What you need to do during earthquakes is simple: drop, take cover, and hold on. There’s a risk in the second step because you might find yourself crushed to death if the thing that you’re crouching under isn’t very strong or sturdy. That’s where this table designed by Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno from Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design comes in.

The earthquake-ready desk will be featured in the 2012 Design Bonanza Bezalel exhibition in Milan from April 17 to April 22, and has been nominated for London Design Museum’s design of the year award. It’s more than just a concept design, though. The table is currently licensed by school furniture manufacturer A.D. Meraz Industries Ltd. for distribution in Israel.

The table has been engineered to withstand the impact of objects that weigh up to 1,000 kgs (or 1 ton) from a drop of eight to ten feet. Under ordinary tables, you would probably be crushed along with everything else on top of you. It’s about 2.5 times as expensive as current school desks, but there’s no amount of money in the world that can out-value a human life, don’t you think?

[via Oh Gizmo!]

The Truss Robot uses a gear system to maneuver along each truss, and can even move from one truss section to another on its own. It can move vertically or horizontally and can make 90 degree turns with ease. It can even flip itself over while riding on a beam, like some sort of robot gymnast. The robot can be programmed to grip onto the end of an adjacent beam which needs to be moved, unscrew it, and replace it into another location. You can get a better idea of how the Truss Robot works in the video below:

In theory, robots like these could be used to handle complex construction and assembly tasks which might be difficult for humans and traditional construction equipment. The truss robot was developed by Franz Nigl and Jeremy Blum under the direction of Dr. Hod Lipson.

That’s because it has taken Joe 7 years to do it… so far. For those of you who like numbers, that’s an average annual rate of 8 to 9 cubic feet using just R/C tractors and trucks. You might call him dedicated – or even obsessed.

He even transports the excavator on an R/C truck to the basement, unloads it, digs and uses other trucks to transfer the dirt up to the ground through a spiral ramp. There’s even a miniature rock crusher in on the action! This is an amazing undertaking to say the least.

You can see a little bit of the project in the video above, or you can check out many more videos up on Joe’s Youtube channel.

[via Scale 4x4 R/C and Houston Imports via Carscoop]

The rig allows users to manipulate objects with a lot more dexterity, and it’s pretty easy to operate. The rig mimics your arms’ movements, so it’s quite intuitive. It could help during rescue operations, and it can also be controlled remotely so that it can operate in hazardous conditions.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I wonder when these prototypes will see the light of day in production. Hopefully pretty soon, because I kind of like the idea of robots with giant arms roaming the streets someday.

[KSL Utah via Geekologie and DVice]

Mobile houses were a pretty common thing in the past, if you consider nipa huts. But what makes this one different is because it’s made up of more than just wood and some leaves and trunks and is comprised of more than just a room or two.

NEAPO’s three-story office building weighs about 440,000 pounds, and measures almost 40 feet tall. It has been moved around by transporting it on a raft. It’s currently planted on Turku, which is located in the southeast coast of Finland, but the owners of the mobile building are planning on having it moved it another location pretty soon.

The building’s mobility is all because of how it was constructed (obviously). It was built using special, patented steel panels that provide the building with an equal amount of sturdiness that a cement building has, at just a fraction of the weight. It also makes the building more or less earthquake-proof.

[via Gizmodo via Coolest Gadgets]

Using LEGO bricks, Kenney has built a 10-foot tall replica of Chicago’s Trump International Hotel and Tower. The project used 65,000 LEGO pieces and has one of the coolest exteriors I have seen in a LEGO project. The real building has shiny reflective glass that shows the skyline around the building.

Since they couldn’t use mirrored bricks, the artist and his team used colored bricks to build the skyline along with sky and clouds onto the exterior of the building. One of the things I like most is that Kenney also has pics of the build process over on MOC Pages showing how the inside is made to support all that weight. This building and two more are on permanent display at the Chicago LEGO Store. The project took a month of full-time work with the artist and assistants.

