Impact Lab – Page 311 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Einride Unveils World’s First Remote Pod Operator of Autonomous, Electric Vehicle Fleet

March 21, 2022

The Einride Pod makes shipping safer and cleaner with electric power, advanced autonomous technology and remote operation capability.

Long-time trucking veteran will be first in new job that will revolutionize autonomous shipping industry
Creates an entirely new type of shipping job, one that will allow for more regulated working conditions compared to conventional trucking and solve for the global shortage of trucking resources
By keeping humans in the loop, a team of Einride Remote Pod Operators, will ensure safe scaling of autonomous shipping solutions across current and future customer operations

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Swedish freight technology company Einride announced today at SXSW the official introduction of the world’s first Remote Pod Operator, a role that has been fulfilled with the hiring of long-time trucking veteran Tiffany Heathcott. The position will shift how humans play a role in the increasing prioritization of autonomous vehicles in the freight industry, enabling a strong safety case that is scalable from day one for shippers looking to automate their shipping fleets.

3D Printer

japanese company serendix is 3D-printing houses in less than 24 hours

March 23, 2022

IT TOOK SERENDIX JUST 23 HOURS AND 12 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THE 3D-PRINTED HOUSE

Serendix has completed japan’s first 3D-printed house is just 23 hours and 12 minutes. the japanese company first unveiled the sphere — a 3D-printed home design — in earlier 2021, stating it could be constructed in a day for under 3 million yen (approx. $25.500 USD). a year later, the company has met its goal.

‘the skeleton weighed about 20 tons, and its assembly was completed in 3 hours,’ said the official release. ‘housing construction such as waterproofing and openings was completed in just 23 hours and 12 minutes. as a result, we achieved the development goal of serendix, which was to create a house in 24 hours.’

Space Flight

Space factory startup aims for first UK launch

March 21, 2022

Space factory startup aims for first UK launch

By Nick Flaherty

Startup Space Forge is aiming to launch the first satellite from the UK later this year.

The company is developing a re-usable satellite that can be used to build materials in microgravity in orbit and return it to Earth safely.

The ForgeStar satellite will be launched as part of a joint UK-US mission with Virgin Orbit to open the country’s first domestic spaceport in summer 2022 from Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay. This will use a launcher mounted on a Boeing 747 taking off from a traditional runway.

ForgeStar can also be deployed from conventional launchers, and the first launch will be used to test the return from space technology. This includes Aether, a predictive analytic tool that is ten times better at providing satellite and space body re-entry landing locations. The company is also working with EDA vendor Ansys on modelling tools.

Futurati Podcast

Futurati Podcast with Samo Burja

March 20, 2022

Watch our interview with Samo Burja on Youtube.

Samo Burja is a sociologist and the founder of Bismarck Analysis, a firm that analyzes institutions, from governments to companies. His research work focuses on the causes of societal decay and flourishing and he writes on history, epistemology and strategy.

Robots

WORMS AND COCKROACHES INSPIRED THIS ROBOT THAT CAN UNCLOG ANY PIPE

March 20, 2022

Have a clogged pipe? GE has a new robot that could help.

Everyone who lives in an older home knows that plumbing is hell. The smallest problem involves a plumber cursing at your bathtub with a metal snake, or worse, a giant truck drilling its way through tree roots that are causing backups. You might even need to have a new pipe installed . . . simply to access your old ones! It’s as costly as it is absurd.

But what if there were something like a Roomba for keeping your piping clear? That’s exactly what’s being developed by GE Research as it debuts the Pipe-worm. It’s a long, soft-bodied robot that inches its way through pipes, just like an earthworm—while mapping its way in the dark, just like a cockroach. The tool is being designed for city infrastructure first, but could make its way into houses in the future.

“You could imagine, you put it inside your pipe and you never have to think about it again,” says Deepak Trivedi, a mechanical engineer at GE Research. “Because the robot lives there and takes care of your pipes without you ever worrying about it.”

Blockchain

From burrata to blockchain: How food and NFT are related

March 20, 2022

We find out over ‘glow in the dark dishes’ and sustainable eating

by Purva Grover

There are still a few of us who are wondering what are NFTs? These are non-fungible tokens, a unique digital file that’s stored on a blockchain network. Let’s dig deeper for clarity, shall we? Fungibility is an item that can be replaced by another identical one, and if something is non-fungible there is nothing with the same characteristics that can replace it. And NFTs are the buzzword, globally, and locally of course, with creators of all kinds exploring the ‘it’ thing. Interestingly, now NFT has entered the culinary world too. We find out.

Space Flight

Aerospace startup reveals new modular lunar rover for carrying people and cargo on the Moon

March 19, 2022

The FLEX rover prototype

By Loren Grush

Today, aerospace startup Venturi Astrolab revealed its new interplanetary rover designed to transport cargo and people across the surface of the Moon — and eventually Mars. The company says it plans to build a fleet of these rovers over the coming decade to help NASA and commercial companies establish a long-term presence on the Moon.

Called FLEX, for Flexible Logistics and Exploration, the rover can crouch down and lift payloads up from the surface of the Moon, carrying them under its belly before depositing them at their intended location. With its “modular payload concept,” it can carry many different types of objects, so long as they are built to an agreed-upon standard of size and shape. In keeping with its name FLEX, the rover can maneuver semi-autonomously, be controlled remotely — or it can even be modified to include a crew interface, allowing astronauts to ride on the rover while guiding it through lunar terrain.“WE WANT TO SOLVE THE LOCAL TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM.”

