Category: concept

Best Buy Has New Buds

Consumer electronics retail giant Best Buy has a new bud of sorts. The retailer’s venture capital arm, Best Buy Capital, led a $5.5 million series of B round of venture financing in Raleigh-based Valancell, the developer of mobile health and fitness earbud technology.

Valencell has created new technology to track physiological metrics such as heart rate, calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled and speed. The data can be tracked in real time while the user listens to music or talks on the phone. Data can be streamed to smart phones or mp3 players through wired or wireless links, which would allow the user to use that personal information with training, coaching or fitness applications on mobile devices and online.

“People everywhere are listening to music while running and exercising,” CEO and co-founder Steven LeBoeuf said in a prepared statement. “Integrating heart rate sensors directly and seamlessly into music earbuds fits right into the behavior of consumers today.”

It was just late last year that Best Buy entered the fitness arena, and this could be further proof that the company is serious about sport and workout equipment being part of the offerings at its big box stores.

Valancell Official Website

Solar Panels to Aid Pedal Power

There are numerous bicycle assist aids that can help a rider when the going gets to be a bit too much. But the problem is that most of those require a battery charge or use some of fuel to propel that motor. Now Terry Hope, a Canadian inventor who created the Kinetic Photovoltaic Vehicle (KPV), might have a solution.

Hope’s KPV was a one-of-a-kind solar-electric suitcase, and could reportedly fit in a suitcase. Now Hope has taken this innovative technology and used it to craft the Solar Cross ebike, which would be great for riding on a sunny day – not just because it is nice to ride a bike on a sunny day, but also because the rays from the sun will help power the bicycle.

His creation is powered by panels made of eight-inch polycarbonate sheeting, aluminum and 18 x 6 x 6 mono crystalline cells. Holes were further drilled in the aluminum to cut down on the weight. Each cell puts out 3.8 to 4 watts, providing a combined 8.7 volts of electricity.

All told it is enough to help make a long ride in the hot sun seem not so long.

(Video after the Jump) Continue reading Solar Panels to Aid Pedal Power

Recon Heads-Up Display Tech to be Adapted for Space Exploration

Recon Instruments' Transcend snow goggles with GPS-enabled, heads-up display.

Typically NASA’s research and technologies lead to the creation of consumer and commercial products. But it looks like NASA will be utilizing a commercial product as part of its next-generation spacesuits and helmets, according to a report from Wired.

NASA announced that Recon Instruments will be creating a customized integrated heads-up display for helmets that’s based on Recon’s GPS-enabled, heads-up-display-equipped goggles for snowboarders. The technology will be integrated into NASA’s Desert RATS initiative for future missions to Mars and other galactic destinations.

NASA EYES SNOWBOARD TECH FOR NEXT-GEN SPACESUITS (WIRED)

RECON INSTRUMENTS

Artist Turns 72 Beer Cans into Functioning Surfboard

The Beer Can Surfboard by Richard Quinn Morrison (Photo: Richard Morrison/Enviro Surf Art Series)

Here’s one way to recycle those empty aluminum beverage cans from your next party. Surfer and artist Richard Quinn Morrison, who started the Enviro Surf Art Series, has created a surfboard using 72 empty beer cans from six brands salvaged from a local bar. Morrison created the board with the help of surfboard maker Gary Seagraves. The 6’2” board uses a rocket fish design with twin fins and a swallow tail, and it was designed to be functional. Watch this video of how he put the board together. The board will be put to use soon to test out its sea legs.

ENVIRO SURF ART SERIES (FACEBOOK)

FROM 72 RECYCLED BEER CANS COMES A SWEET SURFBOARD (TREEHUGGER)

 

Flash Sonar Helps The Visually Impaired Lead More Active Lives

We came across this interesting story about an echolocation method called “Flash Sonar,” which essentially uses the subtle – yet seemingly effective – technique of tongue clicking to create sounds that in turn help blind and visually impaired people interpret their surroundings, and remarkably even at high speeds.

The process is the brain child of Daniel Kish, founder of World Access for the Blind, who devised it as a way to allow those with limited or even without sight to navigate the world through sound.

World Access for the Blind Official Website

Blaze a Virtual Bike in the Bike Lane

Back in 2009 there was LightLane, which provided a virtual bike cast as an image just ahead of you while you rode. Now there is Blaze, a handlebar-mounted laser that projects a personal bike lane marker. Developed by University of Brighton student Emily Brooke in the U.K., her concept could do what LightLane never did – that is actually make it to critical mass.

While Ms. Brooke still has yet to bring her product to market as well, it seems like a winner to use. The battery power Blaze essentially projects a bright green laser image, which is bright enough to be seen in daylight, of a bike onto the road ahead, warning drivers that you could be in their blind spot. Brooke reportedly consulted with road safety practitioners, Brighton & Hove City Council, the Brighton & Hove Bus Company as well as psychologists who specialize in driving.

Brooke’s idea reportedly won her a place on the Entrepreneurship Program at Babson College in Massachusetts, and hopefully this would be enough to make sure that future riders don’t win the “door prize.”

[Via BikeBiz: A bike lane on your handlebars]

The Force Will Be With These Shoes

Remember how Anakin Skywalker was all melted and eventually become Darth Vadar with that black suit. That has nothing to do with these shoes exactly, but it is hard not to think of that scene when we read about the ForceShoes and see that these are basically high-tech sandals.

In truth the shoes, which were developed by researchers at the University of Twente’s MIRA research institute in the Netherlands are designed to measure precise force and movements when someone walks. These were develoed as a means of facilitating the rehabilitation process from people who have suffered a stroke or had degrees of paralysis on one side of the body. As those patients have often had to learn to walk again, it can be a difficult experience and these shoes can analyze how said patient walks or what forces are exerted to the ground.

