The Marquee is a custom-designed keyboard with a polished bronze frame, old style typewriter keys, and inlaid with aged leather. The lock LEDs look like they could have been taken off of a 1950’s control panel. The style of the keyboard is called “steampunk,” also known as the old new style. It is not only the keyboard that is unbelievable: its price ranges from USD 1200 to USD 1300.
This keyboard was designed by Richard Nagy, who is an artist that specializes in the steampunk style and works on a commission basis. On his website he commented that he is thinking moving to a larger workspace so that he could produce more pieces at a time, but as of right now he is producing only one keyboard at a time upon request.
- More Information: https://www.datamancer.net/
Figure 1: The Marquee keyboard
Figure 2: The Marquee keyboard
The SoundWagon is the world’s smallest portable vinyl record player. It is styled after the VW Bus from the 1970’s and plays the record by driving around the record. The SoundWagon is powered by a 9 V battery and plays the record thru a small speaker in the top of the bus.
Figure 3: The SoundWagon
- More Information: https://www.soundwagon.jp/product.html
The Robot Suit HAL is a device that is mainly used in rehabilitation clinics in Japan. The suit works by reading the bioelectrical signals sent from the brain to the muscles and moving the appropriate the limb. This version of the suit is only for the legs and is almost exclusively used to rehabilitate injuries and assist the disabled. There are full sized suits available that are used for both medical and labor applications. Subjects assisted by the suit have been able to lift up to 330 lbs (150 kg) with easy.
Figure 4: The HAL
- More Information: https://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/robotsuithal/index.html
GreenSound Technology has developed a speaker system that projects sound thru a pane of glass. Because the speakers have far less moving parts, the sound quality degenerates at a far slower rate than standard speakers. Since the speakers project sound by vibrating the glass, the sound is omni-directional and thus can be heard no matter the position of the speaker. Compared your standard speakers these glass speakers have a very astetically-pleasing look.
Figure 5: The glass speaker
- More Information: https://www.gstspeakers.com/home.html
The Windoro is every woman’s dream coming true: a robot to clean windows. It uses magnets to hold each half of the robot onto opposite sides of the window and with stay attached even if the power is off. The robot can be used on windows up to one inch thick and uses water, detergent and scrubing pads to clean the window.
Unfortunately, there is no website in English to view details of this product.
Figure 6: The Windoro
The cockpit of this flight simulator shown in Figure 7 is entirely made out of Mad Catz peripherals, and has an amazing assortment of options and displays. The cockpit comes complete with a flight wheel, rudder pedals, six instrument displays, a radio panel, a throttle panel, a multi panel, and a switch panel. The full cost of this set up is about USD 2000 for just the peripherals and not including the materials used to construct the housing.
Figure 7: Mad Catz Flight Simulator
- More Information: https://www.saitek.com/
Imation bought TDK in 2007 and they decided to revitalize the brand by releasing a series of digital boomboxes. Each boombox has a USB input, where you can install a flash drive containing your MP3 songs, a 3.5 mm audio jack, auxiliary jacks, and AM/FM radio. There are three version of the boombox. The first one has two six-inch speakers, the second has two six-inch speakers and a six-inch subwoofer, and the third has two five and a quarter inch speakers and is shaped like a cube. The boomboxes have a smooth black look, gold tuning knobs and digital display, and have a guitar input, so you can play your electric guitar and mix the sound with whatever music your are listening to.
Figure 8: TDK 2 Speaker Boombox
Figure 9: TDK 3 Speaker Boombox
Figure 10: TDK Sound Cube
- More Information: https://www.tdkperformance.com/en-us/
The Wheeme is a personal massage robot that uses pulsing motions and vibrations to release tention in the user. It uses traction control and edge detection to keep from falling off user and can be used on any part of the body.
Figure 11: The Wheeme
- More Information: https://www.dreambots.com/
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