CrashTestDummy
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NASA risks then saves lives of dummies in helicopters with external airbags
Airbags have evolved from being in cars to on cars, so it's only natural that airbags in aircraft should be making the trip outside. NASA's Subsonic Rotary Wing Project is attempting to make autorotation landings a little bit softer by slapping a pair of expandable kevlar cushions between the skids, and the first test was a success. The helo was dropped at a height of 35 feet, achieving a speed of 48 feet-per-second before unceremoniously hitting concrete. The helicopter and its simulant occupants were said to be largely undamaged, giving hope that such a system could reduce injuries -- if you're not traveling downward at more than 48 feet per second, anyway. Future tests are said to be coming in the next year and, if all goes well, we hope to be seeing these on real whirlybirds soon.
Video: Robots crash into dummies, identify human weaknesses
The IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation is kicking off today in Kobe Japan. In other words, the world's leading researchers in the field of robotics are gathered in a single location to plot our doom. Don't believe us? Just check out the video after the break. It's a research piece from the Germany Aerospace Center depicting experiments of robots crashing into human test dummies. They claim that the research explores human-robot accidents so that robots can be made safer. We're not so sure though, judging by the devious laughter heard after the first gruesome impact.
The Shaken Baby doll: funny, not funny ha ha
The absurdity of that photo is usurped only by the stupidity of those who think that shaking a baby is effective child rearing. Enter the re-purposed (and tricked out) $28,200 crash test dummy which the University of Oslo will use to better understand the trauma inflicted on an estimated 2,000 shaken babies each year in the US -- half of whom die, the other half suffering brain damage. If research is successful, the resulting forensic evidence will help prosecute those guilty of this senseless abuse while defending those wrongly accused. Fine, now could somebody please research the trauma inflicted on babies dressed like iPods? That can't be good.
