The Chef is a 3-D Printer
Machines might replace humans—and might not
The technical potential for automation differs dramatically across sectors and activities.
As automation technologies such as machine learning and robotics play an increasingly great role in everyday life, their potential effect on the workplace has, unsurprisingly, become a major focus of research and public concern. The discussion tends toward a Manichean guessing game: which jobs will or won’t be replaced by machines?
Continue reading… “Machines might replace humans—and might not”
Freevolt: Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting
“Radio frequency energy harvesting” might sound like snake oil — Free energy, pulled out of thin air? Yeah, right! — but the idea of using radio waves to transmit power has been around for more than a century and is finally coming into its own with the Internet of Things. Between Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cell phones and myriad other wireless signals, there are plenty of ambient RF sources to draw from. And even though only small amounts of energy can be reclaimed this way, it doesn’t take much to keep a simple sensor or actuator running.
Continue reading… “Freevolt: Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting”
Introducing the self-flying security guard
Aptonomy Inc. has developed drone technology that could make prison breaks, robberies or malicious intrusions of any kind impossible for mere mortals.
Dubbing it a kind of “flying security guard,” the company has built its systems on top of a drone often used by movie-makers, the DJI S-1000+, a camera-carrying octocopter.
Continue reading… “Introducing the self-flying security guard”
Introducing the Doohan EV3 iTank 3-Wheeled Electric Scooter
With its powerful motor and unique 3-wheeled design, Doohan EV3 iTank electric scooter is able to deal with both city streets and gravel roads, and charming appearance makes you become the focus on the road.
Continue reading… “Introducing the Doohan EV3 iTank 3-Wheeled Electric Scooter”
China working on hypersonic spaceplane with horizontal takeoff
China is planning to take space exploration to a new level, as it develops a new “spaceplane” that could take off from a runway and fly at hypersonic speed before blasting into space and back.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CATSC) is behind the project of a plane/spacecraft hybrid that will travel back and forth between the runway and space orbit at hypersonic speeds, Popular Science reported.
Development and testing is scheduled for the next three to five years. The first deployment date is estimated for 2030.
Continue reading… “China working on hypersonic spaceplane with horizontal takeoff”
The Robot Baby Project: Amsterdam researchers create robots that can mate and reproduce
One of the trademarks that distinguishes robots from humans is the ability to reproduce. This dividing between man and machine just got blurrier. Researchers in Amsterdam have created robots that can mate and spawn offspring through a process similar to human reproduction.
Robots have created quite a stir in the media recently, as more and more machines take on human tasks. Some estimates suggest automation could take over half of the work force.
VR and exoskeletons help paraplegics regain movement
After twelve months, eight patients and 2,052 sessions spread over 1,958 hours, Duke University is publishing some promising results from a study seeking to demonstrate the ability for brain-machine interfaces to help restore mobility in humans.
Continue reading… “VR and exoskeletons help paraplegics regain movement”
Space Mining Company Plans to Launch Asteroid-Surveying Spacecraft by 2020
Artist’s rendering of Prospector-1, which is expected to launch by
the end of the decade. The water-powered spacecraft will visit
an asteroid and assess its potentially mineable resources.
Within a few years, the first commercial mining mission beyond Earth’s orbit could be underway. Asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries has announced that it will be sending a spacecraft called Prospector-1 out in search of resources by the end of the decade.
Continue reading… “Space Mining Company Plans to Launch Asteroid-Surveying Spacecraft by 2020”
Derailing Into Controversy: China’s Straddling Bus
China’s futuristic straddling bus was an idea that sounded straight out of a science fiction novel. It seemed too good to be true. And, as it turns out, it may be.
Just days after its high-profile unveiling in the northeastern city of Qinghaungdao—quashing doubts that the project would ever get off the ground—the bus (or train, as some have argued) seems to have driven right into a ditch of dashed hopes.
Continue reading… “Derailing Into Controversy: China’s Straddling Bus”
Drone company DJI planning to build a giant arena in Korea
Drone manufacturer DJI is planning to open a 1,395-square-metre arena in Korea later this month to show off its drones, The Next Web reports.
DJI says the arena will be open for people to learn about drones and will offer courses on how to fly them.
Continue reading… “Drone company DJI planning to build a giant arena in Korea”
Wall-Crawling Robots Could Weave A Room For You
Last May, researchers at ICD Stuttgart revealed the Elytra Filament Pavilion—a vast, carbon fiber structure woven with the industrial arm of a modified Kuka robot. Now, in a thesis project led by Maria Yablonina, the same lab has managed to shrink the scale, from massive industrial-line robots, to a pair of drones that can crawl up your wall to weave smaller structures like tag-teaming spiders spinning silk.
Continue reading… “Wall-Crawling Robots Could Weave A Room For You”
