Tag Archives: bug
Infinity Ward disables all ‘Warzone’ vehicles after game-breaking bug emerges
Instagram will fix bug that mistakenly shows camera as ‘on’ in iOS 14
Think a GoPro on Your Dog Is Cool? How About Video Cameras on Beetles?
Strapping a GoPro onto your pet can result in some pretty amusing video footage. But what if you prefer insects to mammals? There’s no way you could fit a regular action camera onto one of those, unless it’s one of those giant bird-eating spiders you find in South America maybe. Now, thanks to the miracles of modern science and technology, we have a video camera that’s tiny enough to attach to a beetle.
Photo: Mark Stone – University of Washington
Researchers from the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, working under a fellowship grant from Microsoft have come up with a miniature camera that weighs just 250 milligrams. That makes it light enough to be carried by some sturdier insects, including the death-feigning beetle and a pinacate beetle.
Photo: Mark Stone – University of Washington
The teensy camera unit includes an image sensor, processing circuitry, a Bluetooth transmitter, and a battery. But given the size limitations, its image quality isn’t very good at this point, capturing low resolution greyscale images at a very low frame rate. It streams images at somewhere from 1 to 5 frames per second, with a 160 x 120 resolution, and is capable of being remotely steered so a wider field of view can be observed.
The research team also developed a tiny, 2cm long robot that can also carry a steerable camera, which has the potential to reduce robot power consumption needs, since it doesn’t need to move the whole robot to survey a scene. I can only imagine the potential for building tiny camera robots that look like insects to carry out espionage.
If you’re interested in learning more about the beetle-cam, the full research paper is available from Science Robotics.
[via Gizmodo]
HAMR Jr. Is a Tiny Robot Insect Less Than an Inch Long
As the miniaturization of electronic and electromechanical components continues to improve, so does the ability for engineers to create tiny robots. I recently came across this miniature robot that’s roughly the width of a U.S. penny, but is capable of relatively complex movements.
Researchers at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences along with the Wyss Institute for Biologically-inspired Engineering developed the HAMR-Jr, a robotic little dude that can easily fit in the palm of your hand – and tickle it while it skitters about.
The quadrupedal microrobot measures just 2.25 cm long – or about 0.88 inches, and weighs only 320 mg. Despite its size, it has eight degrees of freedom, each of which can be actuated independently using piezoelectric components. When electricity is applied to its parts, they vibrate, and when used in the proper combination, they allow the robot to walk, run, leap, and turn. This guy is also crazy fast, capable of traversing a distance 13.9 times its body length in just a second.
Thanks to its pop-up style MEMS assembly process, the design of the HAMR platform makes it possible to build versions of the robot in a variety of sizes, without major changes to its fabrication. In fact, the team had previously built a cockroach-sized version of the robot, which you can see in the image and video above for size comparison. In theory, this technique could be used to produce robots for all kinds of uses, from medical to industrial applications
[via designboom]
Image bricks some Android phones when used as wallpaper
Apple fixed the bug that prevented some iOS apps from opening
Edison Mail iOS bug showed messages intended for other people
Toss a Giant Crochet Spider on Your Couch
Most spiders are actually good for the environment, wiping out a wide variety of pests, including many that carry diseases. Still they’re pretty creepy looking, and the bigger they are, the scarier these eight-legged insects can be. But if you absolutely love spiders, then maybe you should get a gigantic one that you can toss around the couch amongst your throw pillows.
If you’re looking for something fun to do with your spare time, get out the yarn and knitting needles, and knit yourself a giant spider! MyTwinsCrochetNL sells a crochet pattern that makes a massive 20″ diameter spider that’s sure to get a rise out of anyone you toss it onto.
Since this is a DIY spider, you can make it in any color you want. So if you like the idea of a fiery orange spider or a lime green spider, that’s cool.
Unfortunately, if you don’t know how to crochet, you’re out of luck, because they’re only selling the pattern files. But if you have the skills to pull it off, you can get started for just about $10 for the pattern, then about 500 grams of acrylic yarn. They offer patterns in US English, UK English, German, and Dutch, because the giant bugs know no borders.
[via Oddity Mall]