet horse in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse.

This baby was created for use in filming of a soap opera. It looks creepy in the video, but no doubt it might be dressed up in skin and diapers once filming starts. I’m sure most people would find this skinless robotic tot far from adorable or cuddly.

[Fark via IEEE Spectrum via C|Net]

Cocoon Pillow Shields Tots from Dirt and Noise

Hazel Chua — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:00:43 +0000

We all know babies are precious. We also know that they’re more sensitive to dirt and noise, and get sick or infected more easily than grownup people do. I remember the time when my sister had just delivered her first baby (and my first niece!) and almost everyone would panic if she so much as sneezed or coughed.

It’s probably with all of these considerations in mind that Elodie Delassus came up with the Cocoon Pillow concept. It’s a curved pillow that will cradle the baby’s head gently while providing extra protection from dirt and noise, thanks to state-of-the-art noise-canceling technology, a HEPA air filtration system, and an air particle ionizer that’s been incorporated into the pillow.

Now if only Elodie could design one for adults who value silence and clean air, too…

[via Yanko Design]

Origami Stroller Folds Up at the Push of a Button

Hazel Chua — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:15:02 +0000

As my sister has told me, it’s sometimes a pain to travel when you’ve got babies because of the strollers. It takes a while to fold the entire thing and set it up, it takes a bit longer to make your baby leave your arms and sit in it (if you’ve got a particularly needy baby, then, well, it will take much longer), and another while to fold the entire thing back up again for storage.

So to my sister and to all the other parents in the world, be prepared to welcome the Origami Stroller into your lives to make stroller handling easier and more convenient. With the turn of a knob and push of the button, the stroller either folds itself ready for storage or unfolds itself to be ready for use.

Aside from that, this is also the first stroller of its kind to come bundled with so many features. It can charge your cellphone, count your mileage, and comes with daytime running lights and pathway lights for low-light conditions. It also comes with an LCD display and sensors that detect if there’s a child in the seat or not. You know, to prevent folding it up when your kid’s still sitting on it.

Sounds amazing, right? The Origami Stroller launches on January 6, 2012 and is priced at – brace yourselves – $849.99(USD).

[via TechCrunch via Oh Gizmo!]

Easy Read Thermometer: Just Slap It On and Read the Temperature Off

Hazel Chua — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:00:29 +0000

My sister’s youngest daughter got sick over the weekend while she was sleeping over at my place, and let me just say, it was as close to ~~hell~~ heck as I’ve ever been. (I’ve been choosing my words carefully while she was under my care, under strict instructions by my sister.)

She was running a pretty high fever, that much I could tell by putting my palm to her forehead. But as for the exact temperature? I dare say it was pretty much close to a miracle that I was able to get her temperature because she wouldn’t keep still because the thermometer “tickled.”

But as her fever waned, her energy came back full force, and it was getting harder and harder to gauge her temperature. A smart solution? The Easy Read Thermometer – a concept design by Wang Dongwei and Liu Yisha. And while it won’t be able to give you the exact temperature of your kid or baby, at least it gives you the range so you’ll know when you’re in the clear or not.

It seems like a pretty useful concept, especially for parents and for people who take care of young kids on a regular basis.

[via Yanko Design]

That’s One Disturbing Baby Chewbacca Doll

Conner Flynn — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:00:06 +0000

Wookiees generally look cuddly, even though they are tough and strong. Babies also usually look cuddly. So, why do I find this Baby Chewbacca doll so disturbing?

I mean, I guess that’s what a baby Wookiee might look like, but with all of that white hair, this could also be Chewbacca’s shriveled up old grandpa. Maybe a hybrid Ewok/Wookiee (Ewookie? Wokwook?) created in an Imperial lab somewhere in order to finally pay those furry bastards back for Endor. Whatever the hell it is, it scares me. You can find it on eBay for $200(USD) if you want to adopt this guy for some reason. Heike Kolpin created this sculpture of baby Chewbacca and check out the image below for more horrifying Star Wars babies.

That’s baby Han, baby Luke and baby Leia. Yes, they look… slightly off. They certainly put some extra creepy in these dolls.

[via Geyser of Awesome via Nerd Approved]

Starship Enterprise Spoon Feeds The Next Generation

Technabob — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:39:01 +0000

Space, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new teeth, to boldly go where no spoon has gone before. Nope, that’s not right. But it is exactly what you’ll get if you buy this Star Trek feeding system for your tot.

This whimsical set come with a Trek-themed bib, and you’ll be feeding your baby with a spoon that looks just like the original Enterprise. Both the apron and spoon’s warp nacelles feature blinking LEDs, to occupy your babe’s mind with dreams of intergalactic exploration, while transporting some pureed peas and carrots to his or her diaper.

