Learning how to sign takes time and a whole lot of effort. Others get the hang of it fairly quickly, while some find that practice makes perfect. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have something like the Sign Language Ring to help you throughout the entire process.
The conceptual device is actually a bracelet and ring combo. The bracelet comes with detachable rings that, when worn, detect the signing motions that are made by the wearer. It then “translates” the signs audibly via the bracelet, which has an embedded speaker. The bracelet can also translate voice to text, which is displayed on the built-in screen.
It shortens the learning curve and makes communication easier between those who are hard of hearing or are speech impaired with those who cannot understand sign language.
The concept was thought up by Cao Zu-Wei, Hu Ya-Chun, Huang Ching-Lan, Liao Po-Yang, Tsai Yu-Chi, and Yang Yi-Hsien, who drew inspiration from Buddha prayer beads for the bracelet’s design.
The Sign Language Ring is a 2013 Red Dot Design Award winner.
It’s annoying and wasteful at the same time to open your fridge and see spoiling food and produce. Sometimes you just don’t notice when something is spoiling until they’re already past the expiration date. Other times, you’re just too busy to check and find that it’s beyond edible when you do.
Aiming to lessen the amount of food that’s thrown away because of this is the conceptual QR Fridge Magnet.
The QR Fridge Magnet is an interactive magnet that would offer a QR code scanning feature. It’s designed to keep track of food’s expiry or spoilage dates and provides information on the shelf life of food as well. After scanning, the magnet is meant to be tacked onto the fridge.
As the days pass, the magnet would change in color to provide a visual representation of the level of freshness of the food. Green indicates that the food is still fresh, while red means that the food has spoiled and should no longer be consumed.
The Fridge Magnet was designed by Hu Yaxing, Chen Zhipeng, Liao Haibo, and Tang Yigang and is a 2013 Red Dot Design Award winner.
Its impressive to hold a Coca-Cola bottle in your hand and think that about 30% of the bottle is actually made from renewable plant material. Coca-Cola and other soft drink companies have long been using a durable lightweight called PET. Ford uses PET in some of the materials in the interior of its vehicles including headliners, fabrics, and carpet among other things.
Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle technology makes for a greener version of PET and Ford has announced that it has teamed up with Coke to utilize the PlantBottle tech inside of its vehicles.
Ford will be showing off the Fusion energi plug-in hybrid vehicle in Los Angeles next week and inside the vehicle makes extensive use of PlantBottle technology.
Scientists and engineers from Coca-Cola and Ford worked together to develop a fiber using PlantBottle technology that can be woven into automotive grade PET fabric. Ford is using the technology to make fabric coverings for seat cushions, head restraints, and other components inside the car including headliners and door panels. Ford is currently evaluating using the material in other applications as well.
The touchscreen and app combo of today’s mobile devices makes one gadget act as many. Different apps display different interfaces, and the touchscreen lets you interact with those interfaces in a natural manner. But what if, aside from changing what you can see, your gadget’s display could also change its shape? That’s what MIT’s Tangible Media Group wants to realize.
What you’re looking at is Tangible Media Group’s inFORM. It’s made of a Kinect, a projector, a computer, pins, linkages and actuators. inFORM can mimic the shape and motion of 3D objects in real time. For example, a monitor can show a two-dimensional replica of your arm, but with inFORM you can have a tangible, 3D replica of your arm. And since it’s 3D you can use that replica arm to carry or move objects just by moving your own arms.
Equally important is inFORM’s ability to act as a collection of 3D pixels, a way of giving physical manifestation to digital information. For instance, it can make actual 3D charts, give you a tangible version of a 3D model in an instant and present even more intuitive user interfaces.
inFORM is a step towards the Tangible Media Group’s dream that it calls Radical Atoms, a “hypothetical generation of materials that can change form and appearance dynamically, becoming as reconfigurable as pixels on a screen… so that dynamic changes of physical form can be reflected in digital states in real time, and vice versa.”
Imagine watching horror films on a Radical Atom TV. Imagine “holding” your loved ones as you chat with them on Radical Atom walls and floors. Imagine controlling a giant mech made of Radical Atoms. Imagine visualizing mind-boggling equations and predictions on a Radical Atom spreadsheet. Imagine having a physical keyboard or game buttons on your Radical Atom mobile device. Aww yiss.
A new company called VRcade aims to revive the idea of a gaming arcade with the help of virtual reality. Whereas VR headsets like the Oculus Rift need to be wired to a computer to work, VRcade’s headset has a wireless transmitter. Why? Because VRcade isn’t just a headset, it’s an entire room. Or even an entire floor. When you move in the real world, you move in VRcade’s virtual world.
Aside from its wireless headset, VRcade uses motion capture cameras and a modular motion capture suit. In addition to the suit, there are also markers on the headset and whatever prop you have – like the gun in the image above – that the cameras can use to track your movement. In other words, while other VR headsets can track only your head, VRcade tracks you.
