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This hopping robot with flailing legs could explore asteroids in the future
SpaceHopper, as the robot is called, could provide us the information to know more about the history of the universe.
A nano-thin layer of gold could prevent fogged-up glasses
A gold nanocoating could prevent your glasses from fogging up.
Wearable arm muscles could help overcome upper body injuries
A new wearable arm exoskeleton could provide strength and endurance to people with upper body injuries.
Lightweight gloves help you touch virtual objects
One factor that prevents virtual reality from being truly immersive is the fact that you still can't feel what you see. A group of scientists from EPFL and ETH Zurich is trying to change that by creating a pair of high-tech gloves that "provides extremely realistic haptic feedback." According to the researchers, their creation, which they've named "DextrES," isn't like the other VR gloves also currently in development. First, it's lightweight and doesn't have a bulky exoskeleton or heavy components. It's made of nylon, is only 2 mm thick and weighs 8 grams per finger. Plus, it needs very little power that it could eventually run on a battery.
Apple hires Chrysler's quality lead to help make its electric car
Apple isn't done hiring top talent for its electric car project -- in fact, it just scored one of its biggest hires. The Wall Street Journal understands that 1 Infinite Loop recently recruited Doug Betts, the manager for Fiat Chrysler's global quality efforts from 2007 to 2014. It's not clear what role he'll take, but his former position suggests that he'll help Apple put everything together in a solid piece of machinery. Let's just hope that the result is more reliable than Chrysler and Fiat cars -- neither brand has performed well in recent dependability rankings.
Swiss researchers created a cube that can sit, jump and walk (video)
Swiss researchers have created a metallic cube that can "walk" across a surface. Staff at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich crammed a series of inertia sensors and constantly-spinning rotors (called reaction wheels) into a 15-centimeter cube, dubbed Cubli, that enable the contraption to move around on its own. When one or more of the weighted rotors abruptly stops spinning, the machine sort of jumps on its edge -- all thanks to centrifugal force. Once upended, the rotors act like a gyroscope to maintain Cubli's position. Halt another wheel and things get really crazy: the device defies gravity, tipping up and balancing on one of its eight corners. By repeating these motions in succession, the gizmo uses a series of controlled falls to slowly hop across a surface. In terms of practical applications, the Swiss researchers said this tech could aid in remote planetary exploration, possibly giving the Curiosity rover and its ilk some company. All noble goals, but for now the lab says that Cubli is just a high-tech toy. And that? That's perfectly fine.
50 quadrocopters take to Austria's skies for synchronized swarm (video)
If AscTec's Hummingbird quadrocopters continue to fly around in your nightmares, you might not want to watch their latest video -- even if they resemble hypnotic robot fireworks. Ars Electronica Futurelab and Ascending Technologies teamed up for this latest show, programming 50 LED-equipped quadrocopters to frolic over the Danube last week. Watch them dance after the break.
Quadrocopters don creepy eyes, build synthetic Christmas tree of envy (video)
First we let them play music, then they started juggling. Now quadrocopters are feeling emotions as well; namely, jealousy. One of Flying Machine Arena's dainty quadrocopters, nicknamed Juliet, was compelled to build its own synthetic Christmas tree after spying an authentic fir through a glass window. Sure, stacked bricks of festive foam seem innocent enough, but look into those ping-pong ball eyes and tell us you aren't a little worried that next year's "war on Christmas" will be the machine's war on humans. Fly past the break to see Juliet's envious construction project for yourself.
Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)
You've seen one quadrocopter juggle a ball autonomously while gliding through the air, but how's about a pair of them working cooperatively? Yeah, we've got your attention now. The Zurich-based lab that brought us the piano-playing and ball-bouncing quadrocopter is back with a simply breathtaking display of robotic dexterity and teamwork. Like all mad scientists, they call their Flying Machine Arena research "an experiment," though we see it a lot more as a Pong-inspired dance of our future overlords. We all know how far video games have come since two paddles batted a ball between one another, right?
Quadrocopter plays the piano, wishes us a happy and complacent holiday (video)
Our worst frienemies, the quadrocopters, have decided to act cute for the holidays and play us a merry little jingle. Yes, the guys and gals behind the Flying Machine Arena have put together an airborne robot sophisticated enough to lay down a few seasonal notes on a Yamaha electronic keyboard. And we're still sitting around debating inconsequential topics like net neutrality -- all of human civilization is at stake here, people! Be a good citizen and watch the video after the break to scout out any weak points to this most imminent threat to humanity's survival.