Now, I don’t quite get the point of calling a spoon and a bib a “feeding system,” but it does make it sound more technologically-advanced. And while I don’t recall the original Enterprise having a spoon-docking bay in front, it’s actually not a bad idea in case the crew gets hungry exploring space.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

So if you’ve got a little one in the house, warp on over to ThinkGeek and beam it to your house for $24.99 (USD).

iCub Robot Acts Like a Baby, Now Crawls

Conner Flynn — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:00:01 +0000

Robots today are such babies. Especially the ones designed to mimic babies. iCub thankfully doesn’t cry all of the time. He does however now crawl on the floor like a baby. Though not very well.

He demonstrated this feat at the recent IROS 2011 event, trying to crawl on the floor. I say trying because he doesn’t do a very good job at crawling. In fact, the video shows him barely moving forward. Nice to know he would be easy to run from anyway. Given time he should get better, but for now this robot modeled after a three and a half year-old child is no speed-demon.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Aside from learning to crawl, this bot is all about exploring how human cognition develops, using facial expressions and adaptive learning techniques. The idea is that iCub can learn in the same way a child would.

[via IEEE Spectrum]

Beanie Turns Kids into Frilly Green Ogres

Hazel Chua — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:30:24 +0000

What a lot of parents love to do is dress up their kids. What a lot of kids really hate is getting dressed up by their parents. I can attest to this personally, because I used to throw a fit and fuss over the frilly clothes that my mother would force me to wear.

But if I were still a kid now, I wouldn’t mind if they dressed me up in this Shrek-inspired beanie. Honest.

Grab one from Etsy for $24 to turn your little ~~ogre~~ angel into a real ogre.

[via Gadgets Matrix]

Let Your Baby Do the Name Picking via Kicking with This iPhone App

Hazel Chua — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:40:34 +0000

So what will people come up with next?

I personally don’t really hate or like the name that my parents bestowed upon me. I find “Hazel” to be a pretty boring name to be stuck with (given that the meaning of the name is simply from “the hazel tree.” Who wants to be named after a tree? I don’t.) but I’m also glad that I didn’t get stuck with something that was incredibly hideous, like Kernnifer or Anntena (no offense to people who are actually named these names, I got the names from this list over here.)

But what if there were some way that you could let your unborn baby do the name picking?

Yes, folks, that’s right. Your soon-to-come bundle of joy can pick his or her own name simply with the kicks he or she is throwing. How? With the Kick To Pick app for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

The concept is simple. The app actually comes loaded with tens of thousands of names that you can browse through to select which ones are your favorites. You can forgo making the favorites list and just go straight ahead to the picking by powering up the app and placing it on top of your baby bump. The app then goes through the list systematically until little Junior or little Missy throws a kick that will be detected by the accelerometer of your device. And voila: the name for your baby has been chosen.

This way, you can just tell Vevia, Frauke, or Stacian (still names from the list I mentioned earlier, if you’re wondering) that they were the ones who chose their names for themselves when they complain about it later on.

You can get the Kick To Pick app from the iTunes App Store for $0.99.

Give Parenting a Whirl with These Robotic Pneuborns

Hazel Chua — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:49:44 +0000

There are all sorts of robots everywhere these days. There are robots that perform surgery, spy robots, child-like robots that beg passersby for donations. Now there’s a whole new breed of robots that I think takes the cake: robot babies called Pneuborns.

These robotic babies are designed to emulate and follow the movements that a human baby would. The Pneuborn-7II is aged 7 months, while the Pneuborn-13 takes on the role of a 13-month old tot that can already walk.

These bots were made by roboticists from Hosoda Lab that is based in Osaka. The Pneuborns will exhibited at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation that will be held in Shanghai this week.

[via Plasticpals]

PreVue is Like a Wrestling Championship Belt and Sonogram Mashup

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:19:49 +0000

Any parent knows that one of the best days of a pregnancy is when you get a sonogram for the first time and look at the baby. If you are lucky, you can also find out what sex the baby is thanks to the wonders of sonograms. A cool new concept product called the PreVue would sell to just about every pregnant woman out there – if it were real.

Industrial designer Melody Shiue’s concept device would go around the pregnant lady like a belt, and has a section on it with a screen and some sort of ultrasound tech that puts the picture of the baby on the screen right on the belly. It’s a bit gross in the renderings, but just think about how cool it would be to see the baby as it grows right at home.

If the tech were available to build this at a reasonable price, the maker would be rich in short order. It does remind me of the perfect championship belt for a pregnant professional wrestler. I wonder how close we are to actually having the capability to make something like this.

[via Tuvie]

AFFETTO Robot Head Will Creep You Out

Range — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:48:34 +0000

I know that this isn’t really supposed to have anything to do with Halloween or scaring people, but what the heck guys, this robot baby head is really disturbing, especially when the guy starts moving the head around and the baby comes alive.

