Green architecture – Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center

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Despite all the stories about the “greenest Olympic games” related to the XXI Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games 2010, we have to admit we like the implementation of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center (VCECE) expansion which was lead by Seattle based architecture firm LMN architects. During the Olympics the center will serve as the… »

Noteput – an interactive music table with tangible notes

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Although it isnt’t hard to teach a child to play some tune on the piano or strum the guitar, teaching classical music notation is a bit more difficult in most cases. The Noteput table concept from designers Jonas Heuer and Jürgen Graef attempts to make learning music theory fun, and also more effective, by making… »

New nanoscopic material enables adults to regenerate cartilage

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Amateur athletes, professional athletes and people whose joints have just worn out endure health problems, since humans are unable to regenerate cartilage once they are adults and often have to live with painful joints or osteoarthritis. Luckily, Northwestern University researchers are the first to design a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new… »

Biomimicry of fish lateral line for future robots and submarines

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The lateral line is a hydrodynamic imaging system found in fish and aquatic amphibians enables them to accomplish a variety of underwater activities such as localization of moving prey or predators, detection of stationary objects, schooling without colliding and social communication. It consists of numerous hair cell sensors called neuromasts which are distributed all over… »

SAUVIM robot completed its first fully autonomous mission

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The Autonomous Manipulation system, unlike teleoperated manipulation systems that are controlled by human operators with the aid of visual and other sensory feedback, must be capable of assessing a situation, including self-calibration based on sensory information, and executing or revising a course of manipulating action without continuous human intervention. Autonomous Systems Laboratory of the University… »

NOMFET – an organic transistor that mimics a brain synapse

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Scientists have great expectations that nanotechnologies will bring them closer to the goal of creating computer systems that can simulate and emulate the brain’s abilities for sensation, perception, action, interaction and cognition while rivaling its low power consumption and compact size. Nanotechnology researchers in France have developed a hybrid nanoparticle-organic transistor that can mimic the… »

Green architecture – Bardessono luxury resort in Napa, CA

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Bardessono, a 62-room boutique luxury inn and spa in Yountville, California, received the LEED Platinum certification. Destination design firm WATG provided complete architectural design services for the project. Bardessono, located on a 4.9-acre site in the heart of Napa Valley, was developed by Phil Sherburne, who also developed Willows Lodge in the Seattle area and Inn… »

Homemade robot Loki is a hobby project of one man

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Most of the robots we wrote about are made by corporations or research laboratories. In this article we’re going to write about a robot made by a single man. Loki, which takes its name from the Norse god of Mischief, is a robot build for hobby. It was made by software engineer David Shinsel, who… »

InFocus releases wireless projector adapter for PC and Mac

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InFocus Corporation announced an enhancement to its wireless solution that eliminates the need to have wired connections between laptops and selected InFocus projectors. Successfully launched in August 2009 with initial support for Windows OS platforms, the system is now made available for MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air platforms with audio support.
Based on wireless technology… »

Bioloid climbing robot finds its way up the climbing wall

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We already wrote about various humanoid robots capable to perform different tasks, and in this article we’re going to write about a humanoid robot which climbs up a wall with ledges. You might ask yourself what is it good for, but it (or its algorithms) could be useful for the exploring or rescuing robots in… »