Quadrocopters enter the Flying Machine Arena, must bounce a ping-pong ball to survive (video)
We don't need another hero. We don't need to know the way home. All we want is life beyond the Flying Machine Arena, a test ground at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) where quadrocopters can learn new abilities and stretch their fan blades without injuring too many scientists. One such new ability is juggling balls -- well, one ball, anyway. This particular quadrocopter has learned to identify a ping-pong ball and is quite adept at keeping it in the air while the robot itself stays flying. Interestingly the last project we heard about from ETH also involved table tennis, so hopefully the next one involves a full-scale humanoid player that won't stop hunting until it has crushed every opponent.
Exclusive Rift reveal: The Kelari race!
As Rift: Planes of Telara marches closer and closer to that glorious day when demons will invade our world, we've been eagerly soaking up Trion Worlds' gradual reveal of the races, classes and features of this promising title. Today we're pleased to announce Rift's sixth race, the Kelari! If the thought of edgy rebel elves who channel magic into machines makes your ears perk up, then you're going to love the Kelari. They're not just the stereotypical "dark elves" that many fantasy games boast, but instead they carry with them the same genre-twist that Rift is becoming known for creating. Read on for Trion Worlds' official background description of the race, as well as a few new gorgeous screenshots in our gallery.
Getting down to earth with Stonefield in Rift: Planes of Telara
The team at Trion Worlds has been stepping up its game of late with Rift: Planes of Telara, showing off more and more of the gameplay and zones. The preview of the Fire Rift was appropriately dynamic, but with the most recent preview at Rift Nexus, the game shows off a more grounded region in Stonefield. An early zone for the Defiant faction, the area features battles against both titans and undead for low-level characters on their way through the leveling process. The ancient Eth were responsible for bringing the titans to the land, using them as guards for the precious mines of the area... until the titans raised an army and engaged in a brutal war against their would-be masters. Now the titans are imprisoned within the earth, but their influence still spreads throughout the zone. It's quite possible they're behind the undead that are slowly spreading from Granite Falls, something players will have to investigate for themselves. The description alone doesn't do the zone justice, however, so click past the break for an embedded flythrough of the region. Rift: Planes of Telara doesn't yet have a solid release date, but it's shaping up nicely, especially if it continues to build upon such a solid foundation.
E3 2010: Hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara
We've had our eye on Rift: Planes of Telara for some time now, especially after getting a little face time with the game back in April. Fortune smiles upon us all once more as Trion Worlds made the trek to E3 to showcase this gorgeous fantasy title. Shouldering our way to the front of the line -- hey, hey, I'm reporting here! -- we took the wheel of an interactive demo while the developers were kind enough to answer a few questions about Rift. Your very first decision in game will be to choose a faction: the Guardians or the Defiant. Both are tasked with saving a world under attack, although they each have their own approach and butt heads against the other in the process. The Guardians are blessed by the gods and are chosen to be their holy knights, while the Defiant take the anti-hero route and rely on their own technology to wage this war. The Defiant had created vast cities in the desert using their magical tech, but they were infiltrated by dragons and saw their great achievements wiped away, reducing them to desert wanderers. There are races unique to each faction, as well as races shared by both. We learned that the Defiant have access to both the Eth (human) and Bahmi (human/elemental) races.
Cheap sensors could enable next-gen mo-cap games
Now that the Wii's thoroughly indoctrinated everyone and their mothers (and grandmothers) into the joy of motion-sensitive gaming, it's only natural to ask what's next -- and a system of cheap accelerometers, gyroscopes, and ultrasonic sound emitters developed by a team at in Switzerland could provide some answers. The sensors are linked up and used like a rudimentary motion-capture suit -- only instead of needing a controlled environment and special cameras, microphones worn on the torso pick up beeps from the emitters to locate your limbs as you flail about. The system is flexible enough to be used during active sports like skiing or bicycling for more accurate motion capture or just to control video games, since no silly ping-pong ball suit is required. The team says the $3000 system is built from off the shelf parts, yet compares favorably to commercial mo-cap systems costing tens of thousands more -- and what's more, they expect the price to fall to "hundreds of dollars" soon. Excellent -- we were thinking it was about time to do some real damage in Wii Boxing. Check a vid of the system in action after the break.
