Impact Lab – Page 320 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

AI

Two clear trends are developing in the automotive space: The first is the move away from internal-combustion engines and toward battery-electric vehicles, and the second is the pursuit of autonomy. Cars that can drive themselves come from the likes of Waymo and other companies, while automakers such as Tesla boast about their driver-assistance features.

One company planning on tinkering at the intersection of these trends is called Lightmatter, which is going to build the brains of a self-driving prototype vehicle. The company’s microchips set them apart from others in the tech industry: The chips that will do the computing for this experimental self-driving car will be light-based, unlike the traditional chips that employ electrons and transistors.

The company, in conjunction with Harvard University and Boston University, has received $4.8 million in funding from a government organization called IARPA. That stands for Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, and can be thought of as an analog of DARPA—which funds defense-related research—but from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Lightmatter, unlike outfits such Zoox or Rivian, is definitely not a car or transportation company, so don’t expect to see Lightmatter-branded vehicles passing you on the highway. It’s a chip company, and the photonic chips they make are specifically geared towards powering artificial intelligence computations in an efficient way.

Driverless vehicles

Outrider releases ‘fully autonomous’ truck parking system

February 20, 2022

BY DAVID EDWARDS

Outrider, a developer of autonomous technology for yard operations at logistics hubs, has released “fully autonomous” trailer backing capabilities to its fleet.

This proprietary technology enables autonomous yard trucks to back trailers into tight spaces with precision and without modifications to trailers.

These capabilities are now available as part of the Outrider System, which automates distribution yards for large, logistics-dependent enterprises.

Andrew Smith, founder and CEO of Outrider, says: “Automation is key to relieving the inflationary pressure on the supply chain.

“Distribution yards are critical links in the supply chain and prime targets for automating the flow of goods between over-the-road transportation and fulfillment centers, warehouses and manufacturing plants.

Electric Automobile, Science & Technology News

Solar-powered car that can ‘drive for months without charging’ to hit roads this summer

February 20, 2022

The five -seater Lightyear One is designed to be an ‘off-the-grid, clean, and convenient mobility solution’(Lightyear)

By Anthony Cuthbertson

Lightyear One costs €150,000 and aims to be on roads by mid-2022.

A solar-powered car has travelled hundreds of kilometres on a single charge, marking a major milestone towards bringing the “world’s most efficient and sustainable” vehicle to the market.

The Lightyear One drove 400km (248 miles) at 130kph before needing to recharge during tests in the Italian town of Aprilia last month. Previous tests carried out at a lower speed saw the electric car travel more than 700km.

Lightyear claims its car will allow customers to “drive for months without charging”, and hopes to deliver the first vehicles to customers by mid 2022.

Reservations for the Lightyear One can already be made through the company’s website, requiring a €150,000 down payment.

“We have achieved an energy consumption of 141-watt hours per kilometre. What this means is that on one charge, you’d be able to drive for over 400km. For example, that ‘s from Amsterdam all the way to Luxembourg,” said Megan Parfitt, vehicle test coordinator at Lightyear.

“Comparing that to other vehicles on the market right now, that’s about one-and-a-half times further than a directly-comparable vehicle can do with the same battery size… It shows we’re well on our way to achieving our target of being the most efficient car on the market, not just in legislative cycles but also in real-world conditions that the customer will experience.”

Military

DARPA Successfully Tests Autonomous Helicopter

February 19, 2022

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has brought the US military one step closer to flying helicopters without a pilot in the cockpit. The agency successfully tested a helicopter equipped with an experimental autonomous flight software this past weekend.

By Adrianna Nine

The test flight, which fell under the agency’s Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS), involved a UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter retrofitted with Sikorsky’s MATRIX technology, a core component of the program. DARPA defines MATRIX as a “tailorable, drop-in, removable kit” that can be added to many pre-existing aircraft without the steep expense of building a new, individualized autonomous system from scratch. Sikorsky (a Lockheed Martin subsidiary) conducted the 30-minute flight over the US Army installation at Fort Campbell, Kentucky on Saturday, with an additional uninhabited flight on Monday for good measure.

DARPA first tested MATRIX in March 2021, though the technology was too new back then to be used without a pilot on board. The flight—which consisted of autonomous take-off, landing and two simulated obstacle avoidance scenarios, all coordinated with a tablet—was a success, with little help needed from the supervising pilot.

