Collaborate Disseminate
Most powered wheelchairs have at least two problems: they can’t climb stairs, and the user has to remain in a single seated position. An experimental new robotic wheelchair, however, addresses both shortcomings.Continue ReadingCategory: Good Thinking, … Continue reading Special wheelchair gets users standing and climbing stairs
If a robot is trying to traverse rugged, irregular terrain, it’s limited by having just one body shape. The Tetraflex robot was designed with this fact in mind, as it can change shape to adopt different modes of locomotion.Continue ReadingCategory: Rob… Continue reading Versatile Tetraflex robot changes shape to move in different manners
If you’re trying to distribute environmental sensors over a wide area by dropping them from a drone, you definitely don’t want them all landing in the same place. In order to keep that from happening, University of Washington scientists have created ti… Continue reading Leaf-inspired origami “microfliers” change shape to change flight
As much as a robot might excel at a certain mode of transport, as soon as conditions change it can become hopeless. Now engineers at Caltech have designed a new robot that can roll around on four wheels, flip them into rotors to fly, or transform for s… Continue reading Transforming robot drives, flies, crawls, stands, tiptoes and tumbles
It’s certainly not uncommon for backpackers to carry a rain poncho, hammock, shelter and groundsheet. The Nomad Cape is aimed at lightening their load, by combining all four pieces of gear in one unit.Continue ReadingCategory: Outdoors, LifestyleTags: … Continue reading Nomad Cape combines four trekking functions in a single system
Both multicopter and fixed-wing drones use up a lot of battery power when fighting the wind. The Morpho VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) drone addresses this problem with morphing wings that adapt to lessen its wind resistance. In fact, they can eve… Continue reading Wind-cheating Morpho combines qualities of copters and fixed-wing drones
If you do a lot of cycling, you may wish to park your bike horizontally on the floor, store it vertically against the wall, or work on it using a repair stand. Well, the Rak One is a single device that serves all three purposes.Continue ReadingCategory… Continue reading Rak One serves as a bicycle floor stand, wall mount and repair stand
Effectively, these bots are built in segments, and each segment has its own multicopter propulsion unit, capable of vectoring thrust in any direction thanks to multi-axis gimbal systems. The segments are joined together, but capable of articulating in … Continue reading Multi-segment shapeshifter drones: The precursors to flying squid-bots
If you’re going on a self-propelled river journey, is it really self-propelled if someone drives you back to the start when you’re done? Perhaps not – and that’s part of the reason British entrepreneur Ben Kilner created a convertible paddleboard/bike-… Continue reading Amphibious Duckleberry Finn combines pedaled paddle board and bike/trailer
Stand-up paddle boards certainly can be fun, but kayaks are generally a faster, more efficient means of getting around. Watercraft company Bote has now combined the best features of both, in its redesigned Rackham Aero paddle board.Continue ReadingCate… Continue reading Rackham Aero SUP can be converted to a pedalled or paddled kayak