Ian Charnas was challenged to come up with a contraption that would enable "superhuman jumping." He succeeded, kinda. From MAKE:

I looked at using springs, stunt industry equipment, and even chemical propellants, before deciding to attach pneumatic pistons to some heavy-duty shoes.

Ian Charnas has figured out a way to override Nintendo's controller to throw punches in real life and have them work inside the video game, "Punch-Out!" Because, of course he has!

My latest project is a real-life version of Nintendo Punch-Out (boxing game) where I've hacked the game so you control it with actual punches instead of a controller.

Imagine a real-life jetpack that propels you forward instead of up. Now imagine roller skating with that jetpack. Imagine no more! Happy Mutant extraordinaire Ian Charnas has made that jetpack, tests it out and then recruits some skating pros to really take it for a ride. — Read the rest

There's no question that artist and engineer Ian Charnas makes cool stuff. But, he's really outdone himself this time. How? Well, he's made a real-life invisibility shield (previously), a nod to the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter. — Read the rest

Ian Charnas, the inventor of those amazing windshield wipers that "dance" to your car's music, is up to yes good again (the opposite of "no good"). He's made a real-life Mario Kart video game using electric go-karts and augmented reality (!). — Read the rest

And you can bid on the invention's intellectual property rights next week.

Inventor/Artist (Inventist?) Ian Charnas has devised a way for windshield wipers to be in sync with the beat of the music you're listening to. Now, you can't just go out and buy his Dancing Wipers at the store. — Read the rest

Here are a pair of Tesla coils playing Girl Talk's "This is the Remix." It is beautiful, and awesome. How does it work? I asked Ian Charnas, one of the brains behind the Open Spark Project, a group that paired musicians—and their original compositions—with the musical Tesla coils. — Read the rest