A Drone That Snaps Photos, Then Folds Up and Fits In Your Pocket

It's still unclear whether drones will become the home delivery service of the future or simply another footnote in the legal system, but that hasn't slowed down the race to create high-performance drones for the average consumer.

The Kickstarter-funded Pocket Drone is a foldable, flying "multicopter" that its creators dubbed "the GoPro of drones." It's equipped with an action camera for capturing aerial photos and video and a rechargeable battery allowing for flights of up to 20 minutes. Plus, the device folds up to the size of a small tablet for portability.

"Until now, most people could not participate in this awesome new technology revolution — the cost was too great, the drones too bulky, and the software too difficult to operate," creators Timothy Reuter, TJ Johnson and Chance Roth wrote on their Kickstarter page.

The creators claim that their drone is designed for easy use: It can be unpacked and launched within 20 seconds, and is controlled by an included remote, a third-party RC controller, or from any Android phone or tablet with a USB port. Additionally, the software is open source, so intrepid developers can add their own features.

The Kickstarter campaign presents the Pocket Drone as a relatively inexpensive tool for aerial photographers and videographers, as it's cheaper than your average DSLR camera. Backers can purchase a Pocket Drone for $445 without a controller, or $495 for the full package.

The Pocket Drone campaign finishes funding on March 9, and has already raised more than $300,000, far surpassing its goal of $35,000.

Image: Kickstarter

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Self-Assembling Cubes Could Be First Step Toward Real Transformers

As the approach toward robotics in the science community has evolved over time, researchers are finding ever-more-clever ways to manipulate the physical structures and unique locomotive abilities of artificially intelligent constructs.

One particularly revolutionary new take on the modern robot is called the M-Block, a modular robot in the shape of a cube that works with an array of identical blocks to build ever-changing structures in any number of shapes.

Developed by John Romanishin, a research scientist at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, along with several colleagues, each M-Block moves thanks to an internal flywheel that can turn at up to 20,000 revolutions per minute. Once the flywheel stops in a pre-programmed direction, the momentum of the shift moves the block in that direction.

Because the M-Block has no outside moving parts, its internal locomotive dynamic makes the robot appear as if it’s being pushed by some invisible force.

On the M-Block’s exterior are a series of magnets, eight on each side of the cube, and a cylindrical magnet on each edge. This series of magnets allow each block to easily attach itself to another, regardless of the vertical or horizontal position of the blocks.

The combination of the flywheel-generated motion along with the magnetic connections allows sets of M-Blocks to constantly transform into a wide array of shapes of varying height and intricacy.

In the future, the team envisions significantly smaller versions of the self-assembling blocks that would work together so seamlessly that to the naked eye the collection of miniature blocks would look like liquid steel.


Until then, the team is working on building 100 hundred of the M-Blocks to explore the broader possibilities of how the current version of the robots can be used outside of the lab.

Image: MIT

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MeMini Is a Wearable Camera That Captures Moments After They Happen

Video can capture priceless moments — but not if you miss the shot.

meMINI is a wearable Wi-Fi-enabled camera with recall, which helps users save film-worthy moments in high-definition video after they've already come and gone.

Looping footage is captured every five seconds to five minutes. To permanently store the last recorded moment, users can press the recall button to transfer a file to cloud-based storage or the camera's internal memory. The meMINI can loop video for three continuous hours on a full charge.

What's more, users can attach the camera to their clothing via its magnetic back plates; this allows them to easily take it on the go.

An app compatible with iOS and Android can control the camera, the footage and how video is stored. It also lets users share moments they've recorded via email, social media or with the meMINI community.

meMINI co-developers Ben Bodley and Sam Lee are raising money for the device on Kickstarter. At press time, the device has already surpassed its original funding goal of $50,000.

"Technology changes—our memories should last forever," the camera's Kickstarter video explains. "Imagine if there was a device that captured our favorite moments that would otherwise be lost."

Image: MeMini

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