The laser projection headlights are something of amazement it seems, and thanks to some pretty nifty technology that’s built right into the headlights, drivers can project any image or video onto a screen. The images or video can come from a phone, tablet, flash drive, or even the internet using the GLA’s in-dash COMAND system.

However, Mercedes didn’t add projection to the GLA just for kicks and giggles — there is a logical purpose behind this, and the company says the projection system can be used as a real-time GPS navigation overlay.  It’s certainly something different then just looking at a small GPS screen during the whole trip.

The headlights feature a cooling system composed of a series of fans, so you won’t have to worry about the inevitable overheating of most projectors. Plus, there’s even a pair of HD video cameras mounted to the roof of the vehicle, and they’re detachable so you can take them with you when you’re not driving around. As for the engine specs, you’re looking at a turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder motor pushing out 208 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, with a seven-speed dual clutch transmission and 4Matic all-wheel drive.

[via Engadget]

Using laser beams, NASA will be able to receive and transmit information to the ISS at a much faster rate than current communication technologies. Laser beams are also “hundreds-to-thousands of times narrower than traditional radio-frequency beams,” which allow for higher data rates. Currently, NASA communicates through the same technology that brings you music to your car’s radio.

NASA will use OPALS to “demonstrate and test optical communications technologies from a space-based platform by transferring video data via the laser hardware on the space station to a ground receiver” located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory in California.

As the space station flies over, a laser beacon will transmit the laser signal to the ISS. However, while it doesn’t sound all that complicated, NASA says precision is absolute key. They say “it’s like trying to use a laser to point to an area that’s the diameter of a human hair from 20-to-30 feet away while moving at half-a-foot per second.”

The spaceship is a replica of a Hellcat from the classic 90s video game Wing Commander. the ship took around 50 seconds to print and it measures 125 micrometers long x 81 micrometers wide x 26.8 micrometers tall. The printer used two-photon polymerization in order to craft the spaceship. This process uses short laser pulses, which activate photo-sensitive liquid polymer.

Of course, this thing can’t actually fly, but it goes to show just how tiny you can actually 3D-print things. Of course, the printer can print other things besides nifty spaceships. Other products that include tiny proportions are biological scaffolds and ultralight metamaterials.

The video above shows the entire 50-second process of building the spaceship from start to finish. You can see the laser pulses travel from the bottom to the top and witness the spaceship being built right before your eyes. While it doesn’t look like much at first glance, knowing that the object is the width of a human hair is simply incredible.

[via DVICE]

That massive laser was intended to be used to destroy the missiles, bombs, and other projectiles in-flight. However, the Airborne Laser Testbed project was abandoned last year. DARPA is still working on programs to put lasers into fighter aircraft with two projects ongoing at this time.

One of the laser projects is called the High Energy Liquid Laser Defense System (HELLADS) and the other is the Aero-Adaptive/Aero-Optic Beam Control (ABC). HELLADS is the airborne laser project seen in the image and centers on a 150-kilowatt system. This laser is 10 times smaller and lighter than current laser systems.

The HELLADS laser system is small enough to be used on ground and in the air aboard aircraft. The project was to create a laser weighing less than 5 kg per kilowatt able to fit into a total space of three cubic meters. ABC is a laser designed as a defensive weapon. It would be a small laser current mounted on aircraft or other vehicles used to shoot down incoming missiles. This project uses a fancy beam control to keep from losing its energy as it fires. The turbulence created by the aircraft engine.

[via Dvice]

One nanometer is the equivalent of one million femtometers, to put its size into perspective. Until now, it was believed that a proton has a radius of 0.8768 femtometers, but according to the study, the actual size is approximately 4-percent smaller. The size difference is said to be explainable by one of three ideas.

Either: A), the scientists are wrong, which is both the easiest and more unlikely reason; B), the current understanding of a proton’s structure could be limiting a complete – and thus correct – calculation; or C), the actual quantum electrodynamics theories themselves are incorrect, another possibility considered unlikely.

