This multifunctional sewing machine uses color detection sensors to print new thread on-demand in any color!

The Sewing Chameleon is a multi-functional sewing machine that prints out thread on-demand in whatever color the user prefers, relying on color detection sensors and built-in ink cartridges.

These days, innovative design for home appliances boils down to convenience. Design that’s multifunctional or customizable has come through across all industries, providing everything from home furniture to stationery with a double function. Realizing the opportunity to turn the sewing machine into a multifunctional product, Minsong Cho designed the Sewing Chameleon, a sewing machine that prints out thread on-demand using built-in ink cartridges and color detection sensors.

The modern home is not about clutter. Everyday products are getting redesigned to fit in better with their environment, making their operation more user-friendly and keeping our living rooms organized. Cho’s Sewing Chameleon was conceived to cut out the hassle that comes with changing the thread in sewing machines when a different color is needed.

With traditional sewing machines, the process of swapping out the old thread for a new thread comes with its own heap of challenges–it takes a while to swap out the threads and even when you do, the new thread often gets stuck inside the machine and frays.

Solving this, Cho’s Sewing Chameleon comes with its own color detection sensors that allow users to create any color thread they’d like. All a user will need is a physical depiction of the color they’d like their thread to be and by placing that near the color detection sensors, the Sewing Chameleon will use its built-in ink cartridges to dye the new thread that color.

In addition to this multifunctional design, Sewing Chameleon comes in a neat, matte black with achromatic accents, giving it an overall look that pairs nicely with most color schemes. Users will also be able to control the Sewing Chameleon’s thread flow, needle speed, pattern, and lighting.

Designer: Minsong Cho

By turning the dial on the Sewing Chameleon, users can adjust the speed of the thread output. 

In addition to its dual function s a printer, the Sewing Chameleon comes with a control panel that allows users to control everything from thread flow to lighting. 

Coated in matte black, the Sewing Chameleon fits in nicely with any home color scheme. 

Minsong Cho spotted the trouble spots of conventional sewing machines and looked to other home appliances like coffee makers and chargers to solve them through design. 

This Robotic Thread Can Carefully Weave Itself Through Veins

While most robots use legs or wheels to move around, more and more robotic systems are adopting other kinds of locomotion. Some even wriggle around like snakes or worms. This worm-like robot is designed to maneuver through veins – which sounds scary, but could actually save lives.

Developed by a group of engineers at MIT, this extremely thin robot can make its way through twisty, turny, and narrow paths like the veins in your brain. The magnetic hyrdogel-coated robotic thread is actively-steered to its destination using a magnet to change its direction.

In theory, the tech could be used to build medical devices which smoothly wind their way through veins to perform procedures like clearing blood clots, and do it in a more controllable way than today’s techniques, which often use passive guidewires that work like a plumber’s snake, and can cause injury to delicate vessels and veins should they rub against their walls or catch a corner badly.

MIT’s thread-like robot can slip through blood vessels in your brain

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