The goal of FLEX and ultimately Astrolab is to capitalize on the world’s renewed push to send people back to the Moon, according to Jaret Matthews, Astrolab’s CEO. Currently, NASA is working to send the first woman and the first person of color to the Moon through the space agency’s Artemis program. And companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing their own landers that will be able to take people to the lunar surface. In the meantime, various commercial companies, like Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, are building robotic lunar landers that will carry cargo to the Moon. Matthews says he hopes that FLEX rovers will be up there by the time those efforts really ramp up.

“Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are solving the long haul transportation problem, and we want to solve the local transportation problem — and ultimately set the standard for lunar logistics,” Matthews tells The Verge.

Driverless vehicles

Autonomous vehicles can lose the steering wheel under new US safety standards

March 19, 2022

General Motors’ autonomous vehicles division sought a review of the safety rules before starting production of its purpose-built driverless pod

By Tom Bateman

Fully autonomous vehicles in the United States will no longer have to be equipped with manual controls like pedals and a steering wheel to meet safety standards.

New passenger safety regulations published on Thursday replace older rules written with the assumption that vehicles would always have to be controlled by a human driver.

In a statement announcing the “first-of-its-kind” safety ruling, the National Highway Transport Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the old wording of vehicle safety standards no longer made sense for vehicles designed to be entirely self-driving.ADVERTISING

“The occupant protection standards are currently written for traditionally designed vehicles and use terms such as “driver’s seat” and “steering wheel,” that are not meaningful to vehicle designs that, for example, lack a steering wheel or other driver controls,” the NHTSA said.

“For vehicles designed to be solely operated by an ADS (Automated Driving System), manually operated driving controls are logically unnecessary,” the agency added.

The rule change comes after US carmaker General Motors and its self-driving technology unit Cruise petitioned the NHTSA last month for permission to build and deploy a self-driving vehicle without human controls.

Big Problems, Science & Technology News

America’s Clutter Problem

March 19, 2022

BY JOSH SANBURN

When the Amazon packages arrive at her door, Dana Harvey experiences one of two feelings: Ecstasy or Nausea. Harvey, 54, is a family therapist in Los Angeles who also practices another kind of therapy–retail.

She readily admits to indulging in those fleeting moments of joy that come from purchasing. But Harvey also realized the moments were piling up all around her. Her 8-ft.-long pine dining table soon disappeared under mountains of clothes, purses and books. She began making excuses about why her house was a wreck. Eventually she stopped having friends over. She was too embarrassed.

Last year, Harvey hired a professional organizer to help her get her things in order and curb her spending. Together, they threw out or donated bags and bags of shoes, scarves, jewelry, hats, appliances, stuffed animals and unused makeup. Some items still had their tags attached. Today, more often than not, Harvey can find a place for the possessions she decided to keep. She often includes “Clear 10 Things” on her daily to-do list. Her home is less cluttered. Her friends stop by more. Her dining table is a table again. But as spring arrives, she still feels the pull of her iPad, the seasonal clothes and deals just waiting for her online.

For middle-class Americans, it’s never been easier to feel consumed by consumption. Despite the recession, despite a brief interlude when savings rates shot up and credit-card debt went down, Americans arguably have more stuff now than any society in history. Children in the U.S. make up 3.1% of the world’s kid population, but U.S. families buy more than 40% of the toys purchased globally. The rise of wholesalers and warehouse supermarkets has packed our pantries and refrigerators with bulk items that often overflow into a second fridge. One-click shopping and same-day delivery have driven purchasing to another level altogether, making conspicuous consumption almost too easy.

Futurati Podcast, Science & Technology News

Ep. 75 with Michael Cushman

March 18, 2022

Watch our interview with Michael Cushman on Youtube or listen on the Futurati Podcast website.

Michael Cushman is the former president of Engaging Change, head of strategy at the Garlic Media Group, and the managing director of the consulting arm of the Da Vinci Institute, as well as a noted expert on the future of education, the future of real estate, and myriad other topics.

Machine Learning

GraphCore releases new 3D chip that speeds AI by 40%

March 18, 2022

The Bow processor has a higher frequency of 1.85 GHz versus 1.35 GHz of its previous version, which came out in 2020.

BY POULOMI CHATTERJEE

UK-based AI computer company GraphCore has announced a new combination chip called Bow, which is the world’s first Wafer-on-Wafer (WoW) processor. GraphCore claims that the processor will speed up processes like deep learning by 40 per cent and use 16 per cent less energy than previous generation processors. GraphCore has partnered closely with TSMC to make the Bow IPU.

This is the latest version of an IPU or Intelligence Processing Unit from GraphCore. The firm had previously released two versions of the IPU. The Bow processor has a higher frequency of 1.85 GHz versus 1.35 GHz of its previous version, which came out in 2020. GraphCore has stated that its superscale Bow Pod 1024 offers up to 350 PetaFLOPS of AI compute. For users who are already on GraphCore systems, the new Bow IPU uses the same software minus any modifications.

Blockchain

China’s blockchain ally joins Federal Reserve’s service provider showcase

March 18, 2022

Cypherium is the only blockchain company featured in the FedNow Service Provider Showcase for now, the CEO told Cointelegraph.

By HELEN PARTZ

The United States Federal Reserve Banks are moving forward with a real-time payment project, the FedNow Service, allowing service providers to present their instant payment solutions, including those based on blockchain technology.

On Tuesday, the Fed officially launched the FedNow Service Provider Showcase, aiming to provide financial institutions and users with a range of services to help them implement FedNow Service, which launches in 2023.

At launch, the showcase includes more than 70 profiles and service providers that support instant payments, including Cypherium, a New York-based blockchain company, focused on instant payment solutions, blockchain interoperability and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The platform is known for being involved in Chinese blockchain projects, including cooperation with Suzhou City Municipal for the city’s development of blockchain Infrastructure.

Other providers in the showcase include services like BNY Mellon Immediate Payments, Mastercard Track Business Payment Service and ePayments.