Hasta La Gadget!

Man who catch fly with chopstick, accomplish anything. Man who catch most sushi with chopstick, become ChopsticKing. That idea behind – I mean that’s the idea behind Chopsticking, an Arduino-based board game made by NYU ITP students Christina Carter and Jess Jiyoung Jung. It’s a two-player game where you compete to grab the greatest number of sushi.

Chopsticking consists of two pairs of chopsticks, a board with a circular receptacle and tokens that look like sushi. There’s a metal plate that obscures part of the bin as it rotates, making it harder to fish out the tokens. Before you play the game, you first have to hold the chopsticks in the proper manner – your index finger and thumb must be resting on the upper stick while the lower half of your thumb anchors the lower stick in place. The Chopsticking sticks have sensors that detect if your fingers are in the right areas, so no cheating by using a fork or your fingers.

When the game begins, you pick up sushi tokens as fast as you can, but you also have to dip them in “soy sauce”, which is actually an RFID reader that detects the tags on the sushi. The player is awarded two scores at the end of the time limit. One is for the number of sushi you were able to dip in the sauce while the other is for how well you held the chopsticks.

Christina and Jess showed off Chopsticking at the World Maker Faire in New York City. It must have been a hit-and-miss affair.

[Chopsticking via MAKE]

I always loved playing with Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots when I was a kid. I also have always loved electronic gadgets. Thanks to the power of technology, I can now play with both at the same time.

Japanese toy-maker Takara Tomy has created this set of boxing robots which are operated using Wii-like motion controllers. The robots are called “BattroBorg 4G” – which means there were three generations of these robots before, and somehow I never owned a set.

The latest generation of miniature boxing robots offers more attacks than prior versions, and improved limb strength to deliver the ultimate robotic knock-out punch without actually breaking the other one.  They also offer interchangeable parts so you can mix and match their body colors.

They’re not officially available outside of Japan, but if you dig around on eBay you might be able to find a pair for around $75(USD). If I don’t beat you to the punch, that is.

[via Toy People]

Replicate the opening credits of HBO’s Game of Thrones with this multilayered puzzle map of Westeros. Aside from the flat map of the war-torn continent, the kit also includes tiny replicas of cities and castles, plus a few other figurines. Make sure to hum the opening theme while you’re putting it together.

The map was made by 4D Cityscape, a company known for two things: building puzzle maps of cities and misunderstanding the concept of the 4th dimension. This definitively 3-dimensional continent puzzle is made of 1,200 pieces. Then there’s a smaller 200-piece puzzle that sits on top of the continent puzzle that outlines the “current landscape” of Westeros. I assume that refers to the layout of the land based on the TV series so far. The final layer consists of the aforementioned figurines of cities and castles. There are also “over 45 flags to mark famous landmarks, 10 sigils to mark the Houses, and 5 battle markers to learn the locations of five major battles.”

You can pre-order the puzzle map from ThinkGeek for $60 (USD), and you’ll have it in plenty of time as a gift for that Game of Thrones fan on your holiday shopping list.

[via This is Why I’m Broke]

A couple of years ago, Tobii made headlines when they unveiled their eye-tracking sensor. We first saw it installed on a laptop and then on gaming machines. Now Tobii wants to ride the tablet revolution with the EyeMobile, an add-on for Windows 8 Pro tablets.

The EyeMobile makes use of Tobii’s USB-based PCEye Go sensor, a custom mounting bracket that doubles as a tablet stand and a Windows 8 Pro tablet. Tobii will be selling a bundle that includes the Dell Latitude 10 tablet, but you can also buy the sensor and the bracket separately if you already have a Windows 8 tablet.

In their hands-on with the EyeMobile, Digital Trends found the sensor to be quite accurate. Going back to the tablet in the top image, you can see a virtual dock on the right edge of the screen. You first have to look at one of the icons on the dock then look elsewhere to perform an action. For instance, if you want to left-click on something, you can’t just look at the thing you want to click. You first have to look at the left-click icon on the dock and then at the thing you want to click. It’s a bit tedious, but for people with certain disabilities this is a great way – if not the only way – for them to use modern technology. In addition, the PCEye Go sensor can be detached from the mounting bracket and used with a laptop or computer.

Tobii will be selling the PCEye Go sensor for $3,900 (USD) while the bracket costs $350. They’re pricey for sure, but it’s way better than nothing. Check out this video if you want to see how life-changing Tobii’s eye-tracking sensor can be (and if you need a good cry.)

Head to the EyeMobile website for more information.

[via Digital Trends]

We’ve seen many examples of LEGO used to build something practical. This one’s the exact opposite. LEGO enthusiast Jason Allemann built his own take on the infamous useless machine using the newly released Mindstorms EV3 kit.

Like the original useless machine, Jason’s contraption exists only to turn itself on. However, Jason programmed it to do other things before it turns itself off. For instance, it can delay the act of turning itself off, so you think that you’ve outsmarted the machine. It can also move away from you. In a hilarious bit of ingenuity, Jason also made the machine so that it can troll itself.

Head to Jason’s website to download the instructions and other files needed to build your own Useless Machine. You can buy the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kit from Amazon for $350 (USD). Don’t worry, you can do other more useful things with it.

[via Viral Viral Videos]