research

Japanese Flying Robot Snake Puts out Fires

A group of Japanese scientists have created a proof-of-concept robot that may just be the best Super Soaker in the world. But instead of some kind of lawn sprinkler toy for summer fun, this one is…

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BALLU Robot is Part Balloon and Part Crane

Normally, humanoid robots creep me out a bit, but Ballu doesn’t. I mean it’s hard to be scared of something that reminds me more than a little of those junky balloon toys with feet KFC used…

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WhammyPhone is a Bendable Music Playing Phone

Growing up I watched a lot of Looney Toons cartoons and I remember one where Bugs plays a wood saw to make some Hawaiian music. I imagine that the WhammyPhone is sort of the modern equivalent…

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Scientists Prove Dogs Understand Human Words

We have a neighbor that weirds me out when she talks to her dogs. She will randomly scream at them when they do something she doesn’t like as if she were talking to a child. I…

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Exoskeleton Aims to Keep Kids with Rare Disease Healthy

Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) have created a very cool and very small exoskeleton that is intended to help kids who suffer from a condition called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) walk and stave…

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MARLO Robot is Learning to Walk on Uneven Terrain

It doesn’t matter if you fear a Terminator style robot executioner or an insane “I’ll wear your skull” type of Saturn 3 Hector robot overlord, right now we are safe because robots can’t walk worth a…

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Japanese Scientist Invents Dry Glue that Looks Like Breath Mints

These tiny little crumbs look a lot like peppermints you’d use to freshen your breath after lunch, but you don’t want to eat these ones. What you see here are tiny spheres of a sort of…

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AutoConnect Generates 3D Printable Connectors for Any Two Objects: The Missing Link

Custom mounts, docks and other connectors are simple yet impressive demonstrations of 3D printing’s potential. Right now you can either design your own connector or look for existing designs, but a group of researchers have created…

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Acoustic Holograms are Sort of Like a Star Trek Tractor Beam

My first glimpse at a hologram came back in the ’80s when I was in a mall in Dallas, Texas. It was a video game with holograms that had lots of mirrors was at the arcade…

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Researchers Teach Robots to Fall without Breaking

Robots are really cool, but before they can start selling robots that will clean our houses and tend to our kids, they have to perfect them and make them safe and robust. Part of keeping an…

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DARPA’s Mind Controlled Prosthetic Arm Can Now Feel

DARPA has an awesome program underway to develop the next generation in prosthetics. These technologies will help soldiers and others who have lost a limb to get back to their lives with as much normality as…

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NASA Boomerang is an Drone for Exploring Mars

NASA is very serious about sending humans to Mars someday. I can only hope that I am around to see that landing, it will be awesome. There are many challenges to putting us on Mars. One…

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Insanely Hydrophobic Metal Makes Water Drops Bounce Right Off

We all want gadgets that are able to survive the occasional splash or spill without shorting out and turning into useless bricks. A group of researchers at the University of Rochester have created a new metal…

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Programmable Materials Move without Electronic or Mechanical Parts

A few years ago we saw a custom fabricated material with embedded actuators and magnets, which enable it to autonomously fold into a predetermined shape when subjected to electricity. MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab is working on creating…

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Study Claims the Avatar You Use for Gaming May Affect Your Real World Behavior

A very strange new study has been published by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that tries to link the behavior of gamers in the real world to the avatars they use on gaming…

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Dogs Prefer to Poop in Alignment with the Earth’s Magnetic Field

I’ve mentioned my daughter’s little pup Buttercup before. I’ve long suspected that Buttercup is an asshole for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that she will only poop when someone is outside…

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Tag: Research

Japanese Flying Robot Snake Puts out Fires

BALLU Robot is Part Balloon and Part Crane

WhammyPhone is a Bendable Music Playing Phone

Scientists Prove Dogs Understand Human Words

Exoskeleton Aims to Keep Kids with Rare Disease Healthy

MARLO Robot is Learning to Walk on Uneven Terrain

Japanese Scientist Invents Dry Glue that Looks Like Breath Mints

AutoConnect Generates 3D Printable Connectors for Any Two Objects: The Missing Link

Acoustic Holograms are Sort of Like a Star Trek Tractor Beam

Researchers Teach Robots to Fall without Breaking

DARPA’s Mind Controlled Prosthetic Arm Can Now Feel

NASA Boomerang is an Drone for Exploring Mars

Insanely Hydrophobic Metal Makes Water Drops Bounce Right Off

Programmable Materials Move without Electronic or Mechanical Parts

Study Claims the Avatar You Use for Gaming May Affect Your Real World Behavior

Dogs Prefer to Poop in Alignment with the Earth’s Magnetic Field

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