Hungarian roaster Laczkó Gábor gives us a bean’s eye view of the coffee roasting process. This beautifully shot video shows the whole process of roasting at Gábor’s Kávékalmár Kft roastery.
http://vimeo.com/kavekalmar/httpsvimeocomroasted
Hungarian roaster Laczkó Gábor gives us a bean’s eye view of the coffee roasting process. This beautifully shot video shows the whole process of roasting at Gábor’s Kávékalmár Kft roastery.
http://vimeo.com/kavekalmar/httpsvimeocomroasted
Poursteady, based in Brooklyn, is developing a robotic pour-over coffee machine for use in coffee shops and restaurants. The idea is to automate the mechanical parts of the pour-over brewing process, and serve more coffee with less work on the part of the barista.
Poursteady was founded by Mark Sibenac and Stuart Heys, robotics engineers who have worked for NASA. They first showed their prototype pour-over machine at World Maker Faire in 2013, and then again this year. Now they have launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a production version of their machine a reality.
You can read more about the project on the Poursteady Kickstarter page. Also see the write-up at BotMag.
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany have developed a design for tiny robots that could one day swim through the human body and repair damaged cells or deliver medicine. The design is modeled after scallops, and move back and forth to swim through bodily fluids.
Check out this write up on Engadget, and the team’s paper published in Nature.
The sci-fi action/thriller due in march, 2015, Chappie looks to be the usual “what-it-means-to-be-human” themed movie. That said, I’m looking forward to it because the trailer looks pretty good!
Pictures of the Husqvarna “401” concept bikes have been making the rounds since their unveiling at the EICMA show.
There’s two to choose from: The Vit Pilen (“White Arrow” in Swedish) and the Svart Pilen (Black Arrow). The concepts were created by Kiska, and there’s a nice write-up on Bke EXIF.
When I first learned that CyPhy Works made UAVs controlled and powered via a microfilament tether, I admit my first thought was:
But after giving it some thought, I think the approach makes sense in certain conditions. Wireless UAVs are susceptible to signal interference, whether environmental or intentional. But having a wired connection can alleviate that (while bringing additional vulnerabilities such as machetes or scissors).
One of the latest CyPhy UAVs in their Pocket Flyer.
It’s small enough so that soldiers and special forces can carry it easily, without a lot of overhead.
And some video of the Pocket Flyer in action, via IEEE Spectrum.
Customization is great, but there’s something about a restoration done so right that it brings out a bikes essential spirit. Check out this Choppahead Kustom Cycles resto of a 1951 Triumph Thunderbird.
More pictures on their site. This bike is gorgeous.
My first Hinckley Triumph was a 2000 Thunderbird. It basically began and cemented my love of the modern Triumphs, and from there I discovered the classic models.
Here’s a less-restored ’51 Tbird that I saw at the Larz Anderson European Motorcycle meet this summer.
From C3PO to Data, and far, far beyond, we humans love the idea of humanoid robots. But if you want to actually get shit done with robots these days, purpose-built is the way to go. Kiva Systems and Rethink’s Baxter are two examples, but there are a growing number of robotic solutions being deployed around the world.
On TechCrunch, Laetitia Vitaud looks at “The Future Of French Robotics” and points out that reason humanoid robots are still more fanciful than functional is because of Moravec’s paradox:
What’s been known as “Moravec’s paradox” is the fact that high-level reasoning and calculation require little computation, whereas low-level sensorimotor skills require huge computational resources.
Vitaud ads:
Humanoid robots are a showcase, not a business. Robots shouldn’t be expected to look human, but to do the “hard” things their own way.
She goes on to highlight some cool examples of French robots including Balyo’s MoveBox and Stanley Robotics’ Optipark.