Wireless connections transmission data gathered from four sensors modules located throughout the shoe’s soles, and each of these measures the force and movement. While these aren’t commercially available, we hope that these will help patients in the very near future. May the force be with these shoes!

[Via Gizmag.com: ForceShoes enable extremely precise tracking of how their wearer walks]

BMX Skateboard Scooter

What do you get if a BMX bike were to somehow mate with a skateboard? Technically this is impossible, not just because the BMX bike and skateboard aren’t actually living creatures, because even if they were they’d have different chromosomes and thus not be able to produce an offspring. But getting past those issues, we return to the question at hand, and since this sounds like the makings of a mad science experiment gone bad – let us also say that a third ingredient is added to the mix, namely a scooter.

So now we’re really crazy. But the result would the sbyke, the invention of Bart and Steve Wilson, who apparently broke their BMX bike, ruined a perfectly good skateboard and created a scooter-like contraption.

The sbyke – which is confusingly pronounced “spike”- has  a fixed-position front wheel that isn’t turned using the handlebars but rather by the shifting weight of the rider. There is a break attached to the handlebars to stop this thing at least.

(Video after the jump)

Continue reading BMX Skateboard Scooter

When Race Car and Bicycle Engineers Collaborate

Two years ago the sports car company, McLaren, approached the bicycle manufacturer, Specialized, to collaborate on a bicycle frame project utilizing a material that both companies are familiar with – carbon fiber. McLaren pioneered the carbon fiber monocoque construction technique used in their Formula 1 race cars all the way back in 1981. Since the 1990s, Specialized has been using carbon fiber in their higher end bikes either as main tubes with aluminum lugs or as complete carbon fiber frames. In 2009, McLaren’s Applied Technologies division approached Specialized with the idea of designing a carbon fiber bicycle frame utilizing their years of extensive research and racing know-how to make an even lighter, stiffer and more aerodynamic frame. McLaren hoped they too could learn something from this endeavor to make an even better sports and racing car.

Continue reading When Race Car and Bicycle Engineers Collaborate

Kinetic(Mis)Shift: Skataz Goes Electric

http://youtu.be/KIGTyCdo31U

While we love the idea of convergence and technology, we’re not sure everything benefits from being “juiced up,” and this includes roller skates. The latest to add some power to the skates is Skataz, a new version of the iShoes. Any trust us just because a products adds an “i” to the front, doesn’t make it better.

But judge for yourself in the video. Electric skates: just a bit silly or downright dangerous? Either way, we say powering up the traditional roller skate is just a Kinetic(Mis)Shift.

Kinetic(Mis)Shift are products that we think deserve to be called out for their utter lack of fitness benefits.

Senza-ble Bike Lock

There is no denying that there are a lot of different concepts with bike locks. We’ve seen a lot of locks, and one issue remains that it means bringing something “extra” along for the ride or daily commute. But Jaryn Miller’s Senza has interesting twist, it is a bike lock that is also the bike’s handle bars.

Essentially, the bars come off the bike and are locked together to form a U-Lock. The idea is that it provides dual security, because if the lock is cut the bike is much harder to ride away with, as there is nothing to hold on to!

We like the idea and think the designers are on to something, but as others have mentioned there are some problems to be resolved. The most notable is that the handle bar has to be durable enough to be a lock and that could add weight for those times when you don’t need to lock the bike. It also means that riders have to like the style of the drop bar – and this could be a problem for the mountain biker who usually prefers a straight bar with bar ends. Continue reading Senza-ble Bike Lock

Electric Bike Tour Hits Wales

This weekend saw an important cycling tour kick off. Not the Giro d’Italia, which is of course a big race in its own right, but this was the far less well known Tour de Presteigne 2011, which took place in Wales. What makes this one noteworthy is that it isn’t a Tour in the race sense, but rather a ride for the average cyclists and more importantly it is about the electric bike.

This event was hailed as the first event to see new bikes from Storck, the brainchild of German build Markus Storck, who is working to create some of the most efficient electric bikes the world has yet seen. The event also promised to introduce a prototype hydrogen fuel cell city car designed by River Simple Company, along with other innovative autos including the Nissian Leaf and the Tesla Roadster.

The event included a 50 mile ride around Wales on Saturday and a bike show on Sunday. We’re hoping to hear more of the events happenings, but we have already heard that the mood was electric thanks to the innovative bikes.

Tour of Presteigne Electric Bike Rally Official Website

Alpha Bike, a Proof in Concept

Five Mechanical Engineering students from the University of Pennsylvania have developed quite a cutting edge bicycle for their senior project. The Alpha bike has been a year-long project to develop not only a bicycle that whose systems, mechanical and electrical, are completely integrated, but also create a bike that can be shifted from a freewheel to a fixed-gear setup on-the-fly. Geoff Johnson, Lucas Hartman, Katie Savarise, Evan Dvorak and Katie Rohacz worked with adviser Jonathan Fiene to bring the Alpha Bike from a concept to reality.

The most innovate feature of the Alpha Bike is the development of the Switchable Integrated Free-Fixed Transmission or “SWIFT Drive Technology”. The SWIFT Drive uses an electromechanical actuated clutch to allow the rider to switch between a free-wheeling and fixed mode with the flip of a lever. The key component in this system is the electromechanical clutch housed inside the bottom bracket area, which utilizes titanium, aluminum, stainless steel and bronze bushings to maximize strength and minimize weight. Along with the ability to switch between the free and fixed modes, the rider also has the use of 3-speeds incorporated inside the Sturmey-Archer rear hub which is controlled in a more traditional cable actuated fashion – of course integrated into the frame. The SWIFT Drive transmission is connected to the rear hub using a belt which is hidden inside the right-side chainstay. Continue reading Alpha Bike, a Proof in Concept