Cookie Dunker keeps the cookie fixed in place and electrically raises the glass of milk to meet it. An infrared remote shaped like a milk carton controls a 3D-printed scissor lift, slowly lifting the glass until the milk reaches the waiting cookie.
A linear actuator drives the lift. Creator Chanyanuch Charoensuk describes the project as inspired by Chindogu and deliberate over-engineering.
The cookie could move a few centimeters, but instead the machine lifts the whole glass of milk. Dunking a snack has acquired stage machinery.
T1 is a robot that can transform itself between humanoid and robot-dog forms. It normally moves upright using two legs and wheels; when it reaches a step, it transforms into a quadruped, crosses the obstacle on four legs, and then stands back up as a humanoid.
The robot is about one meter tall and weighs roughly 16 kg. It was developed by China's Qiyuan Robotics and went on sale from 19,999 yuan, with shipments scheduled from October 1.
Humanoid robots and robot dogs are already two major robot genres. T1 apparently decided there was no need to choose just one.
AeRove is a compact drone that turns the guards surrounding its propellers in flight into wheels after landing, allowing it to roll along pipelines. It normally travels on the pipe and takes off only when it needs to hop over an obstacle.
A spring-loaded mechanism switches between flight and ground configurations in about 200 milliseconds. The researchers report roughly 14 times lower current draw while rolling than during continuous flight, and demonstrated straight and curved traversal, obstacle hopping, and simulated leak-marker detection on a 51 cm steel pipe. It was developed by NJIT researchers Caleb Polillio and Petras Swissler.
It can fly, but most of the time it rolls along the pipe on its propeller guards. It saves the expensive flying part for the obstacles.
Franky Candy Dispenser releases candy from a Frankenstein monster's mouth when you press the glowing brain on top of its head. While waiting, its LED eyes blink and look around; pressing the button also triggers spoken lines, sometimes including a reminder to brush your teeth.
Inside the head, a servo-driven 3D-printed Archimedes screw carries the candy to the mouth. The glowing brain is built into a large 100 mm arcade button. The project was created by Adafruit's Ruiz Brothers and Liz Clark.
Press the glowing brain, receive candy from the mouth, then get dental advice from the same monster. The candy dispenser has a remarkably complete personality.
Tongari Shot is a shooting device that actually launches cone-shaped corn snacks worn on a fingertip using compressed air. The results are recorded as a score, turning the snack launcher into a game.
The firing system uses an air compressor and air valves, with an M5Stack Core2 and servo motors among the control hardware. RacoonFactory created it from the idea that the fingertip snack looked as if it could really be fired.
Most people put the snack on a finger and pretend it could shoot. This team added compressed air and completed the thought all the way to a working launcher.
Newson's Electronics' Self Catching Projectile Machine launches a ball bearing, moves a catcher to the predicted landing point, and catches its own projectile.
It reads the launch angle and calculates the range using projectile speed and gravity. An Arduino then moves the catcher along a rail to the calculated target position and returns the mechanism to its home position for the next shot.
Put the thrower and catcher into the same machine and even a one-person game of catch no longer needs the person.
Mark Rober invited engineers and makers to CrunchLabs Casino to build and test devices for cheating at casino games. Cheating itself was allowed, but getting caught was not.
The creations included a remote-controlled robotic poker chip that could move a roulette bet after the wheel stopped, dice whose internal weighting could be changed with heat, and a concealed wearable card-counting assistant. Another contestant hid a pinhole camera in a sleeve and used computer vision to reconstruct the order of a deck.
Change the rule from “no cheating” to “cheating is fine if you don't get caught,” and a casino suddenly becomes an engineering contest.
Motion Mosquito Swatting Game is a motion-controlled game in which the player swings a StickS3 like a flyswatter to hit mosquitoes flying around a PC screen.
The StickS3's gyroscope tracks hand orientation and swinging motion, using them both to aim the on-screen reticle and detect the swatting action. The project was created by Hujunfeng.
Instead of mapping mosquito swatting to a button, the game makes you do the real motion. The interface has looped all the way back to actual life.
Super Valid Designs built a semi-automated ski lift to live-catch mice in a chicken coop and carry them down a hill. Each gondola doubles as a mousetrap: bait lures a mouse onto a ceiling trapdoor, which drops it into the car.
The occupied gondola then travels downhill, where another trapdoor opens over a brush pile to release the mouse. The lift was assembled largely from wood and parts on hand and was made to transport and release the mice automatically.
The goal was simply to get mice out of the coop, and somehow that led to dedicated gondolas and a ski lift. The mice now have public transit.
Natasha Dzurny built an Arduino UNO Q cyberdeck inside a fuzzy orange hand puppet. Opening its mouth reveals a five-inch display and keyboard, while there is still room to put a hand inside and operate it as a puppet.
The computer can play a local collection of audio and video, and a small webcam on a telescoping rod can be used to monitor puppetry practice on the built-in screen. Close the mouth and attach the strap, and the whole device also works as a furry shoulder bag.
Combine a computer, puppet, practice camera and handbag, and the keyboard naturally ends up inside a mouth. Opening your laptop has never looked so much like being eaten.
NYU Tandon School of Engineering's WorMa is a worm-like robot that adapts to land and water by pumping internal water between tanks in its head and tail, shifting its center of mass. The 50 cm, roughly 1 kg robot has five links, with a central pump moving about 300 g of water.
Moving the water forward improved traction on slopes, while shifting it toward the tail made swimming faster. To climb steps, the robot moved the water from head to tail and back again while changing posture, allowing it to clear steps up to 15 cm high.
For slopes, water and steps, it keeps pumping 300 grams of water back and forth between its head and tail. Its insides are constantly relocating.
SAM is a flying robot inspired by the autorotating motion of a falling maple seed. It uses a single motor to spin its whole body for lift, with the same actuator responsible for both staying aloft and controlling direction.
Researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design added predictive control and tested the robot on circular and figure-eight paths, under fan-generated wind, and with a 5 g payload. Rather than adding the multiple rotors used by conventional drones, the team improved accuracy while keeping the machine to a single moving part.
Instead of adding rotors like a normal drone, the whole robot just keeps spinning like a maple seed. The mechanics got simpler while the control problem got harder.
The cookie could move a few centimeters, but instead the machine lifts the whole glass of milk. Dunking a snack has acquired stage machinery.