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US rowers will get antimicrobial outfits to survive polluted Rio waters
The Rio Olympic and Paralympic games sound like more of a nightmare every day. After the National Institute of Health announced that they will study American athletes for probable Zika infection, textile engineers at Philadelphia University have made antimicrobial suits to protect US rowers from the sewage-filled water around the South American city. Unfortunately, they might not be a match for an environment with 1.7M times the level of viral presence considered "hazardous."
VR rowing turns a workout into a vacation
Playing VR games can be surprisingly good exercise -- ducking your head behind artificial barriers or waving your arms around to shoot enemy robots can work up a sweat. But what if you wanted a genuine workout? Well, VR fitness appears to be a rising trend, with several applications designed to alleviate the tedium of indoor gyms. Here at Computex, I tried out yet another VR fitness apparatus that had me rowing through a tropical oasis while burning calories at the same time.
Rowheel: the wheelchair you row to go
We like to joke about reinventing the wheel, but that's kind of what NASA engineer Salim Nasser has done -- he won a $20,000 innovation prize earlier this month for designing a wheelchair where the occupant can pull, thus avoiding repetitive stress injuries associated with pushing by using the (typically) stronger biceps and upper back muscles. The prototype uses a planetary gear system to drive the specially-designed wheels, which Nasser claims can be easily attached to existing wheelchair frames. There's no telling whether it'll see the mass market, but we wouldn't be surprised given the simplicity of the design, unlike some of the robotic models we've seen. So... how's that for a new spin on things?
Finally, a Wii Sports Resort rowing exercise machine
Remember when you first played the Rowing event in Wii Sports Resort, and wished that there was some way you could simulate the tactile feedback associated with dragging a paddle through water? Peripheral manufacturer CTA Digital, which brought us the 8-in-1 Wii Sports Kit, the Wii Remote Dumbell Set and the 9-in-1 Wii Sports Kit, has created a device which fills your very specific need: The Wii Rowing machine, currently available on Amazon for $34.99. Check out a video demonstration of the peripheral after the jump. We know you're probably a little bit dubious, but what you don't know is that you can also use it to do sit-ups. It practically pays for itself, in the sense that having a tight, rippled abdomen counts as its own form of currency.
