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We spoke to Jacob from Dreambots at CES 2011. We recorded a video where he went over some of the technical details of the WheeMe, unfortunately there was an audio glitch in the recording. I am thinking that it must have been intervention by some 3 letter agency not wanting the technology to be released. Either that or an audio plug that wasn’t pushed in all the way… The WheeMe is a cool tiny robot that is placed on a person, turned on and forgotten about until you are satisfied with your massage. The 4 WheeMe wheels are like tiny rubber fingers and with the driving motion of the robot it gives you a random massage all over. The cool thing about the WheeMe is that it doesn’t need to be watched while it’s working, it can sense where it needs to reverse so it doesn’t fall off with the fall detection circuitry inside. This way it will keep massaging as far as it can without tumbling onto the floor. There are some attachments that can be used to enhance the massage action if desired. At the cost of one massage at your massage therapist it’s a great value.
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Everyone has used a flashlight before but I bet there wasn’t a built in video recorder in yours. GOSCAM makes a number of items with built in video cameras but this flashlight video camera is the most practical I think. I can see this being of use to many people from security guards to law enforcement. The system looks just like a normal flashlight, it isn’t until you look very close that you see a small camera behind the glass beside the LEDs. The unit is rugged and waterproof. I also like their battery design. It can be inserted either way since it’s polarity insensitive, both positive and negative are provided in the same position on the front and back of the battery. We have talked about the need to put batteries in the correct way before, one solution was to have a holder that adapted for reverse battery insertion but I like this method better where the battery is identical in both directions. “Specifications · Real-time video and audio recording
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In many 3D TV system you need to wear special active glasses, these glasses are synced to the video signal so that the TV can display the image for the right eye while covering the left and vice versa. Jonathan Post has created a 3D TV system that uses the same principle but instead of LCD lenses shielding alternate eyes he simply applies a small electrical charge to the eye lid muscle so that your eyes can blink at a fast rate to effectively mimic the effect of the 3D glasses. Only thing I am wondering about is how many times the human eye can blink without wearing out. I am thinking it would be at least 10 or 20 movies worth of blinks at 120 Hz. Via: Engadget
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The Consumer Electronics Show is so large that it doesn’t all fit into the Las Vegas Convention Center so they have it spread into a few other convention centers. This is the Las Vegas Hilton Convention Center, at first I thought it was separated into many different countries but it looks like it is all different sections of China. There is everything you can imagine here. This was filmed on the last day of CES and just a few hours before it was closing. Some of the vendors were starting to take down some of their items but most of them were just relaxing at this point of the event. The crazy bright LED at the end of the video doesn’t look very dramatic on camera since the automatic exposure compensated for it right away but trust me, this is the brightest LED I have ever seen before! |
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Great video showing the steps that TI uses to make a silicon chip. Via: Wired Videos 
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The prize this week is a loupe magnifier, this will let you get a close look at whatever you are working on. This contest will run for one week (January 15 – January 21, 2011). Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it. Please do not give the answer in the comments. Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with “Name the Thing Contest” as the subject, and the message body consisting of:
The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries. ———————————–———- Added January 29, 2011 The item to guess was NVIDIA Tegra 2 The winner is Peter D. (there were 62 entries) ————————————–———- Below is a picture of the prize.
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The first video is the basic muRata Boy and muRata Girl demonstration that was being done on the hour during the Consumer Electronics Show 2011. This is actually the first CES that muRata has attended, they would have been there every year if you looked inside the electronics that were brought there by other companies though since muRata manufactures components that are very common and can be found in most consumer electronics. To demonstrate some of the capabilities of their components muRata has developed two cool robotic platforms. muRara boy has been featured here before but muRata girl is a new one to the pages of Hacked Gadgets. muRata girl uses similar technologies as the boy except she is on a unicycle instead of a bicycle. The demonstration went off without a hitch, when there is something this complex being demoed I have often wondered how many takes it took to get it right. The team at muRata were kind enough to give us a private technical demonstration after the main show. In the second video you will learn a bit more of the technical details behind the robots and see the computer that is interfacing to the robots. On the computer you can see the live video output from the head mounted camera in muRata Boy’s head. Have a close look and you will see me taking a picture of muRata Boy taking a picture of me, there must be some law of physics that was violated there.
CES 2011 muRata Boy and muRata Girl Demonstration
muRata Boy Technical Overview
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I had a great time with the muRata team and can’t wait to see what they are showing off next year!
