The Hugvie robotic pillow allows people who are fr apart to feel like they are together (Click Image To Enlarge)
As more families rely on technology to provide methods of communication when separated, a roboticist in Japan is attempting to replicate the human connection lost in a long distance relationship.
Developed by Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, the “Hugvie” is a brightly-colored pillow in an extremely generic shape of a person. Within the large cushion, there is a pocket that’s designed to house a smartphone or regular cell phone during a call. According to Ishiguro, the Hugvie uses a micro-controller and two vibrating discs to “translate” the emotions of the caller’s voice into physical form. The two vibrators act in conjunction to replicate a human heartbeat. The speed as well as the intensity of the heartbeat is completely dependent on the volume and mood of the calle
The Hugvie robotic pillow works with your cellphone to produce a huggy-feelie sensation (Click Image To Enlarge)
The current iteration of the product is being targeted at seniors and children. For instance, a parent on an out-of-town business trip could speak to their child while the youngster was wrapped around the Hugvie. The elderly could use it when speaking to a distant family member or primary caregiver over the phone. Future iterations of the design may be specifically targeted to people in a long distance relationship.
When explaining a design that offers a higher level of interactivity, Ishiguro stated:
“We’d like to develop this into a robot with an internal frame. We could build in lots of vibrators and special sensors, so that when you hug it, the other person’s robot moves as well. So far, I don’t think there has been a really soft robot. If we make this one a bit more complex, we could create something that really feels like a person while you’re hugging it.”
The Hugvie costs approximately $60 and is currently on display at the Vstone Robot Center in Tokyo. Osaka University’s Professor Ishiguro is also responsible for the development of the Telenoid, a portable teleoperated android robot that simulates a physical presence for someone in another location. The built-in speakers within the Telenoid play the voice of the caller and the human-like face replicates the emotional state of the caller as the caller’s face is being watched through a webcam.
COMMENTARY: The first time that I saw the Hugvie robotic pillow I thought it was a bit creepy, but upon reflection, I think it's a fantastic novel idea that I think is going to catch on. It would be an ideal gift for couples and a neat way to pacify young children. Both would get a big charge out of feeling Hugvie do its vibration magic.
Courtesy of an article dated April 28, 2012 appearing inDigital Trends
A new app for Lego allows users to create stop-motion movies with DC superhero characters, edit them, and share them--all on an iPhone.
There are few things the Internet likes better than a Lego-based video. This has not gone unnoticed by the people at Lego, who have just released an app that lets users of all ages create mini movies based on the toy.
San Francisco-based agency Pereira & O’Dellworked with Lego to launch the DC Super Hero Movie Maker app, which is now available on iTunes. The app helps kids (and adult nerds) pretend to be Tim Burton and create stop-motion superhero movies on their iPhones.
"We wanted to create an unique experience that helps bridge the gap between the digital world and the physical world of Lego,"
The agency worked closely with the Lego Super Heroes brand team to develop the concept and design of the app and brought in Portland mobile development and design studio Uncorked to bring the idea to life.
The app turns your phone into a functional edit bay, where you can trim down scenes starring DC Universe Super Heroes, and add title cards and music. The odds are you’ll do a better job of it than Joel Schumacher did with Batman & Robin. And since you won’t be ashamed of the finished product, you can use the app’s easy sharing functionality to show it off.
COMMENTARY: The LEGO® Super Hero Movie Maker by The LEGO Group was released April 18, 2012 and is available for FREE downloading through iTunes. Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.
The LEGO DC Super Heroes Movie Maker iPhone app helps your child bring their LEGO DC Universe Super Heroes come to life.
LEGO DC Universe Super Heroes are sold separately (Click Image To Enlarge)
This fun, kid-friendly app brings the whole family together to create a LEGO stop motion movie on the iPhone. Simple tools and guides make it easy to shoot, edit, even score your movie with music. Add one of the customizable title cards and share it online and who knows, you may have the next summer blockbuster in your hands…literally!
