May

12

2008

(5) Comments

To the Bat Cycle!

07:25PM by Jim Frost

Ok, it’s not really a Bat Cycle in the Batman sense, but it’s certainly unusual.  This is the Uno, invented by Ben J. Poss Gulak.  It’s a gyrostabilized motorcycle with the wheels side-by-side.  It seems very much like the Segway, and it also operates by leaning, but there’s no question about which device is waaay cooler than the other.

Apr

27

2008

(2) Comments

A Skateboard With 14 Wheels

07:55PM by Jim Frost

I started skateboarding years and years ago and have watched the boards get bigger and bigger but, overall, the technology was pretty much the same.  Then I saw a Flowboard in a sporting goods store.

The Flowboard is unique to say the least: It has 14 wheels, 7 at each end.  The trucks are completely rigid.  Instead of pivoting against a spring or cushion as most skateboards do, the Flowboard puts a set of wheels along an rigid steel arc that is perhaps 60 degrees from perpendicular to the board.  This makes the each wheel have a slightly greater angle than the next as you move out from the center.  Instead of pushing against a spring to turn, then, you roll from one set of wheels to another.  The greater the tilt of the board, the greater the angle between the wheels and the sharper it turns.

Apr

7

2008

(1) Comments

Fun With Robots

09:16PM by Jim Frost

Back on the “cool robot” theme, here’s someone that did not consult with their legal department before reprogramming the factory robot.

My first thought was, “What could possibly go wrong?” I think I would have put a little more space between my head and the floor and walls....

Apr

2

2008

(3) Comments

Freaky Cool Robot Dog

11:16PM by Jim Frost

If you’re like me you’ve been disappointed by the large gulf between the fictional capabilities robots in books and movies and the stilted, boring robots of the real world.  I want Robby The Robot, but I get an robotic vacuum cleaner.  But things they are a changin’.

Check out this video of Boston Dynamics “Big Dog”, a robotic pack-dog.  Once you get past the buzzy sound of the two-stroke engine used to power it, it’s freaky how much like an animal it is.  The robot’s balance, even on ice!, is incredible.  I want one!

I bet it has a hard time picking itself up if it falls down but it is clear that robotic technology is finally getting to the point where it can do really cool things.  It’s not all smoke-and-mirrors either, the development is being done a couple of towns over from where I live, and one of my friends has seen them out playing with it in a parking lot.  He tells me it’s every bit as cool as the video.

I welcome our robotic overlords!