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Virtual Reality can help train paraplegics to regain movement and walk again

February 17, 2019September 7, 2016 by marax

Recent breakthroughs in VR technology have allowed scientists to explore all kinds of unique applications for simulating reality (other than in games).

Virtual Reality can help train paraplegics to regain movement and walk again — Courtesy: Quartz.com

Eight patients who were paralyzed from the waist down from spinal cord injuries were chosen to conduct the trials.

Originally, the scientist were working on advanced robotic walking prosthetic project. While conducting tests, they discovered something unexpected: All the patients who prolonged their training managed to regain some of the feeling and motor skills below their injury sites.

The process began by strapping the patient into an apparatus with a variety of sensors and inputs.

Two times a week, for approximate 1 hour per day, the patient was hooked up to an Oculus Rift headset.

The patient was then trained to teach their brainwaves to walk as an avatar in a virtual environment, rather than themselves walking.

Bu analyzing the brain activity, the scientists discovered how to trick the patient’s brain into actually believing that it was walking.

Some patients were even able to regain some level of bladder control. For more information, please visit the source link or watch the video above.

IKEA launches their own version of a DIY hydroponic herb garden

February 17, 2019September 4, 2016 by marax

IKEA’s off-the-shelf mini hydroponic herb garden looks like a fun kitchen companion if you don’t want to get your hands dirty building your own system from scratch.

Ikea provides all the components you need along with step by step instructions.

This stylish little unit is Ikea’s answer to a mine herb planter that can grow anything from basil to lettuce on your kitchen counter.

The herb garden comes in a foolproof kit format that actually has quite a few components that need to be assembled.

You begin by germinating and sprouting the seeds in small rockwool cylinders.

Timelapse of the seedlings sprouting from the herb garden

After the seedlings sprout, you move the baby plants to a tray filled with pumice stones that retain water. The roots will eventually grow through the rockwool medium and suck water up from the stones.

A revolutionary way to “grow” building bricks using bacteria and sand

February 17, 2019August 29, 2016 by marax

Organisms like this Sporosarcina pasteurii bacterium deposit calcium carbonate to grow extremely strong natural structures

Humans are natural builders and innovators. When a new construction method comes along and starts to become the go-to material (like concrete), we can sometimes forget that more optimal alternatives may exist. Deep infrastructure gets built around the material and it becomes costly to use anything else.

Concrete is made by mixing crushed rocks, cement, and water together. Aside from using huge amount of water, cement takes an incredible amount of energy to produce. Apparently, cement manufacturing consumes more energy than any other single manufacturing industry in the USA.

Instead of consuming massive amounts of energy to fire and produce bricks, Inventors have played with the idea of GROWING bricks using a similar concept as an organisms growing coral in the sea at ambient temperatures.

First, bacteria is injected into brick-shaped molds containing a media like sand.

The bacteria binds the sand together by depositing calcium carbonate in the gaps between the grains of sand. The whole process takes about 5 days to get a complete hard brick.

Completed sand bricks bound together by bacteria at ambient temps.

This process could revolutionize the construction process as the bricks could be made ON SITE and require exponentially less energy.

Technologies like these could potentially be used to grow construction materials on other planets like Mars, where sand is abundant!

Incredible all-in-one Hybrid Metal Laser 3D Printer and 5-Axis CNC

January 19, 2019May 12, 2016 by shareahack

DMG MORI has succeeded in building one of the most amazing rapid prototyping machines that any maker will have the pleasure of admiring. This machine is effectively a 3D metal-printer with a built in automatic 5-axis CNC lathe/milling machine.

Shown here in concept drawings, the slick looking industrial machine efficiently houses everything you need to make your polished metal part in a single session.

hybrid-cnc-3d-printer-metal-machining-5-axis-dmg-mori-shareahack_concept — Photos and Concept Art by DMG MORI

The first process in building this part is building it up using a powerful laser and a metal substrate:

3d-printing-metal-shareahack — Video by DMG MORI

Notice that when the laser has finished bonding the metal the resulting finish is rough and imperfect almost appearing like a casting.

Once a section of metal layers is completed, the laser print head is automatically put to the side and the subtractive CNC mill is activated.

Any holes and drilled/tapped and rough surfaces are cleaned up to a polish.

The finalized part shown here is nothing short of a miracle.

While this industrial machine is going to be cost prohibitive for the average maker at home, hopefully it’s a sign that the technology is here and is only a matter of time until it shows up in the consumer market or DIY solutions become available as high powered lasers become cheaper.

We hope you have as much fun we did watching this part materialize in the video below!

Spacex Falcon 9 Reusable Rocket Sticks Its Landing

February 17, 2019January 13, 2016 by shareahack

SpaceX has put together this awesome video which represents the culmination of their efforts to achieve an impossible dream – to land a reusable rocket back on earth as a means to save money and resources for future launches.

You can feel the tension build up as mission control carefully monitors the launch sequence:

spacex-falcon-9-reusable-mission-control — Courtesy of SpaceX

As the rocket comes hurdling back to earth, a brief flash from its thrusters releases a plume of smoke that reveals the Falcon 9 standing upright on the LZ-1 launchpad.

Cheers and tears erupt as the SpaceX team celebrates their achievement. — Courtesy of SpaceX

The used-up rocket lands dead center in the “X” of the launchpad – demonstrating the absolute precision engineering that went into this project.

Mission control erupts with cheers and tears of joy as they realize the extent of what they just accomplished.

A truly momentous occasion not only for SpaceX, but for all of mankind.

Falcon 9 standing upright on the LZ-1 launchpad. — Courtesy of SpaceX

Early in June 2015, SpaceX met many challenges and experienced a major blow when it’s previous Falcon 9 rocket broke up shortly after launch. The success of this mission only makes it that much sweeter.