Impact Lab – Page 240 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

2023 CES

Sony unveils Project Leonardo: a modular PS5 controller designed for players with disabilities

January 17, 2023

During its CES presentation Sony showed off the Mocopi system for full-body tracking for use in games and the metaverse. The company also revealed Project Leonardo, a new modular controller designed to help players with disabilities.

The controller has a big, round base that is designed to lie flat on a table, there are several mounting options as well. A player can use a single Project Leonardo controller or two, a DualSense controller can be added to the mix as well. This way, one, two or three controllers can be combined into a single virtual controller.

2023 CES

Pee and me: The gadget that turns toilets into urine labs

January 17, 2023

Turn your pee into liquid gold.

By Cecily Mauran

Why 2023 could be the year of personal pee-testing.

Withings has a new streaming platform. No, not that kind of streaming.

The health tech company announced U-Scan at CES 2023 on Tuesday. It’s a smart device that analyses your pee from the comfort of your bathroom.

The pebble-shaped gadget fits in a toilet bowl and captures urine, which is then analyzed internally by cartridges that assess various biomarkers. The user can check the results through the Withings Health Mate app and share it with their doctor.

But U-Scan isn’t just for one-off urinalysis. Your pee contains a continuous treasure trove of information about your health, fitness, and fertility. Separate cartridges in the U-Scan allow you to monitor hydration, nutrition, metabolism, vitamin levels, or ovulation and menstruation. All health data is compliant with Europe’s GDPR privacy regulations.

Space

Join the hive: send your ideas for CubeSat swarms

January 17, 2023

We all know the saying that there is strength in numbers. The next revolution in space technology could be the use of swarms of tiny spacecraft, called CubeSats, that work together to achieve things greater than what any lone spacecraft can. CubeSats, assemble!

A CubeSat is a miniature satellite made up of one or more standard-sized ‘units’. Each unit measures just 10 cm×10 cm×10 cm and weighs less than two kilograms. They are quick and cheap to produce and can carry all sorts of instruments on board. Almost 2000 of these tiny spacecraft have already been launchedinto space; while these have mostly operated alone, technological developments in recent years mean that we may soon use ‘swarms’ of tens of CubeSats that operate autonomously.

2023 CES

S.Korea to complete preparations for Level 4 autonomous car by 2024

January 15, 2023

This file photo provided by Motional shows the IONIQ 5-based robo taxi.

In October, Motional signed a 10-year deal to supply Hyundai’s IONIQ 5-based autonomous vehicles to U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc.

South Korea will set up safety standards and an insurance system for the launch of Level 4 autonomous vehicles in the country by next year, the transport ministry said on Sunday.

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong also said the government will “dramatically” ease regulations involving autonomous cars, at this year’s ‘CES 2023’ in Las Vegas, reports Yonhap news agency.

Motional is a 50-50 joint venture set up in 2020 between Hyundai Motor Co. and U.S. mobility startup Aptiv to test fully autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing services.

AI

World’s First Robot Lawyer to Defend Human in Speeding Ticket Case in US

January 15, 2023

The CEO of DoNotPay, Joshua Browder, introduced the A.I lawyer to the world on his Twitter. In his tweet, he shared a screen recording of the futuristic technology at work.

Technology is taking over the world at a lightning-fast speed. If you are impressed by self-driving cars, brace yourself for an AI-powered robot lawyer. The impressive world’s first-ever robot lawyer will represent a client in an actual court. The CEO of DoNotPay, Joshua Browder, introduced the A.I lawyer to the world on his Twitter. In his tweet, he shared a screen recording of the futuristic technology at work. Browder mentioned that this clip showed DoNotPay’s ChatGPT bot talking to the Comcast Chat. This was the first ever Comcast bill negotiated. It is meant to save DoNotPay’s engineers $120 per year on Internet bills. This service will be publicly available soon. It will work on online forms, chat, and email. Browder also mentioned that the A.I is not perfect yet, saying that it is a bit too polite. But it will be improved before launch. Check it out here:

Watching the bot going at it in the clip was both entertaining and impressive for social media users. They were laughing over the A.I trying to get the final ‘thank you’ in, totally understanding what Joshua Browder meant when he tweeted it was “a bit too polite”. A social media user wrote, “For a second I thought there’d be this infinite loop when the agent said ‘You are very welcome’ and GPT said ‘Thank you again’.”

