Gadgets ! What's Next

A speech recognition system (HM2007) was connected to an Innovation FIRST controller board, and they both where mounted on an old electric wheel chair. Some 12 Sensors were also mounted on the chair for detecting Stairs, obstacles and slops. The man on the chair speaks to a microphone, and the HM2007 recognizes the word and sends its code to the FIRST microcontroller. The C code on the FIRST controller receives the code from the HM2007 and the data from the sensors, and after processing it all together the controller outputs two voltage that tell the chair controller where and how fast to go.

The chair also got an EMIC text-to-speech module. This module vocally speaks out warnings to the man on the chair.

This Robotic Exoskeleton by Sarcos has been in development for many years, it still requires a tether but when it will be completely stand alone when it is released.

It seems like companies are always looking for new and innovative ways to advertise. Sure, in the old days they could get away with the usual ads in magazines and on TV and radio. However, these days you’ll see advertisements in movies, video games, on your coffee cups and just about anywhere you can imagine. One area that is largely untapped is the sky. However this device aims to change that.

We’ve all seen the Goodyear blimp hovering over sporting events, but thats really all we see in the way of sky-high advertisements. This machine churns out a logo made of specially formulated soap bubbles. These floating logos (called Flogos) range from 24 to 48 inches in size, and will hold their shape for a great distance. Depending on weather conditions they can travel 20-30 miles and reach altitudes of 20,000 feet. Environmentalists need not worry, these bubbles are 100% safe.