A walking stick, with a catch. Well, potentially a catch anyway: with a reel and fishing line, this mashup gadget enables you to combined fishing with your countryside strolls. It’s 89cm high, with a rubber foot and metal/plastic reel, and is available now for US$39.95. On second thoughts, House wouldn’t so much use this for fishing for fish, as much as for views up nurse’s skirts. The advertising doesn’t suggest that though. [Product via Nerd Approved]
newVideoPlayer("flamewalk_giz.flv", 506, 423,""); Next Friday, a Dutch robotics researcher named Daan Hobbelen at TU Delft will be getting his PhD for building a robot named Flame. What’s the big deal? you robo-saturated Giz readers ask. Flame has been built to walk like a man, using human-based principles that strike fear in the hearts of other robotics experts. UPDATE and BONUS VIDEO BELOW!!
Not quite as high-tech as the CIA spy gear Wilson’s been showing, but almost a steampunk modding of a normal walking stick… this cane with built-in telescope gave me a smile the moment I saw it. Mainly because I pictured a Victorian gent strolling along, then popping out the 3x mag telescope to steal a forbidden glimpse of distant ankle. Simpler days, eh? It has a one-inch wide, 37-inch high African rosewood stick, so it should be good as a real walking aid, and there’s a brass handle for an extra touch of style. It’s available now for US$89.95… useful for countryside strolls, and, of course, for the odd bit of *ahem* bird-spotting. [HammacherSchlemmer via Red Ferret]
Autoliv’s new Pedestrian Protection System combines a hood that opens to cushion impact and a pair of hood mounted airbags to reduce the risk of serious injury when a car comes into contact with an unfortunate pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist. The tech’s safety specs are impressive: “From almost certain death to less than a 15% risk of life-threatening injuries in a car-to-pedestrian impact at 40 km/h.” [Autoliv via Autoblog via Inventor Spot]
Honda has developed a gadget that they say could make walking easier for the elderly and others with weak leg muscles. The aptly named Walking Assist Device is a 2.7 kg motorised belt with hip sensors that gauge how much help the wearer will need. The motor then gives the wearer an appropriate boost, lengthening his or her stride enough to make walking easier on the legs.
When a team of Cornell students put Ranger to work tottering around the running track it just kept on walking, eventually achieving 45 laps before its batteries died and the poor thing toppled backwards. This 9 km hike smashed the previous 20-lap record. The kneeless Ranger is designed to investigate aspects of locomotion so that robot walking can be improved, and hopefully prosthetics for humans too.
We’re not going to oversell this one. It’s a bike. And it’s had the wheels replaced by spokes tipped with shoes. In other words, it’s quite possible the greatest invention ever.
Ad Dugdale celebrates that there’s finally a bike to give the Bitchcruiser a proper ass-kicking. We celebrate the sweet, awkward video of someone riding the thing after the jump.
Designer Jin Woo Han has created the “Tactile Wand” as a 21st-century conceptual white stick for the blind. The rechargeable gadget uses some sort of distance sensor and communicates by buzzing, letting the user know of upcoming obstacles: the stronger the buzz, the nearer the object. Neat design, Jin, but can it detect doggy doo like the old-fashioned stick could? What happens if the batteries die when you’re mid-street crossing? We reckon it would take some re-education of cops too: pointing a strange looking stick at people in public these days is probably a big no-no. [Coroflot via Gadget lab]
Out in Japan at the end of next month, U-Mate’s Lap-Around-Japan pedometer is a novel idea to get people walking. Instead of noting the same old landmarks (skyscraper, dog toilet, convenience store, interminable roadworks, pervy builders, etc. etc.) the miles you cover are transposed into miles around the japanese coastline. The device also keeps you entertained on your journey by acting as a kind of geographic Wikipedia for you. Confused? Read on.
