Granted we’ve seen LEGO Mindstorm sets people have built to solve Rubik’s Cubes in the past, but never anything that moves with the speed and dexterity as CubeStorm CubeStorm Cubestorm . Whoa, nice echo effect. Kidding, I’m hiding in the closet (my mom’s trying to drag me to a doctor’s appointment). The Worlds Fastest Lego Mindstorms RCX Speedcubing Robot. Built entirely from lego elements with a lego web camera to scan the faces of the cube, The solve engine (algorithm) running on the computer is provided by the incredible “Cube Explorer “software which also provides the colour recognition required to determine the exact location of each coloured square. Thanks to Herbert Kociemba for making his work available to anyone wishing to use it! Respect! “Cube Explorer” has the ability to produce very fast solutions to a successfully scanned cube, usually around 20 face turns! Doesn’t sound a lot , but it is believed that around 20 turns are enough to solve ANY 3×3x3 cube combination. I’m still working on “CubeStormer” I would like to see it reach sub-10 and feel it’s close to that. but reliability begins to suffer when you start to push things just that bit too far….. You know what else begins to suffer when you start to push robotics too far? Humanity. Just sayin’, you ever seen that movie Terminator ? I haven’t — I’ve got enough nightmare fodder! Youtube Thanks to Osku, Logisticz, Gir, Ringo, Raúl, meeotch, Frank, james, Bolleke, PrestickNinja, raficus and Clint, who would have disassembled that sucker and built a sweet-ass LEGO castle.

If there’s one thing that sucks about my life it’s everything. And if there’s another it’s slow internet service . I can’t stand it. It drives me crazy. Crazier than the kids next door waking me up at 7 playing drums on the connecting wall of our apartments. Which, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP I WILL BREAK YOUR ALL YOUR TOYS. Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people. From now until March 26th, we’re asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their communities through a Request for information (RFI), which we’ll use to determine where to build our network. Listen, Google, you know I’m a straight shooter, right? You should roll this out in my city. And, if you decide not to, let me go ahead and save you the trouble of testing — everybody’s gonna love it . Google Fiber for Communities [google]

Red Bull sponsored Felix Baumgartner is going to freefall from at least 120,000 feet and attempt to break a bunch of records , including, but not limited to: being the first person to break the sound barrier with just his body . You’re gonna implode, bro! This is a mission to overcome limits which have existed for almost fifty years, ever since the heroic achievement of the young US Air Force test pilot, Joe Kittinger, with his 1960 Excelsior mission. Red Bull Stratos will attempt to make history and deliver valuable learnings for medical and scientific advancement that will aid the exploration of space in future years. I couldn’t really find when the whole thing is actually going down, so this is a trailer for the mission to sate your thrill-seeking appetite in the meantime. Still, I can’t wait to see what happens. But if it’s anything like Travis Pastrana’s car jump on New Years, I could do it. Red Bull gives me confidence! Plus jitters! Red Bull Stratos Thanks to Jennifer and Bethy, who were going to be the first females to freefall from 100 miles up but floated off into space. That sucks (have you seen any space bars?!).

If you’ve been reading Geekologie for over a year (gold star reader!) you may recall the story we ran about Lamborghini donating two Gallardo’s to the Italian police for use in high-speed chases involving other supercars . Well, if you couldn’t tell by the picture, one of them isn’t doing so hot. The 200mph Gallardo ploughed into parked cars after it swerved to avoid another vehicle that had just pulled out of a petrol station. It was being driven back from a special show for students when the accident happened near the city of Cremona. Two police officers in the car escaped with only minor injuries. No-one else was hurt in the crash. Police also use the vehicles to ferry transplant organs in specially fitted fridges. Hell yeah, transplant organs. Say — any livers in that fridge? Kidding, I’m vegetarian! Hit the jump for one more shot from the other side.

The 2010 Cosmos 4RW V8 Muscle Bike sports four 17-inch wheels, a 250 cubic inch V8 producing 350 horsepower and an extra helping of deathtrap . Want one? Expect to spend $93K. Unless you’re Batman , in which case it comes standard in the front end of a Tumbler . Unless he’s been drinking, in which case it may come smashed in the grill of an 18-wheeler. Is a motorcycle still a motorcycle if it has four wheels? [dvice] Thanks to Chris, who drives a four-wheeled moped which I think we can safely assume has never felt a woman on its Italian pleather seat.