The explanations comes from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology physicist Aldo Antognini, who is one of the authors of the published report. Although the finding is significant, this isn’t the first time a proton has measured in at a size other than the accepted radius. The differences are likely due to the different methods used to calculate the size. The latest measurement is the result of a method involving measuring protons with orbiting muons instead of electrons.

[via MSN]

The lasers will be built in the Czech Republic and Romania according to a spokesperson for the European Commission on regional policy named Shirin Wheeler. A third research center will also be constructed in Hungary under the plan. The lasers to be built will be 10 times more powerful than any laser built to date.

The lasers are expected to be powerful enough to create subatomic particles in vacuum. Supporters of the project hope that eventually laser beams would be powerful enough to be used to deteriorate the radioactivity of nuclear waste in a few seconds and to target cancerous tumors. Nicolae-Victor Zamfir is a Romanian coordinator for the project and he says that the team expects the first results from research within one or two years after the center becomes operational.

The Romanian laser will be located at the Magurele research center and will consume 10 MW of energy. That is enough energy to supply 2500 average homes in the US. The massive amount of power will come from geothermal pumps installed at the site expected to become operational in 2017.

One thing I haven’t seen is an iPhone 5 destroyed using the power of light. The guys over at Wicked Lasers took a new iPhone 5 out-of-the-box and arranged six of their powerful 1-watt lasers to shine their green beams in one spot. It doesn’t take long before the screen is damaged and discolored.

The iPhone 5 was still operating even though the screen is pretty much destroyed. Not happy with setting the iPhone 5 ablaze, Wicked Lasers resorted to using one of its insanely bright and powerful flashlights. The flashlight used is called Flash Torch, and it produces enough light and heat to set things on fire.

The Flash Torch was turned on and placed directly against the screen of the iPhone 5. Not long after, the phone bursts into flames. If you find yourself wishing you owned a burned-out husk of an iPhone 5, Wicked Lasers is giving this smartphone away in some sort of contest.

Specifically, this gadget is geared toward mapping the inside of buildings. Developed by MIT, the device combines a laser range finder with the depth-perceiving abilities of Kinect to generate maps of an area in real time. The unit also houses a CPU to process and construct the map (in the prototype, the user has a laptop in his backpack constructing the map as he walks around), and the map can be sent back to a remote station so those outside of the building can get an idea of its layout.

Also included in this package is an inertial sensor to compensate for the fact that it’s hard to keep the laser perfectly level while walking, and a barometer to measure changes in air pressure, allowing the gadget’s user to map out multiple floors. This technology was developed for use in emergency situations, with applying it to search and rescue operations specifically mentioned. The prototype seems to be a bit bulky at this early stage, but the developers imagine a finished product that is handheld. Check it out in action in the video posted below.

The US Air Force and the Office of Naval Research helped MIT with the project, which suggests that this device could have some military applications in the future. For now, its simply in its prototype stage, but that doesn’t change the fact that its still a really interesting device. What do you think of this latest MIT creation?

[via MITnews]

The laser is the world’s smallest semiconductor laser and is hailed as a breakthrough in the theoretical miniaturization of photonics technology. The researchers believe that the breakthrough could have applications for a number of real-world uses, including computing and medicine. The laser is made using gallium nitride on a nanoscale. The breakthrough called, subdiffraction nanolaser, based on surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, was detailed in the July 27 issue of Science.

The laser breakthrough has great potential to usher in a new era for electronics, in particular. The miniaturization of the semiconductor laser could lead to the development of faster, smaller, and lower energy photon-based electronics such as incredibly fast computer chips and medical sensors for detecting disease. The laser also has the potential for being used in communications.

“We have developed a nanolaser device that operates well below the 3-D diffraction limit,” says Chih-Kang “Ken” Shih, physics professor at The University of Texas at Austin. “We believe our research could have a large impact on nanoscale technologies.” The researcher’s breakthrough is the first continuous-wave low threshold laser below the 3-D diffraction limit, and the laser emits a green light. The laser is constructed of a gallium nitride nano-rod that is partially filled with indium gallium nitride, which are both alloys commonly used in the production of LEDs.