[via BrothersBrick]

The weird subject of this project aside, this is one of the most awesome showcases of DIY wood building prowess on the planet. The whole project is made from solid cherry and walnut wood and has over 4,000 pieces that are each individually hand crafted. The builder, Rob Fisher of Woodchuck and Co. says the project took over 3,000 hours to finish.

That works out to about a year and a half of construction time. The part that really blows my mind is that every piece of this model actually works. The treads roll, the bucket opens and closes and it can pivot around as well. Gander at the close-ups in the gallery and see just how detailed this thing is. The little railings must have taken days alone to make. Oh, and it can be yours for the tidy sum of $35,900 on Etsy.

The tool looks sort of like a pyramid and has four arms. Under one of the arms is a flat tip screwdriver, the other has a Phillips tip driver, and one of the others is a wine bottle opener. The coolest part is the arm that hides a guide for nails.

When you need to hammer in a nail, the design of the Coral Tools keeps your fingers spread apart, but keeps the nail firmly held so you can get it started into the surface. You actually whack the back of the Coral Tools device it seems. Once the nail is started, you just hammer it in the rest of the way.

I wonder if this will ever make it to the real world, or if it will just remain a concept.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Yanko Design]

With all the stuff I have around here, I might be about to build myself a new house with all the parts I have. Some of the stuff I see doesn’t look that much like computer parts and I suspect that there are way more computers in this room than most of us would have from three years of upgrading. I also see some parts like that wheel that didn’t come off any computer I am familiar with.

It would make an awesome basement game room though or a geeky office. The room is 5m x 4m x 4.5m and the parts are placed inside of wall made from wooden studs. The walls have a lot of space between the computer parts so unless you’re comfortable with your body you won’t want to go walking naked through this room.

[via Bit Rebels via Geekosystem]

KRE-O blocks are for kids 6 and up, and by “up,” I mean geeks like me that still like to play with cool toys too. The KRE-O range will include favorite characters from the Transformers world along with collectible mini figures and more.

Sets will include the Optimus Prime set pictured here selling for about $60 (USD). Smaller sets will sell for as little as $8, and there are sets in the middle too like a Bumblebee kit for about $25. All of the sets will land this fall and will include some bad guys like Starscream. I wonder if the blocks are compatible with LEGO, but I bet they aren’t.

The incredible SawStop system uses capacitive sensors to detect when you accidentally touch the deadly spinning blade with your flesh. The SawStop can detect skin within 5 milliseconds, and as soon as it senses flesh, an aluminum brake springs into action, stopping the blade and forcing the blade beneath the top of table. Power is instantly shut off at the same time. Your finger might get a little nick, but the injury potential is greatly limited by the system.

The technology manages to stop a saw that’s spinning at 5,000 RPM dead in its tracks. If you don’t believe it, check out this video of Steve Gass, SawStop’s creator, who’s so confident in his invention that he sticks his own finger right into the path of a spinning saw blade.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Sure, the mechanism pretty much destroys the saw blade and the mechanism in the fraction of a second that it takes to stop the blade on a dime, but I’d rather destroy $69 blade cartridge than lose my digits. And if you don’t believe it, check out these images of actual customer’s fingers which have been spared by SawStop technology.

Plus, as we learned from the video, it will also prevent hot dogs from being mangled – in case you frequently drop those into the buzz saw.

[via Make:]

The Moogle was developed with the Chiba Institute of Technology. It was especially designed for the way houses are made in Japan, since most of them don’t have basements, but have to be elevated 20″ above the ground for ventilation purposes.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The ‘bot is controlled remotely via a computer interface. Moogle’s got a wireless LAN connection, LED lighting, and has a laser range finder. There’s a wide-angle camera and a CCD camera too, so you can see where its going. It weighs about 15kg and will work for an hour on one charge. It will cost ¥40,000 ($500 USD) to rent for a month or ¥200,000,000 ($24,600 USD) to purchase.

[via Plastic Pals]

I love how Husqvarna uses the words “compact” in the description of this robot, but I’m not sure what they’re comparing it to for size reference. It’s certainly impressive and a lot safer for construction workers than trying to do this stuff themselves. However, I’m a little concerned these things might become sentient and take over the world. This could someday be just the reason why we all need to bow down to our robot overlords!

