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k 3 A It wasn‘t just new ideas at the . 'q symposium. Old concepts were é ga *4 also getting upgrades. â€" APBBL* S Take the digital mirror. Taban Alam and his team created an electric hookah, a device used to If you‘re too busy (or lazy) to lisâ€" smoke flavoured tobacco. The electric hookah rids the smoke of some of ten to the radio, turn on the TV or the toxins usually present because of the burning of coal. check the web for weather forecasts Believe it or not, it takes a lot of innovation to breed laziness. Think about itâ€" it probably took a lot of time and energy to creâ€" ate the first snow blower, which offers outâ€"ofâ€"shape shovellers some relief for their seldomâ€"used back muscles. The same goes for conveniences like dishwashers, dryers and garage door openers: it took a combinaâ€" tion of incredible creativity, feats of engineering and profound laziness to come up with and execute these ideas. Just ask Cheukâ€"Man Kong, a fourthâ€"year computer engineering student at the University of Waterâ€" loo. Kong is part of a team of stuâ€" dents who have constructed a garbageâ€"picking robot. Kong‘s group‘s device, which looks similar to a lawnmower withâ€" out a handle, scans a room for debris and using imageâ€"matching software decides whether it‘s garbage or not. If it decides that the object is in fact garbage, a robotic arm emerges, picks up the trash and places it in a receptacle. And where would society be without the remote control, which allows us to keep our behinds glued firmly to the sofa? Building a better mousetrap UW design symposium offers innovations to make life easier By Grec MacDonaL Chronicle Staff The team debuted the robot at UW‘s design symposium last week. The symposium featured projects by computer engineering students â€" everything from automatic poker dealers to mechanized closâ€" And instead of doing the usual semiâ€"annual sanitation of the dorm room that most students partake in, they designed a robot to do the job for them. That got the team thinking. What if they could design a robot that could clean an entire building? One that could do some of the work of the cleaning staff or even replace them? Kong‘s team‘s inspiration came when working in a cluttered dorm room one day. _ "The basic idea came because we are students and our rooms are pretty messy," Kong said. "We figâ€" ured our rooms could use some cleaning up." The innovation came while spacing out in class, Kong said. "We saw a janitor manually picking up garbage and thought that it was very inefficient," he said. "It could apply to universities or offices. It could save them some money and they don‘t have to hire cleaning staff," Kong said. The design wasn‘t easy. Integratâ€" ing the mechanics of the robotic That‘s where the laziness came CITY NEWS "This is just sort of a prototype, a proof of concept," Kong said. "It works, so it has that advantage. We just need to improve it." The team is hoping that they find someone to help them develop the idea and get it to market. "If the arm applied too much pressure, it would drop it. It was hard to get the right amount of power and voltage from the core computer to the arm," he said. In the end, the team figured it out. But there‘s still one main factor prohibiting it from going onto the market â€" cost. "The computer costs $5,000," he said. "That makes it hard for it to become a consumer product. We need to find ways to cut down the cost." Cheukâ€"Man Kong and Wayne Lam show off their garbageâ€"picking robot. The device uses imageâ€"matching softâ€" ware and a robotic arm to clean up a room. cree macbonaLp roros arm and imageâ€"recognition proâ€" _ or email in the morning, soon you _ room," Dhira said. gramming proved difficult. might be able to do it while brushâ€" "Using this you can get weather, The surface is 100 per cent reflective, but features small icons that expand into basic programs along the edges of the screen. "A mirror is an important part of your day. You see it when you‘re putting on makeup, brushing your teeth or after you use the washâ€" Using either voice commands or a touch screen, the holder caractiâ€" vate these programs and see them on the mirror. The device combines a mirror and a computer, said Imraan Dhira, one of the designers. or email in the morning, soon you might be able to do it while brushâ€" ing your teeth. Inventor of garbageâ€"picking robot "The basic idea came because we are students and our rooms are pretty messy." WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, January 30, 2008 * 3 "We want to take it to market. We have to do some final touchups obviously, but hopefully it will be available soon," Dhira said. "We initially wanted the touch screen as part of the mirror, but the image gets hazy when that technolâ€" ogy is introduced," Dhira said. Dhira and his team wanted to have touchâ€"screen capabilities on the mirror but were unable to do so while still keeping the screen 100 per cent reflective. That meant an addition of a touchâ€"pad mounted beneath the mirror. The team is hoping that they can find a venture capitalist to fund further research so they can refine the product. Many of the teams felt they had a good chance because their prodâ€" ucts were designed to make life a little easier for the average person. And some teams already had sponsors and were into developâ€" ment. "Using this you can get weather, upâ€"toâ€"date news or email while you‘re doing these things."