stanley

Stanley Bostitch created the Hurriquake nail in 2006 to save homes from two great natural threats—high-winds and shaky ground. Redesigning this humble building component—and adding just 15 bucks dollars to the cost of a home—makes houses twice as likely to survive a hurricane and makes them 50 percent tougher against earthquakes. This innovation swept the Hurriquake to our innovation of the year award in 2006.

Our friends over at the Toolmonger blog are deep into a week of posts all about demolition. Seriously, who doesn't love breaking stuff? Actually, I broke some stuff myself at Maker Faire last weekend, during ToolMonger's FUBAR challenge.

(In case you're not familiar, Stanley's FUBAR tool is an update on the hammer, used specifically for breaking structures down. PopSci gave it a Best of What's New award last year.)

Today, they posted a video of the event, in which I went head-to-head with Nick Mann from periodictable.com. Who do you think won? Check it out, here. —Megan Miller

The squat, four-wheeled Robot driving itself through densely wooded terrain looks too macho to be cute, but it's too small to be threatening (picture a cross between R2-D2 and a Jeep). "You start to associate personalities with each of them," says Mark Del Giorno, of his 'bots. But still, Del Giorno, the vice president for engineering at General Dynamics Robotic Systems, which built this machine for the Army, insists that he doesn't anthropomorphize his robots: "You realize that the 'personality' comes from, say, the steering being a little loose.

Stanford Racing's Stanley crosses the desert course in just under seven hours. Will its success lead to cars that drive themselves?