[via Techfragments]

The laser used 192 individual beams fired at the same time to deliver 1.85 MJ of ultraviolet laser light. The hugely powerful laser beam was shot at a target only 2 mm in diameter. The laser used 12,500 times more electricity than all of Britain required in 2006. I’d hate to pay the electricity bill.

The laboratory where the record was set was specifically built for testing and designing high-powered lasers. The National Ignition Facility is the world’s foremost laser research center. The laboratory has a goal of creating a laser powerful enough to ignite hydrogen fusion.

“For scientists across the nation and the world who, like ourselves, are actively pursuing fundamental science under extreme conditions and the goal of laboratory fusion ignition, this is a remarkable and exciting achievement,” said Richard Petrasso, senior research scientist and division head of high energy density physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a press release. “The 500 TW shot is an extraordinary accomplishment by the NIF Team, creating unprecedented conditions in the laboratory that hitherto only existed deep in stellar interiors.”

[via Wired]

The record-setting attempt by a guy named Scott used a Wicked Lasers Spyder III Krypton of 750 mW to 1000 mW variety and set up a long line of 100 air filled red balloons. The laser was mounted on a little tripod, and the laser beam was fired through a burning lens. That burning lens looks a lot like a magnifying glass to me.

The laser pops the first 20 or so balloons quickly and then slows is the laser beam intensity declines further down the line. The balloons were placed in special cups filled with water to hold them in place to prevent one balloon that pops from forcing the other balloons out of place. The final balloon took a while to pop, but laser was able to pop all 100 balloons surprisingly quickly.

The lasers in this instance aren’t attached to the sharks head because the sharks head is flat and much too close to its mouth full of sharp and deadly teeth. Instead of using the head, the diver attached a modified Wicked Lasers S3 Krypton to the shark’s fin. The shark in the photo isn’t the man eating great white that I had always dreamed of seeing attached to laser, rather it was a Lemon Shark.

The S3 Krypton laser appears to have been modified to be waterproof and attached to what looks like a chip clip. The laser in question has multiple power modes and starts at right at $400. The laser in the video was operating at 40mW in low power and 200mW and high-power mode.

Normally a laser is shot through an ordinary piece of fibre, follows the path of the cable, and is received on the other end. MIT have modified their own fibre to include a drop of fluid in the core: when the laser hits the fluid, it is refracted in all possible directions, creating a 360 degree laser beam.

Liquid crystal also comes into play, with four layers being wrapped around the fibre core. Transparency can then be obtained by varying the voltage applied through the layers, and since it can be done on a “pixel” basis, the laser can emerge at any point along the fibre. ExtremeTech explains how the technology could be applied to a 3D display: thanks to the large amount of control over the laser light, viewers could potentially see different images depending on where they’re sitting in relation to the display.

The other application of the technology could be used to fight cancer. Right now, a method called photodynamic therapy is one of the only ways to effectively fight cancer without being invasive or toxic. This new laser could be inserted into the body and give surgeons extremely fine and accurate controls.

When laser light struck that capsule of gas, x-ray emissions were created. The experiment was led by physicist Nina Rohringer, who works for the Max Planck Society in Germany. Using the short x-ray pulses, the team could capture the fast changes in matter. The laser is important because the faster the pulses and the purer the light created by the laser, the more details the scientist can see in the matter being studied.

According to the researchers, the superfast pulses in the laser allow the first pulse to trigger a change in the sample being studied, and the second pulse can record on the atomic scale any changes that occurred in the matter. The team of researchers plans to tweak the laser even further by studying other gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur in an attempt to create even higher energy and shorter pulses for the x-ray laser.

“X-rays give us a penetrating view into the world of atoms and molecules,” said physicist Nina Rohringer of Germany’s Max Planck Society in a news release last week.

“We envision researchers using this new type of laser for all sorts of interesting things, such as teasing out the details of chemical reactions or watching biological molecules at work,” she said.

[via Mercurynews]

Scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used a laser to create insanely high temperatures. The laser used is an X-ray laser, and it was fired at a piece of foil that is thinner than a strand of spider silk. Despite how thin the foil was, the team was able to reach temperatures in the same area as the corona of the sun.

