As fall approaches, back-to-dorm school shopping is gearing up. In addition to sheets, towels and school supplies, every college student needs a few new gadgets. Here’s Part 1 of our back-to-school gadget review.

This Remote Controlled Cooler is like your own private butler.  It will bring your drinks to you or turn you into the perfect party host by serving your guests.  Four hidden wheels allow this R2-D2 lookalike to move in every direction.   The batter operated remote control operation at a distance of up to 30 feet.  You can also pick it up the cooler by its carrying strap and take it with you to parties and other special events.  When not in use, it folds down for compact storage.  We think you’ll find the R/C Cooler is one of the most indispensable yet useless gadgets you’ve ever owned!

You can see the cooler in action in this funny Australian commercial on YouTube:

The R/C Drinks Cooler is available for $69.95 at Firefox.com.

See also:

Dorm Gadgets – Part 2 and Dorm Gadgets – Part 3 🙂

Researchers have developed a new robotic fish that’s designed to lead other fish out of danger.  A team at Polytechnic Institute of New York University led by Maurizio Porfiri studied the dynamics of schools of fish and of leader fish.  They found that leader fish gain the attention of the school by beating their tail fins rapidly and swimming around excitedly.  They designed a mechanism that emulates the motion of the leader fish.  The goal of the team was design a robotic fish that can steer schools of fish away from underwater turbines, but additional application could be steering fish away from oil spills and other toxic environments.

Read more about the work at Polytechnic Institute on the DiscoveryNews website.