There was a time when 3D printing and building robots seemed out of reach of regular civilians, reserved for experts in the technology field. Now top-end technical tools are readily available at the hobby level. BoxBotix is yet another open source software aimed at hobbyist in the field, AND WE LOVE IT.
Whether your choice of vinyl exists in the 200-gram form or as a tortilla, the magic that makes music play from an analog disc is one of the most impressive engineering feats ever conceived. But how exactly does a turntable convert those modulated spiral grooves into magic melodies? As music writer Ned Lannaman once described, the way a turntable works isn’t just simple science – it opens the door to an entirely new dimension (and no, we haven’t been eating funny-tasting mushrooms): “The needle (actually a microscopic and very sophisticated microphone) drags across a record’s infinitesimal grooves and incredible things begin to happen. The drums punch, the vocals breathe, the…
With Game of Thrones fans gearing up for the premiere of Season Six this Sunday, the Moleskine marketing team did what anybody with a giant stack of empty sketchbooks would do: they recreated the show’s iconic opening sequence from paper – 7,600 cutouts to be exact. Created to celebrate the release of a ‘Game of Thrones’ limited-edition collection of Moleskine notebooks, the paper cutout animation was created by Milan-based video and animation studio Dadomani. According to Moleskine, 750 photos, 7,600 paper cut-outs, and 576,000 seconds went into the making of the sequence. Frankly, we’re just wondering how many papercuts were involved: https://youtu.be/w4EEQXO_Y38 And how they made it: https://youtu.be/IqZUF-mCikU For those wondering,…
In the age of the iPad and Apple’s revolutionary approach to changing how technology is used in the classroom, it’s easy to forget where it all started: the eMac (or, education Mac). Originally designed as an affordable iMac option for teachers and classrooms, the eMac eventually became available to the masses due to high demand before Apple discontinued it in July of 2006. Now, ten years after the original eMac was shelved, the concept designers over at Curved Labs developed a new eMac concept that bridges the distinctive teardrop shape of the eMac with more recent Apple design features: https://youtu.be/J6mvu_zsmDQ Says the designers: “We at Curved/labs asked ourselves: What if…
As anybody who has seen or personally created spin art knows, the power of centrifugal forces can lead to some pretty impressive results. But how might you apply the same psychedelic effect to physical goods? For industrial designer Maor Aharon, this question became the basis for his recent experiment “Matter of Motion” – a project that took the foundation of spin art and elevated it to explorations in materials, motion and shape. Driven by the goal of creating new aesthetic characteristics that represent the concepts of “freezing a moment” in the production process as a one-man production line, Aharon ultimately developed a new lo-fi technique for casting various materials using…
As any hardware developer worth their salt knows, getting part dimensions accurate is key for success in manufacturing and ensuring that assemblies fit together in the real world as intended. Among other common problems that can occur and cause a domino effect disaster down the line include mismatched fastener hole placements and loose or overhanging parts. While much of this work is contingent on manufacturing processes and is best left to the mechanical engineers out there, conducting a tolerance analysis doesn’t have to be rocket science – particularly while a piece of kit is still in the rapid prototyping stage. Of course, if you’re already in the prototyping stage, nothing beats…