Impact Lab – Page 242 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Denver grabbed headlines earlier this year when it launched an ambitious program to help city residents replace cars with e-bikes. Now the city is struggling to ensure it can provide sufficient cycling infrastructure to support the influx of electric bikes.

The program initially offered generous rebates from $400 to $900 off the price of a new e-bike depending on the style of bike, with cargo e-bikes receiving higher incentives.

Low-income city residents were offered even higher incentives of $1,200 toward the price of an electric bike.

Unlike mail-in rebates or e-bike tax credits, Denver’s program used point-of-sale rebates that were applied instantly, making it easier for new riders to afford what can often be expensive electric bikes.

The goal of the program was to help get more of these car-replacing electric bikes out onto Denver’s streets to cut down on traffic and reduce emission-spewing vehicle use.

Nearly 5,000 electric bikes have been purchased as part of the program, with around half of those e-bikes going to low-income riders.

It’s been widely praised as a successful model for increasing the adoption rate of low-impact alternative vehicles. But it’s also shined a light on another issue surrounding personal EVs like e-bikes and e-scooters: that they require investment in infrastructure to make riders feel safe using them.

Automobiles

Chrysler’s future car cabins will be built around partial self driving

January 8, 2023

The Synthesis concept helps you multitask when your hands are off the wheel.

By Jon Fingas

Chrysler has yet to deliver an electric car or otherwise leap into the future, but it’s at least willing to hint at what that future will look like. The Stellantis brand is debuting a Synthesis cockpit concept at CES that previews what you can expect in next-generation electric vehicles. Most notably, the two-seat demonstrator is built around Level 3 self-driving technology — that is, it assumes you’ll have your hands off the steering wheel in limited conditions.

The 37.2 inches of infotainment display area provides the usual media and navigation controls, but is also designed to be useful when autonomous driving is active. You can participate in video calls, play games, sing karaoke or even create your own music. It’s not clear how this would integrate with a production car (there’s no steering wheel in the concept), but Chrysler is joining Mercedes, Tesla and other automakers offering in-car productivity and entertainment apps to drivers.

Robots

Disney Files Patent for Air and Water-Powered Flying Robots

January 8, 2023

Disney has filed a patent for flying robots that would be powered with a hybrid and air and water, Orlando Business Journal reports.

By Shannen Michaelsen

The patent is for an “Untethered robot with hybrid air and water power for hovering and quick airborne movements.” It describes how they could control the movements of a flying robot through thrust propulsion via air or water. The robot would be able to pose and change directions in mid-air.

“In-flight movements and stable or controlled landings for a flying robot have recently come into demand to provide unique and surprising entertainment to audiences in settings where it may be difficult to utilize live performers,” the patent says.

The patent also indicates projectors would be able to put different images onto the robot while it is moving, turning it into different characters.

2023 CES, Robots

Adorable smart home robot unveiled at CES 2023 could be a great addition to your family

January 9, 2023

By Jon Bitner

Every January, CES brings us a laundry list of innovative, intriguing products that’ll probably never see the light of day. Enabot, an under-the-radar robot company, seems to be bucking that trend at CES 2023, with its impressive EBO X smart home robot offering up dozens of futuristic features and a release date planned for the second quarter of this year.

EBO X is an adorable smart home robot that serves multiple purposes in your household. After mapping its surroundings, the self-balancing, two-wheeled companion can follow you around your home, provide two-way communication through its 4K camera, pump out music via its Harman speakers, sync with other Alexa devices, and provide security alerts while you’re away.

Nanotechnology

Piezoelectric nanoparticles provide deep brain stimulation without invasive surgery

January 8, 2023

By Tami Freeman

Deep brain stimulation (DBS), in which electrodes implanted in the brain deliver electrical impulses to specific targets, is an effective clinical treatment for several neurological conditions. DBS is currently used to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and dystonia, as well as conditions such as epilepsy and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The treatment, however, necessitates brain surgery to insert the stimulation electrodes, with the potential to cause numerous side effects.

To remove the need for invasive surgery, researchers from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in Korea are developing a non-invasive neural stimulation strategy based on piezoelectric nanoparticles. The nanoparticles serve two functions – transient opening of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and stimulating the release of dopamine – both controlled by externally applied focused ultrasound.

Piezoelectric nanoparticles are of interest as neural stimulators because in response to external stimuli – such as ultrasound, for example – they deform and output direct current. The researchers propose that this current could then be used to stimulate dopaminergic neurons to release neurotransmitters.

3D Printer

New 3D Printer That Creates Custom Prescription Drugs Developed by University College London

January 8, 2023

University College London (UCL) have developed an exciting new 3D printing technique: “volumetric 3D printing” that lets the pharmaceutical industry customize drugs – including shape, size, dosage, and release – according to each patient’s individual needs.

BY MARK ALLINSON

In turn, medical professionals may eventually be able to use 3D printing to “print” prescription drugs for patients in-office in the future. Not only does 3D printing promise to improve personalized medicine, but it’s also set to drastically cut cost and waste in the process.

Solving race and gender inequalities with personalized medicine

3D printing may reduce or eliminate the problem of race and gender inequality in prescription drug manufacturing. “Currently, medications are developed especially for white adult men, which means that all women and children have an excessive prescription for their bodies”, explains Fred Parietti, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Multiply Labs, a developer of advanced robotics technology that manufactures personalized prescription drugs.

“This fact underlines the importance of the advent of personalized medicines, as well as highlighting the individuality of each patient, since the error in the dosage of certain active ingredients can even lead to the malfunctioning of some treatments”.

