SlantBook and Phone

What would a cellphone and a laptop made by Slant look like? I decided to design and phone and a laptop the way that I want those devices to be. The result are digital mock-ups of the SlantPhone and SlantBook.

The SlantPhone

Who says the flip-phone is dead. Use it as a normal phone or watch videos without crouching over the display (and what video is rectangular anyway, a square display still give you all the size you need). Also scroll and control one display with the other.

Set the SlantPhone up sideways to show feeds while your at your desk

The cylinder hinge adds battery, cooling, and ergonomic capabilities to the SlantPhone that a typical smartphone doesn't.

You don't need a case anymore because the phone can take care of itself.

To really use it as a table piece let it support itself.

I will be 3-D printing this model of the SlantPhone just to see what it would be like in the real world.

The SlantPhone would also be separable. So that you could take a call with one half and browse with the other as if it were two devices. Each display is 3x2.5 inches.

The SlantBook

Basically, a larger version of the SlantPhone. The SlantBook would not have a keyboard. Just two touch displays which allows for a completely dynamic user interface. After all a laptop is limited by its keyboard and mouse, a tablet loses half of its display to a keyboard, and a tablet with a keyboard is just an under-powered laptop. The SlantBook has none of the problems of those devices.

Rugged Prosthetic Arm Concept

I have wanted to build a heavy duty prosthetic for awhile. So I decided to get a basic concept design in CAD.

In the Slant Rugged Prosthetic 0.8, the elbow is supported by a bike spring. I downloaded the spring part, because of that the spring is a quite a bit larger than I would use in practice.

All the pieces of the arm are machined aluminum plates. This drastically reduces production costs of the prosthetic.

This arm is intended to be used by amputees with an active lifestyle. Its won't break and certainly won't short circuit. It could be used on snowmobiles, bikes, or water skis to give the amputee greater control and balance on the vehicle. It also allows for the user to perform heavier duty lifting, such as moving 2x4's, something no other prosthetic could withstand.

The passive design is a limitation since the arm is stuck in a particular static position, until the user basically leans into it. This is fine on an ATV, but not when moving boards around. (Check out my exoskeleton to see this problem in action)

Fortunately the design can easily be changed from using a spring to using a linear actuator. A slight adjustment in the fastening locations on the arm and a person would have a super strong arm, which would only require a very basic controller to operate.

But most of all this arm would be cheap. Maximum manufacturing cost would be around 200-400 dollars.

The next step will be to layout the manipulator and its attachment.

ERAU Housing Internal Site

This was a basic functional website that I had intended for the ERAU Department of Housing and Residence Life to utilize for internal communication and collaboration. I created multiple tools and portals that were meant to make the Resident Assistant job easier.

I was an RA when I built this site. The department didn't want to run with it. So it was a failed project, but still a useful one. If you would like to take a look go ahead and visit it. The password it "hi'

Note: ERAU is not affiliated with the creation of the site in any way. I edited some of the website's functionality to protect department information.

Personal Submarine

This is a project that I found from a few years ago that I thought would be cool to share.

It is a design for a faceted personal submarine. It would have what are essentially trolling motors on the end of each fin. The two from fins can be angled by the pilot to turn and even submerge the sub because of the V-like design.

While not shown in this first Google Sketch-up Design the sides of the sub would have ballast tanks that would make it neutrally buoyant so the motors could take over.

The windows would be supported by steel bars so that the large panes don't have to support the water pressure entirely.

The faceted design was to make sure that the sub would be cheap to manufacture. You could just weld the panels over the internal frame. No molding.

This project could be changed to a pull behind sub, where it it is towed by a boat and the fins force it under the water. But then it would need to be a little sleeker. And the front fins need to be moved forward no matter what. So sue me I designed it in an hour.

Jotters

Who says the notebook is dead? Jotters is a project I started to keep one of my favorite mediums going.

Notebooks haven't changed for decades, and they suck! The paper is thin, the binding is flimsy and constantly deranged, and they really don't capture the imagination.

I made Jotters to be the perfect notebooks for students. They have hardcovers, specially designed interiors for a variety of purposes (i.e. note-taking, drawing) and have QR links to Jotlink a web directory of many of the web's best student resource sites. (Though Jotlink is still in development)

Purchase a Jotter

Armchair Thought

Armchair Thought is a project I started to try out podcasting. It is a show where I take 15-20 minutes to just talk about a particular idea, concept, or problem. The rule I have is that the topic is has to be something that is completely fresh or unconsidered to most people. My goal is to give listeners interesting talking points, about all kinds of topics, when they are in a group or at a conference, etc.