herzogenaurach – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Flotspotting: Kibum Park’s Awesome Urban Residences

You undoubtedly remember those slick renderings for the Lowline , the still-in-progress underground NYC park tentatively scheduled for a 2018 opening. The renderings were done by architect Kibum Park, a partner at James Ramsey’s RAAD , a firm that “[focuses] on single and multi-family residential, commercial and hospitality projects.” Well, turns out Park’s got a Coroflot page , loaded up with renders of some bee-yootiful hotels, restaurants, houses and apartments, the latter being the ones that most caught our eye. The clients are of course anonymous and text descriptions are largely absent, but the images do most of the talking. Check out this NYC penthouse with its crazy, sun-dappled, yurt-like master bedroom with elevated library: (more…)

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Flotspotting: Kibum Park’s Awesome Urban Residences

Brilliant Transformational Transportation Design: The Track N Go Converts Your Truck Into a Tread-Equipped, Snow-Going Beast in Under 15 Minutes

Even though I live in America, I never saw as many monster trucks anywhere in the ‘States as I did in Reyjkavik. For drivers who need to navigate the Icelandic hinterlands, owning a pickup truck converted to drive man-height tires is more practical concern than pissing contest. Sure, they looked silly and inconvenient in the city, but it was a trade-off everyone was apparently fine with. So I wonder if the Track N Go would gain any traction in Iceland. This has to be the coolest off-road conversion I’ve ever seen, because it’s completely reversible and only takes fifteen minutes. Check out how it drives: Before we get to how they put them on, the following video, narrated in French, gives you a good look at an individual Track N Go (and gives you a sense of how heavy it is): (more…)

The Onewheel: A Self-Balancing Electric Monowheel Skateboard

Inspired by the hoverboard Michael J. Fox cruises around on in Back to the Future Part II , ex-IDEO’er Kyle Doerksen created the Onewheel. A self-balancing electric monowheel skateboard, the Onewheel seemingly replicates the feeling of riding around on a hoverboard (if not the form factor), and even a novice can purportedly pick up how to ride one in less than a minute; in addition to the self-balancing feature, riders can accelerate by leaning forward and slow down by leaning back, as with a Segway. The 25-pound device will do 12 m.p.h., with a range of four to six miles. Charging the lithium battery takes from 20 minutes to two hours, depending on what type of charger you use. And the monowheel design means that maintenance is a lot simpler than it would be for a bicycle: “There’s literally only one moving part—the wheel, ” writes Doerksen. “No gears, belts or chains to maintain.” And yes, the Onewheel is real, not just a concept; Doerksen and his team have it up on Kickstarter , where it’s already tripled its $100, 000 goal. Check out the video: (more…)

How Shipping Containers are Made

As we saw last week , shipping containers carry our manufactured goods all around the world. There are some 17 million of them in existence, and that number will never shrink; no one can make a profit recycling shipping containers, because it takes a lot of energy to melt 8, 000 pounds of steel down. So once brought into existence, these sturdy, hulking boxes are here to stay. A portion of you are undoubtedly curious as to how they transform raw rolls of sheet metal into shipping containers. Well, here’s how, as documented by Canadian company Big Box Steel . Pretty cool to see all of the jigs, rigs and fixtures, like the horizontally and vertically sliding chairs the welders sit in: Now having seen the vid, what do you reckon is the worst job in that manufacturing squad? I think that guy at 8:12 who has to do the underside waterproofing has got it the worst. (more…)

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How Shipping Containers are Made

Be the Change You Wish to See: Design for the US Mint

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” -President Wacom, November 5, 1855 If you’ve ever dreamed of making your art available to millions of indifferent people in the form of a cold, hard choking hazard, we’ve got good news. The US Mint and the National Endowment for the Arts are teaming up for a wham-bam coin-design slam, and they want you to apply . They’re looking for professional artists with several years of artistic training and a portfolio that shows mastery of symbolism and complex subjects. Digital skills required. Up to 20 artists will be given year-long contracts to make commissioned demonstration designs. The designs produced will be considered for use on circulated coins and national medals of honor and/or importance. If chosen, the designs are rewarded with additional ca$h money and the offer of longer term contracts. The first application deadline is January 10th, so don’t put off for the next year what you can do while avoiding your relatives during the holidays. If you’re a US citizen with a passion for coinage or obscure types of fame, put that wolf painting on the back burner and apply for your chance to design a national icon . You too could creatively serve the country by carving a bas-relief turkey butt in plastilene. (more…)

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Be the Change You Wish to See: Design for the US Mint

Babies: There's an App for That

Due out in January, the Mimo Baby Monitor shows the softer side of technology trickle-down. The key object is a baby onesie or “kimono” (kidmono! oh ho ho) employing Bluetooth Low Energy, wearable-washable sensors, and turtles. Once you’ve suited up your progeny in this thing, you’ll received real-time information on your babe’s position, breathing, temperature, sleep status, and future SAT scores on your phone. Although it has one proverbial foot on either side of the precious/practical divide, there definitely seems to be a trend towards wi-fying babies. Mimo is just one product in a small herd of baby-applied tech devices poised to crowd the digital shelves. Never mind tracking your runs and heart rate. You’re a new parent now; no time for running, and your heart rate is likely to be higher than healthy at all times. Get used to it, get the app, and get some rest. (more…)

