Prototype

While we’ve covered many developments in the field of prosthetics, such high-tech advances are beyond the reach of those in the developing world where the rates of amputation due to war are highest. Now U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Afghanistan have developed a simple prototype prosthetic leg that can be constructed using local resources to allow the victims of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and land mines to get back on their feet quickly and cheaply. Read More

Created by New Zealand-based designer Richard Clarkson, the Rotary Mechanical Smartphone is a one-of-a-kind device that has all the features of a regular smartphone, but it resembles a vintage rotary dial telephone. It represents an attempt at combining digital technologies and physical, mechanical systems, thus making cutting edge technology more tangible. The phone comes with two interchangeable brass dials (a rotary one and a numeric keypad), along with a copper body and a small LCD screen. Richard did not confine himself just to the concept, but actually built a prototype of his invention. Read More

AeroVironment, the California-based company behind the largest, highest and longest flying unmanned aircraft system (UAS), the Global Observer, has now achieved a remarkable technical milestone with a much smaller aircraft. With its "Nano Hummingbird" the company has for the first time achieved controlled precision hovering and fast-forward flight of a two-wing, flapping wing aircraft that carries its own energy source and relies only on its flapping wings for propulsion and control. Read More

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have attracted a lot of attention as a result of their use in Iraq and Afghanistan, but IEDs are used by guerillas and terrorist groups in many parts of the world, including Colombia. Being sensitive to the problem of IEDs, two Colombian doctoral students from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) set about looking for a way to explode such devices at a distance. In collaboration with two Colombian Universities the EPFL students developed a device that can explode IEDs remotely by using energy from their electromagnetic impulses. Read More

A television host and an engineer from Germany have completed an almost 5,000 km (3,107 mile) journey across Australia in their Wind Explorer, a lightweight electric vehicle powered by the wind – not only through electricity-generating wind turbines but also using kites. The pioneering 18-day trip by Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer set three world records – the first time a continent has been crossed be a wind-powered vehicle, the longest overall distance covered by an exclusively wind-powered land vehicle, and the longest distance covered by such a vehicle in 36 hours. Read More

When it comes to local emission-free transport its hard to beat a child’s pedal car. But if you’re looking to give your kid’s ride a little more grunt while still maintaining some green cred then Audi’s Auto Union Type C e-tron study should fit the bill. The prototype vehicle, which will be on show at the 62nd International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, is based on the UKP10,000 (approx. US$15,900) limited-edition pedal car model sold through Audi dealers, but adds an electric motor that can propel the vehicle to speeds of up to 18.64 mph (30 km/h). Read More

Because conventional photovoltaic panels produce electricity directly from sunlight, the energy they generate must either be used as it is produced or stored – either in batteries or by using the electricity to produce a fuel that acts as a storage medium for the energy. Now U.S. and Swiss researchers have developed a prototype device that directly converts the Sun’s rays into fuels that can be stored, allowing the energy to be used at night or transported to locations where it is needed. Read More

Nissan might not be planning on putting all its electric eggs in one basket with the upcoming LEAF. This week the company unveiled its “NISSAN New Mobility CONCEPT’ that takes the form of an ultra-compact 100 percent electric vehicle designed as a convenient mode of transportation for the increasing numbers of the elderly and single person households and also addresses the trend of driving short distance or in smaller groups. Read More

engadget has published the first unofficial pics of what appears to be the much-rumored PlayStation phone, which looks like the result of mating a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 with a PSP Go. Read More