Jon Zornow, the founder of Sewbo, made waves in September after announcing that he had built the first robot to sew a t-shirt without human intervention. Using a robot arm and an automatic sewing machine, Zornow took some carefully prepared material and ran it through a pre-programmed series of moves.
It worked. Out popped a t-shirt.
Continue reading… “Sewbo is getting closer to disrupting the sweatshop”
Ever wanted to get so immersed in a virtual world that you can feel and smell it? Thanks to Koei Tecmo, you might be able to!
Koei Tecmo showed off their new cabinet, called “VR Sense” in a press conference this weekend. It’s a sturdy silver monstrosity, about the size of a dresser.
Continue reading… “New VR cabinet will let you smell and touch a virtual world”
The wheely suitcase changed the luggage industry in a big way, but now there’s something even more remarkable on the market.
Travelmate is a new robotic suitcase that moves as you walk and reaches speeds of up to 6.75mph.
Continue reading… “This futuristic suitcase moves itself and follows close behind you”
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The World Health Organization says we need to step up the fight against a dozen bacteria that are growing resistant to all the antibiotics we have to treat them.
One of the scariest features of the antibiotic resistance crisis — which has been accelerated by how we overuse these drugs — is that pharmaceutical companies aren’t developing new antibiotics quickly enough. They also often place profits ahead public health when choosing which drugs to develop.
Continue reading… “The 12 most dangerous superbugs, ranked by the WHO”
As we start to 3D-print everything — including houses, of all things — it’s pretty impressive that a company built one in just 24 hours.
Located in Russia, this 400-square-foot home (37 square meters) was built in just a day, at a cost of just over $10,000.
Continue reading… “First 3D printed house in Russia for $10,000”
On January 10, 2017, my new book, “Epiphany Z – Eight Radical Visions for Transforming Your Future“ was officially released in bookstores all around the world. Here are a few excerpts from the book where I discuss the concept of “future self.”
Being a Futurist is far more than just making predictions. It involves digging deep into the nature of humanity to better understand who we are and why we do the things that we do.
So what kind of relationship do you have with your future self?
Hydrogels have shown significant potential in everything from wound dressings to soft robots, but their applications have been limited from their lack of toughness – until now. A team of scientists at Hokkaido University have developed a new set of hydrogel composites or “fiber-reinforced soft composites” that combine hydrogels with woven fiber fabric to create a material that is five times stronger than carbon steel.
Continue reading… “Fiber-reinforced hydrogel is 5 times stronger than steel”
Futurist Thomas Frey: We’re standing on the brink of an A.I. technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.
Several early use cases for A.I. have begun to open our eyes as to how it will be used, but none quite as strikingly as when Google’s DeepMind was used to play the Atari game – Breakout.
Continue reading… “Your next teacher could be a teacherbot”
The word “farm” usually conjures up images of lush greenery, animals and Midwestern amber waves of grain. Yet rarely, if ever, does the word invoke a Brooklyn, New York, parking lot.
It may sound unreal, but one team of entrepreneurs has set up farms — in shipping containers, no less — to bring fresh produce to urban residents. Even more surprising, the food is grown without natural sunlight or soil.
Continue reading… “The indoor farming compound founded by Kimbal Musk is now delivering greens”
Ford’s new “Autolivery” van concept has a terrible name, but is actually based on interesting core ideas. The van is yet another result of Ford’s fruitful “last mile mobility” internal employee challenge, and this one pairs an electric self-driving van with autonomous drones that nest within to help transport packages that last few feet to a customer’s door.
When “little green men” invaded Crimea in early 2014, they left a data trail that went largely unnoticed by the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). Distracted by a large Russian exercise to the west, the IC did not connect the digital dots that indicated the impending invasion. In the Information Age, the “dots” are more plentiful and glaring as everyone now leaves a data trail. Given that, how can intelligence analysts better gather, share, organize, and view data to reveal intent, more accurately predict behavior, and make better decisions with limited resources?
Continue reading… “The Data-Driven Transformation of Intelligence”
In 2012, Futurist Thomas Frey predicted that 2 billion jobs would disappear by 2030, roughly half of all jobs that exist today. Oxford University researchers reinforced this with their estimates that 47 percent of U.S. jobs could be automated within the next two decades. But which ones will robots take first?
First, we should define “robots” as technologies, such as machine learning algorithms running on purpose-built computer platforms, that have been trained to perform tasks that currently require humans to perform.
Continue reading… “Which 5 jobs will robots take first?”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.