Impact Lab – Page 291 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Hyperloop

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has long been trying to build underground tunnels for hyperloop transit, and reportedly finished digging said tunnels under the Las Vegas convention center in 2020. The company also won a contract to build a high-speed transit system between Chicago’s O’Hare airport and the city center, which are 16 miles apart. That trip would allegedly take 12 minutes at speeds up to 150mph.

Now an Austin-based startup wants to do the same thing, except to transport packages instead of people. Pipedream Labs’ goal is to enable what it calls “hyperlogistics” this decade, making it possible to deliver packages in 30 seconds.

The idea is to use a network of underground pipes to get packages from a centralized hub to neighborhoods, where drivers would pick them up for last-mile delivery or customers would pick them up directly.

Medical Breakthrough

Scientists grow cells on a robot skeleton (but don’t know what to do with them yet)

June 7, 2022

The cells were placed in a replica shoulder joint that was moved around to stimulate growth.

By James Vincent

A new method of tissue engineering is only a proof of concept for now.

The science of tissue engineering — or growing human cells for use in medicine — is very much in its infancy, with only the simplest lab-grown cells able to be used in experimental treatments today. But researchers say a new method of tissue engineering could potentially improve the quality of this work: growing the cells on a moving robot skeleton.

Typically, cells used in this sort of regenerative medicine are grown in static environments. Think: petri dishes and miniature 3D scaffolds. A few experiments in the past have shown that cells can be grown on moving structures like hinges, but these have only stretched or bent the tissue in a single direction. But researchers from the University of Oxford and robotics firm Devanthro thought that, if you want to grow matter designed to move and flex like tendons or muscles, it’d be better to recreate their natural growing environment as accurately as possible. So they decided to approximate a mobile human body. THE THEORY IS THAT MOVING CELLS AS THEY WOULD IN YOUR BODY WILL HELP THEM GROW

Growing cells in an actual person creates all sorts of difficulties, of course, so the cross-disciplinary team decided to approximate the human musculoskeletal system as best they could using a robot. As described in a paper published in Communications Engineering, they adapted an open-source robot skeleton designed by the engineers at Devanthro and created a custom growing environment for the cells that can be fitted into the skeleton to bend and flex as required. (Such growing environments are known as bioreactors.)

The site they choose for this tissue agriculture was the robot’s shoulder joint, which had to be upgraded to more accurately approximate our own movements. Then, they created a bioreactor that could be fitted into the robot’s shoulder, consisting of strings of biodegradable filaments stretched between two anchor points, like a hank of hair, with the entire structure enclosed within a balloon-like outer membrane.

Robots

Tiny robotic crabs: Engineers invent the world’s smallest remote-controlled walking robots

June 6, 2022

Engineers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, invented the world’s smallest remote-controlled walking robot. The robotic crab can balance on the side of a penny. (Northwestern University)

By Megan Marples

EVANSTON, Ill. — For these tiny robotic crabs, being small is a virtue.

Engineers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, invented the world’s smallest remote-controlled walking robot, according to research published in the journal Science Robotics.

Each one is about half a millimeter wide, which is smaller than the thickness of a United States penny.

It took a year and a half to create the miniscule metal creatures, said coauthor John A. Rogers, the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University.

His team was comprised of students across varying academic levels who combined critical- and creative-thinking skills to design robots that looked like crabs as well as other animals like inchworms and crickets, he said.

Some students found the sideways motion of crabs to be amusing, which was the inspiration behind the crab robot, Rogers said. The tiny robot can also twist, turn and jump, he added.

new technology, Science & Technology News

Cheap gel film pulls buckets of drinking water per day from thin air

June 6, 2022

A sample of the new gel film, which can pull huge amounts of drinking water out of thin air

By Michael Irving

Water scarcity is a major problem for much of the world’s population, but with the right equipment drinking water can be wrung out of thin air. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have now demonstrated a low-cost gel film that can pull many liters of water per day out of even very dry air.