The x-ray laser created a temperature of 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit. The high temperatures were created with rapid pulses from the laser beam and created a material called hot dense matter. Hot dense matter is said to be the same sort of material found deep inside stars and gas giant planets.

[via Wired]

Civilians have nothing to fear from this powerhouse of a light blaster of course since makers of the SMU 100 say it’ll only be used against rioters. The makers of this device also note that an unnamed police force is set to be giving it a trial soon, with usage more than likely set for 2012. Pal Kerr of MD Photonic Security Systems, the makers of this device, noted the following about it:

“The system would give police an intimidating visual deterrent. If you can’t look at something you can’t attack it.” – Kerr

This device’s effect is good over 500 metres (1,640ft) and has not yet been fully tested in regards to the potential side-effects of the light. This test will be part of the full trial taking place soon, and only AFTER it’s been given approval by the commission in charge of testing it at this juncture will it be allowed to head to the Home Secretary in the UK. This is not the first time a weapon such as this has been used – American and British troops used similar blasters in Afghanistan to protect convoys from attack by sight-dependent enemies – but the UK police have not been using such excellent light-based-weapons up until now.

ALSO though we’ve been assured several times that it’s not, we must assume that the rifle will work like this:

[via BBC]

The camera device was created by the MIT Media Lab Camera Culture group with assistance from the Bawendi Lab in the Department of Chemistry at MIT. The camera system uses a laser pulse as a flash and the pulse lasts only tiny fraction of a second, a trillionth to be precise. The camera is so fast that one trillionth of a second pulse can be captured.

The camera has a narrow field of view, and since the pulse is so fast the sensor captures video over several minutes by repeated sampling to get the finished product. MIT is calling the system femto-photogrpahy and the flash is a Titanium Sapphire laser that emits pulses every 13 nanoseconds. The scientists use a system of mirrors to orient the camera to view different parts of the object to capture a movie of each object. You can see video captured by the camera below.

“We will be showing an Epic reel on our 40 foot screen from our 4K projector including a recent military themed demo reel shot on Red cameras” the company promises, though gives no further technical detail about the anticipated setup. According to the few details shared by RED’s Jim Jannard back in September, the projector is targeted at home users as well as theater use, uses a laser light source and offers passive 3D.

Combined, that was all good enough to make one lucky viewer of the 4K projector prototype to claim it had “generated the best color, best dynamic range and best images I have ever seen in 3D or even 2D.” There’s no mention that we can spot on RED’s ever-enthusiastic forum of the RED Ops Night, though with its military focus it’s possible that the company is keeping things low-key.

[Thanks Nikesh!]

Today these implanted devices have a battery good for about ten years. After that, a surgery is required to replace the battery. Considering things like pacemakers for the heart are required for the people to live, the ability to recharge the devices inside the human body is huge. The device a Japanese team of researchers has developed uses carbon nanotubes that are embedded in a silicon mix.

A laser shined from outside the body heats up one side of the power generation device allowing a temperature difference that creates a small voltage via the Seebeck effect. That small temperature change is then turned into energy to keep the device powered. The carbon nanotubes absorb heat very well and the implant for power would not need to be any larger than a half centimeter cubed. This could be one of the most life altering inventions for people depending on implanted battery powered devices to live in years.

[via PhysOrg]

Basically, the tennis ball – or any other ball, object or lump you may have lying around – is studded with lasers, each individually controlled by the specially programmed Teensy microcontroller (though you could use our old friend the Arduino too). That responds to a remote control, cycling through various patterns of laser light show.

Altogether, the components come to $78 or thereabouts, which makes the Laser Ball cheaper than many laser pointers you could buy in stores (albeit likely to cause somewhat more confusing during PowerPoint presentations). For something you can build in an afternoon, that’s pretty impressive.