LEGO DC Super Heroes Movie Maker App Features:
Add & delete frames to your movie
Choose from 5 different soundtracks
Add a color filter to the camera
Customize one of 11 different title LEGO Super Heroes cards
Save your movie to your camera roll then share with your friends
Click Images To Enlarge
I wasn't aware of this, but The LEGO Group has several other iPhone apps available through iTunes:
Life of George(Free) - The world’s first interactive game combining real LEGO bricks with apps for your iPhone/iPod Touch. Rating: 4.5 stars.
LEGO Photo (Free) - What would your child’s smile look like made of LEGO® bricks? Or your pet hamster? Capture your child’s moments of brilliance in LEGO bricks. Rating: 5 stars.
LEGO® DUPLO® Farm Friends (Free) - LEGO® DUPLO® is a new toy every day designed for boys and girls aged 2-5. Let your child explore the DUPLO farm through the Farm application – there is so much to explore from animal sounds to the big farm machines. Rating: 4 stars.
LEGO® Creationary (Free) - How quickly can you guess what’s being built from LEGO bricks? “Roll” the LEGO Dice to find out which of the 4 randomly selected categories you’ll guessing: nature, vehicles, buildings or things. The game starts building an object from that category out of LEGO bricks, and you have to guess which of the four possible answers is correct by tapping the illustration that you think matches what is being built. The faster you guess correctly, the more points you earn. The more you play, the more difficult the game becomes. Guess incorrectly and the game ends. The Creationary board game is an award-winning build-and-guess LEGO game that challenges the imagination, creativity, building and guessing skills of you, your family and friends with more than 300 bricks and accessories. With the LEGO Creationary app, you can guess what’s being built on iPad, iPhone & iTouch! Rating: 4 stars.
LEGO ® Minifigures Collector (Free) - How to play? Slide the LEGO (R) piece to get the minifigures parts rolling. Match all the 3 pieces of a LEGO Minifigure (head, torso and legs) and make it a part of your personal collection! Rating: 4+ stars.
Courtesy of an article dated April 21, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Create
According to the infographic, over 200,000 robotic dogs and 150,000 Pleo robotic dinosaurs exist, and many third-party apps have already enhanced their behaviors.
The RobotsAppStore has developed an infographic covering the market for robot applications. The infographic shows a number of apps already available at RobotsAppStore, which consumers will soon be able to purchase,” according to Elad Inbar, RobotsAppStore.com founder and CEO.
Inbar said.
“Robot-Apps, like feeding the family pet, folding your laundry and even converting robotic dogs into security devices are not science-fiction anymore. There is no doubt that robot-apps will be a strong, dynamically growing, and profitable market in the near future.”
The infographic also reveals that the RobotsAppStore is already working with several hundred robot-app developers from all around the world, according to a prepared statement from the company. And the visual tool indicates that there are many more potential developers out there, if you consider that 250,000 teenagers who built and programmed robots while competing in First LEGO League this year, as they are the developers and consumers of the future.
Considering the progress that's taken place over the past several years in hardware and software, we will probably see more and more useful, programmable robots coming to the market in the upcoming years, and a marketplace for robot-apps emerging to provide the functionality for these robots, the release noted.
COMMENTARY: I have been following robotic trends and tracking the robotics market for a couple of years now, and the production robotics sector is undergoing tremendous growth as manufacturer's seek ways to become more efficient and reduce their manufacturing costs. Likewise, the personal robotics sector, which consists of household robotic appliances and toys, is expected to experience significant growth over the next five years.
Two companies which I have covered in previous blog articles include Sifteo in a blog posts dated August 16, 2011 and March 21, 2011 and Modular Robotics in a blog post dated March 8, 2011. Both produce robotic toys or intelligent games that require specialized software programming and hardware. Sifteo sells separate software modules that allow their owners to play different games, and are now soliciting software programmers to design more game apps for them.
I have been saying to some of my VC friends that the next emerging market will be robotics, and a few VC firms have began to invest in robotic startups, but it did not occur to me until now that those robots, whether for production or personal use, require applications make them run, and as the number of robots increases, and robotics becomes mainstream, there will be an exponential need for robotic apps.
In blog post dated December 13, 2011, I pointed out the fragmented nature of the robotics market, highly specialized nature of robotics devices, and lack of a universal robotic interface and operating system. Most of the robotic app development is being done at the academic level, in colleges and universities like the MIT Media Lab, Carnegie Mellon, etc. The closest thing to a robotic operating system is Robot Operating system or ROS.
