Motion

I love me a bioinspired robot that pulls off challenging feats with cues from nature. Researchers have shown off the one-legged Salto bot mimic the way squirrels leap effortlessly between precarious branches and stick the landing on the first attempt.

Wi-Fi security usually means keeping virtual intruders out, but a new system claims to use Wi-Fi networks to detect physical intruders. Gamgee’s Wi-Fi Home Alarm System can learn to recognize people who belong there and alert you to strangers.

Realistic and immersive as VR gaming may be, it produces feelings of motion sickness in many people. The C-Infinity platform is claimed to keep that from happening, by better engaging the user's body in their avatar's actions.

Using paired smartphones, motion-capture app OpenCap films video and then uses AI to analyse human movement, providing detailed data for use in rehabilitation, presurgery plans and disease diagnostics – and is 1% of the cost of traditional technology.

Scientists at the University of Bath have come up with a simpler method of motion capture, developing a computer model that can digitize dogs without the need for a motion capture suit and a suite of surrounding cameras.

​Although gazing at computer models of processes that we're studying can certainly be helpful, there's often just no substitute for getting your hands on an actual physical object. Realizing that, an MIT team has developed a system that creates 3D-printed "motion sculptures" based on 2D videos.

The cumbersome, expensive process of motion capture might soon be a thing of the past. Danish startup Rokoko has developed the Smartsuit Pro, a mocap suit that works without wires or cameras, and instead relies on sensors and a Wi-Fi network to record or stream motion to a character in real time.

​Over the years, we've seen a number of robots inspired by the animals kingdom. Inspired by the movement of snakes, an Israeli research team has now developed a bot that's said to be the first in the world to produce pure wave motion using a single motor.

A half hour of jogging or a day of regular movement is enough to capture three hours of energy to transfer into your devices using a new wearable.

LEDs are being phased into use everywhere from living rooms to offices to car headlights to street-lighting. Whilst these uses are practical, for something a little more exciting we can look to Nike. Its House of Mamba basketball court uses an LED surface for graphics, video and player-tracking.

Like a video game arcade on steroids, Motionators recreates the thrill of Formula 1 racing in a giant, lurching motion rig that simulates bumps, acceleration and cornering G-forces – and crashes; very physical crashes, as the rather pedestrian Gizmag Race Team discovered.

Ever wished you had an extra set of eyes on the cookie jar? Looking to help out with this and a whole host of common parenting duties is Sammy Screamer, a small movement sensor which alerts the user when it detects motion.