Osaka University’s AFFETTO was created to model a baby’s facial expressions. This was done in order to endear it to human caregivers. Ultimately, I think that the opposite was achieved. Yes, it’s creepy, very creepy.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This might have something to do with the uncanny valley phenomenon in robotics, where humans are actually repulsed by robots exhibiting near or human-like behavior. You have to admit that this does look like a prop from a horror movie.

[via Ubergizmo]

Withings Smart Baby Monitor Keeps an Eye on Bebe with the iPhone

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:18:03 +0000

When my son was an infant, my wife and I didn’t get much sleep for the first few months. We missed sleep not because he cried anymore than a normal baby, but because the doctor went crazy one day and mentioned sudden infant death syndrome in front of my wife. For three months, she would sit up in the bed a few times a week insisting the baby wasn’t breathing. I would blow her off for a bit and then the insanity would catch and I would run down the hall to be sure he was actually breathing.

If I had one, of these cool Withings Smart Baby Monitors, I could just strap the iPhone to my wife’s hand and when she freaked out, she could see for herself that the baby was fine and leave me alone. I love technology. The system will connect with the iPhone or another device like your PC, tablet, TV or anything else with a screen that is connected.

The camera for the device is a 3MP unit with an extra wide view and night vision with infrared LEDs. The camera can detect movement in the room, provides video along with audio, and will show the temperature and humidity in the room as well. It connects to devices via Bluetooth, WiFi, or wires. Pricing and availability are unknown.

Pajamas for Baby Tell You if Your Tot is Alive and Well

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:00:57 +0000

If you don’t have kids you might think that this new sensor laden pajama for babies is pretty stupid and sounds like some of that wacky crap that we see out of Japan every now and again. If you have kids, you have undoubtedly sat up in the bed at 2 am when they were infants with the idea in your head that the baby isn’t breathing only to rush in there and scare the crap out of the little guy. Parents can understand how interesting these pajamas are.

Exmovere is showing off the Exmobaby PJs that have a bunch of different wireless biosensors in them that can monitor the baby’s heart rate, breathing, and emotional state. That last one is a bit out there since there are two modes in baby world happy (or quiet) and pissed (or screaming) and that is pretty much it.

The sensors use Zigbee protocol to communicate and would send the vital signs to some sort of monitor that the parents could see. This is actually a very cool idea and would help ease the worry of SIDS for many new parents.

Get ‘Em Started Young With an 8-Bit Video Game Baby Quilt

Technabob — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:32:34 +0000

Just because you’re all grown up and have a nursery to decorate doesn’t mean that you can’t sneak in a little touch of your gamer style in your tot’s room. For starters, why not deck out their crib with one of these fun 8-bit quilts?

GeekUnique makes these “Lil Geek” 8-bit quilts featuring the likenesses of such iconic video game characters as Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Q*Bert or Link.

Each blanket is machine-quilted with a cotton top and polyester batting, and fits a standard 36×36 crib. And since each one is made to order, you can specify colors if you don’t like the standard ones – although we can’t imagine Pac-Man in any color other than yellow, Q*Bert wearing anything but orange, or Mario without his trademark red overalls. But it’s your choice. Go to town and get a grape-ape Donkey Kong for all we care.

All the 8-bit crib quilt designs can be found over at GeekUnique’s Etsy shop for $80 (USD) each. They’ve also got a slightly larger version (48 x 60) for $110.

Iron Baby Blasts Enemies Before Nappy Time

Lambert Varias — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:09:19 +0000

Stop motion master Patrick Boivin – creator of Ninjas Unboxing and Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee – made a short film starring his baby daughter. It’s about a rich and brilliant baby, who invents an armored suit to fight the bad bunnies. She is… Iron Baby.

Boivin’s really stepped it up with this one:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Amazing work, adorable baby. Two of Boivin’s best creations yet!

[via Kotaku]

Sikker Wireless Baby Monitor Gives Moms Peace of Mind and Dads More Rest

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:59:32 +0000

I have two kids and when they were sick as babies, I usually didn’t get any sleep. The lack of sleep was typically more from my wife waking me up every five minutes asking me to go check on the baby to be sure he was still breathing. Typically I would say “of course he is breathing” and try to go back to sleep. It never worked because her paranoia is contagious and I would end up thinking OMG! What if he isn’t breathing and run to his room.

What I wish I had was something like this Sikker concept from Thanko Design. The thing has a bracelet that the mom wears and a similar one for the baby to wear. The idea is that some sort of tech synchronizes the bracelets with a base station.

The mom can look down at the bracelet and see important things like the baby’s temperature and the fact that the baby is breathing and stuff. The bracelet can also play music to lull the kid back to sleep and apparently it works like a baby monitor too. Judging by the Bluetooth logo on the base station, I am guessing that’s the tech in use here.