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Babies: There's an App for That

Autodesk Announces CAM 360, World’s First Cloud-Based CAM Solution

So you’ve designed your product, run simulations on the model, figured out the PLM and rendered countless iterations. Now it’s time to actually machine the thing. Autodesk is now addressing this final step, taking advantage of Autodesk University’s packed attendance (10, 000-plus people this year!) to announce their new CAM 360 software , which they’re billing as the world’s first cloud-based CAM solution. CAM 360 is seen as the final puzzle piece in their cloud-based digital manufacturing software suite, following on the heels of PLM 360 (product lifecycle management), Sim 360 (simulation software) and Fusion 360 (design). By finally integrating the thing that actually generates the toolpaths for CNC, the company reckons manufacturers will enjoy a huge time savings. And the cloud-based approach confers three distinct benefits: 1) Customers no longer need worry which version of the software they and their collaborators are on; 2) Files can be accessed anywhere, anytime; and 3) they’ve got virtually limitless cloud-based computing power available to quickly crunch those monster files. The CAM 360 release date is pegged for next year. (more…)

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Autodesk Announces CAM 360, World’s First Cloud-Based CAM Solution

Eden’s (Plantable) Paper Takes the Cake When it Comes to Holiday Gift Wrapping Must-Haves

Half of the fun of the holidays is ripping into presents from family and friends or watching someone else do it . We might feel just a twinge or two of guilt as we crumple shreds of once-pristine paper waste into a trash bag and toss it to the curb for garbage collection, but what the hell, you’re on much-needed vacation and you left all of your cares at the office. Wrong. The facts: In 2011, Great Britain alone racked up 227, 000 miles of wasted paper after the holiday season. (That’s enough paper to wrap the world nine times over around the equator.) And according to a study done by Stanford, if every American wrapped three presents in reused materials, the saved paper would cover 45, 000 football fields. The upshot of the guilt trip is that it leads to solutions like wrapping your gifts in the comics section and recycle it when the present party is done, or, say, reusable packaging . UK-based agency BEAF does the DIYers one better with Eden Paper, wrapping paper for the rest of us that you can plant once you’re finished tearing into those gifts. It’s simple: By planting the used paper in some soil and watering it like a regular potted plant, you’ll see sprouts in no time. As with Democratech’s sprouting pencil and plantable OAT Shoes , the gift wrap is produced with the seeds embedded right into the paper. The brand is currently offering the paper in five flavors—chili peppers, onions, carrots, tomatoes and broccoli—but looks to include various flowers and herbs in the future. The gift wrap looks good, too—as good as it tastes, I’m sure. Design-wise, it’s a much-needed upgrade from a lot of the holiday wrap you see around the time of year. There’s only so much you can take when it comes to iridescent snowflakes and glittery ornaments. (more…)

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Eden’s (Plantable) Paper Takes the Cake When it Comes to Holiday Gift Wrapping Must-Haves

Checking In with Via Motors: Yep, Those Full-Sized Electric Pick-Up Trucks are On the Way

Following yesterday’s popular discussion on Americans and trucks , we got to wondering: Whatever happened to Via Motors ? To refresh your memory, back in January we brought you the story of an American company taking fresh-off-the-assembly-line trucks from Detroit and turning them into E-REVs (Extended Range Electric Vehicles): Powerful yet environmentally-friendly 100-m.p.g. beasts of burden. The company estimated delivery of the first models by mid-2013, but that vague date period has decidedly come and gone. We looked into it mostly afraid to find they’d gone belly-up, but were pleased to find they’re alive and well, and still leaping hurdles on their way to production. Vehicles have to be crash-tested to meet American safety regulations, and even though the trucks Via aims to produce are existing models that have already been crash-tested by their original manufacturer (General Motors), re-rigging them with electric motors requires a whole new crash test. So last month they smashed up a bunch of their cargo van models—and passed with flying colors. “The engineering work done to integrate the VIA’s electric technology has been exceptional and the vehicles have exceeded our expectations in all tests that were performed, ” says Alan Perriton, president of VIA Motors. “We are now moving on to complete certification and begin mass production.” To that end, just weeks ago Via brought their factory online in Mexico, near the GM factory that cranks out Silverados, one of the vehicles Via hacks up. Here’s a look at the facility: (more…)

MIT’s Dynamic Shape Display is Like a Sandbox in California that You Can Manipulate from New York

Those of you who’ve seen The Wolverine , remember that crazy self-adjusting gurney thing that Master Yashida was lying on? That might not be as far off a piece of technology as you’d think. A team of researchers at MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group have created this mind-blowing Dynamic Shape Display with a similar vertical-pixel-grid set-up: Called inFORM , the system provides a fascinating way for one party to physically manipulate objects at the other’s location. It has to be seen in action to be believed: (more…)

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MIT’s Dynamic Shape Display is Like a Sandbox in California that You Can Manipulate from New York