Impact Lab – Page 267 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Robots

Remember how Hyundai Motor Group was so impressed by the robot dogs and humanoid bots developed by Boston Dynamics that it decided to acquire a majority stake in the robotics firm in 2020? Well, the two companies are now ready to take their relationship to the next level with the formation of the Boston Dynamics AI Institute.

The car manufacturer and the MIT spin-off will make an initial investment of more than $400 million in the new organization, which will be led by Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics.

At its core, Boston Dynamics AI Institute will be a research-oriented establishment. It will work on solving some of the most important and difficult challenges facing the creation of advanced robots. Combining the best features of university research labs with those of corporate development labs, the institute’s work will focus on four technical areas: cognitive AI, athletic AI, organic hardware design, as well as ethics and policy.

Energy

A new fusion power station will mimic the Sun to provide limitless energy

September 7, 2022

‘The next technological step after the global ITER fusion experiment’.

By Chris Young

A European consortium, EuroFusion, has taken a crucial step on the long road to commercially viable nuclear fusi

The consortium just announced the start of a five-year “conceptual design” phase for its DEMOnstration power plant (DEMO), a press statement reveals.

This means nuclear fusion scientists are starting design work on a European demonstration power station that they hope will finally enable net nuclear fusion energy — the much-hyped method to end our reliance on fossil fuels by providing practically limitless energy.

Nanotechnology

DNA-Based Nanorobot Interacts with Live Cells

September 7, 2022

By CONN HASTINGS

Researchers at INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) in France, and collaborators, have developed a DNA-based nanorobot called the Nano-winch. The tiny creation is made using DNA molecules and a “DNA Origami” approach. The tiny robot is so small that it can land on a cell surface and interact with ‘mechanoreceptors’ that the cell uses to sense mechanical forces acting on it.

The robots can apply tiny forces to the mechanoreceptors, allowing the researchers to measure the biochemical and molecular changes that result. While the technology is certainly useful for basic cellular research, it may also pave the way for similar nanorobots with medical applications, given its ability to interact with specific cellular receptors.

It seems that every week someone develops a new nano- or microrobot that can perform tasks hitherto considered within the realm of science fiction. These breakthroughs could well herald a new era in medicine, with swarms of tiny machines performing an array of complex medical procedures within the body. This latest technology follows this trend, with the ability to land on the cell surface and delicately apply a tiny force to specific cellular receptors.

The researchers describe their creation as a “programmable DNA origami-based molecular actuator” and have called it the Nano-winch. It consists of three DNA origami structures and can land on the cell surface and apply a force of 1 piconewton to a cellular receptor. To put this in perspective, this is 1 trillionth of a Newton, and 1 Newton is approximately the force exerted by your finger when you click the top of a pen.

Science & Technology News, Tesla

The Staggering Economics of the Tesla Semi

September 7, 2022

The economics of the Tesla semi show that it is about 83% cheaper to drive and haul goods than a standard diesel truck. Not to mention the reduction in cost due to less maintenance. The Tesla semi will truly disrupt the trucking industry.

By Jeremy Johnson

The Tesla Semi is going to start deliveries this year and there is some staggering economics of how much better it will be than a diesel truck.

Elon Musk has stated that the Tesla semi will start shipping this year and that it will have 500 miles of range. This is after many delays, but Tesla is finally ready to start delivering it to customers. In Elon’s Master Plan, Part 2, he made reference to building an electric semi.

The first customer of the Tesla semi is not known to the public yet. Some think it will be PepsiCo because they place an order for 100 electric semi trucks. Tesla will build out Mega Chargers for the Tesla semi in order to make sure it can charge quickly.

Tiny House

Are Tiny Homes the Answer to Escalating US Home Prices?

September 6, 2022

A tiny folding house made by Boxabl.

By Mary Prenon

Mary Kate Taliafarro, along with her husband and three children, have been living in a 350-square-foot “tiny house” in Ulster County, New York, since March 2021. Last year, they decided to ride the real estate wave and sell their large, two-story home in the Hudson Valley and live in the tiny home while having a new home built on nearby property.

Although squeezing an entire family into small living quarters may seem like a recipe for chaos, Taliafarro told The Epoch Times that downsizing has definitely had its upside.