2023 CES

Amazon-backed Cinderella-style robot cart carries dishes and laundry

January 15, 2023

The robot trolley can last a whole day on a single charge / Labrador Systems

By Saqib Shah

The Labrador Retriever is a self-driving trolley that can be summoned using Alexa.

Amazon has another robot helper up its sleeve as part of its grand plan to bring domestic droids to homes.

The online shopping giant is backing Labrador Systems, the maker of a robot cart that can carry your dirty dishes and laundry around for you.

The droid, known as the Labrador Retriever, uses advanced 3D vision to map and navigate your home, in the vein of a robot vacuum. In essence, it comes across as a high-tech food trolley that can self-drive and automatically lift and lower items to you.

You can summon it using your voice through an Alexa-enabled device, like a smart speaker or display, and even pre-set it to bring or collect items at specific times. All told, the Retriever can carry food and laundry baskets weighing up to 25 pounds.

At the recent CES tech event, Labrador Systems showed the bot retrieving drinks from a fridge based on voice commands made through an Amazon Echo Show 10 smart display, which was placed atop the cart. Just don’t expect it to get your dinner out of the oven or pop to the garden to collect your clothes from the line. After all, it’s a self-driving cart, not a humanoid robot with arms and legs.

It’s no coincidence that the robot plays nice with Amazon’s products. The e-commerce titan previously co-led a $3.1 million funding round in the startup alongside iRobot, the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum that Amazon is in the process of acquiring.

Biotech

MIT researchers developed self-assembling proteins that can store ‘cellular memories’

January 14, 2023

The proteins can record histories of cellular events

By Ayesha Gulzar

Researchers from MIT developed a technique to induce cells to record the history of cellular events in a long protein chain that can be imaged using a light microscope. The technique could help understand the critical steps involved in the processes, such as memory formation, response to drug treatment, and gene expression.

Studying the molecular processes within cells can provide important insights into their function and how they contribute to the overall functioning of an organ. However, most techniques for imaging cells only allow researchers to obtain a snapshot of a single moment in time, which can be limited in understanding the dynamic processes occurring within cells.

“Biological systems are often composed of a large number of different types of cells. To understand those kinds of biological systems, we need to observe physiological events over time in these large cell populations,” said Changyang Linghu, Assistant Professor at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute and author of the study.

Virtual Reality

Mercedes to use Nvidia’s digital twin tech to modernize its factories

January 14, 2023

Mercedes-Benz is joining the metaverse. Or at least its assembly facilities are.

By Rebecca Bellan

The automaker is one of Nvidia’s latest customers to use Omniverse Enterprise, a software platform used to build and operate metaverse applications. Nvidia said Tuesday ahead of the official kickoff of CES 2023 that Mercedes will use Omniverse to design, plan and optimize its factories. Specifically, Mercedes is preparing to manufacture its new electric vehicle platform at its plant in Rastatt, Germany.

Using Omniverse, the automaker is able to build a digital twin of the factory and simulate new production processes without disrupting existing vehicle production. Nvidia says having a virtual workflow will let Mercedes quickly react to supply chain disruptions and reconfigure the assembly line as needed.

Danny Shapiro, Nvidia’s VP of automotive, told TechCrunch that Mercedes has already been working with Nvidia to test out autonomous vehicle technology in simulation.

“Now what they’re talking about is using our Omniverse technology, bringing that down to the production level, and creating a digital twin of the entire factory,” said Shapiro. “So modeling all the vehicles going through the assembly, all the robots, all the factory workers, and being able to design and plan the production and the assembly plant before it is actually live. And so this is helping them streamline, moving over from an existing A class production into a new generation vehicle.”

