Have a look inside the Call a Bike system. This Hack a Bike article is an interesting look into how the system was hacked.

"The whole board is dowsed in black silicone which had to be scraped off before we could continue exploring. Apart from the matchbox-sized logic board which incorporates an Atmel AT90S8535 (8-bit RISC Processor, 4×8 IO-Pins, 8KB flash, 512 bytes EEPROM and 512 bytes RAM), a few red, green and IR LEDs and an IR-receiver, the box also contains a few electrical components (motor, switches and a beeper). There is also a slope sensor, but it is never addressed in the code. With this simple setup, it became clear that the bike couldn’t possibly contain a device to track or locate us. We made a few pictures of it all, but then the hardware went into a corner for about two months before we managed to boot the bike. It took us a while to notice that the system had to be initialized by an IR-signal after booting. This discovery was more or less coincidence.

To transform a CallABike into a HackABike, we had to unscrew six screws on the inside of the box containing the display and plug the STK500 into the ISP-connector of the logic board. After that we started a script to read out the flash and the EEPROM area. The EEPROM is then again flashed with a reset counter and the code including our backdoor. To ensure that nobody could discover our tampering by reading out the firmware again, we set the lockbit. It took a practised hacker about 12 minutes to turn two CallABikes into two HackABikes at the same time. We flashed nearly 10% of the 1700 bikes which are distributed in the city of Berlin. "

Finding landmines is not an easy task. This Mongoose and Robot Landmine Detector combines electronic, mechanical and animal to help make detection a bit easier. Thrishantha Nanayakkara from the University of Moratuwa.

Read more about the Mongoose and Robot Landmine Detector. (PDF)

 "To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first time a human-robot-animal integrated system is tested for antipersonnel landmine detection. The proposed system tries to integrate distinct capabilities of three different systems to improve the effectiveness of landmine detection in a cluttered environment. The mongoose is found to be a rodent with extremely sensitive olfactory capabilities, dexterous navigation capabilities in a cluttered environment, and small enough to burrow through rubble. The lightweight legged robot (4kg) can move in a minefield without detonating landmines, carry a metal detector, and interact with the mongoose and the human. The remote human operator can analyze the behaviors of the animal-robot system and judge how best the system should move from a remote location. Therefore, the system achieves a fundamental objective of humanitarian landmine detection by improving the effectiveness and accelerating the detection process through removing the human operator from the minefield. The design gave much emphasis on reducing the need to have expensive sensors and sophisticated image processing systems in order to make it as cost effective and reliable as possible. Therefore, there were only a single sonar proximity sensor and two bumper switches attached to the front of the robot. However, further improvements are needed in the arbitration mechanism that optimizes the synergy among the human, robot, and the animal by improving the learning algorithms. The robot can learn from both the animal and the human though the teaching signals can be noisy. The animal can learn from both the human and the robot to navigate with the robot attached to it. The human can learn from the animal and the robot by observing the limitations of the animal-robot system. We are conducting further research on learning algorithms that suits this scenario. Commensurate efforts have to be taken to simplify the learning algorithms to suit commercially available embedded processors and to improve the processor network to accommodate the extra processing load. Furthermore we hope to automate the training process of mongooses based on the wealth of knowledge we have gathered through manual training. This will allow the trainers to run the training sessions round the clock. "

Via: New Scientist

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This VentureOne Three Wheel Motorcycle by Venture Vehicles looks like lots of fun. I like the fact that it is fully enclosed allowing for comfortable driving in bad weather. I think small safe vehicles like this one will be very popular in the next 4 or 5 years since they will be a pleasure to drive and just sip fuel or in this case even just operate on a charge of the batteries! This T-Rex is similar but I would be soaked if I drove it in the rain…

"Carver Engineering was faced with the challenge of designing a slender vehicle that would not fall over, as most slim vehicles were prone. Their solution was to make the vehicle do what two-wheeled vehicles did, tilt when cornering. However, due to the size and weight required to make the vehicle enclosed, the tilting operation could not be left to the driver’s control. Therefore, an automatic system that takes over the balance control was required in order to maintain the ideal tilting angles under all imaginable driving conditions, such as at all speeds and accelerations and during rapid emergency maneuvers, and also on slippery or slanting road surfaces. The result was DVC technology, a hydro-mechanical system that splits the steering input from the driver into a front-wheel steering angle and a tilting angle of the chassis."

If you skydive already and are looking for a new hobby, jetpowered flight may be just what you are looking for!

"The jet-pack consists of wings with a total three meter span with four model engines built under the wings. Speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour are possible. So far, the device does not allow powered take-offs. So, he jumps out of a plane, stabilizes his flight, and then powers up. Up to four minutes of powered flight at speeds of one hundred knots have been achieved."

This Fiery Half Body Robot Pushes Shopping Cart is just what I need to push my groceries home from the store. I would love to film this thing walking into a Walmart past the greeter.

"An electric motor was used to drive the rear axle of the shopping cart. The same motor turned a bicycle camshaft which pulled slowly, then released quickly 2 cables. The radio control consisted of 2 channels. 1 would be a simple switch (forward/stop). The second was connected to a H-bridge constructed from 2 Double Throw Double Pole switches. The switches were made from wire and glue and a coat-hanger."

Via: Wired

The post about the Animated Tattoo yesterday was for April Fools as most people figured out however have a look at this Programmable Tattoo! If you are interested in a bit of a read have a look at the patent.

"For under-the-skin implants, the thinner and more flexible the better. A "nano-skin" polymer film was recently shown by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). This flexible polymer infused with billions of carbon nanotubes is seen as making possible incredibly thin and flexible displays. Nanotubes are excellent electrical conductors and several research organizations are exploring their use in flexible screen displays.

When suspended between the electrically charged grids the ink spheres can be made to display as either white, black or gray. Digital ink uses very low power and displays an image even when the power is turned off. Each sphere is about the diameter of a human hair and contains positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid."

Philips is working on something called SKIN:Tattoo, it looks very interesting!

"Tattoos and physical mutilation are amongst the oldest forms of personal expression and identity. Subcultures have used tattoos as a form of self representation; a visual language communicating personality and status. Philips Design examined the growing trend of extreme body adornment like tattoos, piercing, implants and scarring. 

The Electronics Tattoo film expresses the visual power of sensitive technology applied to the human body. The film subtly leads the viewer through the simultaneous emotional and aesthetic transformations between two lovers."

Looks like there is a new technology that may be showing up in your local tattoo shop. This self contained system is the latest and greatest way to mark yourself. Unlike a normal tattoo this one can be changed over and over. The battery back is built in and will need to be replaced every 3 years by a simple surgical procedure. The display is reprogrammed by sending coded pulses which the magnetic sensor picks up and translates it into the desired color image to be displayed on the LCD display. It comes with a 5 year warranty against damage, if damage occurs simply make an appointment with your authorized service center for a quick repair. Only minor swelling is expected after a repair since the device is not mounted very far from the surface of the skin. Future improvements are expected to include a method of charging the internal battery using kinetic energy from the user.