Kickstarter is a great place to run across some very interesting projects that might actually make it to production. It’s also a great place for people with good ideas to raise the money they need to build their device and sell them to the public. One of the coolest projects I have seen in a long time on Kickstarter is the cute little Romo smartphone robot.
Sticky Boom Electroadhesive The pads on the gripper claw are soft and conformable to any object. They glom onto an object using electroadhesion. Altius Space Machines
Rarely does a week pass without some concern about space debris, whether it’s falling to Earthor threatening the International Space Station. Plenty of private companies and government agencies have proposed solutions for this problem, from giant space nets to ground-based lasers that would push debris out of orbit. Here’s one we have not seen before: A sticky robot arm that works like a mechanical tractor beam. It could be used to reach out and grab space debris of any shape or size — and for other purposes, like servicing the ISS.