Think you’re addicted to your iPod? Well, what if you could tuck it into a roly-poly, docking station-type gizmo and watch the unit bump and grind to the beat of your favorite play list. How mesmerizing would that be?
The Miuro is the latest invention from ZMP Inc., a small Japanese company specializing in robotics. ZMP, founded in 2000, has created a family of robots designed for the education and entertainment markets. The Nuvo robot, its first for the consumer segment, can do more than 50 kinds of movement and can be controlled by human voice—even remotely, say, from your cell phone while in transit in your car. ZMP says the Nuvo, which has a built-in camera, makes a perfect house sitter, if not a fun house guest.
Its latest offering, the Miuro, builds on the robotic technology with music, which ZMP believes can be the “killer app” to give its robots mass appeal. You can play music through your iPod and use the Miuro as a speaker/docking system or you can play music from your PC by connecting to the Firefly Media Server or use Miuro to play Internet radio. All of this cool functionality will cost you a pretty penny, however: ZMP is aiming to sell the Miuro in the States later this year for around $1,000 (not including the iPod).
Both robots were designed using PTC’s Wildfire CAD software. Using new shade view functionality and other features in Wildfire 3.0, the ZMP design team says it was able to finish Miuro’s mechanical design in just two months along with achieving some notable improvements in size and design. Check out this Webcast for a look at the ZMP robots.
We looked at a number of sources to determine this year's greenest cars, from KBB to automotive trade magazines to environmental organizations. These 14 cars emerged as being great at either stretching fuel or reducing carbon footprint.
Researchers at MIT and Sandia National Labs have observed a reaction in lithium-air batteries that could help improve the design of these cells for electric vehicles and other applications.
Healthcare might seem to be an unlikely target application for the Internet of Things technology, but recent developments show small ways that big-data is going to make an impact on patient care moving into the future.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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