Tag Archives: machines

This is the Modem World: The warm embrace of the machine

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Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

This is the Modem World The warm embrace of the machine

My glasses are about 5 years old. I realized last week that it's probably high time to replace them. Besides, I needed a new contacts prescription and, for all I know, my eyes have completely changed in those short five years. It's also important to mention that my glasses look like they're about 5 years old, so yeah, it was time.

I pulled up Yelp and sought out an optometrist in the area who accepted my form of vision insurance. I made my appointment online. I received an email confirmation shortly after. The day before the appointment, I received a robo-call reminding me of the time and location.

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Man Makes Fascinating Machines Inside Wine Glasses

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For no other reason than the fact that it’s awesome, a Polish man by the name of Szymon Klimek hand-makes some wonderfully intricate machines… inside wine glasses. It’s a little like those boats that people build right inside bottles, except Klimek’s machines are fully functional. Well, functional in the sense that they move, but they don’t actually do anything useful. The above is his latest, called Sponge.

Made from 0.1 millimeter sheets of brass and bronze, Klimek’s miniature machines dance effortlessly in wine-glass enclosures that measure little more than 4 inches across. Klimek’s latest creation, Sponge, is a steam engine-like machine named for the latticework of tiny, interconnected brass pieces that expands and contracts as the engine runs. Sitting in a wine glass about a foot tall, a small silicon solar cell powers a concealed electric motor, which drives the 3-inch flywheel. He doesn’t work to a specific scale, but customizes his designs for each glass: the opening of Sponge’s wine glass and the diameter of its flywheel differed by less than a millimetre

He started this hobby back in 2004 and since 2008 has created 9 “active devices”, which you can find on his website. Links to that plus a cool video of the Sponge in action after the break.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ NoPuedoCreer ]


Suzumo SushiBot pumps out 300 Kwik-E-Mart rolls per hour (video)

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We tend to avoid scooping up sushi whenever there's no chef in sight -- at, say, a grocery store, or a gas station -- but we've always assumed there was a human cranking out maki somewhere behind the scenes. If Suzumo's SushiBot makes it to the production line, that may no longer be the case. The compact machine doesn't exude beauty in the traditional sense, but what it lacks in elegance it easily makes up with efficiency. The contraption can plop down rice clumps for nigiri at a rate of 3,600 per hour, and -- perhaps even more impressively -- it can construct one complete sushi roll every 12 seconds, with some human assistance to place fish on the rice. We tend to like the imperfect handmade feel of the traditional Japanese delight, and we're surely not alone, so don't expect to see one these pop up in your neighborhood Asian eatery. Supermarkets, hospitals and airline caterers may be more likely to pick up a SushiBot, however. Hungry? Intrigued? Roll past the break to see how it works.

Continue reading Suzumo SushiBot pumps out 300 Kwik-E-Mart rolls per hour (video)

Suzumo SushiBot pumps out 300 Kwik-E-Mart rolls per hour (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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