Wearable exoskeleton lets you sit in thin air

Wearable exoskeleton lets you sit in thin air

FIONA MACDONALD

SATURDAY, 23 AUGUST 2014

Share on emailShare on print Sick of not getting a seat on the train? Now thanks to the Chairless Chair exoskeleton, you can wear your own. Image: noonee & Massimo Brega/The Age of Robots Meet the Chairless Chair, an exoskeleton that attaches to your legs and lets you sit down, literally, in thin air.  When the aluminium and carbon fibre device is switched, you can walk around as usual, but when you want to sit, the device uses battery-powered mechanics to channel your body weight into the heels of your shoes. All you have to do is bend your knees to the height you’d like to sit at, hit a button and, voila, you’re sitting sans chair. Created by Swiss start-up noonee, the exoskeleton is still in prototype form and looks pretty chunky, but developers are working on creating a version so thin you can wear it inconspicuously under your pants. This current model weighs around 2 kg and can run at least eight hours on one charge. There’s no word on price as yet. For people who sit down all day at a desk the device might not sound too useful, but it could help those who are on their feet all day working in factories, warehouses or kitchens, and who are at risk of muscular and skeletal health problems. It’s not all about comfort either - exoskeletons are also being used to help people with spinal injuries walk, and in the future this kind of research could translate into therapeutic benefits for patients with mobility issues. Source: ExtremeTech

Windowless Airplane Will Give Passengers High-Res Panoramic Views

http://dl.flipkart.com/dl/tp-link-tl-wr720n-150-mbps-wireless-n-router/p/itmdgzk55c3nzbhw?pid=RTRDGZGJGHBHUSRU&srno=t_18&query=tp+link&affid=sushantcha

Windowless Airplane Will Give Passengers High-Res Panoramic Views

Any scene can be projected on to the interior screens in high-res.

IMAGE: TECHNICON DESIGN

TRACY STAEDTER for Discovery News Aug 15, 2014

 

You don’t need a window for these views. Paris-based design company Technicon Designrecently won an award for their IXION Windowless Jet Concept. The idea is to provide a 360-degree view using cameras mounted on the plane’s exterior to capture the scenery and then project that on high-res screen on the interior cabin walls and ceiling.

SEE ALSO: What The Future Of Transportation Looks Like

And actually any scene could be displayed on the interior. Let’s say the view is mostly clouds or ocean. How about displaying a rainforest? A flight through the Grand Canyon? A trip to the Moon?

Solar panels on the exterior would help power the displays.

Removing windows has its advantages, too. It reduces the materials and cost needed as well as reducing the weight of the plane. Not having windows allows for a greater flexibility of the interior design of the aircraft, too.

“The ethos of the project is simple, to challenge current thinking, and propose something a little different, but not just a fantasy. It has to be credible and relevant, yet provoke discussion,” design director Gareth Davies said in a press release.

See the video below.

Other aircrafts are exploring similar ideas of transparent cabins. In 2012 at the Paris Air Show, Airbus presented an aircraft with an interior fuselage made of displays. And earlier this year, Boston engineering firm Spike Aerospace unveiled a windowless supersonic jet with displays.