Tag Archives: Interactive

Man Spends $15,791 on Ultra-Realistic Dog Costume

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Because we all have dreams, and everyone’s dreams are different, a Japanese man named Toko recently spent $15,791 on an ultra-realistic Border Collie costume so he could dress up as his favorite dog breed. Hey, different strokes for different folks – that’s what my favorite high school substitute teacher Mrs. Gitland used to tell us while relating a story about how her daughter raises ostriches in Arizona.

Toko hired Zeppet Workshop, a company known for its costume work in movies and television as well as its custom furry commissions, to make the suit, which took over 40 days to construct through trial and error. According to an employee at Zeppet, “Since the structure of the [human] skeleton is very different, we spent a lot of time studying how to make it look like a dog.” Well, clearly all that studying paid off because the result is uncanny. So uncanny I’m not convinced this isn’t a dog in a human suit wearing a dog costume.

It was smart choosing a Border Collie instead of a chihuahua on account of 1) the obvious size and 2) all that extra belly fur helping to hide the fact that there’s an adult man in there who chose to spend $16,000 on a costume to look like a dog. Now just to be clear, I’m not judging – if anything I’m just jealous I don’t have the money to commission the ultra-realistic turtle costume I’ve always dreamed of.

[via 9gag]

Buff Baby Punching Bag and Dumbbell Rattle: For Tiny TKOs

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Designed and manufactured by Fred, the BUFF BABY line of products appear to be exercise equipment designed for newborns. Of course, they only look like that, with the Speed Punching Bag (affiliate link) actually being a crinkle-filled cradle toy, and the dumbbell a toy rattle. Great, I wish I’d read that before buying them, now how am I supposed to train my baby for the ultra-featherweight title?

The Speed Punching Bag clips to the handle of a baby carrier so your child can attempt to punch it, building their much-needed hand-eye coordination. Of course, the way the loop connects so loosely, it looks like it’s going to spend most of its time fallen to the side of the handle while your baby screams because their punching bag just disappeared.

Even if the BUFF BABY line isn’t actual exercise equipment, it doesn’t mean they won’t help your child pursue bodybuilding or boxing by planting the seed in their impressionable little minds. Take me for instance: my parents showered me with all sorts of outer space toys when I was a kid, and I grew up to be an astronaut. And by astronaut, I mean huge Star Trek fan. Close enough.

[via DudeIWantThat]

Skeletonics Kinetic-Energy Exoskeleton: Humans In Disguise

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Determined to win the costume contest at this year’s Halloween party? Look no further than the Skeletonics kinetic-energy powered exoskeleton – perfect for taking your Transformer costume to the next level. The next level being the 1st place pedestal at the costume contest, just so we’re clear. I can practically feel that $100 gift certificate to Spirit Halloween in my robotic hands!

Unlike some other exoskeletons, the Skeletonics relies on no outside power source, instead using a wearer’s kinetic energy to mirror their movements on a larger scale – including hand and finger movements like grasping. The whole thing stands approximately 9-feet tall and weighs only 88-pounds, making it easy to strap to the top of your car like you just bagged yourself a Decepticon.

The video demonstration really is impressive, considering the lack of an external power supply. Granted, the Skeletonics exoskeleton might not be capable of picking up a car or battling an alien queen like a Power Loader, but I really don’t want to be battling alien queens anyway – I just want to win a costume contest for once.

[via TechEBlog]

Carving and Build a Kinetic Whale Sculpture: A Whale of a Good Time

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Have you always dreamed of building your own wooden whale kinetic sculpture? Who hasn’t? It’s one of the dreams that unifies humanity. And thankfully, photographer and artist Sylvain Gautier documented the process in which he built this particular model, so you can follow along and build your own. Or fail horribly and wind up with a bunch of blood-stained kindling as I did.

There’s a six-and-a-half-minute short version of the build video (above) for those of you with some existing knowledge of carving and building who only need the basics to get started, but there’s also a 26-minute extended version (below) for those of you who need their hand held a little more. Honestly, I don’t even think a six-hour version could have helped me.

I absolutely adore stuff like this – I’m a huge fan of whimsy. As an added bonus, Sylvain created a 10-hour looping video (below) of him cranking the sculpture and the whale swimming. So relaxing. I’m four hours in, and it just keeps getting better and better.

[via GeeksAreSexy]

Plushie Skull with Hidden Organs Inside: Braaaaains!

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Apparently, existing plushies just weren’t scary enough for young children, so Uncommon Goods is selling this Giant Skull With Hidden Organs plushie. The larger-than-life skull measures approximately 10″L x 9″W x 6″H and features a removable brain, hidden inner ear and brain cell mini-plushies, and two removable pop-out eyeballs. Sweet dreams, children!

The plush also includes a card of facts about the skull and brain so you can teach your children while simultaneously scarring them for life. And isn’t that what parenthood is all about? Well, plus the free, poor-quality labor. It’s just awesome having my children do household chores so incompetently I have to do them all myself again afterwards.

They should make a whole plush skeleton with internal organs next for the full-body learning experience. Then I can hang it up in my son’s closet and remind him before bed every night that this is what happens when you don’t eat your vegetables. Father of the year over here!

HAL 9000 Garage Door Button Upgrade: I’m Sorry, Dave, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That

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Because garage door buttons are boring and demand a futuristic improvement, Instructable user danthemakerman went and created detailed DIY instructions for taking your garage door button to the next level with a 2001: A Space Odyssey-inspired HAL 9000 upgrade. “I am completely operational, and my circuits are functioning perfectly.” Are they, though, HAL, are they?

