Transforming, 3D-Printed RC Robot-Car
This 1/12th-scale transforming robot, built by Brave Robotics, looks utterly sick as it reconfigures itself as a car. Look for it at Maker Faire Tokyo! [via Ponoko]
Made in Japan
Dangerous Prototypes Visits Akihabara
DangPro visited Akihabara Electric Town, the fabulous electronic component district located in Tokyo. So jealous! [via Adafruit]
Kit-A-Day Giveaway: Gakken Mechamo Inchworm
To celebrate the release of our latest publication, the Make: Ultimate Kit Guide 2012 (and its companion website), we’re giving away at least one of the cool kits reviewed in the issue each day during the holiday season. Today’s giveaway is for a Gakken Mechamo Inchworm Kit (a $69.99 value.)
Penrose Tile Architecture
Architect Akio Hizune recently published these variations on an earlier work imagining a “six dimensional monument” based on Penrose tilings.
Spherical Helicopter Reconnaisance Drone
This drone, reportedly a prototype for the Japan Self Defense Force, has a single rotor and is said to be capable of 40 mph flight. And as the video shows, it’s quite nimble. The catch? An 8-minute battery life. But the idea of enclosing the whole thing in a spherical frame so it can maneuver and land heedless of the orientation of the blades is pretty brilliant.
Angriest Most Useless Machine
This very entertaining take on the classic most useless machine gag is not quite so patient as its ancestors. Oh sure, it does what they all do: When you turn it on, it turns itself off. And it’ll do that over and over again. But, much like my college roommate, the machine has its limits, and it’s probably wise not to push it too far.
Japanese Gravity Marimba Plays Bach In An Ancient Forest
This remarkably beautiful video, uploaded to YouTube one day before the T?hoku earthquake and tsunami, turns out to be an ad for Sharp’s SH-08C handset. It is, nonetheless, entirely worth watching: in a tranquil forest, a single wooden ball rolls down a stepped wooden ramp, continuously, for two minutes. At each step, it falls and strikes a wooden bar tuned to play a single note of the 10th movement of Bach’s Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147, commonly known by its English title, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. Wait till you see how they handle the sustained notes. [Thanks, Rachel!]
