Avcomm Inc Ac-2m Portable Intercom on 2040-parts.com

Skoda Citigo (2011) first official pictures of Skoda's Up

It's all about economies of scale these days, so don't be surprised that Skoda's whipped the covers off its take on the new Up city car just days after Volkswagen unveiled its own at Frankfurt. The new Skoda Citigo (see what they did there?) is the Czechs' sixth model line and will go on sale in UK dealers in summer 2012. Skoda Citigo: the lowdown The four-seater Citigo naturally shares most of its engineering DNA with the Up.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.

Driven: Citroen DS4

Recomissioning the DS name looked like a risk to many outside Citroen’s headquarters, including us. And the new sub-brand’s opening salvo – the DS3 – didn’t exactly calm the worries of those of us who hold the original in high esteem. Where was the ingenuity?