Sleep Number’s x12 smart bed monitors your sleeping habits.

Posted on November 9, 2015 by

Sleep Number just announced the x12, which packs a variety of sensors to monitor your sleeping habits, movement, heart rate and breathing rate. The bed has two sections, each of which are independently adjustable, so that once the bed knows your sleeping patterns, it can suggest ways you might want to change, say, the head incline. Additionally and this is perhaps our favorite feature a Partner Snore feature allows you raise your partner's headrest to help ease snoring. Having a lumpy mattres...

RoboBee : The tiny flying submarine

Posted on November 7, 2015November 7, 2015 by

A Harvard University lab has developed the first insect-size robots capable of flight and swimming. Researchers at the Harvard Paulson School have demonstrated a flying, swimming, insectlike robot, easing the way to create future aerial-aquatic robotic vehicles. Coming from the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, this discovery can only mean one thing, swimming RoboBees. The biggest challenge involved the conflicting design requirements. Aerial vehicles require large airfoils such as wings or sails to...

Enhancing movement with computational models.

Posted on October 13, 2015 by

MIT’s David Hill, a PhD student in media arts and sciences, builds computational models of human locomotion, which are the basis for designing ever-better prosthetics and his advisor, Hugh Herr, an associate professor of media arts and sciences, is a double amputee. Hill says living in the world of theoretical models can be somewhat insular, so having a real-life example of someone who can benefit from and pilot some of the work he does is part of what helps him stay focused. Human movement i...

Google wants your glasses to stay on while you run, with self-adjusting specs.

Posted on October 5, 2015 by

The latest invention from Google are the new self-adjusting specs that could change the lives of the active and near-sighted .Wearing spectacles and keeping them in place, especially while doing physical work such as running, would be much easier now. The patent outlines a system built into a wearable device like Google Glass that uses motors and motion detectors to automatically tighten or loosen the spectacles' arms depending on what the wearer is doing. It relies on a simple input, adjustm...

Researchers discover the key to staying dry underwater

Posted on September 30, 2015 by

Imagine staying dry underwater for months. The latest research from Northwestern University engineers identified a wide variety of surfaces that can do just that. Through a combination of analysis of “air-retaining insect surfaces” used by aquatic insects, aging and degassing experiments on material surfaces, and molecular simulations, these engineers believe they understand what keeps certain surfaces dry underwater. Saturation of air within “valleys” on surfaces (less than 1µm wide) defl...

New Technology Creates “Cyborg Insects”

Posted on September 8, 2015 by

Scientists at the University of California demonstrated a new technology for creating "cyborg insects." That is, beetles implanted with miniaturized electronics that allows the insects to be controlled. The flying beetle is powered by a wireless signal from a mobile transmitter that controls the insect. Varying impulses trigger an appropriate response from the beetle so that it flies according to its handler. The movements of flying insects is controlled using a radio transmitter and a min...

World’s First Wipe-On Clear Nanocoating Ensures Permanent Car Paint Protection

Posted on September 8, 2015 by

A novel nanocoating promises to permanently protect surfaces from damage or deterioration. Scientist Thomas Choate has introduced the world's first Wipe-On clear nanomaterial that will protect surfaces from damage or deterioration and also help restore them. The product, named Vecdor Nano-Clear®, has the ability to permanently restore original color, gloss and surface hardness back into oxidized textured plastics, highly oxidized fiberglass and highly oxidized paint surfaces while reducing...

Powermat: The Wireless Charger

Posted on September 6, 2015 by

Wireless charging is already here. Though most individuals connect their phones to a wired charger, the charging landscape may soon change as companies such as Powermat Technologies Ltd., a developer of wireless power solutions for consumers, act as pioneers in the field. Wireless power, also known as inductive coupling and is based on magnets. The Powermat, is the first, perhaps, of many wireless chargers for hi tech gadgets. How does it work? You simply place your gadget on the mat to ch...