Photo credit: Leigh Coates
British inventor Richard Browning founded Gravity Industries Ltd back in March 2017, and since then, he’s unveiled the Daedalus Mark 1, a jet pack that uses several miniature jet engines to achieve vertical flight. Each of the kerosene engines are rated at 22 kg of thrust, and pilots use their arms to control the direction and speed of the flight, whilst being shown fuel consumption among other usage data within the head-up display inside the helmet. Read more to see Leigh Coates take flight.
A market research firm recently conducted a study that claimed the asteroid mining industry would help humans colonize other planets and extracting precious resources from them could protect Earth from potential impact events. There are currently over 9,000 known asteroids flying near Earth and many companies as well as space agencies are looking into the benefits of mining space rocks. Read more for two videos and additional information.
Inventor Colin Furze is back at it again, and this time, he’s built a fully-functional screw tank. It’s exactly as it sounds, a screw-driven tank powered by a Honda engine, complete with drive boxes that turn the cylinders. This may not be the fastest vehicle around, but it’s most certainly a sight to be hold when out and about. Read more for a video and additional information.
Let’s face it, your smartphone could be one of the grimiest things you touch each day, and one quick way to sterilize it would be with PhoneSoap 3. Its powerful UV-C light is totally safe for electronics, all the while killing 99.99% of germs. This UV-C light can also get to the microorganisms that hide in crevices where even cleaning wipes can’t reach. Read more for a hands-on video and additional information.
Photo credit: Milen Ivanov
Automobile designer Milen Ivanov seems to have an affinity for Halo vehicles, or so we’d like to think after seeing his futuristic Armortruck SUV concept. Think of it as a Rezvani Tank meets Lamborghini Urus, but with gullwing doors. If properly configured, this massive vehicle could probably take on some of the toughest battlefields. Read more for a video and additional pictures.
Rather than replacing flat tires, Goodyear imagines a future where tires can repair themselves from the inside out. Called the “reCharge”, this intelligent tire basically consistsof a lightweight frame and a regenerative reloadable and biodegradable tread compound that builds itself upon the skeleton where needed. The tire will auto-regenerate depending on the driver’s location, vehicle, what season they are driving in, and how long their journey is. Read more for a video and additional information.
Mitsubishi’s Bread Oven is touted as the world’s most expensive toaster, or least mass-produced model, and the device only cooks one piece of bread. How does it work? Well, the Bread Oven seals a single slice of bread inside a metal box and transfers heat through two plates at temperatures as high as 260° Celsius (500° Fahrenheit). Product page. Read more for a hands-on video and additional information.
Autonomous robots will soon take over mundane tasks, like setting tables, but that requires training. MIT researchers have designed a system that enables robots to learn complicated tasks using a new “Planning with Uncertain Specifications” (PUnS) system. This gives them humanlike planning ability to simultaneously weigh many ambiguous requirements to reach an end goal. Read more for a video and additional information.
TCL first unveiled their tri-fold smartphone prototype last year, but that was just a non-functional device, Today, they revealed a working prototype, complete with their patented “DragonHinge,” which enables one to bend it in multiple directions, and as you’re about to see, still has some quirks they need to work out before it heads to production. Read more for a hands-on video and additional information.
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover has a new name – Perseverance. It was announced Thursday by Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate, during a celebration at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia to congratulate seventh grader Alexander Mather, who submitted the winning entry to the agency’s “Name the Rover” essay contest. In all, over 28,000 entries from K-12 students from every U.S. state and territory were received. Read more for two videos and additional information.