It’s more engine than motorcycle. Yep, you read the headline correctly; this baby runs on a Subaru WRX engine. When New Zealand toolmaker Marcel van Hooijdonk received a challenge from his Aussie friend to build a motorcycle around a car engine, he couldn’t say no. You see, this isn’t the first Subaru WRX motorcycle. (Of course, it isn’t!) In 2009, we told you about Ian McElroy’s Kickboxer motorcycle concept designed in SolidWorks. This served as the inspiration for Marcel’s build. The Kickboxer was just a concept. Marcel’s MadBoxer cycle is the real, working, road legal (in New Zealand at least) deal. The project is the result of five years of hard work and…
It’s been years in development, but the chance to see giant robots fight to the metal-crunching finish is now upon us. Back in the summer of 2015, MegaBots, Inc created a 15-foot tall, 12,000lb piloted mech capable of hurling a 3lb hunk of metal at over 130 mph. The only problem: there was nobody to duel with. Enter Japan. The only other known piloted mech was a similar 9,000lb metal beast from Japan’s Suidobashi Heavy Industries. MegaBots challenged them to a matchup in the ring with melee combat—and they accepted. And next Tuesday, October 17th at 7 PM PT, this epic duel will finally be streamed over on Twitch. While…
Nike made a splash with their self-lacing shoes, but a foot isn’t the only place to take advantage of auto-adjusting tech. According to AppleInsider, Apple was granted US Patent No. 9,781,984 for a self-adjusting Apple Watch band—leaving puny straps, buttons, velcro, clasps and every other attachment ‘inconvenience’ in its wake. Reads the patent’s abstract: “Systems and methods for dynamically adjusting the fit of a wearable electronic device are disclosed. In many embodiments, a tensioner associated with a wearable electronic device can control one or more actuators that are mechanically coupled to either the housing or to a band attached to the wearable electronic device. In one example, in response to…
Origami, which comes from the Japanese words ori meaning “folding” and kami meaning “paper”, is a pretty niche field which requires dedication, delicate hands, and a lot of free time. While most of us can make a paper plane or boat, the more obscure origami designs require numerous steps and intricate folds to create. This origami simulator by coder Amanda Ghassaei is unlike your conventional origami. Instead of following a series of steps to create a paper animal, her program folds every crease simultaneously by looking for displacements in the flat geometry. Users can upload their SVG or FOLD patterns, or use one of the pre-existing examples. After choosing one, you…
Even though Google’s Pixel 2 release is a wee 364 days from its predecessor (it’s rumored to hit shelves this October 19), the company has done its best to include as many add-ons as it can with its new phone. Of all the new upgrades and features, the instant language translation has caught our imaginations the most. It’s bound to take a meat cleaver to the problem of language barriers, but we’re most curious about the implications it has for design and engineering. The language translation is made possible by the Pixel 2 earbud accessory, the Google Pixel Buds. As demonstrated at the company’s Pixel 2 event in San Francisco, these…
Sure, mushrooms are good in your salads…but you’ve likely never given any thought into mushrooms as a medium for physical products. Call it a typical Brooklyn experiment, but the GROW lamp from Ecovative just might have some sense behind it. In combining the essence of DIY with the power of nature, the GROW is a (very) sustainable approach towards approaching materials in the day and age of a never-ending barrage of disposable IKEA products. Says Ecovative: “(We) started 10 years ago with the idea that there are better ways to manufacture products by utilizing the tools that nature has given us, instead of toxic chemicals. With our success as a…