Tag: walking
VIDEO: Circulafloor – intelligent floor for virtual reality use
Circulafloor is a set of four tiles that can intelligently position themselves so that you never fall off, but remain in one place. It’s an interesting idea, and not one that hasn’t come up before, though this one seems to have a long way to go before it’s ready for production.
Looks like you’ve got to walk really rather slowly for starters, and I wouldn’t trust it if I saw the thing first. You never know, though, if this ends up a little more practical, with more tiles, it could be a winner.
(via Dvice)
Apple releases iPhone firmware 2.2: better maps, Mail, Safari, podcasts, call quality
I realise that this is fairly irrelevant news if you don’t own an iPhone, but for die-hard Apple handset fans, the big news of the day is that firmware version 2.2 is finally here and ready to download.
As usual, it’s a fairly hefty download, so beef up your broadband connection for the 246MB ride.
Once done, you’ll get some nifty new features. How useful they are depends on how you use the iPhone, of course…
Honda Asimo in "actually has real life applications" shocker
The morality if capitalism is a complex business. On the one hand it turns millions of poor people into what is essentially slave labour, but on the other hand it lifts millions of others out of poverty and into an unsustainable consumer lifestyle like we enjoy in the rich countries. Honda, the Japanese car maker, is trying its best to make this an even cloudier moral minefield by despite being an evil polluting car maker, inventing cool technology that could help the disabled to walk.
Robots walking faster and learning from their mistakes – but still rubbish
The disappointingly slow development of decent robots continues disappointingly slowly, with RunBot – the latest little robot that's barely able able to walk on two feet and learn from its mistakes. It takes the thing four attempts to learn how to walk up a really small hill. And it appears to be held up with wires.
Basically, robots are rubbish.
Dexter and Monty are Anybots: Dynamically balancing walking humanoid robots
Trevor Blackwell and team have developed the Anybot, which they claim is the first dynamically balancing walking humanoid robot. Whether it's the first or not is up for debate, but it's a great concept. Dexter has two legs, stands 5'10"…
