Monthly Archives: October 2010

A Loose Connection to Reality

awesomeness, haptic, taipei, taiwan

This isn’t all that related to robotics, but it was a pretty interesting place to see in Taiwan.

They have developed an awesome iPad menusystem, they have a blog here, and the gallery website is here. It’s sort of down the road from the Guang Hua Digital Plaza.

The place is basically a cross between an art gallery, a coffee shop and a R&D lab.

The water however was wet.

More Akihibara Loot

awesomeness, japan, tools

This is a hand held sheet metal bender, really.

Sure you can get similar results by wrapping your regular pliers with a towel or something, but why would you live like that.

Pliers designed to remove screws. Yet, another tool I never knew I needed.

This tool is a symbol of how my life has been changed by this trip. I will never see the world in the same way again and I will never ream a hole out by spinning a drill bit with my bare hands again.

Visiting Gundam

awesomeness, gundam, japan

Gundam is assigned to defend the Higashi-Shizuoka Train Station in Japan until the 27th of March 2011. A few tips if you are planning on visiting. The Higashi-Shizuoka station is not the same as the Shizuoka station. If you are taking the Shinkasen you need to go back one stop, towards Tokyo, on the local train. I strongly suggest visiting just before dusk as the beam saber is hard to appreciate in the full sunlight. If you plan on visiting only for few hours on your way to or from Osaka make sure to use a rail pass or get a Shinkasen ticket that permits stopovers as the normal ticket does not permit stopping.

While I was there I also managed to acquire this fine injection molded injection molding machine. It makes a perfect gift for mechanical engineers who love recursion. The postcards were also nice.

Akihibara Loot

Akihibara, good tools, japan

An amazingly high quality micro crimper.

This is the only screw cutter I have seen that does 2mm. It is the nicest tool of this design that I have ever owned.

I didn’t know I needed this. It’s a drill bit adapter for quick release screwdrivers. This is perfect for slowly drilling out small holes. Micro-Mark sells something similar.

AAA powered high speed grinding tool. It is only slightly bigger than a carpenters pencil.

Also, this guide is excellent.