Jan 21
Google Glass sure has its fair share of dumb applications
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Nov 12
Drones may sometimes get a bad press as killing machines, but here’s one that could actually save your life. Put together by researchers in Iran, this autonomous flying machine is designed to help people who are drowning at sea.
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Oct 29
Air Rope Inflatable Tunnel: An Alternative Way to Get out of Sticky Situations
Posted in: Today's ChiliThere are a lot of emergency situations that call for the use of rope. Unfortunately, rope pulley systems aren’t the safest way to go sometimes due to external conditions. Like, say, when there are floods or overflowing rivers and people are trapped on one end. No doubt you’ve seen similar scenarios in movies where the hero clings to the rope and pulls himself to safety on the other side. But regular folks might lose their grip and be swept away by the current.
As an alternative to this, the Air Rope came to be.
It’s essentially an inflatable tunnel that functions as a rope in the sense that it will help you get across certain obstacles without relying so much on your arms. Emergency response people could set up and inflate the tunnel within minutes and have people cross the river by crawling through it instead of using the rope system.
Air Rope is a rescue system that takes the form of an inflated tunnel. It can be used as a thoroughfare across a river when secured to the ground and a tree at each end. A motor and propeller create a powerful flow of air. The air nozzle has a screw-in profile to prevent air leakage. Aluminium alloy, which is light and strong, is used for the metal components.
Air Rope was designed by Lee Jee Won, Lee Juan, and Lee Yong Ho and is a 2013 Red Dot Design Concept Award winner.
Oct 25
In grade school we were all taught to get as low to the ground as possible during a fire, to avoid excessive smoke inhalation. But a fire can also quickly create a dangerous mix of toxic gases hindering a safe escape. A fire fighter’s mask and oxygen tank provides a constant supply of fresh air, and that’s what the 5aver promises on a smaller scale giving someone five minutes to escape a burning building.
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Sep 04
Whistles can come in handy during emergencies and natural disasters. They’re especially useful in catching the attention of rescuers who might not be able to see survivors clearly because of the conditions. Unfortunately, not everyone walks around carrying a whistle in their pocket or wearing one around their neck.
The redesigned whistle by Park On-hee, Kim Myeoung-soo, and Jang Young-seo aim to address these problems. Aptly called WHISTLE, it’s a round, ball-shaped whistle that can easily roll into cracks and crevices to reach survivors who might be trapped under rubble.
They’re glow-in-the-dark, so they can easily be spotted by the people who need them – assuming they know what they are.
It is proposed that whistles like these could be dropped or thrown en masse into areas where people might be trapped. It’s definitely a good idea, and we’re not the only ones who think so, as WHISTLE is also a 2013 IDEA Awards entry.
[via Yanko Design]
Aug 02
Last night, two F-16 fighter jets collided during a training mission off the coast of Chincoteague, Virginia. One pilot had to eject into the sea at about 10:30PM. Here’s the captivating raw footage the Coast Guard pulling him out of the water to safety.
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May 25
We joke that most people don’t like QR codes, but those codes link to a lot of information through one snapshot — and Mercedes-Benz may just use that efficiency to save lives. The automaker is putting the symbols on vehicles so that emergency crews just need a phone camera scan for easy access to rescue sheets, which are schematics that show where to cut into a wrecked car when recovering trapped passengers. With such immediate knowledge, rescuers don’t have to wait for a model confirmation or else risk cutting wires and fuel lines. While we’ll initially see the QR codes only in Mercedes-Benz cars made this year and beyond (placed inside the fuel door and on the opposite side B-pillar), the company isn’t being selfish: it’s refusing to patent its method in the hope that every vehicle manufacturer will quickly embrace the technology.
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation
Via: Autoblog
Source: Mercedes-Benz
Mar 27
Looking for a lifeguard that won’t get all out of shape like David Hasselhoff? A research lab in Iran is working on one – a robotic lifeguard that can respond instantly to passengers and crew who fall from ships by flying to their rescue and dropping a life preserver to them.
The flying robot is called Pars and it is ship-based. The quadcopter can be alerted when someone falls overboard, or is pushed overboard. Once it’s launched, Pars scans the area around the boat with a thermal sensor and drops a life preserver to keep them afloat until crew members can get to them. Hopefully the Baywatch theme is playing while all of this is going on.
Right now, the prototype Pars drone can only hold one life preserver ring, but the goal is for the ‘bot to hold up to three, allowing it to respond to multiple people. It’s a great concept and if they can pull it off, this one could save many lives.
Think about how many cruise ships lately have had problems and you start to see how this could be a real winner.
[via Robots.Net via Geekosystem]
Nov 21
Instead of incorporating a useless pair of tiny scissors into a multi-tool, Leatherman has used a pair of industrial-looking snips as the base for its new Raptor tool. More »
Sep 25
Researchers at MIT have found yet another use for Microsoft’s Kinect sensor. They’ve stripped it down, tacked on a sophisticated laser rangefinder, added wireless functionality, and turned it into a wearable sensor that will automatically map the inside of a building as the wearer moves through it. More »
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