“It’s been great—actually a lot better than I expected,” she said.

Built and designed by Hudson River Tiny Homes in Ghent, New York, the 40-foot-long home offers two bedrooms and two loft spaces. It also boasts a dishwasher, washer, and dryer.

“My two boys just love it,” she said. The family’s newest addition, her four-month old daughter, has not weighed in yet.

Because of their growing family, the Taliafarros are planning an addition to the tiny house that will afford them a master bedroom, bath, and a just a bit more living space.

Space Flight

Scientists build robot that could one day help us travel around black holes

September 6, 2022

Researchers from Georgia Tech claim they’ve built a robot that can move in curved space without Newton’s third law

By Adam Smith

Scientists have built a robot that defies the standard laws of physics and could eventually help humans travel around black holes.

When humans, animals, and machines move through the world they must push against something – be that the ground, air, or water. This is Newton’s third law: every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

The law applies to flat, three-dimensional space that humans move through, but in curved space forces can differ – and objects can move without frictional or gravitational impact.

As such, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology claim they have built a robot that can move in curved space without pushing against anything.

Aviation

Unmanned Cargo Plane to Usher in New Era of Freight Transport

September 6, 2022

Natilus is developing a family of large unmanned cargo aircraft, starting with this twin turboprop model.

By Austin Weber

San Diego has one of the richest aerospace heritages of any city in America. Ryan Aeronautical Co. built Charles Lindbergh’s “Spirit of St. Louis” aircraft in the mid-1920s. During World War II, Consolidated Aircraft Corp. mass-produced planes such as the B-24 Liberator and the PBY Catalina.

In the 1950s, Convair’s Atlas Launch Vehicle helped usher in the Space Age. And, as everyone who has watched “Top Gun” knows, North Island Naval Air Station is home to some of the best combat pilots in the world.

A startup company called Natilus Inc. is planning to write the next chapter in San Diego’s illustrious aviation history. It is developing a large unmanned cargo aircraft that may someday revolutionize the air freight and logistics industry.

Natilus plans to design and manufacture a family of aircraft that feature a blended-wing body (BWB) configuration. Unlike traditional tube-and-wing airplanes, BWBs combine the wing, body and tail into a single wing that can generate a 30 percent reduction in fuel consumption.

“The blended-wing design with our patent-pending diamond cargo configuration allows for more volume, helping our customers optimize for the reality of today’s e-commerce freight,” says Aleksey Matyushev, CEO of Natilus. “For the same weight of tube-and-wing aircraft, [our plane] will transport more than twice as much revenue cargo for the same trip, lowering costs by 60 percent and reducing CO2 emissions by 50 percent.”

Aviation, Science & Technology News

This New Supersonic Jet Will Fly From London to NYC in 3.5 Hours—on 100% Biofuel

September 5, 2022

Boom’s Overture Supersonic Jet to Fly From London to NYC in 3.5 Hours

By ROHIT JAGGI

But the Boom Overture is not Concorde 2.0. It’ll be faster, quieter and more fuel efficient, with a larger interior space.

Supersonic air travel has always messed with the concept of time. Such as being able to fly across the Atlantic and land before your scheduled departure time.

But planemaker Boom managed to reach new heights of temporal irony with the latest iteration of its Overture supersonic aircraft. Its production-conforming design revealed recently at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK has managed to turn the clock back to the 1960s and look astonishingly similar to Concorde. Huge delta wings, four underslung engines and a long, slim fuselage make a comparison hard to avoid.

But given the six decades of technological innovation since French and British designers penned the world’s first supersonic airliner, Boom has been able to bring in some improvements. Its composite Overture has a conventional tail, its wing has a sinuous twist and the medium-bypass turbofan engines do away with the need for afterburners—which were responsible for a substantial part of the noise levels that helped kill off Concorde.

Space

DARPA Wants to Build an ‘Internet’ of Connected Satellites in Low Earth Orbit

September 5, 2022

The agency is bringing together experts to build tools that seek to standardize communication between tens of thousands of satellites.

