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CES 2021, Science & Technology News

At CES 2021, baby tech keeps booming

January 24, 2021

The Cradlewise smart crib senses when your baby is waking up early, and rocks them back to sleep.Cradlewise

This story is part of CES, where our editors will bring you the latest news and the hottest gadgets of the entirely virtual CES 2021.

As a pregnant woman, I went into CES 2021 eager to see technology that could make the childbearing experience easier. I want data to help predict if things have a chance of going wrong, I want surveillance of the health of my pregnancy, and I want all the technology possible to make raising a newborn easier.

Luckily for me and all other expecting couples out there, pregnancy and women’s health is gaining traction in the technology field. Baby tech has been gracing the halls of CES for a few years now, including things like breast pumps, baby monitors connected to your phone, smart thermometers and tags that track how many words are spoken to a baby.

This year, there were a few extra things as tech improves across pregnancy and during birth, as well as a few updates to much-loved devices like breast pumps.

2021 Predictions, Science & Technology News

Ten Trends That Will Impact Private Wealth And Family Offices In 2021

January 23, 2021

By Francois Botha

Private wealth and family office trend forecasting is a complex and fascinating discipline that provokes interesting and often intense discussion. To identify trends, forecasters must differentiate between change catalysts and reactionary events, analyze the impact these will have on various industries, sectors and society at large, and interpret how to prepare.

In the age of acceleration and this increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) era, strategic foresight and futurism provide a rigorous, structured methodology that affords private wealth owners and family offices a better understanding of the possible, plausible and probable futures. This strengthens their capacity to be resilient, minimize risk and leverage opportunity.

The third annual Simple Family Office & Private Wealth trend review, led by foresight experts Nicolas Arroyo and Rune Toldam, explores the ten most influential trends on the private wealth space – from the increasing distrust of ‘big tech’ to the rise of political geographies. These are the key outtakes for 2021:

Robotics, Science & Technology News

RoboEatz Shows Off Ark 03 Autonomous Robotic Meal Making Kiosk

January 23, 2021

By Chris Albrecht

It’s pretty remarkable to think of how much food robots have evolved over the three years I’ve been covering them. At the start of that time period, we had Flippy the robotic arm that could grill up burgers, and even that required human help. Fast forward to 2021, and RoboEatz is showing off its fully autonomous robotic meal-preparation system that can put together 1,000 meals on its own before a human is needed to refill its ingredients.

RoboEatz Ark 03 is a 200 sq. ft. standalone kiosk featuring an articulating arm, 110 fresh ingredients (30 of which are liquids like soups and salad dressings), an induction cooker and a number of cubbies that hold orders for pickup. After an order is placed (via mobile app or tablet), the robot arm grabs ingredients, places them in the rotating induction cooker, and puts the finished meal container in a cubby. You can see it in action in this video:

Science & Technology News, Virtual Reality

Facebook has VR plans for your virtual office, with smartglasses coming soon

January 23, 2021

By Scott Stein

Facebook’s Quest 2 is already a successful game system. It’s aiming for more.

Facebook Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth discusses why identity in Oculus is so Facebook-centric, how that will change, and when to expect neural input tech. (Spoiler alert: Not this year.)

After a 2020 that went entirely virtual for many people, once-fantastic concepts like VR headsets and remote chat screens (including Facebook Portal) no longer seem so strange. In many ways, Facebook’s product lineup ended up being prophetic for the times we now live in.

Last fall, Facebook launched its impressive Quest 2 VR headset. So, in 2021, what comes next? The company plans to release its first smartglasses this year, in a partnership with glasses-maker Luxottica. But those won’t be the advanced reality-blending glasses you might be expecting.

Science & Technology News

Scientists Create Swarm of Synchronized Fish-Like Robots

January 22, 2021

Enormous schools of fish are amongst the most jaw-dropping sights in the natural world, with thousands of tiny fish synchronizing their behavior and movement to find food, migrate, and escape predators.

A team of researchers from Harvard University has mimicked this pattern of behavior with a robotic swarm, dubbed Blueswarm, that synchronizes its movement without external control. Their research is published in Science Robotics.

drones, Science & Technology News

Drones could help create a quantum internet

January 22, 2021

A fleet of drones could create a quantum network by transmitting quantum particles among the fleet’s formation and relaying the particles to ground stations at various locations within a city (illustrated).XIAO-HUI TIAN, HUA-YING LIU AND ZHENDA XIE

By Emily Conover

The quantum internet may be coming to you via drone.

Scientists have now used drones to transmit particles of light, or photons, that share the quantum linkage called entanglement. The photons were sent to two locations a kilometer apart, researchers from Nanjing University in China report in a study to appear in Physical Review Letters.

Entangled quantum particles can retain their interconnected properties even when separated by long distances. Such counterintuitive behavior can be harnessed to allow new types of communication. Eventually, scientists aim to build a global quantum internet that relies on transmitting quantum particles to enable ultrasecure communications by using the particles to create secret codes to encrypt messages. A quantum internet could also allow distant quantum computers to work together, or perform experiments that test the limits of quantum physics.