The gel is made up of two main ingredients that are cheap and common – cellulose, which comes from the cell walls of plants, and konjac gum, a widely used food additive. Those two components work together to make a gel film that can absorb water from the air and then release it on demand, without requiring much energy.

First, the porous structure of the gum attracts water to condense out of the air around it. The cellulose, meanwhile, is designed to respond to a gentle heat by turning hydrophobic, releasing the captured water.

Making the gel is also fairly simple, the team says. The basic ingredients are mixed together then poured into a mold, where it sets in two minutes. After that it’s freeze-dried, then peeled out of the mold and ready to get to work. It can be made into basically any shape needed, and scaled up fairly easily and at low-cost.

Driverless vehicles

Self-driving buses, shuttles and delivery vans could hit UK roads

June 6, 2022

Kiera Sowery

A £40m competition to kick-start commercial self-driving services, such as delivery vehicles and passenger shuttles, has been launched by Lord Grimstone, Minister for Investment. The funding could create tens of thousands of skilled jobs across the UK over the next decade.

The ‘Commercialising Connected and Automated Mobility’ competition will provide grants to help roll out commercial use self-driving vehicles across the UK from 2025, delivering convenience for consumers and making journeys safer, greener and more reliable.

The competition will help bring together companies and investors so that sustainable business models to be rolled out nationally and exported globally.

Types of self-driving vehicles that could be deployed include delivery vans, passenger buses, shuttles and pods, as well as vehicles that move people and luggage at airports and containers at shipping ports.

Minister for Investment Lord Grimstone said: “Self-driving vehicles have the potential to revolutionise people’s lives, whether its by helping to better connect people who rely on public transport with jobs, local shops, and vital services, or by making it easier for those who have mobility issues to order and access services conveniently.

“This funding will help unlock the incredible potential of this new and growing industry, building on the continued development of self-driving technology, attracting investment and helping make our transport cleaner, safer and more efficient.”

Science & Technology News, Solar Energy

Israel tests AI-powered Floating Solar Panels

June 5, 2022

he new project is being carried out in collaboration with Israel’s national water provider, Mekorot.

By Dipayan Mitra

Israel announces that it plans to test a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered floating solar panels system to generate clean energy, reports Nocamels.

Developed by Israeli startup Xfloat, the solar photovoltaic (PV) system is meant to move and monitor the sun while floating on reservoir water. The company has developed an intelligent water management system that accurately tilts and tracks water loads and pumps.

The data acquired from sensors is subsequently refined and directed to a knowledge-based machine learning process for PV performance prediction, and O&M. Countries across the globe are launching new initiatives to generate clean energy as a step to control global warming.

Genes, Science & Technology News

Gene-edited super tomato may provide the vitamin punch to fight Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and cancer

June 5, 2022

NORWICH, United Kingdom — A genetically engineered “super” tomato that may have the power to fight Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and cancer has been created by British scientists. The modified fruit is packed with vitamin D — which also boosts bones, teeth, and muscles.

Estimates show more than four in 10 Americans may have a vitamin D deficiency, which can increase their risk of developing a host of illnesses. Now, a team at the John Innes Centre in Norwich has engineered a variety of tomato that produces more.

They used a gene editing technique known as CRISPR, enabling them to make precise changes in DNA at specific locations. The procedure blocked the action of an enzyme that normally converts the vitamin to cholesterol.

“We’ve shown that you can biofortify tomatoes with provitamin D3 using gene editing, which means tomatoes could be developed as a plant-based, sustainable source of vitamin D3,” says corresponding author Professor Cathie Martin in a media release.

“Forty percent of Europeans have vitamin D insufficiency and so do one billion people world-wide. We are not only addressing a huge health problem, but are helping producers, because tomato leaves which currently go to waste, could be used to make supplements from the gene-edited lines.”

Tesla

Tesla Considering 800-Volt Architecture For Cybertruck And Semi

June 5, 2022

Shifting smaller vehicles like the Model 3 and Y from 400 volts to 800 volts would make zero economic sense, Tesla execs say.