By Mack DeGeurin

If you’ve taken a good look at the night sky in recent years you may have noticed a few more twinkling lights. That’s largely due to a surge in low Earth orbit satellites, an increasing number of which are being deployed to offer satellite internet service. SpaceX, OneWeb, and Amazon, the latter through its yet-to-launch Project Kuiper, together reportedly plan to launch over 46,000 more satellites into space in the coming years.

There’s a problem though. In their haste to get satellites up and running and beat out competitors, few of these satellite companies actually bothered to hammer out a set of standards that would let their satellites communicate with other firms’ satellites. Enter DARPA, the Pentagon’s gonzo research and development arm. As part of its Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) program DARPA is bringing together a team of experts to standardize communications between the ever-increasing hoard of satellites. The end goal, according to DARPA, is a type of “internet” of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that lets civil, government, and military satellites easily communicate with each other.

Medical Breakthrough

Vision in Humans Restored Using Cornea Implants Bioengineered from Pig’s Skin

September 5, 2022

Cornea implant made of collagen protein from pig’s skin.

By Thor Balkhed

For the estimated 12.7 million people around the world who are blind due to corneal stromal disease, a transplanted cornea from a human donor is the only way of regaining vision. But just one in 70 patients receives a cornea transplant. Now, researchers describe a cell-free engineered corneal tissue implant—made of collagen protein from pig’s skin—and a minimally invasive surgical method for its implantation. In a pilot study, performed in India and Iran (clinicaltrials.gov no. NCT04653922), all 20 patients who received the implants had vision restored.

The study is published in Nature Biotechnology, in the article, “Bioengineered corneal tissue for minimally invasive vision restoration in advanced keratoconus in two clinical cohorts.”

“The results show that it is possible to develop a biomaterial that meets all the criteria for being used as human implants, which can be mass-produced and stored up to two years and thereby reach even more people with vision problems,” said Neil Lagali, PhD, professor at the department of biomedical and clinical sciences at Linköping University (LiU) in Sweden. “This gets us around the problem of shortage of donated corneal tissue and access to other treatments for eye diseases.”

Automobiles

Next-gen cars will create new forms of entertainment 

September 4, 2022

The in-vehicle experience is set to change as cars turn autonomous and electric.

By Elle Farrell-Kingsley

According to MarketsandMarkets, the in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) market is projected to grow from US$20.8bn in 2021 to US$28.4bn by 2027, at a CAGR of 10.8%. Research suggests that the IVI market is driven by the increase in vehicle production, technological advancements, telematics regulations, and increasing demand for luxury vehicles.

In the wake of these trends, the entertainment offering is constantly evolving. “Infotainment in cars is approaching a critical inflexion point where many of the traditional forms of in-car entertainment are on the precipice of becoming extinct,” says Iliya Rybchin, Partner at Elixirr, a consulting firm which has advised automotive and entertainment companies. Rybchin specialises in customer experiences, particularly how changing consumer expectations and business model disruption impact various industries. 

Robots

Xiaomi Unveils CyberOne, a Humanoid Robot That Can Sense Human Emotions

September 4, 2022

Xiaomi CyberOne is said to identify 85 types of environmental sounds and 45 classifications of human emotion.

By Nithya P Nair

Xiaomi CyberOne can listen to human interactions.

Xiaomi unveiled its first humanoid robot named CyberOne alongside the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 during a live event on Thursday. The robot can listen to human interactions and is capable of recognising individuals and their emotions. The CyberOne is 177cm tall, weighs 52kg, and has an arm span of 168cm. It is claimed to be capable of perceiving 3D space. The CyberOne comes equipped with technologies to recognise 85 types of environmental sounds and 45 classifications of human emotion. Xiaomi also has a quadruped robot called CyberDog, which was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022 in February.

During the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 launch event on Thursday, Xiaomi unveiled the CyberOne. The humanoid robot handed a flower to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun on stage and showcased some movements.

“CyberOne’s AI and mechanical capabilities are all self-developed by Xiaomi Robotics Lab. We have invested heavily in R&D spanning various areas, including software, hardware, and algorithms innovation,” said Lei Jun in a statement.

CyberOne comes with arms, legs, and supports bipedal motion and is said to reach a peak torque of up to 300Nm. It has an OLED module to display facial expressions and can see the world in 3D.