From floating bonsai trees to levitating gadgets, hovering household items is all the rage, and now you can lift your smartphone with a similarly elevated form of design (and all while it charges!).

The OvRcharge floats your device using magnets, and has magnetic cases available for phones that would not float on their own devices.  As you phone charges, it hovers and spins slowly over the stand.

To be fair, this is absolutely a functionally useless gimmick, but you can’t have function without fun, so for fans of floating ‘stuff’ it can be a dynamic addition to your decor collection. The makers seem to have worked out both the wireless charging and magnetization issues.

“Wireless power transfer is around for years, wireless energy transmitted to  electrical load from a base or transmitter. Energy is sent through waves and on other end  an inductive coupling to electrical device, which can then use that energy to charge batteries or run the device. There are some drawbacks are in this technology like power loss and distance limitations but still that’s enough for the magic.”

“The two primary issues involved in magnetic levitation are lifting forces: providing an upward force sufficient to counteract gravity, and stability: ensuring that the system does not spontaneously slide or flip into a configuration where the lift is neutralized.” No smoke nor mirrors, just good old fashion wireless charging and magnets.

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Nearly 20 years and 1,000,000,000 Euros in the making, this fusion reactor in Germany, a potential harbinger of a huge shift in how we generate power around the planet. It is set to be turned on this month.

The Wendelstein 7-X stellarton fusion reactor creates energy by using massive coiled superconductors to generate magnetic fields. Contained hydrogen gas is then heated to until the atoms fuse.

The 50-foot ring features 250 access ports and houses 50 six-ton coils. The stellarators are harder to construct than their competing tokamaks but are much more robust and can be used continuously rather than just in short bursts. If this one works well, it will likely be the first of many.

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Super-strong electromagnetics coupled with a hidden fingerprint scanner make this convincing copy of Mjolnir, Thor’s mystical hammer, respond only to its creator. As the Marvel Comics version of the story goes, only those worthy of the power of the hammer may pick it up – it becomes an impossible anchor in the grip of anyone else.

Allan Pan, an electrical engineer, set to work creating his own real-life version. Electrical currents produce a magnetic field that pull the hammer toward any metal surface. Essentially, it can be ‘locked’ in place anywhere with metal on the ground (or just under the surface) mimicking the magical properties the hammer is supposed to posses.

Using powerful electromagnets and a fingerprint scanner, an electrical engineer builds a replica of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir that can only be hefted by the worthy. Pranking passers by, its maker is able to pick the device up with ease, then confuse the heck out of the strongest people who attempt to lift it (a bit like King Arthur with Excalibur, come to think of it). “The handle is attached to a capacitive touch sensor, which in turn is attached to an Arduino Pro Mini and a solid state relay, which serves as a switching device. As soon as someone grasps the handle, the electromagnets switch on, attaching the hammer to the metal surface.” Alas, this version cannot yet call down lightning strikes, nor return to the hand that throws it, but perhaps Mjolnir 2.0 will pick up where this one leaves off.

The post Engineer Crafts ‘Real’ Hammer of Thor Only He Can Lift first appeared on Gajitz.

So tiny it can fit on the tip of your finger, this remarkably agile and multifunctional little bot assembles not only assembles itself but also goes on to dive underwater, carry objects twice its weight, burrows into the ground and then degrades on demand, leaving only a magnet in its wake.

A just under two square centimeters, the Untethered Miniature Origami Robot is powered by a neodymium magnet and two pairs of electromagnetic coils that in turn create magnetic fields aiding the robot’s movements and transformations. Indeed, the magnet is not even dragging the robot around, but rather working with momentum and asymmetries to ‘walk’ the legs and create other actions from gravitational imbalances.

As such devices become ever smaller, as well as increasingly programmable and autonomous, there are many potential applications, including ultra-small medical devices that can target cancer cells or clean clogged arteries within the human body.

Via Spectrum: “From a flat sheet with a magnet on it, their robot folds itself up in just a few seconds, is immediately ready to zip around on land or water driven by magnetic fields, and then when you’ve run out of things to do with it, drive it into a tank of acetone and it’ll dissolve. This is the first time that a robot has been able to demonstrate a complete life cycle like this. The other advantages of using a folded robot instead of just a magnet include the ability to float, as well as the ability to more efficiently perform tasks like moving objects or digging. And this isn’t the only design that you can use, of course: you can optimize for whatever task you’re trying to accomplish. This particular one is more of a generalist.”

The post Self-Folding Origami Robot Runs, Swims, Digs & Dissolves first appeared on Gajitz.

Using magnetic fields to hover a small LED disk, this little flying saucer lamp lights up when you slide the disk into place, then dims when you remove it. Functional for sure, the real draw of this design is probably in the wow-factor – impress your guests with science bordering on magic.

The LUNALUXX lamp by Elivatix is sleek and minimal, a curved steel bar connecting the white shade piece above and the lamp base below, but the real magic lies in between – current pulsing through the system at 1,000 times per second to keep the disk in place and lit. You can poke and prod the disk and it will return to its default position in midair unless dislodged manually by physically grabbing and removing it.

From the designers: “It is truly the first of its kind featuring a minimalistic design, generating a smooth atmospheric light with a futuristic touch.
 By combining both magnetic suspension and remote-phosphor lightning technologies, a light emitting disc is freely suspended in mid air!”

More on the technology: “The design also uses remote phosphor technology to administer its light through two LEDs. In the base of the lamp, a blue LED shines up onto the LED disk, which is layered with phosphor. When the beam hits the layer on the disk, the blue light is absorbed and the disk radiates white. This twofold technology allows for a high energy efficiency, with the blue LED consuming only 2-3 watts of power, whilst the LED disk seems to glow with 15-20 watts of light.”

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