The device, shaped like a ball that rotates in a socket, is the invention of Dr. Gregory S. Chirikjian, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
In grand Google tradition, the Google Glass is a simple gadget: a hands-free device shaped like a pair of spectacles.
Vibrynt, of Redwood City, Calif., is developing a device shaped like the stomach that is implanted next to the real stomach and compresses it.
Next, a mixture of several hundred pounds of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulfur is placed in a heavy iron device shaped like a cooking pan.
The first U.S. patent for a baby bottle was issued in 1841; the device, shaped like a breast, could be held close to a mother's chest, almost like a prosthetic.
Mr. Hristov quotes from a 1972 document showing that the Soviet K.G.B. had given Bulgaria an injection device shaped like a pen and capable of delivering a tiny metal pellet through clothing and skin into the bloodstream.
The test requires that a linear impactor — a device shaped like a human head and attached to a shaft — be fired at the window area in several specific locations and at a designated speed.
As a result, it opposes the standard social science model, according to which the mind is a general-purpose cognitive device shaped virtually in its entirety by cultural influence.
This week, the brothers' invention — a slimmer device shaped like a smartphone — hit pharmacy shelves nationwide, the culmination of a single-minded quest that began 15 years ago and ended in a $230 million licensing deal with the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi.
Among those that haven't worked out are the Bola Ball, which a policeman would carry on his belt and fling at running suspects (it was too difficult to master), and a device shaped like a pistol which used ultrasound to detect concealed weapons (it worked well on cotton and wool but less reliably on leather or synthetic fabrics).
