Tag Archives: Future Tech

Building A Drone Umbrella: The Future Of Staying Dry

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In the future, will we all have drone umbrellas autonomously follow us, hovering just above our heads to shelter us from the rain? Maybe! But Youtuber I Build Stuff couldn’t wait for the future, so he took matters into his own hands and constructed his own drone umbrella. While this one doesn’t autonomously follow its user, it’s certainly a step in the right direction. That step being one out of the rain, just to be clear.

After hand drawing the design, I Build Stuff then reproducing it in CAD, and the parts were 3D printed. The design is a large quadrocopter, with each rotor on a long arm to allow enough space for an umbrella to fit between them.

The design works well, although it appears any amount of wind causes the umbrella to quickly start drifting away. And rain and wind DO go hand in hand. With enough interest in the project, I Build Stuff says he’ll add a camera to the dronebrella and write the code to track his movement so it can autonomously follow him. This will also help the drone compensate for wind by trying to constantly stay above him. That’s a good idea. Another good idea? Adding some safety cages around those spinning blades right above your head.

[via TechEBlog]

World’s First 3D Printed Edible Eel: Sushi Ready

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Hot on the heels of 3D-printed salmon comes the world’s first 3D-printed eel, made by Steakholder Foods using its line of 3D meat printers. Its current iteration of eel is plant-based, but it plans to ethically harvested eel cells and cultivate them once “economies of scale allow for price-competitive cell development.” These are fascinating times for the sushi industry!

SteakHolder’s printing process involves printing alternating layers of varied textures to as closely resemble the meat it’s printing as possible. So, it’s not just a solid block of the same texture and flavor. Its printing technology also allows the company to produce meat alternatives using significantly fewer ingredients than others currently on the market.

Above: A filet of grouper being printed.

SteakHolder Foods CEO Arik Kaufman says, “The launch of our printed eel marks a pivotal moment in the seafood industry…This technology is designed to enable partners to generate products on a potential industrial scale of hundreds of tons monthly, not only at lower costs compared to wild eel, but also with the flexibility to create a variety of printed products using the same production line.”

Would you eat 3D-printed eel? I would. As a matter of fact, I want some right now. Ideally, laid atop some rice with wasabi and soy sauce on the side. Great, now I want sushi. But I just had Mexican! I suppose I still have a little room…

[via TechEBlog]

Unitree’s ‘Affordable’ Humanoid Robot Tackles Uneven Terrain Without Tripping

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Billed as a much more affordable humanoid robot than others coming to market, Unitree’s H1 Evolution V2.0 humanoid is now available for sale at a cost of just $89,000. I say ‘just’ because most others will cost significantly more. At least not for anything besides immortal life, and even then, I’d try to get the wizard down to $600 or $700.

In the video, the robot demonstrates its ability to autonomously tackle unknown and uneven terrain without falling, thanks to its “LIVOS-MID360 3D LiDAR system and Intel RealSense D435i depth camera for real-time acquisition of high-precision spatial data to achieve panoramic scanning.” But will it be able to dodge a rolled bowling ball? I only ask because I live close to a bowling alley and could access a lot of ammo in the event of a robot uprising.

The H1 Evolution 2.0 weighs in at just over 100 pounds and is advertised as “the world’s first full-sized general purpose humanoid robot that can run in China.” But can it run other places as well? That’s the question. And if it can run in the United States, how fast can it actually run, because I may need to start a cardio regimen if I’m going to survive the robot apocalypse.

[via TechEBlog]

Super Mario 64 Reimagined as First Person VR Game for Quest 3

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Redditor yeldellmedia recently showed off footage showing what a first-person version of Super Mario 64 might look like using the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality system. It looks like a good time. Will Nintendo actually make a VR version of a Mario game? Probably not until they develop their own VR headset, and it becomes the must-have but impossible-to-get toy for like three Christmases in a row.

In the video on Reddit, you can see the player in front of Princess Peach’s castle wandering around and interacting with objects, including Mario’s hat. Unfortunately, in its current state, not all of the in-game objects are interactive yet, so it’s more just imagining what the game might look like.

Would I live in a virtual reality version of the Mushroom Kingdom? There’s no question. Of course, they would need to mod the game further to include a snack bar and toilet in every other level so I don’t forget to eat and go to the bathroom in real life. Otherwise, I might find myself crouching over a warp pipe to do my business, and knowing my luck, it would be a pipe inhabited by a piranha plant.

[via Reddit]