Since there no large scale universal standard operating system standards in the robotics market like there is in computers (Apple OSX, Microsoft Windows 7, Linux Open Platform, etc) and mobile devices (Google Android and Apple iOS), and until a standard wins and is universally adopted by the robotics industry, robotic app development will grow slowly, because limited programming resources have to be spread over numerous robotic devices, and at much higher costs.
The launch of RobotsAppStore.com is a great idea whose time has come, and proof positive that there is a need, although relatively small for the present time (see infographic), for an iTunes-like site where end-users can go to obtain robotic apps for their robotic devices. As far as I can tell, the Robots App Store sells mostly robotic toys like the popular NAO the Robot, Pleo the Dinosaur, Aibo the Robot Dog, Darwin the Robot, and iRobot the vacuum cleaner, to name a few. They do sell a few apps, but not many at the moment. They are presently taking new robotic app solicitations for beta-testing and consideration for future sale in the store, but are not selling any robotic apps at the present time. I am in the process of obtaining additional information about the Robots App Store for inclusion into this blog post at a later date.
Courtesy of an article dated December 22, 2011 appearing in Robotics Trends
Because you're never too young for the finer things in life.
When architect David Lamolla Kristiansen's first daughter was born, he vowed to dedicate his time to creating a special place "just for her" where "she could discover and develop without the direct intervention of her parents." The result, SmartPlayhouse, is a clutch of tres chic, modernist playhouses that are great for kids alright -- and even better for their design-obsessed parents.
Let's clarify: their rich design-obsessed parents. The playhouses shown here -- one's inspired by the famed Mikimoto building in Tokyo, by Toyo Ito, the other's a Mies van der Rohe-esque homage to mid-century modernism -- cost $3,400 and $12,000 respectively... starting! Extras like curtains, lighting, foundations, and even a door lock and key can tack on another $1,800. For that kind of money, you could buy your kid an entire neighborhood in Detroit.
COMMENTARY: SmartPlayhouse produces both indoor and outdoor playhouses. Some can be used both ways. All of them are made-to-order. These are tres chic playhouses, and are plenty expensive. Most of the models come in three different sizes: Mini, Junior and Maxi. These playhouses look like a lot of fun once outfitted with furniture, curtains, lights and fittings. I can see why young kids would go bonkers over thse playhouses. I have a feeling that after the Fast Company article and my blog post, SmartPlayhouse is gong to get a lot of website traffic and new orders. I can remember the days when you could actually buy a small house for about $12,000.
Courtesy of an article dated March 23, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
We speak with the artist about creating a years-in-the-making mechanical masterpiece.
The blogs have been buzzing about California artist Chris Burden's toy-car megalopolis project, Metropolis II, for ages. The latest news: A collector bought the installation for "millions" of dollars, but was gracious enough to donate it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for display over the next 10 years. (Whew!) But what does it take to design something like Metropolis II, and what does it all mean, anyway?
The first question is easy: It took Burden and his chief engineer Zak Cook four years of R&D and construction in Burden's studio to make Metropolis II. (Burden, a performance-art superstar who once had a friend shoot him in the arm in a gallery, is no stranger to following his artistic means to extreme ends.) Burden tells Co.Design that his inspiration for the project was "that we spent so much time and effort on R&D on the first one" -- a smaller toy-car city called Metropolis I that was sold to a museum in Japan, which exhibited it for six months and then mothballed it forever, like the final shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Whereas that version had "only" 80 toy cars whizzing around on single-lane highways, Metropolis II has 1,100 cars traveling on 18 roadways "including one six-laner," says Burden. "We wanted to expand it and make it truly overwhelming -- the noise and level of activity are both mesmerizing and anxiety provoking."
Burden doesn't have any particular interest in transportation or urban planning, he says, although he has used toys in his artworks since the 1970s. So what, then, is this hulking, cacophonous mini-city supposed to reflect? Burden says, referring to the idea of jumping into one's own car anytime and going wherever one pleases, how one pleases.
