Bicycles

Raytheon-Sarcos Prototype Power Loader

It rolls on tracks instead of walking, but this ditch-witch style tracked chassis retrofit with a pair of giant waldos is pretty much the power loader from Aliens. This video showing it in action is a great news segment from Ed Yeates of Utah’s KSL-TV, right up to the point where they start talking about the system as an “equalizer” opening up jobs to women “that might’ve otherwise been closed just based on strength issues.”

American Speedster PVC Pedal Car

American Speedster PVC Pedal Car

Florida maker Daniel Fleischman designs and builds pedal-powered vehicles using PVC tubing for his company American Speedster. On his site you’ll find plans and component kits available for a small fee. Pedal-powered vehicles are becoming increasingly popular. Some folks are even hot-rodding them with electric conversions.

News From The Future: RFID In Your Food…

News From The Future: RFID In Your Food…

What if your food were as rich in information as it is in nutrients? That’s the vision of an art student who recently  demonstrated online a prototype of a system where an edible chip embedded in your lunch communicates its nutritional information, provenance, travel miles, and so on to your phone via a reader in the plate. With this system, people could check ingredient lists for allergens, tally up the carbon footprint of their meal, or figure out whether they’ll still have calories left for dessert.