Uncategorized – Page 2

Mantabot, the Underwater Manta Ray Robot

Have you ever watched a manta ray swim in the water, and marveled at how smooth its actions were? They seem to fly as they slide and glide about in the water, making underwater propulsion seem like a simple feat.

In fact, the manta ray’s movements are so smooth and efficient that the University of Virginia built a robot just to study how the rays do it. Their project, dubbed appropriately enough “Mantabot”, sports a silicon body and wings while the electronics are tucked inside. Mantabot is remote controlled by wires, and the robot can do complex turns and rather relaxing to watch navigation through its watery domain. According to Prof Hilary Bart-Smith,

We are studying a creature to understand how it is able to swim so beautifully, and we are hoping to improve upon it. We are learning from nature, but we also are innovating; trying to move beyond emulation.

In the end, the project hopes to pave the way for new robotic devices that more efficient and capable than anything we have today. Not to mention, they are really relaxing to watch. Check out the mantabot in action in the video below.

via devicemag

Manta Ray

The genus Manta contains two species of manta rays: the Reef Manta Ray (Manta alfredi) and the Giant Oceanic Manta Ray (Manta birostris), which are the largest species of the rays in the family Mobulidae, and the largest rays in the world. Oceanic mantas reach at least 7 metres (23 ft) in width and there are anecdotal reports of even larger specimens, while reef mantas reach about 5.5 metres (18 ft) in width.

source:wikipedia

Buy Your New Mech Today for only $1.4 Million

Greg Chaffins

Isn’t it time that you forgo the usual type of heavy armored transportation and went with a new mech? Suidobashi Heavy Industries are ready to put you in the driver seat for only $1.4 million, a small price to pay for the ultimate in advanced mechanization bragging rights.

The 13 ft tall units, known as the Kuratas, feature such powerful advanced weaponry as water bottle launchers and smile activated bb gun turrets (which no doubt makes it very hard to STOP firing). It can also be operated in both a low (stealth?) mode and a high mode by extending or retracting its legs.

The Kuratas was designed by namesake artist Kogoro Kurata, while robotics expert Watau Yoshizaki created the robotic underpinnings. Driving should be a snap, thanks to a Kinect-based movement interface. But in just case you are rusty on your mech piloting skills, check out the training video below:

via geekologie

Mech or Iron Man?

“Mech” typically does not refer to form-fitting garments such as the Iron Man powered armor. Mechs tend to be much larger and bulkier than the wearer and the wearer’s limbs may or may not actually extend completely into the respective limbs. Despite this, it is often difficult to distinguish between mechs and powered armor. An example is seen in Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 which feature both “hard suits” and “K-suits”. Despite both technologies being called “suits” (implying they are worn), the K-suit is much more bulky, and does not fit the form of the person inside.

source:wikipedia

Meet The Olympic Data Center Pod People

Greg Chaffins

As you might imagine, something as big as the Olympics takes a huge data infrastructure to pull off in today’s increasingly connected world. At any given moment there are many gigs of data flowing into and out of data centers at Olympic sites, and those data centers have to be up and running 24/7. But how do you manage those talented techs that keep everything running? Simple, you turn them into pod people!

At least that is the solution that service provider Interxion has come up with, and it seems to be a winner. The sleeping pods, from British company Podtime, offer a comfortable way to recharge without needing larger onsite facilites. Each standard pod will cost around $2200, but the company does offer multiple purchase discounts as well as custom models.

Considering that the alternative is to have those no doubt Olympic caliber techs separated from the site by a sea of traffic, the pods would seem to be a natural fit for the requirements of the Olympics. It might also help to keep those techs at their peak, since the last thing you need is to have your techs burnt out after being onsite for 72 hours.

Personally I think that the pod has some potential for private use. If you add in air conditioning and a sound system, it might be a pleasant way to drift off to sleep. Watchers of the movie Altered States might be a bit nervous, though – it does look like an isolation chamber, and regressing genetically throughout the night might not be the best way to start the day. Well, except for maybe Mondays…

via 21cIT

Dangers of Not Sleeping

Researchers at the University of Warwick and University College London have found that lack of sleep can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, but that too much sleep can also be associated with a doubling of the risk of death, though not primarily from cardiovascular disease. Professor Francesco Cappuccio said, “Short sleep has been shown to be a risk factor for weight gain, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes, sometimes leading to mortality; but in contrast to the short sleep-mortality association, it appears that no potential mechanisms by which long sleep could be associated with increased mortality have yet been investigated. Some candidate causes for this include depression, low socioeconomic status, and cancer-related fatigue… In terms of prevention, our findings indicate that consistently sleeping around seven hours per night is optimal for health, and a sustained reduction may predispose to ill health.”

source:wikipedia

The Pet Pedometer

Greg Chaffins

Counting the steps one makes in a day is one way to monitor your activity level. This rough indication is easy to measure using a readily available pedometer. If I remember correctly, around 10,000 steps in a 24 hour period was considered to be a good healthy number for humans. But, the statement begs, what if you are not human?

Well, if you happen to be of the canine persuasion, then I have good news for you. One, you can read and apparently use the web. And two, the Pet Pedometer, now available from ThinkGeek for around $10, is an easy way to count those doggie steps. You just have to attach it to the collar, and the steps start adding up. Curious as to how many steps you use to chase the cat or run down the mailman? Now you can easily tell the health benefit from these popular activities.

And if you happen to be a dog’s owner, this might be a great way to see if Fido is due a few walks. Now the counter only goes to 99,999, so you probably need to reset it every few days. Also, the factor of the dog’s four legs as compared to the human’s two is probably already calculated into the display, so manually doubling the count is not required. And finally – it won’t work with cats. Cats are just like that, so don’t ask.

via redferret

Pedometer

A pedometer is a device, usually portable and electronic or electromechanical, that counts each step a person takes by detecting the motion of the person’s hips. Because the distance of each person’s step varies, an informal calibration, performed by the user, is required if presentation of the distance covered in a unit of length (such as in kilometres or miles) is desired.

source:wikipedia