62-year old Dennis Anderson of Bumfunk, Minnesota was arrested last year for drunkenly driving his motorized La-Z-Boy into a parked car. Anderson’s blood alcohol content was 0.29, which is impressive for a sexagenarian, but if mine falls below that I start to feel sick. Anderson’s customized vehicle, seen in the police evidence photos on the following pages, is powered by an eight horsepower Kohler lawnmower engine, and has a stereo, headlights, a built-in cup holder, and a “Hell Yeah It’s Fast” bumper sticker. The ride, however, does not have a seat belt. Anderson, pictured above, controlled the La-Z-Boy via a steering wheel protruding from its seat cushion. The vehicle’s headrest was adorned with the logo of the National Hot Rod Association. Following his guilty plea, Anderson was sentenced to 180 days in jail and ordered to pay a $2000 fine. A judge stayed Anderson’s jail term in lieu of his successful completion of a two-year supervised probation term. First of all, I can’t believe it doesn’t have a pop-out leg rest. And secondly, I can’t believe it doesn’t have a built in cooler. Where the hell was Anderson getting all the beers? And don’t tell me a beer tree because I’mma rent a backhoe and uproot that tree. I wanna know where the beer at. I want the beer . Gimme the beer — I want the beer . Man Pleads To La-Z-Boy DWI [smoking gun] Thanks to Closet Nerd, Occasional Reader, Kevin, B-Rad and Lord Tarl, who would have been smart enough to kick up the leg rest (because they would have built theirs with leg rests) and nap it off.

The Intelligent Bump is a speed bump that lowers itself if a driver is under a predetermined speed . It has no effect on me though because I drive a hovercar from the future. Dubbed the Intelligent Bump, this clever system by Mexico-based Decano Industries actually retracts if you’re “going slow enough”, rewarding cautious drivers. These bumps are priced at an affordable $1,500 each. “The system uses metal plates that measure the force of an impact against them. Cars going slow enough will cause the plates to lower, though any faster and the speed bump will remain where it is.” Listen, I hate speed bumps as much as the next person, but if I find out my state government is blowing $1,500 a pop for the things I’m gonna stop paying taxes. And by stop I mean never start. I’m flying under the radar, whee! Oh — now I’m barnstorming! NNNNNNEEEEEAAAROOOOOOOM. Hit the jump to see an animation of the bump in action that may or may not have contracted out to a kindergarten art class.

The Intelligent Bump is a speed bump that lowers itself if a driver is under a predetermined speed . It has no effect on me though because I drive a hovercar from the future. Dubbed the Intelligent Bump, this clever system by Mexico-based Decano Industries actually retracts if you’re “going slow enough”, rewarding cautious drivers. These bumps are priced at an affordable $1,500 each. “The system uses metal plates that measure the force of an impact against them. Cars going slow enough will cause the plates to lower, though any faster and the speed bump will remain where it is.” Listen, I hate speed bumps as much as the next person, but if I find out my state government is blowing $1,500 a pop for the things I’m gonna stop paying taxes. And by stop I mean never start. I’m flying under the radar, whee! Oh — now I’m barnstorming! NNNNNNEEEEEAAAROOOOOOOM. Hit the jump to see an animation of the bump in action that may or may not have contracted out to a kindergarten art class.

Because life is progressively becoming a series of nightmares , scientists want to develop a robot that mimics the movement of a cheetah so they can chase us down and maul us to death. Why did I even get out of bed this morning? Oh, right. Well why did I even wake up this morning? Professor Sangbae Kim designer of the Stickybot and a Robotic designer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Is trying to understand how he can replicate natural animal mechanisms by creating a robot inspired by the cheetah. The idea is to build a prototype robot from a construction of lightweight carbon-fiber-foam that will then be able to match the cheetah’s speed of 70 miles per hour. Over the next 18 months, Kim and four other MIT graduate students are going to start constructing the prototypes. Starting with a computer model of the robotic cheetah to establish the optimal limb length, weight, gait and torque of the hip and knee joints. It’s an ambitious project. Current wheeled robots are efficient, but can be slow in rough terrains. For instance, iRobot’s PackBot, which is used by the U.S. military, can only travel at speeds of up to 5.8 miles per hour. I’m sure this seemed like a good idea to somebody at some point, but it’s not. Like I don’t have enough to worry about without a 70 MPH cheetah-bot running around. Also, like four children. And you wonder why daddy drinks in bed all day! Cheetah Inspired Robot [geekygadgets] Thanks to Excaliber, who I will use to slice through these bastards like room temperature butter.

That has got to be the fastest looking truck I’ve ever seen. And I saw a truck shot out of a cannon before, so I know . Still, needs truck nuts . TRUCK-VETTE [peopleofwalmart] Thanks to Alan, who once drove a truck to the moon and did donuts in a crater. Bitchin’!