Robotics

German Bionic Apogee robotic exoskeleton is an AI-based wearable smart power suit

January 8, 2023

Protect yourself on the job by wearing the German Bionic Apogee robotic exoskeleton.

This smart power suit helps create a safe workplace with a fully-connected AI-based design. Created for physical labor workers, it helps protect your body if you work a physically demanding job.

It makes work safer, less strenuous, and more attractive and boasts a lightweight and versatile design. moreover, this smart robotic exoskeleton for the workplace is a next-generation smart robotic wearable tool.

2023 CES, Driverless vehicles

The autonomous mover for everyone: World premiere of HOLON vehicle at CES 2023

January 9, 2023

– New BENTELER brand HOLON presents world’s first autonomous mover built to automotive standards

– Vehicle to combine sustainability, inclusion, comfort and safety

– Design by Pininfarina, a long-term partner of HOLON

– Collaboration with Mobileye, Beep and Cognizant Mobility, among others

– Pilot projects being prepared for the USA and Germany; US production start planned for end of 2025

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — HOLON, the new brand from the BENTELER Group, will present its autonomous, fully electric and inclusive mover for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas. The vehicle is the world’s first autonomous mover built to automotive standards – in other words, a leader in safety, ride comfort, and production quality. The HOLON mover operates autonomously and with a maximum speed of 60 km/h (37mph). It has a range of about 290 kilometers (180 miles).

drones

UK’s first drone ‘super highway’ will create 165-mile corridor to reduce lorry numbers

January 6, 2023

Plans are being drawn up to create a drone ‘super highway’ for carrying cargo and other supplies

By Graham Hiscott

Telecoms giant BT has announced a £5million investment in Altitude Angel, whose a scheme called Project Skyway would see a 165-mile drone corridor created above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry and Rugby

Plans are being developed for a drone “super- highway ” to mean fewer lorries on the road.

Telecoms giant BT has announced a £5million investment in a company whose technology could allow long-distance drone deliveries.

The firm, Altitude Angel, is working on a scheme called Project Skyway that would see a 165-mile drone corridor created above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry and Rugby.

The long-term aim of the project is to connect towns and cites, as well as transport and package delivery hubs across the country using drone networks.

Crucially, the technology will allow different drones – as well as crewed aircraft – to use the same airspace without the risk of crashing into one another.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation may well destabilize the world of telecom

January 6, 2023

By Olivier Pinaud and Alexandre Piquard

In Depth’Race to the Stars’ (2/4). Starlink’s promise of fast internet access everywhere on the planet poses a threat to telecom operators. Though they stay quiet, their radars have spotted the rockets, and some shots have already been fired.

Is Elon Musk threatening to bring the sky down on the heads of telecom operators? By promising Internet access everywhere on the planet thanks to his Starlink satellite constellation, the US entrepreneur is turning their world upside down. Going online by pointing a dish at a satellite is not a revolutionary idea: the first mass-market satellite internet connections date back to 2008. But their speed could not compete with wired (ADSL and fiber) or cellular (4G and 5G) connections.

In contrast, Starlink’s satellites, positioned in low Earth orbit (at an altitude of 550 kilometers) and no longer in geostationary position (36,000 kilometers), are reversing the balance of power: their theoretical data transmission rate compares favorably with a very good 4G network. Most importantly, the speed of data communication between Earth and space (latency) is 50 times faster than that of conventional satellites and supports applications such as video calls or network games.

3D Printer

New 3D-printing ink could make lab-grown meat much cheaper to produce

January 5, 2023

Appearances of cultured meat models without and with treatment of natural food coloring (beet) CREDIT: Jie Sun (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University)

by John Anderer

SUZHOU, China — Lab-grown, or cultured, meats represent a promising, more environmentally friendly alternative to actual meat from livestock, but high production costs have hindered its widespread use. Now, however, research out of Singapore and China reports the discovery of a way to use food waste to make cultured meat, which would reduce production costs considerably.

Cultured meat is made using animal muscle stem cells grown on a scaffold, which improves the environment for the cells by enabling transport of nutrients and allowing for the generation of texture and structure. Without this approach, the meat is more likely to end up resembling lumpy mashed potatoes.

Unique scaffolds can be created using an emerging 3D-printing technology known as Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing. These scaffolds become part of the meat product, so they have to be edible themselves, and are thus usually made using animal products such as gelatin and collagen, or synthetic materials. This is expensive to produce. Establishing a more affordable way to create edible inks for printing would be a major boon for the cultured meat movement.

Robots

How all-electric, self-driving Clearbot helps tackle ocean plastic pollution in Asia

January 5, 2023

Clearbots has operations in India and Hong Kong and is looking to expand to the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore soon

By Sainul Abudheen

A few years ago, Sidhant Gupta, an ocean lover, and Utkarsh Goel, a techie, visited Bali, Indonesia, as part of their course at the University of Hong Kong. Miffed by the growing the ocean plastic pollution in the archipelago, a top contributor to global plastic pollution, the duo decided to leverage their technical expertise to tackle it.

Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year, of which about 14 million tons end up in the ocean every year. Plastic makes up 80 per cent of all marine debris. While many solutions are available to address this problem, they are grossly inadequate.

“Existing solutions are slow, with some communities still using paddle boats and diesel-powered boats for fishing trash. We realised technologies like Artificial Intelligence could address this problem effectively.”

This led the duo to start Clearbot in 2019.

Clearbot is a remotely operated vehicle designed to perform various tasks in the marine sector, including data collection, site monitoring, marine pollution cleaning, and goods delivery. Powered by an electric motor, it can complete these tasks without human intervention.