Hasta La Gadget!

The Polaris rover may look a little punk rock, but that mohawk is no fashion statement. It’s for catching solar rays which shine almost horizontally at the Moon’s north pole, a location Polaris is due to explore before 2016. Built by Astrobotic Technology, it’ll be ferried aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to our celestial companion, where it’ll drill into the surface in search of ice. The company, spun out of the Carnegie Mellon University, hopes to identify resources at a depth of up to four feet that could be used to support manned Moon expeditions in the future. The plan is to complete the mission during a 10-day window of sunlight, digging at up to 100 sites over a three-mile stretch. However, if it can live through the harsh two-week-long nights, then it may continue to operate “indefinitely.” NASA is backing the project, providing ice-prospecting gear and money, although Astrobotic hopes to get more cash for its work — over $20 million from Google’s Lunar X Prize. Right now, Polaris is a flight prototype and there are still improvements to be made, mainly on the software side, before it tackles the rough terrain. Check out the short video of its public unveiling below, although we don’t think the soundtrack quite matches the hairdo.

Continue reading Polaris rover will travel to the Moon in search of polar resources, try to survive the long lunar night

Filed under: Robots, Science, Alt

Polaris rover will travel to the Moon in search of polar resources, try to survive the long lunar night originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmag  |   | Email this | Comments

CEATEC, Japan’s largest annual electronics show, is winding down here on the outskirts of Tokyo. We’ve spent the past two days scouring the halls of the Makuhari Messe, digging up no shortage of concept cars, eye-tracking technologies and even the odd Windows 8 device. The star of the show may have been Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo, with its gaze-controlled prototypes and real-time translation app, but there were plenty of other gadgets on hand to peak our interest — even if many of them won’t make it to market anytime soon. Have a look for yourself by browsing our complete CEATEC 2012 coverage past the break.

Continue reading CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore

Filed under: Announcements, Misc, Robots, Transportation

CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Another prototype from DoCoMo aimed at Nihon‘s commuters, the i beam concept tablet forgoes any touch at all, allowing the user (once they’re at the specified ‘sweet spot’) to navigate around apps and screens using your eyes. Two sensors along the bottom edge of the tablet track both of your eyes and after a slightly laborious configuration setup, we were able to tour around the prototype slabs features without laying a finger on it. The navigational dot was a little erratic, but we’ll put that down to prototype nerves. The tablet was otherwise able to follow our eye-line and fulfill what we wanted it to do.

Returning to the home screen by targeting the kill box in the top right corner proved to be the most difficult thing — we soon resorted to tapping at the screen for that. DoCoMo showcased an eye-controlled game, alongside picture galleries, a web browser and a reader app. The e-book client seemed to be the most heavily involved, with the ability to look up words with a hard-stare, and flip pages by eyeing the two lower corners. The Japanese carrier isn’t planning a consumer launch any time soon — and the hardware comes with a pretty pronounced chin at the moment, but if you like staring at someone staring at a tablet, our eyes-on is after the break.

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo’s i beam tablet prototype is driven by your eyes (video)

Filed under: Tablets, Alt

NTT DoCoMo’s i beam tablet prototype is driven by your eyes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Maintaining your balance on a packed train while trying to handle the big-screened smartphones of today is often a tough challenge. At least NTT DoCoMo thinks so, offering up a new interface to avoid such issues — and throw in some extra gesture shortcuts. Gesture UI is a combination hardware-software prototype that the Japanese carrier is showing at this year’s CEATEC showcase in Japan. Consisting of a trio of grip sensors located along the two edges and across the back of the prototype phone, these can each detect up to five levels of pressure from your hand, as well as detecting how you’re holding the device.

This data is then channeled into the user interface, which allows the user to customize what the device does under certain conditions. We saw demonstrations of grip “shortcuts” to send you back to the homescreen, while holding certain portions of the sides would launched pre-assigned apps — pinching at the top of this device launched the internet browser. Once inside the browser, the Grip UI also allows the user to transfer across to other programs without returning to the aforementioned homescreen, using a combination of gripping and swiping across the display. We get a handle on the prototype UI inside DoCoMo’s imaginary train right after the break.

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo Grip UI detects how you hold your device, makes big phones friendly for tiny hands (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

NTT DoCoMo Grip UI detects how you hold your device, makes big phones friendly for tiny hands (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

Sometimes, here at alt.engadget.com, we’re literally on the bleeding edge of technology. We get to explore concepts and ideas that are almost nebular in nature. Not this week though, where there’s a distinct utilitarian aroma in the air. The glittery overcoat of future science is replaced by the rolled-up sleeves of good old-fashioned engineering. A bit of sticky tape, a proof of concept omnidirectional bike and a hardware matrix wall. After all that, you’ll probably want a beer to wash it down with. Fortunately for you, it’s all here. This is alt-week.

Continue reading Alt-week 9.22.12: Quantum Scotch tape, moving walls and scientific beer

Filed under: Science, Internet, Alt

Alt-week 9.22.12: Quantum Scotch tape, moving walls and scientific beer originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments