This video, of high-speed actuation of robot fingers and tracking cameras (developed by researchers from the Ishikawa Komuro Lab at the University of Tokyo), gets the big Keanu Reeves “Whoa” Award. [via Boing Boing] Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory
Last week, at the annual MassTEC conference an interesting collection of science and technology teachers gathered to share experiences and information. Here are some highlights:
Johanna Bunn of the Boston Museum of Science introduced the Engineering the Future curriculum, with interactive demonstrations of hands-on projects introducing students to structures, fluids and electricity.
The forum on the Massachusetts state science and technology curriculum frameworks introduced a series of strand maps that show how the concepts and possible activities in the various STEM subjects interrelate. Their hope is that existing and new courses could be designed so that they step students through learning ideas within courses and how the courses could build upon each other. Right now the maps are static PDFs, but their goal is to have them be more interactive in the way they connect projects and concepts.
Last Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending my first Dorkbot Austin, at Cafe Mundi on E. 5th St. At least fifty were in attendance, and six people presented original work, most of which I’ll be blogging over the next few days. First up, I wanted to mention this luminous flowerpot clock, with LED pistils and modeling-clay petals, by Flickr user Spyderella, aka Sharon Cichelli. It flip-flops two of seven LEDs to mark the hours, and gradually illuminates the remaining five at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 minutes past. It’s controlled by an external Arduino for prototyping purposes, but eventually will be entirely self-contained. There’s video here.
Rachel spotted a beautiful version of the Ruffle Scarf inspiration I shared for the Me, My Scarf, and I Singer Sewing Challenge. It was created by Sadie Fox, who has the scarf up on her own blog, and posted on Wardrobe ReFashion. Her site has a ton of fun fashion projects with clever recycled and […]
Disney of Ruffles and Stuff shares how she transformed a pair of dollar store PJs into this sweet ruffled shirt for her daughter. [via Wardrobe Refashion]
In this video, the fine folks at NerdKits show you how to use one of their kits and some aluminum foil to create a capacitive touch sensor that lights up LEDs when a hand is placed inside of a jack-o-lantern candy bucket. Capacitive Touch Sensor: Learn Electronics with a Spooky Halloween Project
This week in the CRAFT Flickr pool we saw: Green leather mask by ka_boogie, Grubbin’ by themistresst, Shabby lace and doily strapless top by mistymountainmosaics, and Spooky spinners (the spiderweb is my favorite) by *jenny b allsorts.