"Toys are interesting as objects -- they're the tools you use to inculcate children into adults. They're a reflection of society. It's modeling something that's on the twilight of extinction: the era of the 'free car'. Those days are numbered, but think it's a good thing. The upside is that cars can be faster and safer, and you don't have to worry about drunk drivers. Think about it: The cars in Metropolis II are going a scale speed of 230mph. That'd be great to do for real in L.A."
But while Metropolis II is an optimistic vision of the future of car culture, that's not to say that crack-ups don't happen. The exhibit, when running, requires two full-time attendants: one standing inside it monitoring flow like a panopticon, and another pacing around the 20-by-30-foot installation watching for traffic snarls. Burden says.
"I've seen spectacular pile-ups involving cars that spill off the road and derail trains. Every hour 100,000 cars circulate through the system, so you're going to get some glitches. It's not digitized."
Burden and Cook added some clever design solutions to control the traffic flow and minimize catastrophes. The subtlest, says Burden, are lane-dividing medians on the tiny roadways that taper to a point from the bottom to the top edge on straightaways, but remain fully vertical in curves. The reason: braking. When the cars enter a curve, the walls of the medians touch with rims of their wheels and the friction slows them down; when they come out of the curve, the tapered medians don't touch the wheel rims anymore, allowing the cars to pick up speed again on straightaways and keep the flow moving swiftly. When they reach the bottom, magnets in the track catch on and pull them back up a slope to the top like a roller coaster, where they are released once again to gravity's pull.
Burden also has Metropolis II's cars specially manufactured in China to his custom specifications -- unlike Metropolis I, which just used off-the-shelf Hot Wheels toys. "The original toy cars have very thin axles that wear out too fast," says Burden. Given thatMetropolis II is supposed to run three days a week for the next 10 years, how will it avoid the "wearing out" problem? Burden's no-nonsense answer: "We made a lot of cars." He says Metropolis II will go on exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art sometime this fall.
COMMENTARY: The kids would go crazy with Metropolis II, but if it were full-scale size in the Real World, would it be eco-friendly? That's a lot of gas fumes being emitted in such a confined space.
Courtesy of an article dated July 13, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design and an article dated July 13, 2011 appearing in DVICE
Toys "R" Us will soon be selling iPads alongside G.I. Joes, PlayStation games, and Legos. And did you know? One in five U.S. teens owns a tablet PC (which basically means an iPad). iPads: Apple's doin' it for the kids.
An attendee of a Toys "R" Us employee trainee session hasleaked out a photo of training materials that are being shared with staff so that they're equipped to answer questions about everything iPad-related. This is more or less proof-positive that Apple's wondertablet will soon be appearing at Toys "R" Us stores across the nation in addition to its availability online, in phone stores, Apple stores, and venues like Best Buy. It also hints that Apple is finally getting on top of its supply-chain shortages for the iPad 2--and that the Japanese earthquake hasn't affected supply too badly.
It makes tremendous sense for Apple to sell iPads alongside Barbies and board games. Toys "R" Us already sells computing devices like Playstations and Nintendo's DS games console range--the iPad is seeing increasing use as a powerful games console, so it basically fits right in. Plus there's this new data to think about from Piper Jaffray that quantifies how many souls across the U.S. have bought a tablet PC. In its survey of 4,500 school kids, the analyst firm discovered that 22% of teens have a tablet PC already, and 20% more plan to buy one inside the next six months. Since Apple's basically snagged the lion's share of the tablet market (actually more like two or three lions' shares, if sales data for the Motorola Xoom are anything to go by), this means around one in five U.S. teenagers already owns an iPad.
And we know what teenagers are like: While they struggle and fight with their parents about establishing their individuality, if there's a vogue among their pals for playing with iPads, then they'll all want one. And what parent wouldn't be tempted to buy one for their kids, half thinking about the "educational benefit," half thinking about using it themselves sometimes, and being prepared to hand out $3 to $5 dollars every now and again for a new game, compared to $20 to $60 for a PlayStation game?
Apple's savvy about getting 'em young--and hoping they'll be fans of Cupertino-made gear for life.
COMMENTARY: I am still concerned that kids will become too dependent on computers and tablets like the iPad to learn. This raises a lot of questions which some parents addressed previously.
