- Alt-week 11.17.12: freestyle brain scans, hovering moon base and robot dolphin replacements
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.
This week we’re all over the place. Sorry about that, but it’s all for the greater good. We start things off right down at the quantum level, then head to the oceans, before a quick jaunt into space before landing back deep inside your mind. All in the name of science, of course. Science and hip-hop that is. This is alt-week.
Alt-week 11.17.12: freestyle brain scans, hovering moon base and robot dolphin replacements originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Nov 2012 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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- Green Throttle Games Atlas and Arena hands-on (video)
Amid Nintendo’s latest piece of kit and the buzz for the next generation of home consoles, a quiet voice is whispering in the consumer’s ear: Android, it says. Between dual-analog gamepads, crowd funded hardware and hardcore gaming tablets, Google’s mobile OS is gaining ground among gamers. It certainly has Guitar Hero co-creator Charles Huang’s attention — he’s teamed up with Matt Crowley and Karl Townsend (who both had a hand in building various Palm devices) to create Green Throttle Games, an outfit that joins the ever-growing legion of firms out to convert your Android device into a full fledged gaming console. How’s it work? We dropped by their Santa Clara offices to find out.
Gallery: Green Throttle Gaming hands-on
Continue reading Green Throttle Games Atlas and Arena hands-on (video)
Green Throttle Games Atlas and Arena hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Nov 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- iRobot’s DARPA-funded mechanical hand can take a beating, lift 50 pounds
Most companies might think twice about inflicting blunt force trauma upon their carefully crafted prototypes, but most companies just don’t love baseball the way iRobot does. While developing a mechanical hand for DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation program, iRobot took a metal baseball bat to its three-fingered prototype. No need to cringe, though — the artificial appendage came away virtually unscathed. The hand’s durability comes from its flexible feelers, fingers molded from soft polymers with embedded tactile sensors. Rather than bending at metallic joints, these digits are pulled tight by inexpensive cables made from fishing line — not only can they take a beating, but should one snap, they’re easy to replace. The soft fingers can pick up small objects, such as keys or credit cards and can hold about 50 pounds before slipping up. The hand’s current iteration is in use on a DARPA test robot, but you can see the prototype take its licks in the video after the break.
Continue reading iRobot’s DARPA-funded mechanical hand can take a beating, lift 50 pounds
Filed under: Robots
iRobot’s DARPA-funded mechanical hand can take a beating, lift 50 pounds originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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