A complete factory simulation could help automakers assess potential bottlenecks, create more ergonomic working conditions or determine where a robot might fail to complete a task before the facility actually starts production. Shapiro said Mercedes plans to scale this strategy to its factories globally in the future.

AI

How AI is disrupting the trucking sector

January 14, 2023

Karen Levy, author of the book “Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance,” says AI tech is becoming common in trucking, to the dismay of truckers

Trucking can be dangerous job – long, often tedious hours behind the wheel, the unpredictability of the weather and of course, other drivers.

And yet, trucking is an essential part of supply chain. 72% of the nation’s freight gets from point A to point B in a truck, according to the American Trucking Associations.

Most of those holiday gifts you might be enjoying right now got to you on a truck. So truck drivers are an essential part of our economy.

The companies that hire and manage those drivers have started bringing a lot more technology into big rigs, including artificial intelligence and sometimes automation.

Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams spoke with Karen Levy, author of “Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance” about how these tools are being used in the industry.

The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Robots

Nvidia’s robot simulator adds human co-workers

January 13, 2023

By Brian Heater

Simulators have been a godsend when it comes to testing robots. Real-world testing is lengthy, expensive and potentially dangerous, so anything you can do to work out as many kinks as possible ahead of time is a big win. Isaac Sim has thus far proven a success for Nvidia, as the chipmaker has looked to aggressively enter the world of robotics and automation, while roboticists search for a way to run simulations of real-life working conditions.

Today at CES, the company announced some key improvements to the system. Accessible via the cloud for robotics developers everywhere, the system is adding a very important piece of the puzzle: humans. Well, virtual humans. After all, for all the talk about robots replacing human jobs, the two are going to be working side by side for the foreseeable future.

“To minimize the difference between results observed in a simulated world versus those seen in the real world,” Nvidia notes, “it’s imperative to have physically accurate sensor models.”

Farming

To boldly grow: how space agtech shapes farming on Earth

January 13, 2023

Baby red romaine lettuce growing in a vertical farm, technology made possible thanks to space agtech innovation.

Space innovation can transform terrestrial agriculture, as it has other sectors.
Vertical farming and LED lighting are two past examples of agtech developed in space.
Seeds could be the next frontier for space agtech.

The effects of climate change are impossible to ignore, particularly as record-breaking temperatures, tides and weather events wreak havoc across the globe. Worldwide, 12 million hectares of land valuable to agriculture are lost every year, and global agriculture production will need to increase by 70% to meet the demand of an expanding population. It’s no surprise that we are seeing steady growth, investment and, most importantly, innovation in the agtech market, including the space industry.

The value that space innovation has already created here on Earth is immeasurable. NASA says its return on investment on the US economy is more than three times its annual budget. From cellular data and hurricane predictions to robotics and health science, many aspects of our lives are made significantly easier, more efficient or more enjoyable thanks to the breakthroughs and utilization made in space. We are now seeing tremendous potential for research and technological advancement for agtech in space, with applications that will both enable future prolonged extraterrestrial habitation, as well as improve agricultural practices here on Earth.

Developing sustainable and scalable food sources for astronauts will be critical to our ability to successfully establish and expand new destinations in space. A few commercial companies, including Voyager, are actively developing new commercial space stations to replace the International Space Station (ISS), and with these new destinations comes a need to provide nutrient-dense food for inhabitants.

AI

Seoul-based Deep Brain AI launches paid service to speak to the dead

January 13, 2023

The company’s image synthesis technology can realize an AI human that is complete in non-verbal parts such as lip-syncing, movements, and facial expressions.

By Sahil Pawar

Seoul-based Deep Brain AI launched a paid service called Re;memory for those who would like to speak again with their deceased loved ones, even if it is just virtually.

When a loved one dies, a family is often left with only digital memories such as photos and videos. However, these are only one-way modes of communication where one can see or hear their loved ones but cannot interact back with them.

DeepBrain AI takes this trove of information and a pre-interview to put together a private virtual meeting in their studio where one can have unfinished conversations with their loved ones.