Phone dead? Give it a ride on this skateboard, Ep. 176

[MUSIC] Hey guys, my name is Stephen Beacham and here's what's happening this week on CNET's Crave blog. [NOISE] Harvard University wants you to build soft robots. Harvard University and Dublin, Ireland's Trinity University have teamed up to release a soft robot's tool kit that contains all the intellectual tools for robotic enthusiasts and experienced builders. The tool kit does not include any actual parts of a robot, but instead provides information about the various parts you could use, and where you could shop around to find them, whether they are downloadable, open-source plan, as well as where to find sample code for controlling robotic systems. According to. Trinity College's Gareth Bennett, co-author of a paper describing the toolkit's development. open design can have as disruptive an influence on technology development in this century as open source did in the last. Watch the entire soft robotics video and read more at. At softroboticstoolkit.com. Humans stare at their smartphones all day. Mesmerized by the moving pictures and colors. Well YouTube user Joe Meyers thought he would entertain a group and frogs and see if they would get into a new show called Frog TV. Otherwise known as Worms On a Smartphone. Let's see what happened. Let's check back in with the frogs a little later. This is not some weird undiscovered octopus like creature in our ocean, this is a robot that is currently being developed by the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, AKA fourth in Greece. The team has been studying. Sculling which is a method of swimming employed by the octopus. The lifelike robot has been test in laboratory conditions and in the Aegean Sea where it was followed by shoals of small fish indicating that the robot could be used for non-destructive ocean life surveillance. It can also carry objects. Just like a real octopus. [MUSIC] Disturbing. [MUSIC] And back to the frogs. If you would like to experience Steven Spielberg's masterpiece Raider's of the Lost Ark all over again and in an entirely different way, then take some time to watch Stephen Soderburgh's new experimental interpretation of the film. [MUSIC] Soderbergh stripped all the color, dialogue, sound, and music from the film, and replaced it with his own electronica soundtrack. Track. Sodenbergh then explained on extension765.com that he invites viewers to concentrate an Spielberg's staging rather than Harrison Ford's dialog or the dramatic action music. Sodenbergh explains, I operate under the theory a movie should work with the sound off and under that theory, staging becomes paramount. Check it out. [MUSIC] One more check-in with the frogs. How are those guys doing? A couple of episodes ago on Crave we checked out the Movpak backpack, a skateboard hybrid as well as the Phorce charging bag that charges your wireless devices. Well, the Chargeboard kind of marries those two concepts into one device. Chargeboard is a skateboard that uses the kinetic energy produced by dynamos in the rear wheels [MUSIC] Store an electrical charge that can later be used to fully charge your smartphone. Each wheel produces about six volts of electricity which is stored in a power box unit under the skateboard. The skateboard has a dock compatible with an iPhone 4 or 4s. As well as a USB 2 connection and a 3.5 millimeter audio jack. Unit under the skateboard doubles as a boombox. So you can listen to your jams while resting in the park and charging your smart phone. [MUSIC] All right guys let's. That's the show. Thank you very much for watching. As always, you can find all these news stories at CNet's Crave blog. Crave. CNet.com. Make sure you follow Crave on Twitter @crave. And check out this week's Crave giveaway. This week's Crave giveaway's the Yantouch Diamond+ Bluetooth speaker and light show. Music and mood lighting. In one. Go to the blog and enter to win. [MUSIC]