By David Ponce

We’ve never come to see the snaking wires on a bicycle as that much of a hassle, yet there is research underway to get rid of them altogether. And unlike existing wireless gear-shifters, reliability is somewhat of an issue when it comes to braking. The worst that happens if your bike doesn’t shift is that it doesn’t shift. Miss out of the brakes and it could be a fast-track to the bottom of a ravine. So researchers at Germany’s Saarland University have developed a prototype wireless braking system with 99.999999999997% reliability. The number of nines on that figure is important: it means it would fail three times out of a trillion braking attempts, which isn’t so bad. There’s no handle either, everything is accomplished through pressure sensors in the handlebar that apply braking force proportional to your grip (past a predetermined threshold). A receiver box interprets the signals and stops the bike “within 250 milliseconds. At that speed, a cyclist traveling at 30 km/h (18.6 mph) would have to react at least two meters (6.6 feet) before the point at which they needed to stop.” It’s not ideal but they’re working on improving this figure.

There is no clear path to marketplace at the moment, although lessons learned in this project could help engineers develop wireless systems with very high degrees of reliability.

[ Press Release ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By David Ponce

Or on top of, rather. The EniCycle is an a prototype self-stabilizing unicycle from Slovenian inventor Aleksander Polutnik. Featuring a three-hour battery, gyroscope and a spring damper, Polutnik claims a 30 minute learning curve. The video we’ve embedded after the jump shows UK “The Gadget Show” Ortiz Deley learning to ride the device. Within a few minutes he’s not falling off and actually steering.

Looks like some kind of fun, but sadly this isn’t a production device unless (like so many things) Polutnik finds some funding to market it. There are currently only two models he built himself.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ EniCycle ]

The Seascout is a prototype rescue craft designed and created by Andre Harley. He created the prototype using the Lego mindstorms robotics NXT kit. The Seascout will use GPS to track anyone who has fallen into the water. It will scoop the person up and take them to safety. It will also have radios so that the person in the water can communicate with someone on the shore(or boat). It is also intended to be able to work in situations and weather that a human lifeguard would not be able to handle.

So now we have robots that can serve beer and robots that can save you when you get drunk and fall into the ocean. Forget about terminators taking over the world. We’re being taken over by helpful and cute Wall-Es.

[ Andre Harley ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]