eGFI - Dream Up the Future Sign-up for The Newsletter  For Teachers Online Store Contact us Search
Read the Magazine
What's New?
Explore eGFI
Engineer your Path About eGFI
Autodesk - Change Your World
Overview E-tube Trailblazers Student Blog
  • Tag Cloud

  • What’s New

  • Pages

  • RSS RSS

  • RSS Comments

  • Archives

  • Meta

And Now: AutoFrost Puts the Icing on the Cake

How’s this for a sweet new invention: five students from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering have built a cake-decorating robot for a class project.

Called AutoFrost, the machine combines electronic sensors, computer programming, and precise mechanics with delicious gooey confections. Just doodle your design on a basic Microsoft Paint-like program, hit the button that says, “I’m ready to design an amazing cake,” and watch the frosting begin.

Read More

Toothpaste Changes Flavor Depending on the Weather

We all brush our teeth in the morning, but what if our toothpaste did more than just fight cavities?

Engineers at MIT’s Media Lab are working on a prototype toothpaste called “Tastes Like Rain” that will tell you what the weather is like outside. They came up with the idea while working on super-mechanicals, the process of taking a basic object, such as toothpaste, and giving it dynamic properties.

Read More

Best of 2010: Our Top Stories

This year was a busy one for engineers all over the world. From inventing bendable computer screens to unlocking a secret room in a 4,500-year-old pyramid, scientists and engineers broke new ground in numerous ways.

We at eGFI have also been busy chronicling the most awe-inspiring innovations and stories, so without further ado, we present:

The Most Popular, Interesting, Weird, or Just Plain Cool eGFI Blog Posts of 2010

Read More

Commuter Rail to the Moon

In April, President Obama asked engineers to come up with a less expensive method for launching a spacecraft. So NASA has come up a system that it says would save millions of dollars in propellant and allow more frequent flights – all while improving astronaut safety.

Read More

New Bricklaying Machine Prints Roads

Brick roads, yellow or otherwise, tend to be very labor-intensive projects. But now, thanks to an ingenious Dutch machine, paving a new road with bricks could be just as easy as rolling out the red carpet.

The invention, called the Tiger Stone, can lay out an incredible 437 square yards (at 4 yards wide, that’s almost the length of an entire football field!) of road in a day. How is this possible? Well, it’s all about getting gravity on your side: First, a forklift places loads of bricks into the trough, which workers then place along an inclined plane (see below).

Read More