How To Keep Flying Robots Flying Even When Their Wings Are Damaged (Cool Weird Awesome 972)

Drones are becoming increasingly useful, but they can get damaged and grounded pretty quickly. A team at MIT has found bee-inspired workarounds that would keep impaired robotic crafts flying.

By |2024-03-17T14:10:16-04:00March 17, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

We Can Send Edible Drones To People While They’re Waiting For A Rescue (Cool Weird Awesome 904)

Engineers and enthusiasts are finding all kinds of great uses for drones, but this one may top them all: there are now drones with edible wings that can reach and then feed people who are in need of rescue.

By |2023-12-14T20:48:14-05:00December 14, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Teams Of High-Tech Drones Can 3D Print In The Air (Cool Weird Awesome 864)

Aerial Additive Manufacturing is a new process in which a team of drones 3D print while still flying, and then scanning drones fly by to make sure the job was done right.

By |2022-10-12T08:52:10-04:00October 12, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , |

The Next Big Thing In Home Insulation? Mushrooms (Cool Weird Awesome 632)

A startup in the UK has found a way to use mushrooms to create a new, greener kind of home insulation. But don't worry, it isn't just growing mushrooms inside the walls of your house. Plus: an Australian company that delivers coffee by drone is reworking its business model because nesting ravens are attacking their aircraft. 

By |2021-10-12T08:51:31-04:00October 12, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

Waterways Could Get Extra Clean After They’re Cleaned By These Drones (Cool Weird Awesome 512)

A device in Denmark, WasteShark, has been roaming through water to scoop up floating debris. Now it's going to have a flying companion drone to help spot waste and maybe even clean up oil spills. Plus: photographer Nancy Floyd has been taking self-portraits and other images, structured the same way, day after day since 1982, to show the passage of time. Talk about playing the long game. 

By |2024-01-12T09:49:30-05:00April 5, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

In The Future, Roadside Assistance Could Come From Robots (Cool Weird Awesome 423)

Robot roadside assistance? Toyota has applied for a patent for a system where self-driving drones could pull up to vehicles and give them some gas - or, if it runs on electricity, give it a charge. Plus: when you need to get a donor organ from one part of Italy to another, what do you do? Turn to a Lamborghini, of course.

By |2020-11-19T08:14:22-05:00November 19, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Can Drones Help Make Bridges Safer? (Cool Weird Awesome 342)

The drone company Skydio has just announced a new 3D scanning software that’s intended for use on large-scale structures like bridges. That may help us deal with the tens of thousands of "structurally deficient" bridges in the US. Plus: ever seen a guy do a shredding guitar solo riding on a OneWheel skateboard?

By |2020-07-15T08:23:40-04:00July 15, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Video Games Are Now Medically Necessary (Cool Weird Awesome 322)

Video games are now as artistically and technically challenging as any other art form. But now they've really leveled up: the FDA has just approved a video game-based treatment for ADHD. Plus: a school librarian in western Virginia just found a clever way to get books to her students while schools and libraries are closed.

By |2020-06-17T08:05:43-04:00June 17, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

How To Fight Fires With Drones (Cool Weird Awesome 274)

Firefighters in Chongqing, China, may soon put out fires with help from a team of six large drones that can get in the air and quickly extinguish blazes. Plus: a guy in Tacoma, Washington is spreading positivity by yelling things at people for money.

By |2020-04-03T09:23:37-04:00April 3, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The North Carolina Bridge That Decapitates Cars Is Finally Being Raised (Cool Weird Awesome 154)

It’s the end of an era in Durham, North Carolina. The 11 Foot 8 Bridge, known as the Can Opener or the Gregson Street Guillotine for its propensity for shearing the tops off rental trucks and other large vehicles, is at last being raised. Probably good for safety, but fans of fail videos are bummed. Plus: artist Reuben Wu uses drones to create light paintings in the sky he calls “aeroglyphs."

By |2022-01-03T11:38:38-05:00October 22, 2019|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |
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