Innovation Videos :: IdeaConnection

Computer Picks Faces Out of the Crowd

The "Questionable Observer Detector", developed by scientists from Notre Dames, is able to recognize when the same person seems to show up suspiciously often at crime scenes.

Monkeys Learn Virtual Control

Researchers at Duke University have trained monkeys to control a virtual reality hand, which could lead to the development of prostheses that can go beyond receiving information from the brain and actually send sensory information to the the brain.

Invisibility Cloak Utilizes Mirage Effect

A new invisibility cloaking device, which works best underwater, uses carbon nanotubes combined with the light bending mirage effect and can be turned on and off with a flick of a switch.

Acoustic Alarm Clock Picks Out a Tune

The Acoustic Alarm was designed with the clock in the back and an acoustic melody played by a motorized pick that can be customized by the user simply by adjusting the tuning pegs.

Video Made by Reading the Mind

Jack Gallant, a neuroscientist at U.C. Berkeley, has recently released the results of his attempt to reconstruct an video through brain scans of a person who has watched it- a form of neural decoding.

Free Range Fish Farm

Underwater fish pods drift in ocean eddies and offer an alternative to fish farming, reducing waste and chemical usage while raising healthier fish.

KwickScreen Hospital Privacy Screen

The KwickScreen can extend the space in the ER or recovery rooms and is an improvement over existing hospital screens, using glass fiber tubes to provide flexibility and stability while still remaining lightweight and portable.

Eyeborg

Rob Spence, also known as Eyeborg, had his eye replaced with a camera a few years ago, and has recently released a video about prostheses commissioned by video game maker Square Enix to promote their new game, Deux Ex: Human Revolution.

Robodance 5 Help Makes Telepresence Obtainable

The Robodance 5 telepresence robot allows consumers the opportunity to own an affordable audio and video streaming mobile robot, and the 'Emotive' headset can detect head and facial movements, enabling hands free operation.

Revolights Light the Road for Bikers

Bike lighting safety has taken a turn for the better with Revolights- rim mounted LED's that illuminate the area in front of the tires as well as the sides and back of the wheels, allowing for better visibility for the rider and an easier to spot biker for vehicle drivers.

Wind Cubes Concept Brings Wind Power to Homes

The Wind Cube modular home wind power concept uses three dimensional wind fields with retractable blades and is designed to fit on the walls or roofs of residences.

3D Printing Demonstration

Follow along with an explanation of the 3D printing process of a crescent wrench at one of the world's leading manufacturers of 3D printers, Z Corporation.

Unlimited Detail Builds Virtual Environments With Virtual Atoms

The yet to be actually verified graphics technology Unlimited Detail uses point-cloud construction to create incredibly detailed virtual environments by building the environment from a infinite number of 3-D virtual atoms much in the same way as the physical world.

Motoring Away from Rare Earth Materials

Japanese researchers have developed a switched reluctance motor that does not use a permanent magnet and so requires no rare earth materials at all, which could help to reduce the cost of electric vehicles.

Window to the World

The Window to the World by Toyota turns the back seat car window into a see through touch screen, allowing the passenger to use their finger to draw objects, learn about the objects they see, and have the names of the objects translated into other languages.

PR2 Provides More Independence to Paraplegic Man

While new robotic technologies have created robots that can sing, order scones, and pretend to be babies, the Robots For Humanity project has been focusing on developing robots that can help with more simple, and necessary tasks- such as allowing a paraplegic man to shave himself for the first time in 10 years.

3D Solar Sand Sculptures

The Solor Sinter project by Markus Kayser creates 3D glass objects by using a solar-powered 3D printer and the abundance of Saharan desert sand.

Gesture-controlled Quadrotor

Using Kinect sensors, you can control the flight of a flying machine that obeys your every flick of the wrist.

Plastic Money

Canada's new polymer bills present new challenges to forgers, with its transparent text, raised ink, frosted windows, metallic areas, and hidden numbers.

Moving Platforms

Who needs a train station when you transfer trains by using a moving platform?