“After watching a demo of RED’s laser projector I’ve been struggling to find a way to describe it. Comparing it to traditional professional systems is completely inadequate. I have never witnessed 3D that was as bright or brighter as the best 2D projections until now. It generated the best color, best dynamic range and best images I have ever seen in 3D or even 2D. When I learned we were watching at 1/4 of its total resolution I was speechless.

It was so clean and so vibrant the only thing I can compare it to is Cibachrome. That’s it, a giant moving Cibachrome!” Stephen Pizzo, Element Technica co-founder; now partner of 3ality Technica

Later, the exec confirmed that the new RED model is targeted at home users as well as theater use, and that the release date – although not yet public – is expected to be “sooner rather than later.” Technical details of the projector are unclear, though the fact that it relies on a laser system (rather than one of Texas Instruments’ 4K DLP chips) is obvious.

It’s also using a passive 3D system – more details on the difference between passive and active 3D in our SlashGear 101 guide - but seemingly has sufficient brightness so that one of the common complaints of the technology, that it dims the picture, is no longer an issue. Jannard leaves us wanting with his final word on resolution: ”we can easily see the difference between 1080P and 4K delivery on a 10′ diagonal screen. On a 40′ screen it is hugely significant.”

[via This is my next]

The laser light could bring with it new light functions with more comfort and safety when driving. The lights can contribute significantly to higher degree of efficiency in energy and fuel savings. BMW notes that laser light is monochromatic and is known as coherent light so the waves are uniform and have a constant phase difference. That means that the lights can create a near-parallel beam with intensity a thousand times that of LEDs in use today.

The laser beams would use less power as well making them more green and ideal for EVs running from a battery. BMW says that unlike some of the laser pointers on the market the light it uses is safe for humans and animals when used in car lighting. The light isn’t emitted directly; it is converted into a form safe for traffic use. The light produced is a very bright white. LEDs are capable of producing 100 lumens per watt while lasers can produce 170 lumens per watt. BMW also uses lasers in other safety technology.

The laser is under review by the Guinness World Records folks to be listed as the world’s brightest in the record books. Since the laser has such a bright beam and such a long range, Wicked Lasers offers the disclaimer that users should not aim the laser at an aircraft or at satellites. Wicked says that the laser could interfere with sensors on the satellites. The laser has 1W of power and produces 86 million lux brightness making it appear to be over 8,000 times brighter than looking at the sun.

The laser has five modes of operation and uses an integrated thermopile detector. The sensor detects excess heat and lowers the operating current to keep the laser operating. The body of the laser is made from aluminum to make it last. You can buy the laser right now for $299.99 in 300mW power, but the big 1W laser will cost you nearly a grand. Wicked promises that the laser is legal to own. Check it out in the video below.

The system will allow the musician to turn their six string into a powerful MIDI synth using an interface or special pickup. The system avoids the latency that happens between the plucking of the string and the note being heard to allow the tone to be picked up by the MIDI recorder. I am no musician, but apparently the fastest traditional system of this sort on the market has a latency of 12ms, which causes problems with recording.

The Laser Pitch Detect or LPD Pickup system is made by a company called M3i Technologies. The lasers on the system are able to measure the distance to the player’s fingers and determine the pitch automatically. The system uses a laser diode set on the end with the bridge. The LPD can be used on any stringed instrument with a fingerboard.

[via GizMag]

The main chamber itself uses a double purification system to make sure no contaminants get into whatever it is that Sharp is growing. First, a near-perfect vacuum is created, sucking out any airborne motes or other objects; then, liquid nitrogen is used to cool the outer surface of the chamber. When objects land on it, they instantly stick and freeze.

Substrate wafers are loaded inside and then manipulated into position using magnets on the outside; the various chemicals layered on top are kept in canisters around the outer edges, and released in controlled amounts using shutter doors. Because of the carefully maintained environment, they settle in a perfectly even layer, with the orientation decided by the atomic structure of the wafer itself: Sharp uses sapphire bases with various chemical toppings for Blu-ray lasers, for instance.

With the current MBE, Sharp can produce a couple of small trays of LEDs in a day. However, the production techniques being experimented with should eventually head to more mass-production friendly facilities, where bigger numbers can be catered for.

