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Who wouldn’t want a self-balancing, motorized unicycle of their very own? Riding around on this unicycle means flaunting your unconventional nature, while being practical about how much dedication you have towards mastering single wheel locomotion.
You don’t have to work hard and practice in order to stay up, on this mechanical marvel created by MIT student Stephen Boyer you can just go, leaving your mind open to other activities, like juggling bowling pins, or calculating the proper speed and angle needed to survive jumping through a flaming hoop. Unicycle stocks are about to go through the roof!
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Shown above is the voice of an everyday hero from Juárez, a city suffering from violence propelled by the Mexican Drug War. From MIT’s Center for Civic Media, Crónicas de Héroes attempts to bring optimism to cities by sharing the stories of everyday people who do good. It’s a bit reminiscent of foursquare in it’s social capabilities, and is inspiring in its brilliance.
Link -via Boing Boing
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Engineers at MIT have been busy creating all sorts of solar powered fun, but their latest innovation promises to make the solar panel manufacturing process easier than ever before. They have discovered a process in which solar panels can be printed on an average sheet of paper, and what’s more this solar cell is foldable, bendable and manufactured with a simpler vapor deposition process, a process MIT brains claim most manufacturing facilities can handle with ease. Read more about this fascinating development over at PopSci,
Members of the MIT Media Lab have created a python script called Minecraft.print() which will allow players of Minecraft with access to a 3D printer the opportunity to print out their creations. And while the odds of an average person having access to a 3D printer are slim, this script is a step in the right direction when it comes to programs playing nicely with 3D printers. Check out a video of the printer in action over at Forbes Online.
Doctor Who apparently made a visit via his time machine/police call box to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Entering freshman paused in their moving procedures this morning to see a blue TARDIS atop a building on Mass Avenue. A close up showing the sign on the time machine can be seen at the Boston Globe. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Melanie McCue)
What do you get when you mix tiny remote-controlled helicopters, LEDs, and MIT Researchers?
Introducing Flyfire, an awesome project that aims to produce fully immersive and interactive environment. It’s sort of like being in a 3D monitor with the pixels actually flying around you:
In its first implementation, the Flyfire project sets out to explore the capabilities of this display system by using a large number of self-organizing micro helicopters. Each helicopter contains small LEDs and acts as a smart pixel. Through precisely controlled movements, the helicopters perform elaborate and synchronized motions and form an elastic display surface for any desired scenario.
With the self-stabilizing and precise controlling technology from the ARES Lab, the motion of the pixels is adaptable in real time. The Flyfire canvas can transform itself from one shape to another or morph a two-dimensional photographic image into an articulated shape. The pixels are physically engaged in transitioning images from one state to another, which allows the Flyfire canvas to demonstrate a spatially animated viewing experience.
Link | BuzzFeed has the video clip
"The odds are good, but the goods are odd" is the unofficial slogan of MIT. During finals time, however, it should also be noted that the goods are sometimes very, very stinky.
Apparently, the prestigious university’s student body has a little B.O. problem as students opt to spend their time studying rather than showering.
The situation has gotten so bad that the Student Senate is actually giving out soap and deodorant to try to solve the odor problem: Link (video clip)
May we suggest the bacon soap, guys?
Even the best-designed boat anchors are suboptimal in their holding power; when they drag across the floor of a lake or ocean they can do extensive damage to their surroundings. Now researchers at MIT have developed the prototype of an anchor that drills into the sediment using the same mechanism employed by a clam.
The clam first wiggles a fleshy foot into the sand below and pushes its shelled body upward. This creates a tiny pocket of space under the shell, which sucks in both water and sand. At the same time, it clamps shut its shell with a pronounced twitch that creates more slick slurry, while pumping blood into the extended foot.
The RoboClam prototype is powered by compressed air; production models will have internal power sources and will be able to “unset” themselves with minimal disruption of the seabed.
Link, and related video. Photo: RoboClam on the right, and a razor clam on the left. (Donna Coveney/MIT)
Comments Off Researchers at at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been working since the 1990s on helicopters that can navigate indoor spaces autonomously. This one won the 2009 AUVSI Aerial Robotics Competition. Laser scanners and cameras allow it to move through a building on its own. Potential applications include industrial inspection and disaster rescue in hazardous locations.
Contest Page via Popular Science
You know all about student pranks – greased pigs in the cafeteria, cows being led upstairs, all of that juvenile stuff. Maybe you’ve even heard about the more complicated college stunts – when M.I.T. students erected a police car on the top of the school’s Great Dome, for example. Its license plate number was pi. Anyway, here are a few lesser-known student stunts. If you’re, um, “inspired” by some of these, I claim no fault… but be sure to take pictures.
Caltech is M.I.T.’s biggest rival in pranks, despite being located at opposite ends of the country. They often take potshots at one another and are especially prone to pranks at football games. Although the Great Rose Bowl prank is pretty well known, another football stunt occurred when Caltech wasn’t even playing. During the 1964 Washington vs. Illinois Rose Bowl game, the audience of 100,000 was rather bored by a somewhat lackluster game. That is, until they looked up and realized that someone had changed the electronic scoreboard to make it appear as if Caltech was putting the hurt on M.I.T. It happened again in 1984 – although the teams were UCLA and Illinois (again), it appeared as if Caltech was stomping M.I.T., 31-9.
Developed by MITERS, a group at MIT who build things, this souped-up shopping cart can achieve speeds of up to 45 mph! I don’t know, it doesn’t look all that safe to me. Link
Gamers at MIT have built a self-contained life pod in which to play World of Warcraft. It features a built-in toilet, three days worth of food rations, fresh water, and a small cookstove. Thanks to these Prometheuses among us, it is no longer necessary to go outside or interact with people face-to-face. Truly, we live in an age of marvels.
Link via Geekologie
