It makes sense that the superheroes (and supervillains) with the best toys also happen to have access to billions of dollars to fund their exploits. The fact of the matter is, you’re probably never going to own a life-size flying Iron Man suit. And instead of sulking about it, you should be happy that this 19-inch tall remote control alternative is just seventy bucks, instead of seventy million.
     |
A dog is more or less as healthy (or unhealthy, depending on how you look at it) as its master. Don’t believe me? Take a closer look at your friend’s pooch the next time you drop by his or her place and observe closely. This is of course a generalization, and not a hard and fast rule by any means. Having said that, bringing your dog on its daily walk is essential to its well being, mentally and physically. What happens when you end up being too tired to do so, or you have just lost interest for that particular day? Well, a couple of scientists at Auburn University claim to have developed a remote control solution to walk your dog. Jeff Miller and David Bevly are part of the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, have developed this system that relies on a wearable doggie suit which will be equipped with a microprocessor, wireless radio, and GPS receiver.
The dog will first need to be trained to respond to commands which comprise of different vibrations and tones which will be emitted via the suit over a remote control (which is similar to a smartphone). The two researchers tout an obedience success rate of over 98%, which sounds rather nuts. Could this be ideal to help other specially trained dogs to locate missing persons, search for disaster victims, and uncover contraband? One thing’s for sure, it does carry a degree of risk of your pooch not responding to any of the commands you dish out remotely and make a dash for that rabbit across the road due to its overwhelming instinct. Then, you won’t be physically around to hold back its leash, which would be unfortunate.
Remotely Walk Your Dog original content from Ubergizmo. 
| |
Have you ever wanted ride shotgun in a robotic car as it drives around your neighborhood? Sure, autonomous cars are still very expensive, but how about miniature version? I bet you hadn’t though of that, but a couple of engineers came up with this scaled-down version of Google’s driverless car.
The RoboTech SuperCar is a toy car kit, powered by an Arduino controller. It has RGB LED headlights and tail lights, an ultrasonic sensor, and a 24-pin RC bus that can interface with its microcontroller. The car can operate in several modes, including full RC, computer-assisted RC, or fully-autonomous driving.
The benefit is that it’s low cost compared to a full-size autonomous car, and I’m sure that you can have your own robotic invasion fleet ready soon. It’s definitely something quite ingenious to have around if you want to spy on your neighbors.
[via MAKE]
It’s not often that you hear about a device – what’s essentially a high-powered toy – breaking records flying across international waters. That’s what’s happened this week, though, as Parrot engineers have successfully programmed their AR.Drone 2.0 to fly across the Bosphorus Straight in Turkey – that’s more than a kilometer – with a single […]
While it might seem a little absurd to fly the mobile device-friendly AR.Drone 2.0 with more propellers then it already has – have no fear – the “Power Edition” of the device delivers said extras as replacements for customization only. This reboot of the rather popular AR.Drone 2.0 works with the same base device as […]
As odd app-controlled gadgets went, the Sphero robotic ball was probably 2011′s most unusual, and now the company is back with Sphero 2.0, the next-gen version. Still a robo-ball that you can navigate via your smartphone or tablet, Sphero 2.0 boosts the speed – now up to 7 feet per second – and adds multicolor […]
This Doctor Who series Blu-Ray set not only comes with all of the episodes from series 1 through 7, it also comes with a remote control that looks like the sonic screwdriver. Shut up and take my money.
This is the first time that BBC Home Entertainment has created a Blu-ray box set that includes all seven new Doctor Who series, by the way. You get Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith. But the best part is the Sonic Screwdriver!
The gift set can be pre-ordered on Amazon and will ship on November 5, 2013, just in time for the holidays. The price for the set is $314.95(USD) Set aside a few days to marathon the whole thing.
I’m a huge fan of Sci-Fi, all the futuristic gizmos and gadgets get me dreaming about what life could be like one day. I’m especially drawn to movies with all that nifty gesture controlled tech stuff. (think Minority Report and Iron Man) I was pretty excited about Microsoft’s Kinect, but it wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned 10 years ago and I’m still waiting to be impressed. My time may have come…
Check out the MYO Armband, making the science fiction of your dreams a reality, this device is the real deal in gesture driven computer control. The MYO Armband is worn on your forearm and works by picking up electrical activities in your muscles (the ones that work your fingers and wrist) as they make gestures, translating that movement into computer commands.How cool is that?
The most outstanding difference between the MYO Armband and Kinect or Leap motion controller is that instead of waving and jumping around with exaggerated movements in order to be picked up, the MYO Armband can also detect very fine movements, like that of a surgeon, and even the simplest and most subtle finger movement can be read just as easily as a sweeping hand gesture.
Right now, MYO is working as a substitute for existing controllers for some games and devices like Sphero and a remote controlled helicopter drone. It can turn up the volume for you, control some gaming weapons, but thats just the baby steps, developers are looking to release an open source API soon, allowing millions of developers to come up with uses for MYO in conjunction with iPhone and iPad. This technology is going somewhere. Keep an eye on it, and if you want to be part of the fun, you can pre-order your MYO Armband from thalmic.com for under 150 bucks, or at least go check out the video…
[ MYO Armband – Control with the Snap of a Finger copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Philips has been making multi-colored lighting for some time, but even so the hue system came as a surprise last year. ZigBee-enabled wireless LED bulbs, remotely controlled by an open mobile app, and promising the sort of smart home functionality that would once have demanded many thousands for installation, hue quickly sold out in stores […]
While not as popular as cars, monster trucks, or even planes, remote control tanks have become surprisingly complex and capable over the years, even to the point of actually firing plastic pellets. The No Network tank, however, doesn’t fire at targets you can see. Instead, it’s equipped with a wireless jammer that blocks cellular signals in a 20 to 50 foot radius around the tank, making it decidedly more dangerous… at least if you’re waiting for an important call.
| |
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
