Filed under: Robots

Here’s your afternoon dose of cuteness, ready or not. David McGoran’s Heart Robot has made its way into London’s Science Museum, and for good reason. This intelligent robot not only possesses a face with moving eyes and an external heart that blinks depending on what’s happening, but it actually encourages people to hug and cuddle it like a real human. Seen as being “among the first robots to signify a new era of emotional machines used for medical treatment and enjoyment,” this creature could one day become a mainstay in nursing homes where the elderly could interact with it and hopefully benefit in some metaphysical manner. Check out the read link for a video oozing with adorableness.

[Via TimesOnline]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Around 1.5 years ago, we got wind of researchers in the UK working up a battery-free pacemaker. Fast forward to now, and we’ve got yet another breakthrough in the field. Purportedly, a crew of Osaka University scientists have created the “world’s first optical pacemaker,” and in an article published in Optics Express, the team details how “powerful, but very short, laser pulses can help control the beating of heart muscle cells.” In theory, this discovery provides the means for dictating said cells within a controlled setting, which could help researchers “better understand the mechanism of heart muscle contraction.” As amazing as we’re sure this is to the science world, throwing “lasers” and “heart” into the same sentence just doesn’t elicit warm / fuzzy feelings.

[Via Primidi]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Crazy artificial hearts and even heart-tissue based robots are nothing new — to say nothing of the Pimp My Heart bass-booster — but actually squeezing your existing heart to extend its life is definitely a novel idea. The concept, from a team at Leeds University, is based around an intelligent, motorized webbing that wraps around your heart. When sensors indicate that your pump needs a jump, the webbing contracts, squeezing blood through your body. It’s an elegant take on a pretty low-tech solution, and the team has high hopes the the uncomplicated nature of the device will least to applications from transplant assistance to heart therapy when simulator trials are finished and the webbing leaves the prototype stage — but sadly, there’s no word on when that might be.

[Via MedGadget]

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Filed under: Portable Audio

Isn’t that cute? It’s like two music players, but they make a heart! Oh, and look, there’s a crack down the middle, it kind of looks just like two people kissing. Maybe you can stick the Juno soundtrack on there and give half this Newman DAP to that special someone. It’s like giving a piece of your heart, only with plastic and silicon. What’s that? She doesn’t appreciate your finely honed taste in indie music? Well that’s no problem, just glue the two players back together and look at what you’ve got: a broken heart. Yeah, we can tell that this February 14th will be one to remember.

[Via Newlaunches]

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