Professor Wolfgang Freude and his colleagues have announced a new world record for transmitting data with a single laser. The team was able to hit 26 terabits per second with the one laser. Each pulse of the laser used in the demonstration has about 325 different colors of light and each light color can carry a bit of data. The team was able to shoo the data down a length of optical fiber 50km long and then extract the different colors using a fast Fourier transform at the opposite end.

That algorithm can extract the different colors from the beam based on the number of times different parts of the beam arrive. Part of the success of Freude and the team of researchers was that they were able to split their data packing laser beam optically rather than mathematically. The optical split allows various parts of the beam to arrive at different times. The data can then be separated into bits and put back together.

[via Geekosystem]

The system is called left turn assistant and it has two levels of functionality. The left turn assistant uses the navigation system in the car to fix the vehicles location within a meter at intersections. It also uses a mono camera to register the turn off lane markings and lane borders on the road. The system then uses three laser scanners in the front of the car to map the area up to 100 meters in front of the vehicle.

The laser scanners can pick up cars, trucks, and motorcycles. If the sensors detect a vehicle approaching in the opposite direction and the car continues to move the left turn assistant activates automatic braking input in low speed range up to 10km/h to prevent a collision. While the brakes are applied, the system also sounds an audible warning and a visual warning inside the car. As soon as the driver hits the brakes themselves, the brake input triggered by the system is ended.

The test firing of the laser from a Navy ship was able to disable a small target vessel. The successful test was part of the Navy and Northrop Grumman at-sea testing regime of the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD) and validated the lasers ability to provide self-defense for ships and personnel from small boat threats.

The test was conducted off the coast of Central California in the Navy’s Pacific Ocean test range. The test laser was mounted on the deck of the Navy self-defense test ship the USS Paul Foster (DD 964). “This is the first time a HEL, at these power levels, has been put on a Navy ship, powered from that ship and used to defeat a target at-range in a maritime environment,” said Peter Morrison, program officer for ONR’s MLD.

[via ONR]

The gun is called the DIY Pulse Laser Gun and was built by Patrick Priebe. The builder says that the gun has a small pulse laser head with a kW-pulse of infrared coherent light. A single shot can punch through a razor blade, plastic, and 5mm thick Styrofoam when focused.

The range of the gun is 3M for dark surfaces and the shot will make a stinging flame and leave a 5mm stain behind. I bet it would burn your skin pretty well too. I don’t even want to think about what it would do to your eye. The gun is about 320mm long and weighs two pounds.

[via Hacked Gadgets]

As for an overview of how the device works, let’s quote BBC based on what Professor Douglas Stone revealed to them: “The device focuses two laser beams of a specific frequency into a specially designed optical cavity made from silicon, which traps the incoming beams of light and forces them to bounce around until all their energy is dissipated.” The device can absorb 99.4 percent of incoming light for a specific wavelength.

Professor Stone also said that the anti-laser would be most useful in optical computing with a big advantage being its use of silicon which is already widely used in computing. However, he reiterates that the device is not meant for defense against high powered laser weapons. He goes on to say, “The energy gets dissipated as heat. So if someone sets a laser on you with enough power to fry you, the anti-laser won’t stop you from frying.”

[Via BBC News]

The threshold for making a laser into a weapon is the 100 kilowatt of power mark. The prototype FEL has so far been able to muster a paltry 14 kilowatts worth of power. The Navy has that power issue licked, or at least it thinks it does. The use of a new injector has put the prototype laser into the megawatt class of lasers.

The Navy admits that a test of the laser aboard a ship is still years away with the shipboard test not expected until at least 2018. Perhaps the Navy can fit the laser about the same time it starts outfitting ships with that awesome rail gun it tested a while back that fired a 33 megajoule shot sending a bullet at mach 8.

Video after the cut

It takes a couple of minutes, and involves balancing the kernel on a swivelling platter and keeping a steady hand, but it’s undoubtedly another important step in combining cooking and lasers. At $299.95 a piece, however, lasers probably aren’t the cheapest way to make a movie time snack.

