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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Keepin' it Real (1956 Real)

Well, today's Detroit Free Press had a feature article by John Gallagher in the News+Views Section regarding the exploration of Michigan's great architecture. Part of the writeup included a "Michigan's Top 10 Architectural Gems" lineup (always gotta have a "Top 10" - right?)

After a quick browse through the list, I noticed that a historic preservation project that we worked on was plugged in at #7 (oddly enough, it was #3 in the web gallery).

Quite a bit of effort went into making sure that the items that we built & refurbished were spot-on to the original decor designed by Mr. Saarinen. Now, I'm not going to argue whether the GM Tech Center deserves that spot or not. Still, it's pretty neat to see our historic preservation project in the news!

Here's a link to the Project with images and a video.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

On Exoskeletons and Brand Names

While I get my daily bread from designing environments and events, my close associates know that I have a 'thing' for powered exoskeletons.

They were once primarily a staple of Sci-Fi literature, film, and comic books...

The armored suits of Starship Troopers:

The Powerloader (essentially a wearable Hi-Lo) from Aliens :

Iron Man's various suits:

The Landmates from the manga and anime Appleseed:

Now firmly accepted as a part of the collective imagination, exoskeletons are finally nearing real-world feasibility.

DARPA , naturally, has been funding development of exoskeletons for military use for sometime now:

Building the Real Iron Man

Raytheon's Sarcos Exoskeleton:

The relative trickle of news about their progress has only whetted my appetite for what they are NOT showing yet.

Anyhow, the latest bit of exoskeletal-related news I've come across concerns Cyberdyne's HAL (yes, you read that right):

Cyborg Exoskeletons May Soon Become as Common as Bicycles

Hm. Perhaps the Japanese have a completely different take on the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Terminator... or they have a seriously twisted sense of humor. (Uh... Cyberdyne? HAL? Seriously?) While this video is pretty cool, I kept expecting the exoskeleton to fold in upon its victi-, er, wearer and turn them into a bloody pulp... only to skitter away to find another person foolish enough to wear it.

At any rate, with a brand name like Cyberdyne's HAL, ya haveta imagine that the first malfunction will get all sorts of press... of the most unfortunate kind...