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3D Printing system that can create forms without the hindrance of gravity

MATAERIAL

A 3D Printing system that can create forms without the hindrance of gravity - video embedded below:

A brand new method of additive manufacturing. This patent-pending method allows for creating 3D objects on any given working surface independently of its inclination and smoothness, and without a need of additional support structures. Conventional methods of additive manufacturing have been affected both by gravity and printing environment: creation of 3D objects on irregular, or non-horizontal surfaces has so far been treated as impossible . By using innovative extrusion technology we are now able to neutralize the effect of gravity during the course of the printing process. This method gives us a flexibility to create truly natural objects by making 3D curves instead of 2D layers. Unlike 2D layers that are ignorant to the structure of the object, the 3D curves can follow exact stress lines of a custom shape. Finally, our new out of the box printing method can help manufacture structures of almost any size and shape.

More at the project’s website here

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TOPS OF 2013: DIGITAL Web, Brands, Apps

Digital media had another banner year in 2013, and some of this year’s trends may provide some clues as to what may lay ahead next year. As more Web users shift to mobile and tablet screens, Web activity using computer browsers declined slightly among the top 10 websites. Online video viewing, however, continued to grow, and YouTube remained the top source for streaming, as 128 million Americans viewed video content on the site each month.

Smartphone penetration grew from 56 percent at the start of 2013 to nearly two-thirds (65%) of U.S. mobile subscribers by October 2013, and a majority of subscribers used Android (52%) or iOS (41%) smartphones. Along with growing ownership came increased activity using smartphone apps: Facebook remained the most-used smartphone app across Android and iOS handsets, with more than 103 million unique users each month. Among the top 10 apps, Instagram was up 66 percent in terms of unique users, making it the fastest growing app over the past year.

TOP 10 U.S. WEB BRANDS FOR 2013

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TOP 10 U.S. ONLINE VIDEO BRANDS OF 2013

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TOP SMARTPHONE APPS OF 2013

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Google’s SCHAFT Takes Home Gold in DARPA Robot Olympics

The DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials 2013 completed this weekend in Florida with 16 teams all vying for the top prize of $2 million dollars. 

According to DARPA, “The DRC is a competition of robot systems and software teams vying to develop robots capable of assisting humans in responding to natural and man-made disasters. Technologies resulting from the DRC will transform the field of robotics and catapult forward development of robots featuring task-level autonomy that can operate in the hazardous, degraded conditions common in disaster zones”.

All 16 robots were required to complete eight tasks as part of the challenge:

  • Task 1: Drive a Vehicle
  • Task 2: Walk on a mixed Terrain
  • Task 3: Climb a ladder
  • Task 4: Remove Debris
  • Task 5: Open and walk through doors
  • Task 6: Cut through a Wall
  • Task 7: Open a series of Valves
  • Task 8: Connect a Hose

Gizmodo reports that “with 27 out of a possible 32 points in eight challenges, SCHAFT pulled out a decisive victory”. 

SCHAFT is a 4ft 11 two-legged robot that was developed by a spin-off from the University of Tokyo’s Jouhou System Kougaku lab, which Google recently revealed it had acquired.

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Robotic Animals

Black Phoenix is a fictional military corporation that manufactures robots in a not-so-distant future. The idea is creating an album that would be full of designs that could represent a whole line of products from utility and semi-civilian drones to multi-purpose mobile weaponry systems and vehicles.

“Black Phoenix Project” is a collaboration with photographer Maria Skotnikova who is responsible for creating HDR Environment Maps that I used as lighting source as well as backplates. Visit Maria’s website here.

The images below represent “10 Days of Mech” session. The goal during this exercise was to create 1 mech design every day in 3d, from start to finish, without creating preliminary 2d sketches, during non-stop 10 days period. The first 8 designs followed this rule and the 9th design “Ambulance Mech” took 2 days as I wanted to show “an open cockpit” version of it, which took an extra day. So after the exercise was over I decided to make an extra design ( with another 2 days) as a bonus entry just to make it to “10” as a total number of robots.

Before starting this exercise I spent some R&D time establishing the overall workflow for speed-modeling and tried different techniques that enabled me to accelerate design process in 3d. The workflow included re-using premade kit-bash parts, graphics/decals, non-subdivision based concept modeling and image-based lighting for the final rendering. Click here to read more about the work-flow. Click here to visit the online-store where you can purchase original kit-bash sets that were used for the “Black Phoenix” Project designs.

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Remote-controlled drone dragonfly

BionicOpter 

Remote-controlled drone that flies and is in the form of a dragonfly - video embedded below:

With the BionicOpter, Festo has technically mastered the highly complex flight characteristics of the dragonfly. Just like its model in nature, this ultralight flying object can fly in all directions, hover in mid-air and glide without beating its wings.

More Here

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Robotic bionic suit, or exoskeleton

Ekso™ is a bionic suit, or exoskeleton, which enables individuals with lower extremity paralysis to stand up and walk over ground with a weight bearing, four point reciprocal gait. Walking is achieved by the user’s forward lateral weight shift to initiate a step. Battery-powered motors drive the legs and replace neuromuscular function.

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A Mind-Controlled Exoskeleton Will Kick Off the 2014 World Cup

A Mind-Controlled Exoskeleton Will Kick Off the 2014 World CupSEXPAND

It won’t be a superstar football player who takes the first kick of 2014’s Football World Cup in Brazil. Nope, instead, it will be a teenager, paralysed from the waist down, who will use the world’s most advanced mind-controlled exoskeleton to get things underway.

A small part of a large-scale international collaborative project called Walk Again, the exoskeleton technology in question supports the lower body, using brain activity to trigger movements in the suit. Brain waves are detected using electrodes on the scalp, beamed wirelessly to the exoskeleton, and processed into commands which produce movement.

That motion, however, will be complemented by feedback, to make the experience feel more natural. That means the suit will include sensors to monitor touch, temperature and forces on the suit, which will be fed back to the user via visual displays and vibrating motors. In theory, those same signals could be transmitted directly into the brain to allow the users to experience the suit as if it were part of them. But, one step at a time, right?

The wearer of the suit will be chosen from a small group which will be training in Brazil during the run-up to the World Cup. For now, they’re using virtual exoskeletons, but will be trying the real thing well ahead of the first kick. [Duke via New Scientist]

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Algorithms, Robots and the Future of Management

Over at the HBR Blog network Walter Frick has an interesting article/blog post entitled:

“Algorithms Won’t Replace Managers, But Will Change Everything About What They Do”

I recommend that you go and read the whole thing because I think that the potential disruption from robotics and improved artificial intelligence is huge.

Part of my response is:

I think that the interview that Walter has done isinteresting but I do not think that it addresses a key point which is that the fundamental nature

of management is changing anyway without these advances. Existing changes and disruptions that are enabling connections between people through social media and social business tools are re-ordering the way that work and strategy are carried out. On top of that the capacities we are giving to individuals and small networks mean that many things that required a large organisation to carry out 5 years ago no longer do so.

This means that the role of management is in part being devolved to the network and so existing concepts of the middle manager are already almost obsolete and therefore

to look at the future through a frame of disrupting that role is missing the point. 

The role of management is moving towards one of coach and facilitator rather than management and the more skills and capacities that individuals in the network gain, the harder that role will become and the lower the number of ” managers” required.

You can read the whole thing HERE

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