Poorer families will be unable to afford an iPad, placing their children at distinct disadvantage versus children of more affluent parents.
Not all familes have homes equipped with WIFI.
What is the right age to introduce a young child to an iPad?
Will parents use the the iPad primarily for education or entertainment or both?
Will the iPad replace the TV as the children's "babysitter"?
How will the iPad affect a child's cognitive learning skills and ability to solve problems?
Will children become so attached to their iPad that their social development will suffer?
Will children use the iPad to surf the internet, and are their parental controls?
Will the iPad become a "crutch" for real book learning?
The above are serious concerns that several parents have voiced to me, and that Steve Jobs, in his ever ending quest to make the iPad the tablet of choice, may not have thought about.
As a parent, I would rather spend $500 on real textbooks that develops the "complete child" with the ability to think and solve problems. My main concern is that children will start using the iPad to play games, surf the internet and watch videos, while their real education suffers.
What do you think?
Courtesy of an article dated April 7, 2011 appearing in Fast Company
Gadi Amit, the designer who refined the MIT concept for market, on why his design team didn't bother with user-led research.
When Sifteo Cubes debuted officially at CES earlier this year, they sold out in hours -- not much of a surprise considering they’ve been hyped as a reinvention of the very notion of table-top gaming.
But the success of these bite-sized motion-sensing wireless computers -- think of them as a combination of building blocks and iPhones -- was hardly a lock and can be attributed in many ways to savvy design by the San Francisco-based consultancy New Deal Design.
New Deal took a pie-in-the-sky gaming concept famously dreamed up by a couple of grad students at the MIT Media Lab and transformed it into a cute, sleek, and at $149 MSRP (or $99 for joining an early discount program), inexpensive product geared toward older children and adults. In short, they created something people would actually want to throw into a shopping cart. And they did it without relying on the usual cacophony of user feedback. “A key issue for Sifteo was that this is not just a toy; it’s a new platform for computing,” New Deal’s Gadi Amit tells Co. “The task for us was to make it much more refined, to make it a true tactile object.”
It’s no small order. Sifteo Cubes are unlike anything else out there. The Cubes, which come in a series, communicate wirelessly with each other and a computer. You download a game or learning tool, and its course is determined by how you manipulate the cubes, whether you’re stacking them up to practice your spelling and math or jostling them to navigate a penguin through a treacherous world. Their genius is in externalizing the computer process -- in giving concrete form to a logic we all know but never see.
New Deal started out with basic usability issues. They added a push-button clickable display, which is more intuitive for today’s gamers (accustomed as they are to mouses) than a Cube that only responds to motion and tilting. They also built a charging dock that holds and juices six Cubes at a time. A notch on the bottom of the dock stores the USB dongle that allows Cubes to connect to the Internet, and a clear plastic cover turns the dock into a carrying case.
Because the Cubes are made to be handled, the way they feel in your grasp was a top priority. New Deal gave them a shiny plastic shell with rounded edges and made sure they had plenty of heft so that they feel substantial when you hold them -- more like a computer than a cheapie plastic toy. A lack of definition between the top and bottom faces frees users to exploit the technology’s numerous interactive possibilities. A tiny lip around the top of the Cube protects the screen without introducing any rough edges. The result, in Amit’s telling, is “like a cross between a Domino, a block, and a pebble” -- in other words, gamer gold.
New Deal also worked to make the Cubes as small as possible. “A very small change in dimensions is very significant in terms of perception of the object,” Amit says. “The difference between 40 millimeters and 42 millimeters square is perceived as a 10 to 20 percent change in volume. You feel it in your hand. … And stuffing a lot of computer into a tiny cube is not easy especially for a startup that doesn’t have the procuring prowess of, say, Apple.” New Deal got the dimensions down to 43 millimeters by 43 millimeters -- smaller than expected, Amit says.
As for the packaging: The designers wanted to appeal to a mature(ish) demographic, so they eschewed the explosion of color splayed on most toy boxes and opted for a simple pattern of shimmering Cubes to subtly convey the game’s interactive elements.