[via Twitter]

It was a year ago that the United States military first attempted, and ultimately succeeded, in shooting down a ballistic missile with a laser. And now it looks like they are ready to test it again, and they could be doing it as soon as tonight, if sources are accurate. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Airborne Laser Test Bed, which is a heavily modified jumbo jet that has a chemical laser equipped to its frame, will take off from the California coast, and try to shoot down the missile.

While the military has already proven that they can shoot down a ballistic missile with a laser, the program itself hasn’t seen the best support from the government. In the past, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates actually downgraded the program to a research and development stage, which meant that acquiring another jumbo jet for further testing was out of the question. However, if this experiment is a success, it is likely that the project will receive congressional interest, which could lead to further funding.

The military is trying to show that lasers can play an integral part to the strategy of its forces, especially if they can be used in such a manner as the Airborne Laser Test Bed. With this test, which will hopefully succeed versus the failures that the testers faced back in September due to several issues. The test is reportedly going to occur some time tonight, but no exact time frame was issued.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

The point behind TalkTorque 2, is to be able to interact with humans without any words being exchanged. The designers behind the robot believe that TalkTorque 2 would be a perfect guide within places like museums. Letting the human attendees follow the robot around, while it gestures with its head, hands, and hips towards important pieces.

There are three cameras installed in the TalkTorque 2, along with a laser rangefinder. Thanks to the cameras, the robot will be able to recognize returning visitors. In the video below, you can watch the original TalkTorque as it is put through a few tests, all focusing on its gestures.

[via Plastic Pals]

Her undeniable skills in dancing have landed her a spot with Zhantra Entertainment. In such, she’s become a world famous “bionic ballerina.” So famous in fact, that she’s even got herself a Facebook page, with a growing number of fans. 164 (at the time of this writing) may not seem like many, but we imagine that as the video below gets passed around on the Internet, that number will certainly change. The Bionic Ballerina features 17 lasers that have been hooked up to Milena’s body. These lasers work in tangent with the numerous LEDs hooked onto her dress. The result is a dance that’s full of lights and spectacle, and you can watch it below.

[via DVICE]

Project images up to 50″ away in dark environments. Rapid change possible in projection size, simultaneous near and far projection, angled projection, and projection on uneven surfaces. Fricking sweet, man. This projector includes an onboard 1.5 hour battery, making power cables unnecessary, VGA input supporting up to 800×600 resolutions for laptop connections, and a media player inside the device able to decode multiple document and media formats. Have some files on a USB thumb drive? It can read those too. Available for $449 MSRP or pre-order for $399. Check out the full press-release below:

AAXA Introduces L1 v2 Laser Pico Projector

November 24, 2010

AAXA Technologies is pleased to announce the release of the AAXA L1 v2 Laser Pico Projector, an updated version of the L1, the world’s first laser powered pocket projector. The updated design improves the performance of L1 v2 by increasing the thermal efficiency of the PCOS laser light engine. The unique three-color laser light source enables the L1 v2 to produce images with amazing color saturation that are always in focus. Designed for mobile professionals and entertainment, the AAXA L1 v2 pocket projector combines a revolutionary laser light source, proprietary despeckling technology, and an LCoS imager to achieve a 20 lumen output at 800×600 resolution without the pixilation problems found in some laser projectors.

The flexibility offered by the L1 v2 laser light source opens up a new world of possibilities in projection applications. The focus-free operation allows for rapid changes in projection size, simultaneous far and near surface projection, angled projection, and projection on curved and other non-flat surfaces. Its ultra-efficient optical engine enables the L1 v2 to produce rich images even in less-than-dark environments – and color-rich images up to 50″ in dark environments. Combined with onboard 1.5 hour battery, the L1 v2 operates as a true hand-held laser projector without the need for any cables or external power source.

Built-in features include VGA input supporting up to 800×600 resolutions for laptop connections and on-board gamma correction. Additional features include a powerful media player capable of decoding of video (AVI, ASF, WMV, MPG), audio (MP3, WAV, AAC), images (JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP), and popular document formats (DOC, XLS, PPT, PDF), onboard memory, and a USB port capable of reading files directly off a standard USB thumb drive.

