2018 was a busy year for Hardshell Labs. In this short video Tim Shields describes several of our projects and shows you a few of the tools we have in development for conservation: drones of various sorts for various missions; a semi-autonomous rover for tortoise surveys; a remotely controlled laser for bird repulsion (especially… Continue reading »
Recently Mike Austin and Tim Shields of Hardshell Labs, Inc. were interviewed for an article by Smithsonian Online’s Samantha Schipani. She was particularly interested in our ideas for conservation games involving internet players. Of course, the emphasis was on desert tortoises but our view is that the progress we are making toward the goal of… Continue reading »
The story of this episode is the rapid advance of technology in the service of conservation. In a short space of time the Techno-tortoise™ went from an intriguing idea through an initial “low resolution” version printed on a low end machine at Haines High in Alaska to a state of the art, highly realistic model… Continue reading »
Here is the first in a four part series of short videos about the Techno-tortoise™, Hardshell’s 3D printed tortoise model. Tortoises are under assault from ever increasing numbers of ravens. The young reptiles are essentially defenseless for their first 5-7 years. For all that time they must somehow avoid being spotted (and eaten) by the… Continue reading »
Fast Company’s Charlie Sorrel just published Fast Company’s article, “3-D Printed Shells Help Tortoises Survive Hostile Desert Life,” on what Hardshell Labs is doing with Autodesk’s Tatjana Dzambazova, and biologists William Boarman and Tim Shields. Thank you, Fast Company, for noticing and spreading the word 😉