Robots

California company zips into Austin with robot food delivery in 15 minutes

February 19, 2022

Coco bites into Texas. Photo courtesy of Coco

By Chantal Rice

Austin’s decades-long transformation into a tech mecca is officially complete.

Sure, we’ve got more than our fair share of tech behemoths — Dell, Tesla, Oracle, WP Engine, Indeed, Google, and Bumble — and a healthy smattering of smaller tech enterprises that further advance the Capital City as the next Silicon Valley.

But the true indicator that a city has become a tech hub is found in its proclivity to not rage against the machine. And that’s precisely what drew the city’s newest robots to Austin.

Coco, the Los Angeles-based business that offers a remotely piloted delivery service, has hit the streets of Austin with its food-delivery bots as part of its expansion to targeted markets. Fueled by a recent funding round that garnered the company $56 million, Coco’s expansion plans also include rolling out bots in the Houston, Dallas, and Miami markets soon.

“When evaluating markets for expansion, Austin stood out to the team as a perfect match,” says Zach Rash, co-founder and CEO of Coco, via a release. “Austin’s entrepreneurial spirit, top-notch food scene, and commitment to supporting small businesses makes it an ideal fit for Coco.”

Here’s how it works: Customers place a restaurant order like usual, then a Coco bot — operated by a “trained pilot” — drives to the restaurant to pick it up. The restaurant staff loads the bot as soon as the food is ready, and Coco arrives at the customer’s door within 15 minutes. Each bot is locked until it reaches the customer, so no one can tamper with your pizza or egg rolls.

3D Printer

The cost of 3D printed houses in 2021

February 19, 2022

by Yusuf Vihaan

3D printed houses bring the benefits of additive manufacturing to the construction space. The material costs incurred by construction 3D printing are usually an order of a magnitude less when compared to conventional methods. This is while we take into account the fact that 3D printing concrete tends to be more expensive than normal construction concrete.

As for labor costs, they drop down basically to the daily wages of at most two or three operators. And that too is for a much shorter length of time as the 3D printed house would be ready for finishing and furnishing in days instead of months.

The cost to build an average sized 3-bedroom house with conventional building methods is from $250,000 to $320,000. Building the same home with 3D printing technology would cost from 20 percent to 40 percent less to build. So that same 3-bedroom house would presumably cost between $140,000 to $240,000 to build with 3D printing technology.

It should be noted at this point, that most construction 3D printers will not build, or 3D print the foundations, nor would the construction 3D printer be of any cost-saving benefit when it comes to roofing the house.

All those things: the roof, the windows, the doors, electrical wiring, paint and finishing – all of these costs remain the same as with a conventional house, as all this fall outside the scope of what a construction 3D printer is capable of.

Medical Breakthrough

AI Nerve-Stimulation Device Allowed Paralysed Patients To Walk And Cycle

February 18, 2022

By Bharat Sharma

A nerve-stimulation device controlled by a touchscreen tablet was recently able to help three completely paralysed patients walk, cycle, and even swim!In a research outlined on Monday, scientists gave a new leash of life of three people who had suffered serious spinal cord injuries that left them paralysed in a region called the “thoracic spine” situated below the neck and above the backMost patients with the nerve-stimulation implant suffered injuries one to nine years before receiving the treatment

A nerve-stimulation device controlled by a touchscreen tablet was recently able to help three completely paralysed patients walk, cycle, and even swim!

In a research outlined on Monday, scientists gave a new leash of life of three people who had suffered serious spinal cord injuries that left them paralysed in a region called the “thoracic spine” situated below the neck and above the back.

Transportation

Ex-SpaceX Engineers Create Self-Driving Trains To Aid Trucker Shortage

February 18, 2022

The Parallel Systems self-driving train prototype looks like its waiting to go for a walk.

By Owen Bellwood

It’s a tough time to be a trucker. If you aren’t caught for days alone on the road, then you’re left with few benefits and low wages. It’s no wonder, then, that the U.S. is currently facing a shortage of long-haul truckers. But now, one firm thinks its self-driving freight trains could be here to save the day. Whether or not it actually works, though, will remain to be seen.

In order to try to combat the shortage of truckers around the world, a group of ex-SpaceX engineers has founded Parallel Systems. The firm is currently developing fleets of small, autonomous trains that could transport freight across the US.

