Cybernetics doesn’t have to mean high-tech or complex, as this handy LED display that slaps right onto your hand or arm demonstrates with easy, helped by stretchy circuitry.

A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed an ultra-thin and ultra-flexible film which works as a lightweight display, effectively creating an electronic skin. It has obvious potential applications for fun but also for monitoring vitals right on a patient or athlete.

The leap here is going from millimeters to micrometers in thickness, making for something flexible, easy to wear and ultimately see-through as well as stable in the air. Using alternating layers of organic and inorganic material, the researchers were able to create transparent electrodes while preventing water and oxygen interfering with the behavior of the device. The result is able to crumple and bend without damage.

“The advent of mobile phones has changed the way we communicate,” said professo Takao Someya of the University of Tokyo. “While these communication tools are getting smaller and smaller, they are still discrete devices that we have to carry with us.”

“What would the world be like if we had displays that could adhere to our bodies and even show our emotions or level of stress or unease? In addition to not having to carry a device with us at all times, they might enhance the way we interact with those around us or add a whole new dimension to how we communicate.”

The post Palm Pilot: Transparent Digital Display on ‘Electronic Skin’ first appeared on Gajitz.

An ingenious application of 3D printing, this digital-looking sundial shows the time just like an electronic clock would, but using just sunlight and shadow – entirely analog with no batteries required.

A system of tiny holes in the gnomon let in small amounts of light in just the right way so that the readout changes over time but always looks just like the face of a digital alarm clock.

Of course, showing every minute would be physically unfeasible, so it shifts only once per twenty minutes. Also, it is limited by daylight, so it can only function between the hours of 10 AM and 4 PM. All things considered, it’s still an amazing work of clever 3D printery.

The post Digital Sundial: 3D-Printed Timepiece Needs No Batteries first appeared on Gajitz.

Getting directions while biking can be a hazardous endeavor, whether via earplugs that may distract from road noise or complex visuals you can’t take time to read, hence this ultra-simple bike compass design.

Created by London startup Onomo, the Haize uses a simple system of colored and flashing lights on a circular glass surface wrapped in machined aluminum, all tied to a phone app in your pocket. The light rotates around the edge, adjusting to point in the direction the cyclist wishes to go, with red, blue and green flashes to indication direction in addition to distance.

By focusing not on directions by direction, the biker is free to make choices about how to move through the city, and avoids sometimes-confusing app or map directions designed for cars or pedestrians. It can last up to two weeks on a single charge and is small enough to slip into a pocket when you lock up your ride to avoid theft.

“We set out to develop a navigation device for cyclists that is both simple, beautiful and intuitive to use,” commented Morras. “All of the Onomo team being active cyclists ourselves, this is really a passion project to solve a personal problem as much as solving a problem for all cyclist everywhere.”

The post Magical Compass: Simple LED Points the Way for Cyclists first appeared on Gajitz.

No need to hit ‘Save’ when you are finished with a sketch or idea and want to move on – simply scroll further along the roll to store your creation in a physical archive.

Safe from power outages and surges, remote hackers and obsolescent operating systems, the Analog Memory Desk was designed and effectively open-sourced by MCAD student Kristen Camara.

Rolled up below but available on demand, thousands of feet of butcher paper  are connected to the legs supporting the surface above. The top, meanwhile, will record anything from scribbles to coffee stains. “1,100 yards of paper will record the lists, the phones numbers you call once, the pixel size of that box on that website, the street name of that business, and the long division you try to remember.”

Licensed Creative Commons, anyone can download the plans and build their own version of this desk. “I’ve come to realize that I’m somewhat obsessed with how we remember the past. This is the latest installment in that series and a more serious attempt at furniture making. There are a hundreds of little things that we don’t try to remember every year or even every week. Does the sum of all these tiny parts produce a new narrative on our lives?”

The post DIY Analog Memory Desk: 3,300 Feet of Scrolling Paper first appeared on Gajitz.

Translating analog constructions into virtual realities, a combination of hardware and software tracks what you build in realtime and effectively backs up both process and product in digital format. The system uses a combination of accelerometers built into the blocks themselves and wireless radios that transmit their motion to your device.

The idea has a variety of potential applications, from industrial and architectural design to converting objects from one material or size to 3D-printable formats at other scales. The results can be rendered as you build in full color, wireframe or other display modes to give you different perspectives on what you are creating.

There are also myriad educational possibilities, allowing children to alternate interactions with digital and physical objects without any kind of complex rendering program.

Its makers at Gravity are the same group responsible for a remarkable augmented reality sketchbook that allows you to effectively draw in three dimensions – this is in some ways an extension of the same digital/physical hybridization.

The post Lego X: Physical Blocks Auto-Generate Digital Schematics first appeared on Gajitz.