• Technology

    Inflatable Surveillance Balls for Mars

    By Corey Binns Posted on 9.26.2008 12 Comments

    By next fall, NASA plans to launch its biggest Red Planet rover yet, the $1.8-billion, SUV-size Mars Research Laboratory. Even though the MRL will be able to haul five times as much equipment as the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that are already on Mars, a group of Swedish researchers say that they could accomplish far more if accompanied by a squad of helper ’bots. Fredrik Bruhn, the CEO of Ångström Aerospace Corporation, and his colleagues have designed the small inflatable scouts to assist bigger, less mobile rovers in their hunt for signs of microbial life on Mars.

    9.28.2008 at 09:21am - Comment by brainy435

    Not only on steep hills, but if it gets caught in a sandstorm and buried even a bit , it may not be able to get out again. Think car stuck in a snowbank and no one to come dig it out.

  • Entertainment & Gaming

    A Table-Sized Weight Bench for a Shoebox Sized Apartment

    By Posted on 7.1.2008 8 Comments

    A 450 square foot shoebox apartment was once a valid exemption from owning fitness equipment (and merely one component of your preemptive exercise avoidance plan). But you soon may have one less excuse for that gut.  The Otto-Bench, a concept created by Gabriel Prero, presents the first chink in your oversized armor. The aesthetically pleasing ottoman or coffee table, transforms seamlessly into a weight bench and houses all the required hardware needed to get buff.

    7.3.2008 at 01:34pm - Comment by brainy435

    Just what everyone needs. A large, sweat-soaked coffee table. Is there a way to clean it? Also, Olympic benches have to have a certain distance between the upright supports, in order for the counter-weights to work. That distance is much wider than shoulder width. I don't see how this meets that criteria. There was something that looked Olympic sized on the website, but it had a seperate bench. This just seems like something meant to do two jobs in a mediocre fashion.



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