Tag Archives: cardboard

You Could Empty This Cardboard Vending Machine with a Box Cutter

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When it comes to unusual vending machines, Japan is the place that always comes to mind first. After all, this is the country that gave us machines that vend bananas and fried chicken. But this particular vending machine isn’t notable for what it vends, but what it’s made out of.

What you’re looking at is a full-size, working vending machine that’s made primarily out of cardboard. Like other vending machines, this one dispenses canned drinks, though it offers neither refrigeration, nor does it have a coin mechanism. Instead, it has a simple push button and rubber band system that causes drinks to drop into its tray. At least it doesn’t have those stupid spiral things that snack machines like to steal your purchases with. Though I do love it when you occasionally stumble onto someone else’s misfortune and get a two-for-one deal from those coils.

The machine is set up at the offices of cardboard box company Hacomo in Kagawa City, and you can check it out in action in the Twitter post below:

It’s a cool design for sure, but I don’t think it would last very long if a soda can exploded and sprayed all over the insides of this thing, or if someone went near it with an open flame. On the other hand, it’s probably much easier to move around than a regular vending machine, and wouldn’t kill you if it fell onto you while shaking it.

If you like the idea of a cardboard vending machine, Hacomo makes a miniature desktop version that’s available for about $9 on Amazon Japan.

[via SoraNews24]

Sustainable straws that don’t get soggy and saves turtles!

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The world, as a whole, has started to care for turtles and has quickly moved on to use eco-friendly straws. The options are metal straws and paper straws. Metal straws are good for homes and for people to carry them to their office but it is an inconvenient option for eateries. So cafes and restaurants have adopted paper straws as they are easily recyclable and don’t require the effort of cleaning. However, the only problem with paper straws is that they get soggy and your drink will taste like wet paper and you might accidentally eat a bit of it – both things don’t leave a good “taste” in your mouth and can deter people from using sustainable straws. Straw Wars – sustainable products vs drinks that taste like paper, who will win?

To solve this behavioral and environmental issue a Warsaw-based company has designed a better alternative straw made with dried stems! It solves the biggest problem we face with paper straws, it does not soak the liquid and it does not add any flavor to the drink – it is true. Stem straws work for both hot and cold drinks so we can make the collective effort to reduce the impact of plastic straws on the environment. The USA alone uses 500 million straws daily so you can imagine what the total global usage would be. According to One Less Straw fund, every year, as a result of swallowing pieces of plastic debris, 100,000 marine animals and about a million seabirds are die. This is why we need to make the switch to sustainable straws, so if you keep losing your metal straw then get a pack of STRAWS which has 50 stem straws and comes in 100% recycled cardboard packaging.

The inspiration behind the STRAWS was an old childhood memory – when you visit your grandmother in the village, go out into the field, grab a spikelet and drink fresh milk through it. Those very children grew up and turned to their roots to make this ingenious sustainable product that reduces the toxic impact of plastic on our environment. The product was inspired by Slavic traditions of making decor dried stems. The wicker shapes on the packaging are called “spiders” because in centuries-old Slavic culture it is believed that “spiders” protect the houses of villagers from fires, hurricanes and other natural disasters which made it a fitting symbol for the straws protecting nature.

Designer: PG Brand Reforming

First we had DIY cardboard VR headsets, now we’ve got DIY cardboard drones!

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I love the Ahadrone kit’s DIY touch! Designed to be the “drone for everyone”, it democratizes one of the hottest (and sometimes expensive) categories in consumer electronics. With all the makings of a very capable drone, the Ahadrone is just like any other remote-controlled quadcopter, but it comes with a complete corrugated board body, allowing it to stay light, but stiff, the perfect property for a drone exterior!

Cardboard isn’t new to consumer electronics. The Google Cardboard VR headset, and the cardboard Nintendo Switch Labo kits, have both showcased paper board to be a very capable low-cost solution to plastic parts. The board serves as a great packaging material too, knocking two birds with one stone.. and while it isn’t as permanent as plastic (the Ahadrone wouldn’t last 5 minutes in the rain), with the right template, people can rebuild their own cardboard parts, either out of board, plastic sheets, or even 3D printing them!

And that’s honestly the point of the Ahadrone. It isn’t a toy, but rather is a powerful learning tool that’s also a toy. It teaches you about aerodynamics, structural design, and guides you through the process of putting together a real, flying drone from scratch. Remarkable, isn’t it?!

The Ahadrone kit is a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2019.

Designer: Srinivasulu Reddy

Circuit Scribe Drone Builder Kit is a DIY Flying Machine

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Circuit Scribe is a very cool pen that allows builders to draw conductive traces on anything that can be used to power gizmos and gadgets. Now the company has announced that it will soon launch a kit that allows DIYers to make their own drone.

The build process includes drawing the wires to the motors using the pen’s conductive silver ink. The kit uses cardboard arms to hold the motors in place, so if crashes happen, you can just cut out another set of cardboard arms and you are good. The drone is controlled via a smartphone app available for Apple and Android devices, and offers one-key takeoffs and landings.

The drone works indoors and out and has an integrated 480p video camera. It has a 150-foot communication range, but sadly it can only fly for about 3 minutes per charge. The Circuit Scribe Drone Builder kit will launch October 23 at CircuitScribe.com for $99.99.

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Smartibots do for robots what Google Cardboard did for VR

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In 2014 when Google debuted the cardboard VR headset, it changed the game, bringing VR into every home, destroying the misconception that VR was an expensive ordeal like how Oculus presented it to be. The Crafty Robot does the same with robotics, democratizing the technology and helping everyone have access to the tools to build robots that perform tasks as complex as detect objects and follow them, or as simple and pleasant as deliver your cup of tea to you.

The $40 robot comes in three types. An A.I. Bot that you can assemble using the cardboard net provided, and mount your smartphone onto. The A.I. Bot taps into your smartphone’s camera, using it to detect moving objects in its vicinity and follow or chase them around (I imagine this would be great to try on tiny pets). A Teabot (yes that’s literally what it’s called) comes with a tray that can carry anything from cups of tea to glasses of mimosas around your house, using your smartphone as a remote control. A third variant, the Unicorn bot, exists only because unicorns and robots as a combination seems like it’s destined for greatness!

The Crafty Robot’s ethos has always been to allow one to build bots from practically anything, and much like Google Cardboard or Nintendo’s Labo, it is exactly that. Low-cost materials, brought to life by creativity and electronics, the Smartibot is a wonderful STEM toy and a perfect stepping stone for people wanting to learn more about robotics. The Smartibots even allow you to build around them, combining other materials together to make much more complex bots that use LED panels, solar panels, or even are designed to look like mechas and badass automobiles using LEGO pieces. Simone Giertz would be proud!

Designer: The Crafty Robot

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Now Nintendo’s cardboard Labo controller works with ‘Mario Kart’

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If you have the Nintendo Labo cardboard Variety Kit and a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, then you can play the game in a new way. Build yourself the Toy-Con Motorbike controller, and you can use it as a steering wheel. It should work whether you're pla...