JB-9 jetpack uses actual turbine engines, looks like a smooth ride (Tomorrow Daily 274)
Culture
[MUSIC]
Greeting, citizens of the Internet.
Welcome to Tomorrow Daily, the best geek talk show in the known universe.
I'm Ashley Esqueda.
Yesterday you watched Jeff Canada.
We're gonna be in the studio together at the same time.
It's gonna be the greatest thing ever.
We're not like Schroedinger's Tomorrow Daily.
We're gonna be in a set, our actual new set, and we're gonna do a 45-minute show just for you.
I'm gonna talk about all the stuff we talked about this week.
We're gonna deep dive full into the headlines.
[SOUND] Oh, my God!
You guys are real life jetpack.
Now looks like it doesn't [UNKNOWN] Pilot, look.
Jetpack Aviation is responsible for the JB 9 Jetpack, an actual jetpack, in the sense that it uses turbine jets in a backpack to propel it's pilot.
And it looks super duper agile.
Inventor David Mammon took the JB 9 for a spin around the Statue of Liberty, as one does.
And then that thing looks super beautiful in flight which is a big time difference compared to a lot of other jetpacks out there.
It kind of looks and feels like a big deal.
The jetpack's turbine engines run on simple kerosene and can carry about ten gallons of fuel, which is good for about a ten minute flight depending on how much the pilot weighs.
It's small enough to stick in the back seat of a car, and light enough to jog a bit with a tankful.
Unfortunately, it's not for sale.
He says, for now, he wants to be sensible about who gets their hands on the JB9, as they develop the JB10.
I've gotta be honest with you guys.
I am terrified of heights, but I would totally take a spin on this thing.
Okay, so next story on a scale of one to ten, how excited would you be if I told you there were flying modular holograms?
Because there are.
A team at Queens University created BitDrones.
A series of tiny drones Drones with some interesting capabilities.
This is a super early concept that you're seeing, but let's imagine a lot more of these things creating shapes as you hear how the technology works.
So there are three different kinds of drones working here.
Pixel drones, which have an LED display for showing information, Shaped drones which can join up with the others like it, to make cubic displays in three dimensions, and then display drones, which are literally a flexible touch screen mounted on a nanodrone.
In a demo, they use the pixel drones to browse files by moving the drones left and right, and then tapping the desired file.
Then they deploy the shape drones which are flying cubes that indicate the basic markers for a 3D building model.
The operator can drag the drones around and change the orientation and adjust parameters, pinch to zoom using two drones, and use the display drone to control the model remotely.
The system only supports a dozen drones currently, but the idea is to scale the idea up to thousands of much, much, smaller drones.
In essence that would kind of make them like a flying pixel display that can manipulated and changed in real time which sounds pretty fun honestly.
Okay, so our very last story, Disney Research is back in the news.
They have an interactive design system for 3-D printed robots that even you and I can use.
ETH Zurich collaborated once again with Disney Research and Carnegie Malone University.
To create an interesting software that enables anyone to design their very own 3D printed robot.
You start out with a basic foundation with virtual motors in every joint.
But then you can click and drag and add or remove motors, adjust how the robot looks when it walks, and generate 3D geometry for your robot body.
You can even watch how your little robot will look when it's walking via physics simulation.
The software lets you input what 3D printer you have, and what type of filament you're using, and then it will optimize the final design based on that data to make you the strongest 3D printed robot possible.
The team made five different types of robots, each with their own gait and number of legs.
Including a five-legged robot, which is really creepy.
You won't be making your robot run, though, since the software can't handle that yet.
But the team doesn't seem to be really concerned with that.
They actually seem to be more concerned with the creative side of the design and letting you unleash your imagination and making weird 3D printed robots with five legs.
Honestly, my favorite part of that video is when the little tiny four-legged robot waves at me.
Hi little robot, you're so cute.
All right, guys, let's talk about Mod Squad.
[MUSIC]
Today we're gonna look at a little bit of fashion.
Lina Wassong designs clothes with wearable technology inside and she recently debuted a skirt with some fun surprises.
The skirt is controlled by Arduino and features a microphone and LED lights.
When the skirt hears music, it lights up but this is not a standard equalizer skirt or anything like you've seen before.
It actually lights up based on the musical notes it hears.
And creates a sort of a LED visualization of the music it's hearing.
Of course she had this idea while she was at burning man and she'll probably wear it there next year.
But the best part is she put the entire process up on instructables, including hooking up the electronics and installing LEDs in leather fabric.
So honestly, if you need an LED kind of equalizer visualization skirt.
You are now covered, the Internet says you're welcome.
All right guys it's time for our phonetographer of the day.
[MUSIC]
Our phonetographer of the day today is Ju-aan who sent in this gorgeous photo with his Xperia Z3.
He wrote to us and he said.
Hey, everyone at Tomorrow Daily, I watch your show all the time.
Really enjoy the content.
I recently flew down to Cape Town from Johannesburg in South Africa and took a few pictures with my Sony Experia Z3 in and around Cape Town.
Cape Town is a very cool and trendy city.
Just thought I'd share my beautiful country with you.
You have my permission to use them of course.
Keep on making geeks happy.
Thank you.
Greetings from sunny South Africa, Yuan Vanderpool.
Yuan, it was such an amazing picture.
You actually sent in a bunch of pictures from Capetown and now I want to visit.
I'm going to add it to my list of places I want to go.
if you guys want to send in your phonetography to make me jealous of where you live, you could email us tomorrow@cnet.com.
Make sure you give us permission to use your picture.
Send your actual photo, don't forget to attach it and tell us a little story about it just like Yuan did because it was great.
And if you want to find us online you can find us @tomorrowdaily on Facebook and twitter.
We are also at tomorrowdaily.com if you want to share.
Share the show with a friend, which is always great.
And I am @AshleyEsqueda, Jeff is @JeffCannata, with two n's and one t, and Producer Logan is @LoganMoy on Twitter if you would like to befriend us.
That is it for the show today.
We will be back with a brand new docket of weird, wonderful science fact meeting science fiction, with some discussion tomorrow, because it's gonna be a long show.
So get ready, but until then Being human.
We'll see you guys next time, bye.
[MUSIC]
