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Articles archive for Year 2010

Gadgets| Tech»

Noteput – an interactive music table with tangible notes

By Damir Beciri
17 February 2010
noteput-1Although 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… »

Tech»

New nanoscopic material enables adults to regenerate cartilage

By Damir Beciri
9 Comments15 February 2010
knee-cartilage_0Amateur 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 cartilage… »

Bionics| Robotics»

Biomimicry of fish lateral line for future robots and submarines

By Rob Aid
14 February 2010
fish-neuromastThe 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… »

Robotics»

SAUVIM robot completed its first fully autonomous mission

By Damir Beciri
One Comment13 February 2010
sauvim-1The 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… »

Tech»

NOMFET – an organic transistor that mimics a brain synapse

By Damir Beciri
3 Comments12 February 2010
digital-brainScientists 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… »

Architecture| Tech»

Green architecture – Bardessono luxury resort in Napa, CA

By Damir Beciri
11 February 2010
bardessono-3Bardessono, 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… »

Robotics»

Homemade robot Loki is a hobby project of one man

By Damir Beciri
2 Comments9 February 2010
loki-robotMost 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… »

Gadgets»

InFocus releases wireless projector adapter for PC and Mac

By Damir Beciri
3 Comments8 February 2010
infocus-displaylink-wireless-systemInFocus 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… »