VRcade has several advantages over what VRcade CEO and co-founder Jamie Kelly calls “virtual sit down gaming.” VRcade’s games will encourage player movement: walk, run, sneak or jump in the real world and you do the exact same thing in the virtual world. As far as controls go, it doesn’t get more intuitive than that. For instance, VRcade claims that the tester in the video below has no experience with first person shooters, but she still figures out how to navigate in the virtual world:
The correspondence between movement and virtual output also reduces the risk of motion sickness, unlike when you’re experiencing VR while confined to one spot. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is that extra layer of immersion that users will get from being able to physically feel their movement. Here’s Kelly explaining the basics of VRcade:
VRcade seems really promising: the second coming of the arcade shop, but more inclusive and possibly even healthier. In addition, VRcade can also adapt their system for non-gaming purposes, such as giving virtual tours of structures that have yet to be built.
But of course nothing is perfect. As Ars Technica notes, VRcade has a chicken-or-egg situation when it comes to attracting game developers. Obviously the company needs developers to make games for its system, but because a VRcade game has to be tailored to a particular space, they need to already have that space rented or bought. But how will they know the dimensions of the space a game needs if the game doesn’t exist yet? Hopefully VRcade can figure that out.
Remember Corning’s glass-filled vision of the future? A company called Posh View was inspired by the Gorilla Glass maker’s concept video and is trying to make one of the devices in that video real. Posh View’s iMirror is an Internet-connected touchscreen device that happens to have a mirror as its display.
The iMirror is a lot like today’s consumer touchscreen devices. It has apps for things like the weather, Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps and more. It also supports voice commands, although I don’t know how well it can recognize your voice when you have a toothbrush in your mouth.
Here’s a more straightforward demo of the iMirror:
I’m surprised they don’t have a Magic Mirror app yet. Sadly, the iMirror is going to cost you. You have to pledge at least $2,749 CAD (~$2,624 USD) on Kickstarter to get the device as a reward. I wonder if Apple’s going to spin the glare of their glossy displays into a feature.
I’m a big fan of the whole 3D printing phenomenon, and really excited about the rapid development and growth of the technology. While most 3D printers work on the same principal – a moving print head that melts plastic – the Vader printer will be able to print using metal.
Scott and Zackery Vader (yes, that’s their actual last name) have developed the Vader – a liquid metal based 3D printer. This printer actually prints directly with molten metal, similarly to 3D printers that output plastic. Its thermal chamber melts down aluminum, then extrudes the hot metal onto a moving, magnetized printing bed. One interesting differentiator is that the Vaders say they’ll be able to build a version with a multi-nozzle print head, similar to those which work on ink jet printers. This could substantially decrease print times.
There are print methods that can use metal today, but most of them involve printing a wax mold, then pouring molten metal into the cast. There are also laser sintering techniques which fuse metal powder into a shape. As far as I know, the Vader is the first 3D printer to print directly with molten aluminum. This method allows for 100% metal density, as well as parts with hollow areas inside.
At this point, the team has an early prototype, which has all of the components – except the all-critical print head, but they say they’re confident in their invention. They intend on completing R&D of the liquid metal jet process and a working prototype by the end of the year. After this, they expect to produce a small business version, priced “between $10,000 and $50,000″ and down the road they hope to release a prosumer grade Vader printer for under $10,000.
Exoskeletons are definitely the way to go to boost and assist people’s natural strength. There have been numerous exoskeleton prototypes created, but most of them cost an arm and a leg to make. That’s not the case of the Titan Arm, winner of the 2013 James Dyson Award.
The Titan Arm was designed by four mechanical engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania, and it’s a low-cost upper body exoskeleton that was developed for use to lift heavy objects and health care. The exoskeleton increases the user’s arm strength by up to 40 pounds to reduce fatigue, and braces the back.
Those with injuries can also use the exoskeleton to help rebuild muscles and relearn fine motor control. The working prototype was created for less than $2,000(USD), using 3D printing and CNC machining technologies.
An English company called Tamicare is gearing up to make disposable underwear using 3D printers. While we’ve seen 3D printed clothing before, that example was made of nylon mesh. Tamicare on the other hand claims that its underwear will feel just like woven fabric, thanks to its Cosyflex printing technology.
Tamicare uses Cosyflex to print a hybrid fabric by mixing polymer “such as natural latex, silicon, polyurethane and Teflon” with textile fiber such as cotton. The resulting textile is said to be very stretchable, comfortable and can be printed in a variety of colors.
The best part? Tamicare’s 3D printers can make one pair of disposable undies in just three seconds. Three freakin’ seconds.
Tamicare also said that Cosyflex can be used to make other types of clothing, such as bandages and sportswear. Imagine having bespoke clothing in minutes, if not seconds. 3D printing is the bees’ knees.
Nissan has unveiled a very interesting new concept car that will make its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show. The car is called the BladeGlider and it has a unique three seat design. Nissan says that the BladeGlider is a proposal for the future direction of Nissan electric vehicle development and an exploratory prototype for an upcoming production vehicle.
This concept looks pretty wild for road car, but Nissan has been successfully testing the triangular shape in racing cars for a while. The BladeGlider has a front track that’s significantly narrower than the rear track, putting the two front wheels closer together than the rear. Nissan says that helps reduce the drag exerted on the vehicle and increase performance.
Inside the car uses three seats with the driver sitting ahead of the two passengers. This passengers sit you to the right and left of the driver giving everyone an unobstructed view of the road. The BladeGlider uses interesting scissor style doors that open up and out. Nissan also says that the driver seat automatically moves to the side to allow rear seat passengers to get in and out easily. The production car based on this concept will also be the first time Nissan uses in-wheel electric motors, and the car will use the same electric battery system from the Nissan Leaf.
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