By: Dan Mihalascu

Tesla’s Q1 2022 earnings call revealed plenty of positive updates from a financial and manufacturing perspective, and even when it comes to new products, with Elon Musk confirming that the dedicated robotaxi will enter production in 2024.

On the product side of things, the webcast’s Q&A session included a question on why Tesla avoids adopting an 800-volt architecture for its vehicles.

As it turns out, the EV maker is considering running some of its EVs on 800 volts, namely the Cybertruck and Semi. Why not more models, seeing as Tesla rivals such as the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and others use 800-volt architectures, not to mention the Lucid Air which runs on 900 volts?

Well, Tesla believes that the benefits of switching to 800 volts are massively outweighed by the overall cost of doing so. Tesla SVP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering, Andrew Baglino, noted that there is little incentive for the company to shift smaller vehicles like the Model 3 and Model Y on an 800-volt architecture.

VR

UCLan medical students to use VR technology in classroom

June 4, 2022

UCLan medical students using the new VR technology at the Burnley campus

Medical students will be using virtual reality headsets to diagnose heart attacks and treat sepsis from the comfort of the classroom.

The University of Central Lancashire will be introducing the technology to Preston, Burnley and Westlakes to allow medical students to diagnose heart attacks, treat sepsis and examine the respiratory system following the development of technology by UK-based Oxford Medical Simulation (OMS).

It allows students studying within UCLan’s School of Medicine to practise treating acutely unwell patients in a simulated, virtual environment without risking patients’ lives.

Driverless vehicles

startup gatik says it will put self-driving trucks on the road in Kansas

June 4, 2022

May 19 (Reuters) – Autonomous delivery truck startup Gatik on Thursday said it will be putting its box trucks on the road in Kansas after state officials gave it and its partner and customer Walmart Inc (WMT.N) the go-ahead.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly on Friday signed into law a bill permitting use of driverless vehicles in the state without a human safety driver behind the wheel.

Gatik’s head of policy, Richard Steiner, told Reuters in an interview the company would be “getting our trucks on the road now” in Kansas, but declined to comment on whether they would be making deliveries for Walmart or any other customer.

He said Gatik and Walmart held many conversations over the last year with Kansas legislators and law enforcement officials. The Teamsters union, a trial lawyers and a Kansas workers’ group had opposed the bill, citing issues such as insurance and liability requirements.

The Teamsters in a statement said the bill was rushed through, and that it allowed autonomous vehicles to operate “recklessly, risking the lives of our friends and neighbors, and upending the workforce as we know it.”

Space Flight

SPACE MACHINES TO LAUNCH ITS OPTIMUS IN-SPACE ORBITAL TRANSFER VEHICLE

June 4, 2022

Australian in-space transportation provider, Space Machines Company (SMC) has secured the support of SpaceX as a launch partner to carry its Optimus Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) to space as part of its April 2023 mission.

SMC’s Optimus OTV is one of the largest commercial spacecraft designed and manufactured in Australia.

The 2023 mission will demonstrate the 270 kg Optimus OTV’s ability to deliver in-space logistics services and will deploy solutions for foundation customers.

The Optimus spacecraft’s assembly and integration will occur at the Space Machines Company facility within the University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) Tech Lab, and will demonstrate Australian sovereign access to space capability.

With more than 6,000 active and inactive satellites in orbit, there will increasingly be a need for infrastructure and logistics services to support and manage exponential growth in satellites and debris, according to the company.

CEO of Space Machines Company Rajat Kulshrestha said: “Logistics is the new frontier in space innovation.

Futurati Podcast, Science & Technology News

Ep. 87 With Scott Ruoti

June 3, 2022

Youtube or on the Futurati Podcast website.

Scott Ruoti is an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, where he focuses on security and privacy, usability, and human-computer interaction. He takes a diverse and multidisciplinary approach in studying everything from optimized emailing systems to the distributed ledger, and we are thrilled to get his perspective on use cases for the blockchain.

Pairs Well With

Our interview with Eric Yakes on whether Bitcoin will become a global reserve currency.
Trent Fowler answering the question ‘What is the blockchain?’
How could blockchain be used for real estate?