Tag Archives: Video

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]

Man Builds LEGO Brick Sorting Vacuum Attachment

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Because everyone has experienced the pain of stepping on a LEGO brick and cursing life itself, Matty Benedetto of Unnecessary Inventions has created the Suck It, a vacuum attachment that not only vacuums up the little plastic landmines but also sorts them based on size. Smart. Maybe not as smart as making LEGO bricks out of foam instead of plastic, but apparently, LEGO hasn’t been reading my emails.

The Suck It consists of four magnetically connected chambers separated by filters with increasingly smaller holes, so the largest pieces are caught at the top, the smallest at the bottom, and, God willing, pet hair gets sucked all the way into the vacuum.

The device actually works better than Matty anticipated, making it not such an Unnecessary Invention after all. As a matter of fact, I’d argue this is actually a Necessary Invention. Of course, the devil is probably going to buy up the patent rights and never release the Suck It to the public because he wants us all to continue to suffer.

[via TechEBlog]

Giant Marble Run Constructed from Cardboard: Start Collecting Boxes

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Marble runs: I remember constructing them as early as kindergarten with wooden block sets. Those were simpler times. And to think back then, all I wanted to do was grow up and be an adult already. What a mistake that was. But enough about a life of regret, this is a video of Marble Run Machine 37 Spin-Off constructed by marble maniac and YouTuber B-dama Friend almost entirely out of cardboard and a dream.

I estimate the marble run to be made out of approximately 98% cardboard and 400% glue. Those also happen to be two of my own favorite building supplies. Throw duct tape in the mix, and you have the holy trinity of all my do-it-yourself projects. I wonder if, during its construction, he ever accidentally glued a piece to his hand like I always do.

The machine releases green, red, yellow, and blue marbles in order and diverts them along different paths throughout the run with spinners so that by the time they reach the bottom, they’re dropped into trays consisting of only their own color. How about that! For comparison, whenever I built marble runs, I was lucky to have a marble reach the bottom at all unless it jumped out of the track at the very top.

[via The Awesomer via Laughing Squid]

This origami engineered chess board unfolds in the most oddly-satisfying way. Watch the video!

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We can’t stop watching the magnetic and compact chess board’s video. It has self-centering and stores all the pieces securely. The chess pieces are as custom as well functionally tactile just like the board’s clever underlying mechanism. You can “feel” the center of each square on the solid walnut playing surface. Most importantly, the pieces remain arranged while the set pivots into its playing configuration.

The designers explain, “Weighing in at almost eight pounds, the LE1 set carries a solid walnut playing surface in a precision-machined, black-anodized aluminum chassis. Four integrated panels are joined using brushed stainless steel hardware in an origami-inspired mechanism that can dynamically transition between storage, setup, and playing states. Self-centering on the playing surface and securely stored piece trays, our custom magnetic chess pieces are CNC machined from solid blocks of Dymalux, a resin-infused birch laminate normally reserved for high-touch objects like knife handles, jewelry, and pistol grips. The force of their magnetic base is subtle, leaving play uninterrupted and feeling more like additional piece weighting. Thanks to the set’s single degree of freedom playing configuration which is constrained by its planar resting surface, even with its cantilevered corners, it feels as solid and square as the surface below it.”

“I’ve heard that the Knight is a good measure of the quality of a chess set. Having acquired an impractical number of wooden chess pieces over the last two years, I can confidently say that the level of detail we’ve managed to achieve with our CNC-machined Dymalux Knights is unparalleled amongst other wood pieces. Muscle tone, eyebrows, nostrils, a flowing mane, you can even look this gift horse in its tiny little mouth. Not to be outdone, the Kings are topped off with polished stainless steel crosses. All of these features withstand handling thanks to the impressive durability of Dymalux’s resin-infused birch laminate. No wonder it’s normally used for knife handles, pistol grips, and wood jewelry.”

 Each piece is CNC machined from a solid block of Dymalux, a resin-infused birch laminate normally reserved for high-touch objects like knife handles, jewelry, and pistol grips for maximum shelf life and durability. The force of the magnetic base is subtle, leaving play uninterrupted and feeling more like additional piece weighting. It must literally be therapeutic for Monica Geller, a Virgo, or someone who loves staying organized to pack this set up after a match!

Designer: Degrees of Freedom

Click Here to Buy Now!









The post This origami engineered chess board unfolds in the most oddly-satisfying way. Watch the video! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This immensely lightweight glider with wings of water can fly like the real thing. Watch the video!

