I’ve always wanted to integrate a touch pad into my clothing and thanks to Hannah Perner-Wilson (aka Plusea), that dream could become a reality. For those not familiar with Plusea, she’s all about wearable computing. Her latest work, the Knit Touchpad, is just like the touchpads we use on our notebooks, except this one is made of fabric.

It works with an anti-static glove that Plusea uses to scale the four corners of the fabric pad. Thanks to her intricate walkthrough at Instructables, this DIY yields a lot of potential for wearable touchpads in the future. I can’t wait to add one to my built-in keyboard pants.

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Check out Guilherme Martin’s first attempt at making a robot. He uses an Arduino and motor shield with one servo for steering and a standard DC motor for movement. It’s dubbed “baratinha” meaning “little cockroach” in Portuguese. Using two micro-switches as if they were antennae, baratinha is able to detect obstacles in its way.  It’s just like a real cockroach except it won’t eat your food or leave a foul odor in its wake.  I wonder if it’d survive an atomic blast?

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Apparently, NXT STEP blog reader DTAAX’s watch must have broke, which would explain why he designed this LEGO sundial. This DIY finds a new way to tell time the old way. It was built using the LEGO NTX platform (plus a PDA for trigonometric functions) using a slew of light and touch sensors, allowing the sundial to perform like any other sundial save that it’s powered by three motors.

After the LEGO set rotates for some time, Bluetooth communications are sent out which detail the exact magnetic point in which the maximum level of light had been seen. It is accurate within fifteen minutes of actual time, so don’t go using it for your next dentist appointment despite it having a better track record than traditional sundials. Unfortunately, it will not fit in your LEGO backpack like a normal watch or clock would.

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Remember that fishy business about the potential for hackers to prematurely shut off a pacemaker via a wireless communicator? Since many people use pacemakers to keep their heart beating, scientists are taking this loophole extremely seriously and have raised a solution to the issue.

Proposed is a cloaking device, an external attachment that the pacemaker owner would wear, resembling a medical bracelet. The cloaking device would prevent any harmful form of remote access to the pacemaker, keeping the wearer safe from any malicious wireless attacks. The cloaking device would be removable just in case doctors need to modify the pacemaker as needed. Ain’t nobody shuttin’ my heart down, girlfriend!

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That Nintendo Wii sensor bar isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be. Alan Parekh explains it’s simplicity by exposing it’s composition of just a few IR LEDs. Then, he manages to turn an ordinary TV remote control into a working Wii sensor bar. All it requires is a few holes drilled in that old remote of yours. And if it turns out that the remote has some extra IR LEDs inside of it, then you’ve just saved yourself from making a trip to the store to get more.

For the finale, you just disconnect the existing battery connection to the remote control circuit and connect it to the LEDs you just mounted in the drilled holes. With that, you’ll have the most unique sensor bar around town, but you won’t be able to switch the TV to input.

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In The Matrix, robots are self-aware of their existence. This is a bad thing as it eventually leads to the enslavement of mankind. The idea of a human brain inside a robot is intriguing for anyone whose ever wanted to put their brain in a robot body to become an Adrian Barbobot. Scientists are getting closer to that vision, having equipped a small robot with rat neurons to control itself.

An interesting trait of the artificial brain is that it can get bored. If it doesn’t receive any information from the electrodes it’s connected to, the neurons will break the connections, likewise, when the neurons are stimulated, more connections are formed. The robot that was built runs on wheels with an ultrasound sensor enabling it to spot when it is approaching a wall and redirect itself accordingly. That’s great and all but could’t you just do that with an Arduino?

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We’ve seen artificial corneas that could replace damaged organic corneas, but how about a digital image sensor that adjusts itself like a human retina? That’s exactly what John Rogers at the University of Illinois is creating. An improved method of transferring silicon sensors onto a curved surface allowing for the sensor to capture wide-angle views with low distortion. Because it avoids using a conventional flat surface for image capturing, this digital retina is able to perform feats that ordinary cameras cannot. It’ll eventually lead to advancements in security surveillance and capturing wildlife footage.

Using conventional chip manufacturing technology, John Rogers and his colleagues have found a way to bend silicone without forming creases in it. The camera they built has only 256 pixels, making it a low-resolution camera, but they claim the same technique used to craft this camera could be used to craft a wide-angled megapixel camera.  The ladies dorm just got more accessible, Porky’s-style.

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This robot may not be well versed enough in sports to partake in Robot Soccer, but it’s certainly lazy enough to be a sports fan. With three different modes of control: universal remote, beacon navigation, and thermal sensor following, the RoboStool tries its best to find you, so it can take the weight off your feet or die trying.

Labeled as furniture on demand, the RoboStool was created by Norris Labs, which was kind enough to post schematics to build your very own RoboStool.  You could have it eerily stalk your guests, unwilling to let anyone take a seat without having a comfortable footrest, but you’ll probably turn it into something that can make drinks, like a robot bartender.

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Japanese mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo is experimenting with this mind boggling approach to mobile device control that’s sure to give anyone an eye headache worse than TV coming through your glasses. How does it work? Firstly, no hands are needed. Simply move your eyes up or down to raise volume, accordingly. To skip a track, look right twice. Currently, they only have this technology controlling a mobile music player by sensing the electric fields eyes make when they move. In the future, who knows what this form of control could be used for?

Listening to the latest and greatest Josh Groban hits? Turn that shit up. All it takes is looking up. Say there is a bird flying overhead and you just so happened to be listening to the loudest death metal, ever. You look up, the volume raises and you’re officially halfway to becoming Helen Keller. You’ll then be forced to listen to tunes with the Shake-Up headphones, which is more buzzing and vibrating than any Justice song you’ve ever heard.

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I manage to hurt myself multiple times throughout each given month, usually in places which are easy to fracture, such as the ankles or the wrists. Whether it’s due to clumsiness or completely accidental, the fact remains: I’m in pain. The good news is orthopedic firms are planning on using RFID implants to monitor a transplant’s performance while in use.

Orthopedic devices like a knee replacement must be calibrated to ensure correct functionality.  Surgeons need informational feedback when a patient returns for a follow-up after a procedure.  Sensors embedded in an implant could transmit that information to a computer allowing the surgeon to determine if the implant is performing to its full expectation.  Think of it as Scholastic’s Magical School Bus meets real life; identifying problems on the inside of the body while remaining outside of it.

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