While the L1 v2 is slightly larger than the original L1, it still remains the world’s smallest 20 lumen pico projector – no larger than a small cell phone, measuring only 4.2″ x 2.1″ x 1.2″ and weighs in at 170 grams (including battery). The L1 v2 projector is much smaller than the traditional “pocket projector”. It slips into a pocket or briefcase and comes with a stand, making it fully portable and configurable for maximum presentation flexibility. Additional accessories allow the L1 v2 to connect to Apple iPhone/iPod, Microsoft Zune, Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), and a wide range of cellphones from Nokia, LG, Samsung, and HTC.

The AAXA L1 v2 is available for pre-order at www.aaxatech.com for $399 and begins shipping December 1, 2010 and will also be available through our fine retail partners.

[Via AAXA Technologies]

This new slingshot was a do it yourself project from KipKay, which would initially make it a one-of-a-kind item, but he’s happy to show you how he made it in the video, which you can watch below. So, if you’re someone who likes to put things together, which include lasers, and you’ve missed your slingshot of your childhood days, here’s a great way to bring it back to life, with a nice enhancement.

The design features chunks of aluminum, and a single 6mm red laser diode. The whole thing is run by a pair of AA batteries, which are tucked away inside. What’s better, though, is that the handle works as a storage compartment for your ammunition, too. Go ahead and check out the video below, to see the laser-guided slingshot in action.

[via DVICE]

The lasers, which you can see in the image above, are fired from the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Laser Ranging Facility, located in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA fires the lasers every 28 seconds, which is all it takes to locate and track the satellite, which is the size of an SUV. Which is pretty impressive, considering that the LRO is moving at 3,600 MPH, and it’s over 250,000 miles away. We’re also curious to know if the scientists, while tracking our own satellite and staring at the moon, were talking like pirates to one another. After all, yesterday was also “Talk Like a Pirate Day.”

[via io9]

The United States Air Force has just announced that a team of researchers based out of the University of California in Berkeley have created a laser backpack, which is about as portable as you might imagine. It’s still bulky, sure, but at least it won’t crush you. At least one of the researchers, a man named Avideh Zakhor, has been doing work of rapid generation of information pertaining to 3D models for quite some time, and has even done work on Google Earth’s Cities in 3D Program, so he knows what he’s doing. And, while Google may wish they could use something like this to map the internals of a restaurant somewhere, we don’t really see that happening any time soon.

Yet, as we mentioned above, the Air Force is an entirely different story. They want to get their hands on this technology, apparently, to map out battlefield locations. The branch of the military believes that Air Force personnel would be able to use the information gathered to prepare for missions better.

The backpack itself utilizes all sorts of high-tech goodies. There are four cameras that record up, down, and on both sides of the wearer of the backpack at all times. The entire system is based on the Hokuyo scanning laser rangefinders. And then the whole thing gets figured out by a sensor fusion algorithm that was designed by Zakhor and other researchers. The cameras and algorithms work in conjunction to rapidly decipher the environment, and then showcase it in a photo-realistic 3D model at a later date. The system doesn’t need GPS, either.

Zakhor believes that every location on the planet, both interior and exterior, will be eventually mapped. He believes, honestly, that before you go anywhere in the future, you’ll be able to bring it up online and take a look, no matter the location. A pretty hefty goal, we imagine, but as the technology gets better and we have better access, it may be possible.

[via CNET]

While the image may not get the full point across, it certainly gives it a good shot. That laser that’s shooting up out of the observatory is meant to excite the atoms within the upper atmosphere. Somewhere in the ball park of 56 miles above the planet. The intent? To artificially manifest a star. The European Southern Observatory has actually done this before. It’s called the Laser Guide Star, which will be used to act as a reference to the very, very large Very Large Telescope (VLT) array.

The point is to give the researchers and scientists a better ability to take pictures of the cosmos, and by creating an artificial star as their reference point for the four mirror-based VLT, they make that easier on themselves.

[via DVICE]