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While the wheel of innovation is moving toward powerful motors, electric drivetrains and high-efficiency fuels; a simple instructable water-winged glider puts us back to think how simple things can make a big difference. This is a plastic-based 3D printed glider plane that works with the help of soap and water.

The innovative DIY project of an advanced glider is only a toy for the physics class, but its small form factor, 3D printing makeover and significant flight range make it more than just an experiment. Going forward, the design may not have any commercial significance, but it’s an interesting project for someone beginning to get his hands dirty on a 3D printer. The 3D file to replicate this creation is not available, but if you have some experience, you should be able to figure out the process from the video above.

For the others, this is a small plastic plane featuring wings and a large tail with wide openings. The frame when dipped in a mixture of water and washing liquid, a thin film (like soap bubble) is created in the openings, which then allows this ultra-thin creation to glide to a fair distance. As seen in the video, it can fly for pretty long distances without faulting.

This visually enticing glider is one of the three iterations by viral video lab. The YouTube channel tried out with a smaller version before migrating to this advanced glider. It also has a historical inspiration in the ranks – a water-winged glider based on the DFS SG 38 Schulgleiter, which was designed back in 1938 as a training glider for basic flight training.

Designer:  Viral Video Lab

Wings made out of Water – Advance Glider





Wings made out of Water – Beginner Glider





Wings made out of Water – SG 38 Historical Glider





The post This immensely lightweight glider with wings of water can fly like the real thing. Watch the video! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This seat designed for shared transportation will upgrade your commute to first class. Watch the video!

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A unibody, swappable, easy to clean seating design made for the Honda Kaibun project is giving us all the VIP feels. Honda Kaibun is a conceptual autonomous vehicle design that aimed to maximize the interior space and minimize the manufacturing cost & environmental impact.

There are two models depending on trip distance and this seat is made to fit both. The two-passenger module has leaner seats and individual control screens, as well as an extendable auxiliary table to maximize space. The idea was to create something clean, inspired by the seats in airplanes. The interior of the vehicle is divided into two pods and the divider is inspired by a Japanese panel. The layout is comfortable enough for passengers to extend legs thanks to the cabin layout designed around the wheel arches of the car as well as the design of the seat. While it is designed for small-distance shared transportation, these seats can be implemented for long-distance bus and train travel too. It would significantly improve the experience and encourage more people to take public/shared transportation!

Designer: Rodrigo Magro Mañas

Popcorn Monsoon exhilarates your senses – visually, aesthetically and with sound. Watch the video!

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Popcorn Monsoon does exactly what the name says – makes it rain popcorn! Everyone’s favorite movie theater snack that has also been a food staple for thousands of years finally gets the aesthetic machine upgrade it deserves. While the ancient Peruvians didn’t douse it with salt and butter like we do today, the process of heating kernels till they burst fluffy – whether using hot oil or heated air – has remained relatively the same. Carlier hasn’t invented anything but her Orville Redenbacher meets Alessi popcorn machine certainly makes the process of air popping (the healthiest method, mind you!) more colorful, playful, and dramatic! You can use a pot, foil-covered pan, specialty popper, microwave bag, or an air popper but the joy of hearing those mini Big Bang sounds remains the same.

“The drawings with which this project started were made to create a world of pure imagination that still makes sense in this one. Starting with shape and color makes a design process playful, later on, a surprising yet suitable function can be found and in this case, it translated into a popcorn machine. Like any other functional product, it had to be conceptualized and constructively thought through. Most popcorn machines are very dull and you can’t see the action – that’s what this machine blows up (literally!),” says Carlier. Add the kernels via a small cork-topped funnel, they will be heated up in cyclonic action, and eventually pour down like joyful, crunchy, edible rain!

Designer: Jolene Carlier

Did you know you could make complex rotating gears with just magnets?! Watch to see how they work!

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You see gears in action and they’re pretty easy to fathom. Metal wheels with interlocking teeth – rotate one wheel and the other wheel rotates in the opposite direction. Change the size of one wheel and it affects the speed at which the other wheel rotates. That’s basically how any simple gearbox on an automobile/bicycle works, translating rotations from a motor or your feet into rotating wheels. What happens when you replace the teeth with magnets? The video above wonderfully explains how gears can work without the mechanical action of interlocking teeth… in fact, they can work without even touching each other! These magnetic gears are pretty interesting and whimsical to look at!

