Keep your home comfortable without using a single watt of electricity. Have you ever wondered how a pine cone knows when to open and close? Now, researchers have taken this cue from nature to create something pretty cool for our homes. Let's dive into how this revolutionary window technology works, keeping your home comfortable without using a single watt of electricity. GET SECURITY ALERTS, EXPERT TIPS - SIGN UP FOR KURT'S NEWSLETTER - THE CYBERGUY REPORT HERE Pine cones have these amazing scales that respond to moisture.

What smart home is truly complete without self-opening curtains? In movies, automatic curtains usually signal that we're in the future (or that the protagonist is way too rich). With the SwitchBot Curtain, you can get a little taste of the good life by automating your curtains to open and close with the sun or on your preferred schedule. Pick up a SwitchBot Hub and you can even tell your preferred smart assistant to open the curtains while you lounge in bed. The promise of sunlight gently waking you and curtains that automatically close to keep things cozy at night is exciting, but there is a price.

My wife and kids were perplexed by my excitement as I gathered them by the window to unveil a mysterious new gadget. With all eyes on the curtains, I tapped a command on my phone. The room was heavy with anticipation. After an agonizing 10-second delay, the left curtain jerked open in spurts. A few seconds later, the right curtain tried to join in but moved less than an inch and made a very unpleasant, high-pitched whine that lasted about 30 seconds. Why would you need a robot that automatically opens your curtains anyway, they asked.

Motorola has hit back at claims that its resurrected Razr can only withstand 27,000 folds before showing signs of damage. CNET conducted a durability test with the new foldable phone last week with a FoldBot and after thousands of rapid folds and just three hours, the Razr's hinge was failing and not fully closing the foldable device. However, the US smartphone-maker says the robot'put undue stress on the hinge' and did not allow the foldable phone to'open and close as intended', the firm told Engadget in a statement. Motorola conducted its own tests with a robot it claims folds the phone properly and revealed users should get'years of use.' In a statement to Engadget, Motorola said: 'razr is a unique smartphone, featuring a dynamic clamshell folding system unlike any device on the market.

What if you could wake up every morning and open the blinds before you crawl out from underneath the covers? Motorized shades are nothing new to the world of home design. But the light-blocking treatments have undergone a convenient--and smart--update in recent years. Like regular window treatments, smart blinds offer privacy, allow you to control the amount of outdoor light coming into your home, and may provide some relief to your energy bill by blocking out heat from the sun. And, just like typical window coverings, smart blinds come in a variety of styles, fabrics, and designs.

A heartwarming video has revealed the moment a three-year-old boy tries out a bionic arm for the first time. Giulio Spaziana, from Pomezia, Italy, was born without a forearm or hand on his right side. But doctors have now fitted him with a prosthetic limb which he can control using his electrical signals from his brain as though it were a real hand. In moving footage, he is seen grinning as he opens and closes the hand in a grabbing motion and shows off to his mother when he picks up a ruler unassisted. In a video filmed by his mother Giulio can be seen grinning as he uses the new prosthetic to pick up a ruler in the doctor's office – he asks his doctor: 'Can I keep it?'

An incredible mind-reading device could help sufferers of serious strokes regain the use of their hands. Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability in both the US and the UK, with about half of all survivors left with severely restricted movement in one hand. A new machine sends signals into a patient's head while moving their paralysed hand with a robotic exoskeleton to strengthen lost connections between brain cells. An incredible mind-reading device could help sufferers of serious strokes regain the use of paralysed hands. The machine (pictured) sends signals into a patient's head while moving the affected hand to strengthen lost connections between brain cells A stroke is a brain attack similar to a heart attack, and is mostly caused by a blockage of a blood vessel to part of the brain.

If you've ever dreamed of becoming a multi armed cyborg, then a new firm could have the perfect product for you. Youbionic claims the bizarre contraption can give you'extraordinary abilities.' Controlled by moving your fingers, it can open and close, and its makers say it will let you easily grip objects. It is controlled using small sensors in the fingers, and a demonstration video shows it pinching and gripping, with each finger moving independently. It is controlled using small sensors in the fingers, and a demonstration video shows it pinching and gripping, with each finger moving independently.

The beauty of evolution is that it's so nonjudgmental. What began as the first organism billions of years ago has diversified into species that fly and hop and run, whatever best suits them in their environment. As Charles Darwin put it, "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." Look at the explosive field of robotics and you'll actually find the same thing going on. The classic humanoid of sci-fi has diversified into bots that crawl on six legs, or walk on two (however cautiously), or even bound around on a single limb.

An artificial iris can open and close in response to sunlight without any other outside control, just like the ones in your eyes. This could help improve cameras and, eventually, repair damaged human eyes or control tiny robots that react to their surroundings. In the eyes of humans and many other animals, the pupil is a hole that lets light inside the eyeball. The iris is the coloured part of your eye, a thin circle that controls the size of the pupil, modulating how much light gets through. In bright light, the iris contracts to shrink the pupil, protecting the sensitive retina inside your eye, which sends visual signals to the brain.