How to change the world with LEGO? This book gives interesting answers
When people say “LEGO can build anything,” I think that’s just rhetorical.
But a book recently listed on the official LEGO website changed my mind.
The book, “Lego Heroes,” chronicles the stories of 12 innovators who “changed the world” with Lego.
The first character in the book is the designer Carlos Arturo Torres.
When communicating with Dario, an 8-year-old boy with a missing right arm, Torres realized that only children know what they need, so he thought of applying Lego to children’s prosthetics so that children can also build the components they need.
Torres ended up building a prosthetic system called Iko, with a built-in battery, processor, and myoelectric sensors that detect muscle movement. Kids can build any LEGO design they want and connect it to the Iko system.
In addition, the book also records how people used Lego to make a wheelchair for an injured turtle, created Braille Lego bricks, and used Lego to conduct coral reef research and more.
MUJI remanufactured electric vehicles, this time using recycled plastic
Some time ago, MUJI stores in Taiwan began to put away “waste products”.
It turned out that this is the “Recycling for Good” campaign launched by MUJI and Taiwan’s local electric vehicle brand Gogoro, inviting consumers to bring useless PP (polypropylene) plastic waste to the stores of the two brands for recycling.
The salvage is then “screened, screened, cut, pelletized, reshaped and recycled” to become body panels for a newly designed electric vehicle.
This time, in addition to teaming up with Gogoro, MUJI also invited Naoto Fukasawa, one of the design masters who defined the “MUJI style”, to jointly create two electric vehicles, Gogoro VIVA ME and Gogoro VIVA MIX ME.
Regarding this project, Naoto Fukasawa said:
“In design, the most important thing is that it must have the spirit of integrity to people, environment, and life.”
As always, the two EVs stay true to MUJI’s minimalist aesthetic, featuring rustic designs and soothing, light color schemes.
When asked why it chose to use recycled PP, MUJI said that PP is “the most heat-resistant plastic”, and it is also “durable and not easy to react with water and chemicals”, and it is easier to recycle.
MUJI said that this is why brands also choose to use PP as raw materials when making storage containers.
Previously, MUJI had cooperated with Honda in 2022 to launch an electric vehicle with a more compact overall design.
Let more people repair it by hand, and Xbox has begun to sell spare parts
Recently, Microsoft officially put a batch of Xbox spare parts on the official website in North America, and users of Xbox Elite Series 2 and Xbox Wireless Controller can do it themselves.
The accessories on the shelves this time include: handle shells, various buttons, printed circuit boards, etc. The prices range from $19.99 to $59.99 (approximately RMB 144-430), and the warranty period is one year.
In addition, Xbox also released a detailed “Xbox Controller Safety and Maintenance Guide” and a video version of the repair guide, even if you are not a professional, you can learn to repair step by step.
In recent years, more and more people are seeking to regain the “right to repair”.
In the digital age, after we purchase electronic equipment, we are limited by software or hardware. Many times we can only have the “right to use it”, but we cannot repair it or even give it to others.
The “Right to Repair Movement” is trying to change this situation, advocating that large companies should consider product repairability when designing products, and consumers should also have more right to know when purchasing.
At the same time, products that can be repaired and where repair parts can be found mostly mean a longer service life and less waste, which is also in line with the concept of sustainability.
In addition to this Xbox accessories, Microsoft has previously launched replacement parts for Surface devices. Last year, Apple also launched a self-service repair program for the public, allowing users to purchase repair parts and tools by themselves.
Xbox Maintenance Guide & Explanation Video👇🏻
https://go.ifanr.com/7Zu8S4
OPPO Announces TOP 5 of “Smile Proposal” Roadshow in China
“Smile Proposal” is a scientific and technological innovation empowerment platform initiated by OPPO Research Institute. Centering on the brand mission of “Technology for the benefit of the world“, it collects and empowers innovative technology solutions from all over the world.
The theme of the 2023 Smile Proposal is “Innovation for Good”, which consists of two topics: “Technology for Humanity” and “Green Future”.
Recently, the review team scored according to 4 dimensions and 15 detailed rules of “application implementation”, “technological innovation”, “long-term development potential” and “social public value”, and finally selected China’s top 5 proposals to enter the global final roadshow👇🏻
In October this year, the TOP 5 proposals in China will participate in the Smile Proposal Acceleration Camp together with the TOP 5 roadshows in Boston and Bangkok, Thailand, and have in-depth exchanges with OPPO executives, technology and investment teams, and industry partners, and enter the global final roadshow .
The TOP 5 proposals that win the final round will receive a prize of RMB 350,000 and opportunities for commercial and technical cooperation with OPPO and its partners.
Orbital Composites: How to reduce the cost of wind power?In-situ printing of turbine blades
Getting wind turbines to their destination is no easy feat, and planning alone can take a year.
If you encounter a mountain road, it may take two weeks to transport a wind turbine blade more than 60 meters long.
Startup Orbital Composites has a new idea — why don’t we print blades in situ where we use wind turbines? This reduces the hassle of transportation.
Orbital Composites’ technology prints composites at high speeds and has previously 3D printed drone and satellite components.
Applied to wind turbine blades, the team needs to 3D print a huge mold first, and then print the blades in this mold.
What is amazing is that all the materials used in the above work can be packed in the container, which makes the transportation easier.
Later this year, Orbital Composites will test the effect on blades around 30 meters long, before moving on to testing 50-meter blades.
The icing on the cake is that 3D printing is more material-efficient than traditional production processes, and in the future Orbital Composites can also use recycled materials to print blades:
Not only can we reduce the use of raw materials in the first place, we can also recycle these materials and reuse them downstream.