DIY Magnetic Gears Video

YouTuber Magnetic Games shows how these gears work by putting them together from scratch. With 3 3D-printed wheels, the apparatus comes to life. One wheel holds 32 magnets (16 on each side), while the other houses 8 magnets (4 on each side). A third stationary wheel comes with bolts attached in each hole (helping the magnetic attraction pass from one wheel to another), and the apparatus is set up with the wheels on a common axle.

DIY Magnetic Gears Video

Rotating one wheel causes the other to turn in the opposite direction. The wheel with more magnets rotates at a slower pace, while the wheel with less magnets rotates with a higher speed (sort of like a larger gear and smaller gear). Obviously, the magnetic resistance isn’t comparable to the physical resistance of metal gears (you couldn’t really use these in a car or bicycle), but it DOES highlight a unique relationship between gears and magnets – something I knew nothing of until now! Plus, think about it this way, less physical contact = less wear-and-tear…

DIY Magnetic Gears Video

DIY Magnetic Gears Video

Via TheAwesomer

Wood becomes fluid using the DIY wood-carving technique in this sculpture. Watch the video!

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People usually see a beautiful piece of material, an artist sees the unleashed potential it holds. That is what I believe designer Dan Nguyen’s motto must be every time he looks at the material of his choice – the humble block wood and turns it into fluid and soft piece of art.

Ironic by design, the San Diego based artist takes this hard material and transforms them into massive wood sculptures that hold soft ripples and folds. Nuge’s process begins with sketching out the ripples that are followed by wood cutting and then smoothing it out, till you have this flowing expanse of wood that immediately provides visual calmness to your interiors. To hear it in Nuge’s own words, “The art that I create today, in essence, is a rebellion to my architectural background. I create organic forms out of wood that is in stark contrast to the hard lines and rigid nature of architecture. My work is about flow, energy, and human connection. It is because of these elements that I have a heavy emphasis for creating everything by hand.”

Art is an extension of the artist’s imagination and their dedication to bringing that design to life. “In a world where technology is integrated into every part of our lives feeding us instant gratification, there is a beauty to being able to produce something heartfelt with my hands. This method requires enormous patience but also allows me to revisit my work daily. I massage the surface into place in a way that could not be experienced behind a computer screen. The energy can be felt when my soul is poured into my work.” And it is this energy+soothing presence you feel when you watch Nuge at work!

Designer: Dan Nguyen for L&G projects contemporary art

Google’s Project Starline is redefining how we video-chat by using 3D capturing and holograms

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Probably spurred by the way the pandemic absolutely upended social communications, Google unveiled Project Starline today at its I/O 2021 event – a one-of-a-kind teleconferencing system that ditches the camera and screen for something much more advanced. Dubbed as a ‘magic window’, Project Starline creates a lifelike hologram of the person you’re chatting with. Rather than interacting with a 2-dimensional representation of them, Starline makes it feel like you’re in a chatting booth with a real person sitting behind a sheet of glass… and it’s all thanks to incredibly complex 3D scanning, imaging, and AI recognition technology.

The video does a pretty standup job of explaining how Project Starline basically works. Instead of two parties staring at their phone screens, Starline’s video-booth allows people to interact with each other via rather futuristic holograms. It literally feels like having the opposite person right in front of you, and the 3D hologram can be viewed from multiple angles for that feeling of ‘true depth’.

The technology Google is currently using is far from anything found in regular consumer tech. According to WIRED, Project Starline’s video booth uses an entire slew of depth sensors to capture you and your movements (while an AI isolates you, the foreground, from the background). 3D video is then sent to a “light field display” that lets the viewer see a complete 3D hologram of the person they’re talking to. In a demo video, people using the tech describe how lifelike the experience is. It’s “as if she was right in front of me,” one person says.

Project Starline is still in an incredibly nascent stage. It uses highly specialized (and ridiculously expensive) equipment, and it hasn’t even been cleared for sale by the FCC yet, which means we’re potentially years away from being able to chat with 3D holograms of each other. There’s even the question of how our existing internet connections could support this dense and heavy image transfer – after all, you’re not video chatting, you’re 3D chatting. Notably, the tech also seems to work only with one-on-one chats (there’s a small snippet of a 3-person chat although the third person’s a baby) and group chats seem a bit like a stretch for now. However, if the demo is as real as the Google Duplex demo we saw a few years back (where an AI booked a reservation at a salon via phone call), Project Starline might have completely reinvented video chats. Can’t wait for a day when smartphones have this technology within them!

Designer: Google