Standard drones start sliding on ice after a slope of only nine degrees. Gravity presses less of the aircraft into the surface as the angle rises, so a 60-degree wall leaves just half the usual downward force. Ice Dart, a 2.65-kilogram carbon-fiber quadrotor from Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, now perches on ice that steep […]
Keytec brought the Magic Touch to the 1994 Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. The Texas company, founded in 1987, offered a straightforward way to give standard CRT monitors and notebook screens touch input without replacing the entire display. At a moment when keyboards and mice defined personal computing, the idea of pressing a finger […]
Engineers at 1X put the motors for the new NEO hands up in the forearm. Strong cables run down through the wrist and pull on the fingers and palm. This tendon-driven layout keeps the hand itself light while delivering strong, precise pulls. Low gear ratios between 5-to-1 and 15-to-1 let the system stay backdrivable. Push […]