Dan’s original plan was to have the garage door be voice-activated, so he could say, “HAL open the pod bay doors,” and it would respond with the classic, “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Unfortunately, after some research, he realized that it was going to be more difficult than he anticipated without getting Amazon Alexa or Google Home Assist involved (which he was trying to avoid), so he settled for a HAL 9000 push-button garage door opener instead. Settling during projects – I know all about it.

The final result is quite impressive, and it’s almost a shame HAL 9000 has to sit in the cold garage all day and night. I’d rather have it somewhere in the home where it’s on display all the time – like in the kitchen, where I spend most of my time. You know they say most accidents at home happen in the bathroom, but clearly, whoever said that has never seen me in the kitchen.

[via Instructables]

teamLab’s mesmerizing interactive orbs of light opened our perception of the real world around us

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teamLab caught everyone’s attention at the ongoing Maison&Objet with their sensory interactive display of color-changing orbs that are sensitive to the environment around them.

Traversing us from the perceived realms of conscience into the otherworldly sensory dimension is the niche for Japan-based international art collective teamLab. Now at the Maison&Objet trade fair in Paris, we had a one-on-one experience of their spell-bounding sea of glowing ovoids. The installation dubbed Resonating Microcosms of Life – Solidified Light Color displays the connection of one ovoid to the others in the collection.

Designer: teamLab

These interactive orbs resonate 61 varying colors and sound when a human interacts with them or even if a light gust of wing moves them. When knocked down, these orbs fall back into place and emit flowing waves of colored lights and tone. When teamLab’s orbs are kept under the sun or a bright source of light, they reflect the world around them when untouched.  It’s like the mystical bioluminescence forest depicted in the movie Avatar where touching one light-emitting plant brings other plants and flowers to life – literally dancing in a hypnotic sea of light.

teamLab’s creation is akin to this very emotion. The creators describe it as a combination of five core concepts that are so close to human emotion too. These all being the Relationship with People; Relationship with Natural Phenomena; Physicality; Continuity; and New Colors. This art exhibition at the event showcases the dependence of human interaction to initiate a realization of all the natural phenomena around us.

Our YD team member Aki Yukita had a hands-on experience with this jaw-dropping show at the event, and it was impressive nonetheless. In fact, this creation by teamLab did convey the core essence of the project – to intertwine the people and the environment into one. It does give one the taste of an unseen realm where you feel a part of the whole visual extravaganza. In the end, it tunes your conscious to the magic of nature and what’s all happening around us to lead a more conscious life for a strong connection with the universe too!

The post teamLab’s mesmerizing interactive orbs of light opened our perception of the real world around us first appeared on Yanko Design.

Man Builds a Functional Tabletop Flight Simulator Out of LEGO

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Because if you can dream it, you can build it (at least with LEGO bricks), Riley of Youtube channel Brick Science wanted to build a tabletop flight simulator entirely out of LEGO. Something that would sit on the table, and you could move with functional controllers. And that’s exactly what he did.

The LEGO EV3 joystick and throttle control the plane, with the throttle making the airplane’s propeller spin faster and the joystick controlling the plane’s axis of movement. In addition to the biplane, Riley also demonstrates a helicopter and jet that also work on the flight simulator platform. Impressive! Now submit it to LEGO so they can make it an actual set you can buy!

Personally, I love flight simulators. They’re way less scary than actual flying, which is terrifying. Especially when your older brother and all his friends convince you to repeatedly jump off the roof with a pair of cardboard wings because you weren’t flapping hard enough on the previous attempt. Now that I think about it, maybe that’s where my lifelong fear of flying comes from.

[via TechEBlog]

SEGA Genesis Plush Console: Genesis Does What Nintendon’t!

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Made and sold by Kidrobot (which has been responsible for taking hundreds if not thousands of my dollars over the years), this $30 SEGA Genesis Gaming Console 12″ Interactive Plush features a soft likeness of the 1988 gaming system, complete with a detachable controller and removable Sonic the Hedgehog game cartridge. How about that! Now all I need is a plush television to complete my make-believe gaming session.

Can you use it as a pillow? Sure! Can you use it as a kid’s booster seat in the car? No. Now I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but you also shouldn’t use it as a hot plate because my soup is still cold. Maybe if I take out the cartridge and try blowing on it first…

I have fond memories of playing SEGA Genesis growing up. I also have unfond memories of accidentally plugging the SEGA CD’s power supply into the wrong port and killing it. Of course, I never told my parents that; I just pretended it stopped working, and they eventually bought a new one. Whew — thanks for letting me finally get that off my chest; it’s really been weighing on me the past 30 years.

Creepy Articulated Finger Extensions Are Nightmare Fuel

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Because why not make every day Halloween, HELIAN is selling these 3D Printed Flexible Finger Extensions on Amazon (affiliate link). The gloves feature long articulated fingers reminiscent of Freddy Krueger’s that triple the length of your existing fingers, presumably so you can reach the television remote without straining yourself. Or at least that’s how I plan on using them.

The fingers can be individually posed in any position, and if you don’t pose the middle finger flipping one of the longest birds I’ve ever seen, clearly, you’ve missed the point of these gloves entirely. Alternatively, cover the gloves with faux fur and pretend you’re a werewolf. Either way, I’ll be sure to keep my distance from the crazy person with the finger claws.

Whatever you do, if you see someone wearing a pair of finger-extending gloves, DO NOT ask for a back scratch. I made that mistake, and now I can’t even look at a fingernail without flinching – which particularly sucks because I have ten of them and spend all day typing, so my workday is pretty much just one long flinchfest now. You’d think I’d seen a ghost! Granted, I really have before, but that’s unrelated.