The most intriguing part of the story here is that New Deal didn’t bother with user-led research. They simply assumed they had made something people would love -- like some other companies you might’ve heard of. “With cutting-edge technology, people don’t know what to say or how to treat it,” Amit says. “Either they’re being polite or over the top with their reflections. Here, you have a totally new object. It doesn’t have clear cultural grounding. ...Our job was to create a classic with immediate acceptance.” And you can’t do that by going to Joe Public.
Cubes start shipping to "Early Access" members this month (more on that here) and will be available to the wider public later this year. Check back on Sifteo's website for updates.
COMMENTARY: Sifteo's Cubes' modular approach allows the Cubes to become an electronic table game with virtually endless possibilities. The software that comes with the kit, controls everything, sending wireless commands for each game to each Cube. It is a sort of wireless Sony Playstation console which allows you to select which game you want to play, then each Cube executes that game depending on the positioning of the Cubes on a table top. The sensing capability embedded into each Cube is what makes the whole thing work. I can definitely vision a series of Apple or Android apps running on tablets in the very near future. The design engineers at New Deal call Sifteo's Cubes a "a new platform for computing". A rather crude one at that. Whether this is true or not, these pupplies sure look like a lot of fun. No wonder they sold out at the Las Vegas CES show.
Back on March 8, 2011, I profiled Modular Robotics' Cubelets, a robotic modular toy kit. Cubelets do not rely on software to control the movement or logic of the cubes. Each Cubelet has its own logic board, embedded software, micro-motors and wheels that control the movement. With Cubelets, you can create toys that can think, sense and move, in an endless array of possibilities, depending on how the Cubelets are combined. The advantage of Cubelets is that the Cubelets are combined a certain way act autonomously like a robot, with each Cubelet communicating with each other and working without the need of external commands.
Either way, I like them both.
Courtesy of an article dated March 18, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
And they teach you the basics of programming while you're at it.
Everyone knows about those big brightly colored blocks that babies and toddlers play with. Well, those are sooooo 20th century. Now parents can give their little geniuses-to-be Cubelets: toy blocks that snap together with magnets and unlock interesting electronic powers, like sensors, motors, and data displays. Take that, Baby Einstein!
Cubelets are a spin-off project of Carnegie Mellon's Computational Design Lab, which developed them as "modules of a computational construction kit to scaffold learning math, science and control theory." Which is is a less-fun way of saying "blocks that let you build awesome robots and stuff."
The genius behind Cubelets lies in their flexibility: each block's function is extended and defined by the other blocks you magnetically attach to it. Snap a knob cube to a bar-graph cube, and boom, you've got a cool little light-toy. Even better: snap that to a motor cube with some wheels, and presto, instant robot. Using a kit of 20 blocks, you can build all kinds of funky little machines and doodads -- no instruction manual required.
That last part is what separates truly educational toys like Cubelets from tricked-up junk like Baby Einstein: kids learn by playing and exploring the design of the system on their own, not according to some adult's proscriptions. Do they need to know that Cubelets contain intense techno-stuff like actuators, logic boards, and photosensors? Nah. All they need to know is that when you snap 'em together, they seem to come alive -- in predictable, but surprising and complex, ways.
The electronic "brain" of a Cubelet.
If that sounds suspiciously like Computer Programming 101, that's because it is. But who says you need fancy programming languages to learn how to code? By making programming abstractions concrete and physical, Cubelets intuitively introduce kids to one of the most powerful creative tools that humans have ever invented.
The Cubelets will be available next month, and the set costs $300 here.
COMMENTARY: WOW! Robotic leggo's. The kids (and adults) will go crazy over Cubelets. I am predicting that Cublet's will become the hottest new toy to hit the market since Star Wars and Transformers.
Quick Overview
The standard kit of cubelets has 20 blocks and contains an assortment of sensor, action, and operator blocks. With it, you can experiment and create mobile robots and logic constructions.
Details
The cubelets standard kit comes with 20 magnetic blocks that can be snapped together to make an endless variety of robots with no programming and no wires. You can build robots that drive around on a tabletop, respond to light, sound, and temperature, and have surprisingly lifelike behavior. But instead of programming that behavior, you snap the cubelets together and watch the behavior emerge like with a flock of birds or a swarm of bees.
Each cubelet in the kit has different equipment on board and a different default behavior. There are Sense Blocks that act like our eyes and ears; they can sense light, temperature, and how far they are away from other objects. Just like with people, the senses are the inputs to the system.
