Brickit App’s AI Camera Scans LEGO Piles For Specific Blocks

Anybody who has owned LEGO sets knows the arduous task of digging through a pile of bricks to find the right piece for the job. The new, free Brickit app uses an AI camera to scan your batch of bricks for specific pieces and to suggest projects based on your collection. “When the app is done taking inventory of your collection, it’ll output a list …

Information Gathering + Reef Robots for the Ocean Decade

The United Nations has declared that 2021-2030 will be known as the Ocean Decade (aka the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development). This comes with the approval of several initiatives aimed at conservation. But as Smithsonian Magazine notes, “Reaching the goals for a healthy ocean by 2030 will mean reaching beyond national boundaries to create a clearer path to sustainability.” Two Smithsonian programs endorsed …

SpaceBok, the Robot Being Designed to Walk on Mars

Wheels may be a more stable means to roam around the challenging terrain of Mars, but they limit where robots can go. In fact, to date, all of the robots scouring the surface of the Red Planet have been on wheels. Thus, scientists from Switzerland’s ETH Zurich and Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research have developed distinct robotic legs on their small quadrupedal …