AccuVein AV300 makes IV possible even in the dark

By Damir Beciri
43 Comments26 May 2009

av300.jpgAccuVein applies advanced technologies to important healthcare challenges. AccuVein AV300 is the world’s first hand-held, non-contact vein illumination device that helps healthcare professionals locate hard-to-find veins. IV starts and blood draws (venipuncture) can be a source of patient anxiety and discomfort, and accessing veins in difficult patients can take up to 10 minutes and require… »

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s RoboSwift

By Rob Aid
25 May 2009

roboswift.jpgThe students which made RoboSwift based the project on the findings of their supervisor, David Lentink of Wageningen University. In April 2007, with several co-authors he published a about the aerodynamic properties of the swift. During its lifetime, single swift flies a distance comparable to five roundtrips to the Moon and can remain in the… »

“Five-dimensional” disks promise storage of 10TB

By Damir Beciri
24 May 2009

mediatech.jpgA team from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia said that by harnessing nanoparticles and a “polarization” dimension to existing technology, storage can be massively boosted without changing the size of a current disc. For the first time researchers from the university’s Centre for Micro-Photonics have demonstrated how nanotechnology can enable the creation of ‘five… »

Robot octopus shows great potential as an addition to mini subs

By Rob Aid
2 Comments23 May 2009

recording-beta.jpgCecilia Laschi, of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, and her colleagues are attempting to build a robot with arms that work in the same way that octopuses’ tentacles do. Having no solid skeleton, it will be the world’s first entirely soft robot. Their goal is to use the knowledge related to the principles that give… »

Panasonic Fukitorimushi scrubs the floor while you sleep

By Damir Beciri
22 May 2009

fukituromushi.jpgFukitorimushi is an autonomous floor-cleaning robot that crawls like an inchworm and uses a super-absorbent nanofiber cloth to wipe up microscopic dust and residue that ordinary vacuums leave behind. Unveiled at the recent Tokyo Fiber Senseware (page in Japanese language) exposition in Milan, Fukitorimushi (scrubbing bug) is designed by Panasonic and incorporates nanofiber technology developed… »

NASA’s version of Star Trek tricorder

By Rob Aid
21 May 2009

star_trek_tricorder-detail.jpgAstronauts on the space station have their own version of the “Star Trek tricorder” to search for signs of life, whether that life is from Earth or of extraterrestrial life as we know it. The hand held device acts as a miniature biology lab that allows space station residents to get results on a display… »

Sifteo should enhance children education and creativity

By Damir Beciri
2 Comments18 May 2009

music-against-wood-320x213.jpgImagine overturning a container of nuts and bolts, then looking through the resulting pile for a particular item or spreading photographs out on a tabletop and then beginning to sort them into piles. The Nintendo Wii remote control and Microsoft’s Surface multi-touch display have begun to change the way we interact with computers, but even… »

A step closer to Star Trek gadgets – medical scanner

By Damir Beciri
One Comment17 May 2009

8200_h.jpgComputer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a device that resembles the medical version of a “Star Trek scanner” – a smart phone-compatible ultrasound probe that can image the human body. William D. Richard, WUSTL associate professor of computer science and engineering, and David Zar, research associate in computer science and engineering,… »