On the flip side, the Action Blocks act as outputs. They do things. Some have little motors inside of them so that they can drive around or spin one of their faces. There are blocks that make noise, shine a flashlight, or display their information through a light-up bar graph.
Each cubelet has a tiny computer inside of it and is a robot in its own right. So when you put blocks together, you're actually making a robot out of several smaller robots. Each block communicates with its neighbors, so you know that if two blocks are next to each other, they're talking. If you make a simple robot by connecting a Light Sensor block to a Speaker block, they'll start to talk, and when the light in the room gets brighter, the Speaker will get louder. Actually, you'd need a third block to make this work: every robot needs a Battery block to run. Next, you could swap the Speaker for a Drive block, and when the light gets brighter, the robot will drive faster. A third category of blocks is the Think Blocks: maybe you’d want to put an Inverse block in between the Light Sensor and Drive blocks. Then, the robot would drive slower as the light gets brighter. This simple communication between adjacent blocks is what gives the kit a little bit of magic.
SILICONE rubber dolls which resemble Chinese film stars Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi are in hot demand. They provide “sex services” at RM10 per hour in China, Nanyang Siang Pau reported.
The silicone rubber dolls, similar to “blow-up dolls”, were also available in the likeness of Maggie Cheung, Bridget Lin and contestants of the popular Supergirls singing competition in China.
An undercoer reporter visited an entertainment outlet in Hu Lu Dao of Liaoning province was stunned to see the dolls in a room for him to choose from.
He hesitated but the boss then gave him a demonstration by fondling “Lin’s” breast and the doll replied “tao yan!” (hate it, in a coy tone).
Americans may have fallen out of love with President Barack Obama, but the president of the United States is still an object of affection for the Chinese, who have remodelled him as a blow-up sex doll.
The boss said the dolls, equipped with a computer-controlled voice system, would make different sounds according to the movements.
He said he planned to expand his business for women by providing Chow Yuen Fatt and Jackie Chan dolls due to the overwhelming response for these celebrity dolls.
The extra-marital affair of a contractor was exposed after he told pressmen the heroic act of him catching a robber in Johor Baru.
The 44-year-old Singaporean informed Sin Chew Daily on Tuesday that he was injured while fighting a robber, who tried to rob his “wife”.
After the news was published, a woman telephoned the daily claiming she was the wife of the contractor.
She said they have three children aged between seven and 21.
“Our relationship turned sour after he was having an affair with the woman,” she claimed.
The daily’s reporter attempted to contact the other woman but she hung up the phone upon hearing the question.
COMMENTARY: When I first heard about the popularity of silcone celebrity love dolls in China, I knew I had to look into it.
Chinese love dolls are not a Chinese phenomena, but are also very popular in Japan, where the love doll craze really started back in 2006.
Celebrity silicone love dolls are not cheap, costing $6500 to $20,000 or more depending on the degree of detail and customization. An Italian gentlemen missed his ex-girlfriend so much that he spent $15,000 for a silicon replica.
Today, love dolls are gaining popularity throughout Asia, in Japan, Korea and China. They are also available in the U.S. through adult shops and online sites.
Courtesy of an article dated May 9, 2009 appearing in The Star Online
Dressed in medical scrubs and looking much wiser than his 11 years, Matthew Monroe was on a mission.
Twelve, actually.
The 6th-grader was one of more than 100 Atlanta 4th through 8th graders who demonstrated robotics projects Saturday at B.E.S.T. Academy on Hollowell Parkway, in the 11th annual FIRST LEGO League Competition, sponsored in Atlanta by 100 Black Men of Atlanta and the Atlanta Public Schools.
The robot-building competition was one of 84 FIRST LEGO regional events held in communities across the United States and around the world. The robotics project is one of a dozen themed challenges that FIRST LEGO League teams tackle.
Young students from Parkside Elementary in Atlanta, Georgia compete in the FIRST LEGO League
Adults say the robotics event gives pupils with strong math and science abilities an opportunity to apply classroom talents to real-lfe engineering challenges.
But the future engineers, designers and doctors at Saturday's competition seemed to have a more immediate goal in mind.
