So over the weekend my friends and I went down town for some fun. While we were there we stumbled into this “Tech” exhibition hosted by the magazine “Wired”. The exhibition was called “wired nextfest” and was simply amazing. The idea was to show some of the “next” up and coming inventions and advancements in a variety of areas. There were around 45 exhibits in all including everything from video games and robots to cars and renewable energy all of which proved extremely fascinating. There were a few things that I thought were particularly interesting and wanted to share them.

ckBot: Visit MARK YIM’S LABORATORY
professor Mark Yim’s modular ckBot can take a licking and reassemble itself afterward. Scattered about, its modules can detect one another using infrared, smart cameras, and radio beacons, then slink across the floor and magnetically reconnect to form a bipedal bot capable of walking on flat surfaces. Break the ckBot as often as you like; this great-grandfather of Terminator 2 is designed to withstand the everyday accidents that would doom a lesser robot to the scrap heap.

HumanCar: Visit HUMANCAR
Think one car can change the world? Charles Greenwood does. His design firm, HumanCar, will unveil on Earth Day 2009 a vehicle comprised entirely of recycled plastics that can hit 60 mph without burning a single fossil fuel. The $15,500 HumanCar can run exclusively on manpower, with four passengers propelling it forward using electricity-producing rowing handles, or, if you’re not in the mood for a workout, it can climb the steepest hills with the help of an electric-assist motor. You pump in place of gas pumps.