Less Expensive Swarming Robots

Tiny Kilobot robots can be made for less than $14 each, which will make it more cost efficient for researchers to study the swarming abilities of tiny robots without needing to rely solely on computer simulations or small groups of robots.

Robotic Hand Relocates Semi-Solids Without Disturbance

The SWITL robotic hand was originally designed to be able to pick up and relocate sol-gel materials, such as bakery production line materials, without changing their shape in any way, and is now being used to package meats and other difficult to handle sol-gel products.

Kinect Cart Makes Shopping Easier

Developed by Luis de Matos with wheelchair users in mind, the wi-GO motorized cart uses a Kinect sensor and a laptop to track and follow the wheelchair user through the store, making shopping a much less daunting task.

Treebot Tree Climbing Robot

The tree climbing Treebot was created by two designers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong to adapt to unusual paths through visual sensors, enabling it to tackle climbing tasks that could be dangerous for humans.

Combination Wheelchair/Recumbent/Sport Bike

By switching between high and low modes, the WISB hand bike can become a recumbent bike, sport bike, and wheelchair, allowing users with limited or no leg function to easily transition between modes.

Neurostimulator Allows Man to Stand

A paralyzed man has been able to stand on his own for four minutes with the help of neurostimulator, which was able to stimulate the lower spinal cord in the same way the brain sends signals to control muscle movements.

Copter Robot

A new robot developed at the University of Minnesota's Center for Distributed Robotics is able to move about on the floor as well as take off like a helicopter, opening the door for more agile sentry robots.

Debris Tunneling Robot

A new robot, inspired by the sandfish lizard, uses its wedge shaped head to move through a granular medium, and could prove valuable as a rescue robot at disaster sites.

Recon Pirate Fighting Robot

A new version of the Throwbot can be fired from a cannon, where it can stick to the side of a ship, scale up the hull to the deck, and crawl on board to begin beaming video footage back to its handlers.

GoQBot Rolling Robot

GoQBot rolling robots mimic how caterpillars 'ballistically' fire and roll themselves away from predators.

Ants- Not Just for Biting Anymore

The amazing ability of fire ants to form intricate patterns similar to a Gore-Tex fabric, as well as behave like a liquid or a raft, is inspiring a host of biomimicry ideas.

Da Vinci Robot Laces Football

The Da Vinci robot, known for its ability to perform delicate surgery, is also able to astound us humans with its ability to complete less life saving tasks, such as lacing a football.

Kinect Controlled Easy Chair

This Kinect controlled lounge chair is able to be controlled with the wave of the passenger's hand.

Geminoid Robot Summit

Three of the world’s most lifelike Geminoid robots met with their human counterparts last month at ATR in Nara, taking robot technology to all new, slightly freaky level.

Computer Auto Logs On and Off

Designed with physicians in mind, the ProxAccess system uses wireless badges to allow a user to automatically sign in when they approach a computer equipped with the system.

Energy From Water

MIT scientist Daniel Nocera has discovered that adding an artificial cobalt and phosphate coated silicon leaf to water splits the hydrogen from the oxygen molecules and generates power more efficiently than solar panels.

Kinect Hack for Visually Impaired

As part of a project to help the visually impaired navigate more effectively indoors, engineers from the University of Konstanz in Germany have wired a helmet-mounted Kinect sensor to a computer in a backpack, a vibrating belt, and a bluetooth headset that provides verbal feedback.

Robot Won't Be Ignored

A new robot developed at Georgia Tech's Socially Intelligent Machines lab can tell when it's being ignored and subtly get a person's attention, a step toward enabling robots to use social cues and interact more effectively with people.

More Human Robot

Georgia Tech researchers are developing robots that move in a more human-like fashion, which they believe will allow for better communication and interaction between robots and people.

Robotic Stroke Rehabilitation

The LOPES (LOwer-extremity Powered ExoSkeleton) project from Netherlands researchers is intended to assess motor skills and help teach stroke victims how to walk again.

Better Human-Computer Thought Interface

The brain-computer interface developed by a team of researchers from École Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne uses statistical analysis to learn to read the user's mental intentions, allowing the person to mentally relax and execute secondary tasks while controlling the unit.

Innovation VIDEOS