"What we're really going to do is win this whole competition," said Matthew, who attends Imhotep Academy Charter School, 551 Harwell Rd. He and his teammates wore scrubs to reinforce the "Body Forward" theme of this year's competition. "...we're ready to show our robot."
Showing off a robot was, indeed, the focus of Saturday's 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. event. In the main auditorium of B.E.S.T. (Business, Engineering, Science and Technology) Academy, also known as the Benjamin S. Carson school, students and adult coaches hovered around large tables to watch students demonstrate the abilities of their robots.
First Lego League local competitions take place throughout the U.S. The winners then compete in the national and world championships. Here are a few photos.
Though the robots were designed from LEGO kits, each group Saturday displayed unique designs.
Coretta School King Academy teacher Susan Hall, one of the coaches for the only all-girl's team, said FIRST LEGO competitions not only give students a chance to build fun robots but also allows them to hone team-building skills.
"They really learn to work together," Hall said, moments after high-fiving two of her girls for successfully programming their robot to accomplish an assigned task. "They get to learn how to solve problems together." Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy is located at 1190 Northwest Dr.
The 2010 FIRST LEGO theme is "Body Forward." According to the FLL website, the theme allows teams to "explore the cutting-edge world of Biomedical Engineering to discover innovative ways to repair injuries, overcome genetic predispositions, and maximize the body's potential, with the intended purpose of leading happier and healthier lives. " FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) LEGO is a multinational, nonprofit organization that uses LEGO building blocks as a basis for youth engineering, math and science projects.
Saturday's event included robotics teams from B.E.S.T., Imhotep, King, Drew Charter School, Parkside and Towns elementary schools and King and Inman middle schools.
The FIRST LEGO series ends in with a "world festival" every year; this year's festival is April 27-30 in St. Louis. For more information about FIRST LEGO, go to www.firstlegoleague.org.
COMMENTARY: You have to love the enthusiasm these youngsters demonstrate as they build working robots made from Lego blocks. Kids will be kids, and it doesn't matter where the kids come from, they all share several things: 1) enthusiasm to learn engineering and technology skills, 2) learn how to work as a team, 3) express their creativity and originality, 4) gain inspiration to pursue future creative and technical careers and 5) having a lot of fun.
The best way to summarize FIRST LEGO League is to say that it is a robotics program for 9 to 16 year olds (9 to 14 in the US and Canada), which is designed to get children excited about science and technology -- and teach them valuable employment and life skills. FLL can be used in a classroom setting but is not solely designed for this purpose. Teams, comprised of up to ten children with at least one adult coach, can also be associated with a pre-existing club or organization, homeschooled, or just be a group of friends who wish to do something awesome.
Contrary to popular belief, our coaches DO NOT need any technical experience. In FLL, the children do the work! And the work is comprised of programming an autonomous robot (using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot set) to score points on a thematic playing surface and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their research project. These two elements - the Robot Game and Project - make up what we call our yearly Challenge. Like any other organized “sport”, teams also fundraise, create a team identity, and go on field trips. To see some of our teams in action, visit ourYouTube Channel, or read about their experiences on our blog.
Some teams choose to attend an official FLL tournament, which is hosted by one of our Operational Partners. Operational Partners volunteer to run the FLL program in their region or country and are associated with other like-minded organizations to the FIRST mission.
First Lego League has inspired the formation of workshops throughout the country that are specifically designed to promote and develop robotics learning skills.
Robotics Learning, located near Cupertino, California, has been conducting in school and after-school workshops to educate kids on how to build robots using Lego pieces since 2004.
I keep reading that America is losing its technological edge to other countries, or that we are not developing enough engineers, but Lego First League, shows what can be done to inspire children at a young age to learn creative and technical skills, that may lead them to become the engineers of tomorrow.
First Lego League robotic competitions are sponsored for kids at three different grade levels: K-3rd grades, 4th-8th grades and 9th-12th grades.
School budgets have taken a tremendous hit, but with the help of over 3,500 government agencies and private corporations have provided mentors and donations to sponsor robotics learning workshops in elementary schools throughout the U.S.
Courtesy of an article dated December 11, 2010 appearing in CascadePatch
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