The robot is definitely reminiscent of Skynet’s more rudimentary Terminators, but thankfully, this robot isn’t autonomous (yet). It’s basically a gigantic R/C controlled ‘bot, which is kind of awesome in my book. Here’s the corporate video, although I have to say that I’m disappointed that it’s just a series of stills, not a full-blown video of the ‘bot destroying stuff. Boo.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[BotJunkie via Make:]

You might wonder why Dubai. The main reason is that with the current economic crisis, a lot of buildings under construction haven’t been completed. The city is littered with cranes that aren’t building anything anymore. Needless to say, this creates an eerie, surreal backdrop for these images.

Delsaux’s series of photos is called The Dark Lens and is worth a gander over at Fubiz. These are my faves.

[via Fubiz]

Created by Scott Holden for the recent Zone Ball in Sacramento, this Tauntaun not only looks great, it actually walks. Scott modeled out the original plan for the behemoth costume using SolidWorks, and then built out a stilt mechanism to stand on while walking around in it. And no, those aren’t the rider’s real legs dangling there on either side – they’re actually hidden inside standing on the stilts.

He built the Tauntaun’s main body using PVC pipe and fabricated custom stilts with snowboard bindings to hold the wearer’s feet and legs in place while walking.

Scott created a custom silicone mold for the head, and airbrushed the details on a final foam cast form. To give the beast its fuzzy coat, Scott covered it with layers of faux fur, fastened to the body with zip-ties.

Check out the video below to see the costume in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can check out the complete build log here. All I can say is wow.

[via Make:]

The Power Loader is made of 500 lbs of aluminum alloy. It’s equipped with 18 electromagnetic motors that allows its operator to lift up to 220 lbs without breaking a sweat. The suit also has force feedback, so the operator will know how it feels to pinch chestbursters and facehuggers until they explode. You have to admit though that 220 lbs isn’t exactly a lot of weight; there are people who are much heavier than that.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

But the Power Loader is probably still in its early stages; Activelink has set a deadline of 6 years – i.e. until 2015 – by which time they hope to have a commercial version ready. Lets hope aliens don’t arrive before then.

[via Pink Tentacle & Akihabara News]

The quote continues: ‘The system might know the requirements for various tasks in its repertoire, and it may try to perform those tasks to verify functionality.”  So at the very least, these future robots could be thinking, sensing and moving about as they are being built, testing their parts. Which could include what, guns, missiles, lasers?

DARPA recently held a convention (pdf) of evil, traitorous mad scientists to help with SELF. Well I think that this is future future technology.  First of all you’d either need to have versatile parts or a factory with all the parts that robots need for it to be able to build itself based on its programmed tasks. And second, I’m scared. Dammit why can’t DARPA setup programs that make us feel better?

[via The Register via Crave]

Though I’m still waiting for a flash game based on this crane-heavy concept (and no, the bright colors in Sim City don’t count), I can still enjoy all these artistic endeavors that celebrate the classic puzzle game.

This Tetris shirt is the product of Reece Ward at redbubble, an artists’ community, and is available for just under $25.

[redbubble via CraziestGadgets]

This is just begging for someone to make a flash game for this concept: using a crane to manipulate giant tetrominoes in order to build something. Or take another cue from Johansson and cook up a game based on playing Tic-Tac-Toe in an unfinished road. Yes, in, not on.

Classic games are perfect for these kinds of digital art. I’d hate to see what this guy could do with something like Call of Duty….

[Albotas via Super Punch]

The post title above is misleading, however; Russian modder Megalex’s custom bulldozer mod would only be good for heavy lifting if you also happened to have a time machine. With only 512 MB of RAM, this little computer won’t handle all the software you’ll ever need, but it does have a 500 GB hard drive, so you can use it for what’s really important: storage.

Look at that tread! Megalex’s mod may not be the biggest and baddest around, but it certainly wins cool points. Just imagine if it were remote-controlled….

[Tech Power Up via Slippery Brick]