The company has raised $US49.55 ($69) million in funding to develop its swarm of miniature trains. The autonomous crafts travel in pairs to carry shipping containers across the country.

The company says it hopes the autonomous trains will be able to alleviate the strains places on long-haul truckers as its devices can transport large loads between cities or other transit hubs. Once at their final destinations, the loads can be transferred to trucks, where freight drivers will complete the last mile of the journey.

This way, the firm says truck drivers will be able to retain their jobs while working closer to home.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s Starlink Begins To “Reconnect Tonga To The World”

February 18, 2022

BY TYLER DURDEN

After a massive volcanic eruption that severed Tonga’s internet connection to the world, a Fiji official tweeted Monday that a team of SpaceX engineers are in the process of establishing Starlink internet for the devastated island.

Last month, an undersea volcano about 40 miles north of Tonga’s main island unleashed a massive shockwave that severed undersea internet communication lines with nearby Fiji. The volcanic eruption is believed to be the largest in three decades.

Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum tweeted that a SpaceX team has arrived in Fiji and is working to “establish a Starlink Gateway station to reconnect Tonga to the world.”

Space

Firm planning 100,000 satellites claims it will “clean space” by capturing debris

February 17, 2022

E-Space claims its satellites will “capture debris… to prevent further collisions.”

By JON BRODKIN

A company led by satellite-industry veteran Greg Wyler says it plans to launch about 100,000 small communication satellites into low Earth orbit. The company, E-Space, yesterday announced that it received a $50 million investment and that it will launch its first test satellites next month, with “mass production… slated for 2023.”

E-Space said it has “filings in hand for potentially over 100,000 secure communication satellites,” but there are suggestions that the company wants to launch over 300,000 satellites. Prime Movers Lab, which led the $50 million investment round, said that E-Space’s network will have “up to hundreds of thousands of secure communication satellites” and described the devices as “micro-satellites.”

E-Space said its platform will “help governments and large companies build space-based applications in a capital-light manner” for uses “ranging from secure communications to managing remote infrastructure.” E-Space says its satellites will use a peer-to-peer communication model, and the company’s website describes the plan as a “multi-application cloud server in space… powered by E-Space’s rapidly scalable optical 5G mesh network.”

E-Space’s announcement said the $50 million investment fully funds a “‘Beta 1’ launch of its first test satellites in March 2022 as well as its second ‘Beta 2’ launch later this year.” E-Space “is composed of two independent entities” based in France and the US. Wyler, E-Space’s founder and chairman, previously founded OneWeb and O3b Networks. OneWeb exited bankruptcy in November 2020 and is launching broadband satellites, but Wyler is no longer involved with the company.

AI

PUBG CREATORS TO BUILD AI-POWERED VIRTUAL HUMANS

February 17, 2022

Krafton CEO CH Kim has said the company will actively leverage new technologies to offer unique experiences to gamers and creators.

Krafton, creator of PUBG Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India, said it will leverage hyperrealism character production technology to create digital avatars of humans and also tap AI, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and voice-to-face to improve their communication skills

South Korean gaming company Krafton, known for games such as PUBG Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India, has jumped on to the Metaverse bandwagon with a virtual human modelling business, which will focus on building realistic virtual avatars that will be used inside games, eSports and as virtual influencers and singers.

Krafton said it will leverage hyperrealism character production technology to create digital avatars of humans and also tap into artificial intelligence (AI), text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and voice-to-face to improve their communication skills.

Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

‘Game-changing’ tech can extract 99% of carbon dioxide directly from the air

February 17, 2022

The fuel cell could be a ‘game changer’, researchers believe.

By Rob Waugh

A new system powered by hydrogen can capture 99% of carbon dioxide (CO2) from air, according to scientists.

Researchers at University of Delaware said the breakthrough, in a device the size of a soft drink can, could be a “significant advance” for CO2 capture.

It could also lead to more efficient fuel cells for use in cars.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the new technologies that scientists hope will play an important role in tackling the climate crisis.

It involves the capture of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels in power generation, which is then stored underground.

The Delaware research team, led by Professor Yushan Yan, reported its method in Nature Energy.

Fuel cells work by converting fuel chemical energy directly into electricity and are used in hybrid or zero-emission vehicles.