Testing times for the imagination

Author Margaret Atwood came up with the idea for a robotic arm that can sign autographs. Picture / Reuters

Christmas is long gone, summer is well under way, serious business is back in the swing and the silly season is well and truly over.

Apart from, that is, the world of technology, where silly is just another name for visionary.

In Germany, for example, students have incorporated the favourite pastime of undergraduates the world over into their studies by building a robotic barman.

Students from the Technical University of Darmstadt have built Hermann, who can pour the perfect beer in one minute and 11 seconds, ananova.com reports.

The students were given about $140 to build a robotic drinking buddy who would never hog the suds and who could eventually be turned into a commercial application.

Speaking of rowdy youths, imaginative inventors in Britain have come up with a way to deal with troublesome groups of teenagers.

The Sonic Teenager Deterrent emits a noise so annoying to younger people they are compelled to move away, according to the Telegraph online.

The noise-emitting box, nicknamed the Mosquito, sells for about $1600 and can be attached to the outside wall of any building.

The device's secret to targeting only unwanted gangs of youths is the deterioration in hearing that people experience as they get older.

Adults can go about their business - perhaps mulling over what time they arranged to meet Hermann down at the tavern - because they are unable to hear the sound pulse being issued by the Mosquito, which emits at 80 decibels at up to 16 kilohertz.

For young whipper-snappers hanging about with trouble on their minds, the sound is compared to a "demented insect or a very badly played violin".
The Mosquito was invented by former British Aerospace apprentice Howard Stapleton to stop young people from congregating around his local shop.

"I got it [set up] so that only my kids hated it and my fiancee and I were completely unperturbed," Stapleton told the Telegraph.

If it's a quiet life you're looking for, a remote writing device invented by best-selling Canadian author Margaret Atwood could be just the ticket.

The robotic device ensures that authors on book-signing tours will no longer have to endure the jostling of adoring fans in the literary mosh pit.

Called the LongPen, the device enables an author to talk to their star-struck fans by web camera before writing a message on a computer tablet using a special pen, the Canadian Press reports.

The message is then transmitted to the physical location of the book signing, where a robotic arm sits at a desk and uses a normal pen to write the special message - or shopping list if the author has forgotten what they're up to - on to the book.

CP reports that the 66-year-old Atwood came up with the idea "during a particularly gruelling book tour".

For those writers still hitting the road touring the world's bookstores, the way to arrive bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a gig could be to fork out about $68,000 for Honda's new self-driving car.

The new Honda Accord uses an Advanced Driver Assist System that can speed the car up, slow it down and drive around bends, the Mirror in Britain reports.

The system uses a radar sensor hidden behind the front badge to detect other cars and then adjusts the speed to maintain a safe distance. Meanwhile, a camera mounted beside the rear-view mirror is used to control the steering by watching the white lines marked on the road.

However, authors and their roadies on a long trip cannot yet take a snooze on the back seat.

The system only works on motorways and dual carriage-ways, and requires the driver to nudge the wheel every 10 seconds.

But what about those lonely pets the authors leave behind while on tour?

That's where the latest innovation in telecommunications - the doggie phone - comes into play.

PetsCell was invented by Canadian Cameron Robb to "reduce those feelings of despair" caused by the separation of master and faithful hound, impactlab.com reports.

The phone, set to go on sale this year, uses a loudspeaker and fits on to the dog's collar.

After hearing its master's voice, the pining pooch can bark a reply, "creating a dog-owner telephone conversation".

The doggie phone will cost about $260 and could also be used for search and rescue, military applications, guide-dog and patient care, Robb told impactlab.

So when those authors do return home - with the repetitive strain injury from signing their name several thousand times making it hard to use the front door key - they can call Fido on his private line and ask him to have their slippers ready.

Perhaps those slippers will be the Brightfeet - an invention by American Doug Vick that incorporates torches into the footwear.

The Brightfeet slippers will go on sale in the UK for about $66, ananova.com reports, and will be able to cast a beam of light more than 7.5m. That should help wearers with night-time essentials, including midnight feasts and trips to the toilet.

Herm, make mine a pint.