Prototype smart skin for robots developed

May 6, 2016  |  Out There

Smart, synthetic skins have the potential to allow robots to touch and sense what’s around them, but keeping them powered up and highly sensitive at low cost has been a challenge. Scientists report in the journal ACS Nano, that a simpler and less costly self-powered transparent smart skin has …
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MAD Architects’ ‘Invisible Border’ at Milan Design Week alters perception of space

April 28, 2016  |  Out There

Italy’s Interni magazine’s Open Borders exhibition, running through April 23, gathers a series of interactive installations, macro-objects and micro-constructions that explore ways of getting beyond disciplinary borders: According to the magazine, the subject addresses an expansion of design vis…
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Nano-enhanced textiles clean themselves with light

April 25, 2016  |  Out There

Australian researchers have developed an inexpensive and efficient new way to grow nanostructures on textiles that can degrade organic matter when exposed to light. The work paves the way toward nano-enhanced textiles that can spontaneously clean themselves of stains and grime simply by being put un…
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Built-in virtual reality for wearables is possible

April 8, 2016  |  Out There

Adaptive virtual reality (VR) hardware by technology designers Artefact Group includes a hood and shoulder cloak with a computer and battery built into them. Called “Shadow,” the project is a series of wearables designed for gamers for an immersive virtual reality experience that includes intera…
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A natural sleep solution

March 18, 2016  |  Out There

A small Nebraska-based company is committed to helping you sleep better—and saving the monarch butterfly at the same time. The Ogallala Comfort Co. in Ogallala, Neb. says they are the largest supplier of wild-crafted, sustainably harvested milkweed products and raw materials. Parent company Monarc…
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Aluminum fabric skin wraps Malaysian hillside home

March 4, 2016  |  Out There

A design firm based in Singapore has wrapped a home near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in an aluminum fabric skin with dramatic effect—and addressing practical considerations. The home, a project of OOZN+, is located on a hillside in the exclusive suburb of Lorong Pantai. The flowing, pearlescent alumin…
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Collapsible fabric bathtub uses carbon fiber

February 19, 2016  |  Out There

A new design takes on the large, heavy and decidedly untransportable traditional bathtub with one made of fabric that collapses, weighs just seven kilograms and can easily be carried by one person and fit in the back of a car. Prototyped by designer Carina Deuschl, “xtend” redefines the ordinary…
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Vibrating yoga pants lend a guiding hand

February 18, 2016  |  Out There

For struggling yogis who can’t always make it to the gym, Wearable Experiments offers vibrating pants to correct errant form. Created by Billie Whitehouse, CEO of the Sydney, Australia-based developer of technical apparel, and co-founder Ben Moir, Nadi smart leggings feature tiny electronics woven…
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Bio-skin could transform responsive materials

February 5, 2016  |  Out There

Initiated in the MIT Media Lab, and supported in part by sportswear company New Balance, bioLogic is an effort to program living organisms and invent responsive and transformable interfaces of the future. At the crux of this effort is the discovery of a new behavior of an ancient bacteria: the expan…
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Interactive garment responds to another’s gaze

January 22, 2016  |  Out There

An interactive, 3D-printed wearable has been developed that can detect the gaze of another person and respond accordingly with life-like behavior. The developers of “Caress of the Gaze” say it opens the possibility of a radical new approach to interactive clothing, inspired by nature and the beh…
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