Although many of industrial designer Eric Strebel’s take on prototyping projects are of his methods, he isn’t above sticking to the book every once in a while. In his newest video, he shows how he works with a design brief for a wireless charger. The brief comes with a couple of specifics: it must be made from existing hardware and use sustainable materials it should have minimal moving parts, and you should be able to charge your phone while using it either horizontally or vertically. These restrictions seem pretty straightforward and still give Strebel a lot of creative freedom to do what he does best: design. Strebel begins by sketching…

Long considered an indispensable asset for anybody working in CAD, the 3D mouse is a quintessential tool that belongs on the desktop of any industrial designer or engineer. Within a 3D application such as SolidWorks, Rhino, Fusion 360, or Keyshot, the directional, zoom and rotate functions provide an intuitive extension of the users’ design intent. To put it quite simply, a 3D mouse helps get rid of those annoying repetitive keystrokes and allows the designer to come as close to possible to holding their digital 3D design in the physical world. As pioneers of the 3D mouse territory, 3Dconnexion has blazed a trail with their SpaceMouse collection. And when it…

As Avengers: Infinity War makes its way towards the box office-shattering $2 billion global earnings milestone, it comes as little surprise that the superhero movie has inspired a small legion of creators to don their maker capes and create their renditions of the iron-clad superhero troop. Among others is the SolidSmack favorite wacky garage inventor and YouTube star Colin Furze. In partnership with James Bruton of Xrobots and eBay, Furze constructed a real-life hydraulic mech suit that stands an eyewatering 10.5 feet tall: https://youtu.be/AshvBTw5Z84 Describe by Furze as his “most complicated project ever,” he highlights that this build, in particular, is comparable to what many robotics companies have spent years…

Get that stretch out of your system with this week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist. It’s fashioned up, ready to make you pull your shoulder blades back and knock out another week of meaningful work while you bob your head to the beat. Whether you’re in the shop milling aluminum, sketching the latest product prototypes or modeling up a 3D storm, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. This week o SolidSmack Radio we’ll get the groove going with “Lemon Grow” from the ALL NEW Beach House before diving into sweet melodies from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Talking Heads, Redspencer, Hotel Eden, and others before wrapping BACK up with “Dive”…

Well, it’s finally happened. After years of fumbling on quadrupedal legs and jumping like patients with back problems, robots have finally learned to run on rough terrain. ACHIRES (short for “Actively Coordinated High-speed Image-processing Running Experiment System”) is an Ishikawa Senoo Laboratory running robot system which uses a high-speed camera to detect the legs’ position up to 600 fps. This information gets transferred to high-speed actuators which adjust the legs based on built-in reference postures (which is how the robot stays stabilized when pushed as well as on different types of terrain). In layman’s terms, a camera reads the terrain and position of the legs while actuators do all the…

Few shop tools—yes, we’ll call it a “tool”—are as indispensable as a reliable work apron. While not a “tool” in the traditional sense, a good, durable apron can serve many purposes ranging from tool organization to even psychologically making yourself ‘present’ in the workshop. But no two aprons are alike—and striking the balance between functional and economical isn’t always easy. Which is why we like the Cross Back Adjustable Apron from Hudson Durable Goods. Made from thick and durable waxed canvas, this stylish work apron features design details that are as carefully considered as the long-lasting materials they’re constructed from. Additionally, the cross-back (X-back) straps ensure that weight from tools…