Archive for February 2016

We’ve seen a small remote-controlled trash can, now let’s check out how you can make a large one. YouTube’s star inventor Colin Furze used an electric wheelchair’s components to motorize and remotely control a wheeled trash can, or as the Brits call it, a wheelie bin.

We’ve seen a four-armed robot drummer that’s good enough for a casual gig, but only because the drum patterns are programmed into it. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology came up with a compromise by augmenting a human drummer with a third robot arm.

Everyone knows the opening crawl from Star Wars. Seeing those words is a special thrill to every geek anywhere. But what if you could actually wear the opening crawl on your wrist? Well, you can. You can now wear the very first crawl from the first movie.

Back in the ’80s, Tyco was a big brand when it came to RC toys. Now Tyco is back with the Terra Climber. This is the first RC vehicle I’m aware of that can climb stairs.

Back in the ’80s, Saturday Night Live was the show all the cool kids stayed up to watch. If your parents let you stay up that late, you were a badass in elementary school. I liked those old skits with Eddie Murphy and his castmates, but the modern show is a bit boring to me.

Operating systems have built-in voice dictation, but YouTuber Zip Zaps wanted an old school output device. So she made an awesome-looking set of fingers that manually operates a typewriter. Zip Zaps didn’t actually modify the typewriter itself. 

Growing up, I knew every time I went to see my grandmother on Saturday, we would be going to the mall. I also knew that meant lunch out, candy, and at least one new toy. The downside was I knew she would be spending an hour or so in the sewing store while I went out of my mind with boredom.

We’ll soon be able to conduct bot-on-bot mayhem without knowing a thing about building or repairing robots, thanks to toymaker Hexbug and its officially licensed Battlebots replicas. The robots are based on some of the most popular competitors in the TV series: Bronco, Tombstone, Witch Doctor and last season’s champ, Bite Force.

The kids in our old neighborhood were always having NERF wars. I decided to arm my son up right and bought one of those giant battery powered NERF guns that could sling multiple darts per second.

The board game Monopoly is an American icon. It’s all about rolling some dice, moving some weird metal game pieces, randomly landing on properties, buying them and charging other suckers who land on them. It’s capitalism at it’s finest.

There are a lot of racing games out there, but none of them comes close to Mario Kart. It remains the best and most fun racing franchise ever made. I’m not sure anyone could make a better game.

This DNA Ring Collection from Takayas Custom Jewelry is comprised of some elegant and beautiful pieces. They are designed so that the bands look like double helixes. I guess good jewelry is in their DNA. These rings are a unique accessory with an amazing design.

The polystone prodigies of First 4 Figures have announced that they will be releasing a line of high end Star Fox collectibles. First in line is this 12″x 12″x 18″ statue of the barrel rolling Arwing.

This little girl is wearing a custom-made armor kit that was created from a 48-inch First Order Stormtrooper toy by RPF contributor Jim Brock. If either of my kids were small enough to fit into costume armor like this, I would be building it right now.

3D printing store 3D Printing Solutions recently showcased the strength of polycarbonate filament by making a scissor jack purely out of the plastic. They then used the jack to lift a pair of steel-reinforced concrete pieces that weighed a total of 529lb.

I could never be a vegan or vegetarian, I like bacon and steak, and anything else meaty and tasty. I fully support vegans and their lifestyle, it just means more bacon for me. Even if it’s got no meat in it, this might be the most awesome shepherd’s pie I have ever seen.