(CNN)Anyone who’s lost an evening researching flight deals knows that airfare pricing can seem pretty random — high one week, low the next and long-distance often cheaper than short-haul.
Hitachi’s EMIEW3 will help travelers find their terminal.
Getting lost in an international airport is never fun — but if you’re lost in Japan’s Haneda this month, you’ll at least be able get help from an adorable talking robot. From now until the 14th, Hitachi is testing its EMIEW3 humanoid robot in the airport’s passenger terminal. Over the course of two weeks, EMIEW3 will direct visitors to an information display and answer questions in both English and Japanese.
Continue reading… “Adorable robots help travelers at Haneda airport in Tokyo”
SEATTLE, July 22 — Seattle-based company Vulcan Aerospace announced that its Stratolaunch Systems, an air-launch platform for rockets, is close to completion.
According to the company’s website, the Stratolaunch has a wingspan of 385 feet and measures 238 feet in length. This six-engine aircraft is currently the world’s largest aircraft.
Continue reading… “Stratolaunch – The World’s largest aircraft is almost ready”
In the constant search for low-cost spaceflight, Norwegian startup Ripple Aerospace has come up with a unique solution: How about we just get rid of, like, the land? Their plan calls for reusable cargo rockets to be built in shipyards, transported to open ocean, and launched from the sea, without so much as a floating launch pad to get in the way of the rocket’s journey from ocean to space.
Continue reading… “Spaceflight startup Ripple Aerospace want to launch rockets from the ocean”
A brand new sport has been created specifically due to new technology: Dronesurfing.
A professional cinematographic company called Freefly used a drone, the Freefly Alta 8, on a day with minimal waves to help pull their boarder across the water. While the drone does have a 20-pound maximum cargo limit, it is able to pull a person across the water (after getting a running start).
Continue reading… “Donesurfing: A new sport takes flight”
Free wi-fi almost anywhere you go.
When the president of the European commission gave his annual state of the union speech this week, he hit all the typical SOTU talking points—unity, pride, stability.
But tucked amid all that was an unusual promise for EU residents: free wireless internet for parks, libraries and other public spaces across Europe.
Continue reading… “Europe’s Plan for Free Public Wi-Fi Puts America to Shame”
Can robot carts compete with Amazon?
A shopping cart is mostly empty space. At the end of a shopping run, when the cart is brimming with groceries and goods, it becomes fully useful, but it isn’t until that point, and once it’s full, it doesn’t help the person trying to buy two cartfulls of stuff on their own. Walmart, the physical retail giant, doesn’t want people to worry about the inadequacies of carts while shopping. So they filed a patent for a self-driving robot cart.
Continue reading… “Walmart Patents Robot Carts”
First there was poker. Then there was the spelling bee, Scrabble and the recent emergence of e-sports.
Now ESPN is betting that speeding drones will be the next noncontact “sport” to find a mass audience.
The Drone Racing League announced on Wednesday that it had signed deals to broadcast a 10-episode season on ESPN and ESPN2, along with the European stations Sky Sports Mix and 7Sports. The schedule begins with an introduction to drone racing on Thursday at 11 p.m. on ESPN2.
Continue reading… “Drone Racing: ESPN’s Newest Televised Sport”
But the technology for extinguishing species is dividing conservationists.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation plans to double the sum it is spending to create a mosquito-killing technology that relies on CRISPR gene editing.
Continue reading… “Bill Gates Doubles His Bet That Mosquitoes Will Be Wiped Out with Gene Editing”
A startup called Proterra has been working on electric buses for years, and its latest model has a pretty impressive range. Its Catalyst E2 Series buses can drive up to 350 miles on a single charge, which means it can go a quite a bit further than Tesla’s top-tier Model S that already boasts a 300-plus-mile range. The vehicle can also outlast its predecessor that can only go for 258 miles.
Continue reading… “Proterra’s electric bus can travel 350 miles before needing a recharge”
Doctors at Oxford University made medical history recently by successfully completing the first robot-assisted intraocular surgery. Robert MacLaren, Professor of Ophthalmology at the university, and his team managed to gently peel off a 1/1000th millimeter membrane from the inside of a patient’s eye. To do so, the team relied on a cutting-edge medical device known as the Robotic Retinal Dissection Device, or R2D2.
Continue reading… “Robots perform surgery inside your eyeballs”
Over the last many centuries, human life expectancy has very gradually lengthened with improved health and medical technologies and research. In the next 20 years, we can expect our expected life spans to be extended at a far more rapid pace than in the past.
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.