Science & Technology News

Now In China, Smart Roads That Talk To Driverless Cars

January 22, 2021

Shenzhen-based Huawei, with its main network business facing global pressure after the U.S. designated it a threat to national security, is targeting new growth areas such as transport.

Huawei is running a pilot project for autonomous vehicle road networks in China.

On a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) road in the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province, a self-driving bus travels back and forth, making stops, swerving past obstacles, accelerating and decelerating, based on information it constantly receives from its surroundings. Embedded in the road, traffic lights, street signs and other infrastructure are sensors, cameras and radars that talk with the vehicle.

The site, used by telecom-equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co. and partners, is part of China’s first national project for intelligent and connected vehicles. The country wants to make traffic smoother and safer, while ensuring local champions like Huawei benefit from the enormous opportunity of supplying the infrastructure.

“Autonomous driving is an irresistible trend, but any isolated vehicle alone can’t nail it,” Jiang Wangcheng, a president at Huawei’s information and communications technology business, said in an interview. “The only solution is to get more information from the roads.”

CES 2021, Science & Technology News

Best products from CES 2021

January 21, 2021

By KATIE RESEBURG

The Consumer Electronics Show was fully virtual this year, and while we’d rather get our hands on physical products, we’re excited about what we saw in online demos, presentations, and the expo “floors.” Some of the biggest names in tech made big announcements about their recent innovations and what they have in store this year for consumers like you.

We’ve selected 10 products that we think will change your life for the better when they’re released later this year (if they’re not out already). Here are the stand-outs we awarded Best of CES 2021.

CES 2021, Science & Technology News

Toto expands touchless bathroom tech and debuts a health-analyzing toilet at CES 2021

January 21, 2021

Toto is working on a wellness toilet that analyzes human skin and waste with each use.

If you’re on the fence about adding fiber-rich bran flakes to your diet, let your toilet make the call with one look at your poop.

The Toto Wellness Toilet is a concept that analyzes your waste.TotoThis story is part of CES, where our editors will bring you the latest news and the hottest gadgets of the entirely virtual CES 2021.

Toto is a staple in the bathroom fixture market, and this year at CES the company highlighted new models of touchless technology, as well as the concept of a wellness toilet that analyzes your, ahem, output.

Electric Vehicles, Science & Technology News

GM’s BrightDrop is building an EV ‘ecosystem’ for delivery companies

January 21, 2021

By Nick Summers

The company is starting with an electric van and pallet.

GM wants a piece of the battery-powered logistics market. The company, which owns Chrysler and Cadillac, has announced a new business unit today called BrightDrop. It’s starting with two vehicles, the first of which is an electric van that can drive up to 250 miles on a single charge. It’s called the EV600 and has up to 600 cubic feet of space inside, or an estimated 2,200 lbs of payload capacity. The all-wheel-drive vehicle is also fitted with a security system in the cargo area, an auto-locking door and motion-activated interior lighting. On the road, drivers will benefit from automatic emergency breaking and parking assistance, among other features.

Before the EV600 hits the road, BrightDrop will be launching a smaller vehicle called the EP1. It’s a pallet — the kind of trolley that’s often found in stores and warehouses — with an electric motor that makes it easier to move heavy objects around. The included container offers 23 cubic feet of space, or a total payload up to 200 pounds. According to GM, the doors are lockable and there’s a modular shelving system inside so that workers can easily organize goods. The hope is that delivery drivers will use them to shuffle cumbersome items between their van and customers’ front doors.

These two are the first in a BrightDrop “ecosystem” that will include both vehicles and software. The company will provide customers with a cloud-based platform, for instance, that can be used to monitor their operations and improve their fleet’s efficiency. The EP1 will also offer location tracking and battery status, remote locking and unlocking, and other features via over-the-air updates. The EV600, meanwhile, will have location tracking, remote battery and charging management, incident recording, and more. Like the EP1, it will also benefit from over-the-air updates.

Automobiles, Science & Technology News

Mercedes-Benz integrates its front-of-car technology into one single AI screen

January 21, 2021

BY: IRMA VENTER

From a manual radio, to a single in-car touch screen, to a large, easy to operate, curved 141-cm screen that reaches from one side of the car to the other. Also add to this the fact that the system is willing to learn through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

This is the evolution of the in-car information and entertainment system, incorporating the instrument panel, traditional centre screen, and a new added screen for the front passenger, into one continuous digital screen.

The Mercedes-Benz’s MBUX Hyperscreen is set to make its debut in the new EQS electric vehicle, set to launch later this year in selected global markets.

“With our MBUX Hyperscreen a design vision becomes reality,” says Daimler group chief design officer Gorden Wagener. “We merge technology with design in a fascinating way that offers the customer unprecedented ease of use.”

Automobiles, Science & Technology News

Indy has selected the AI-powered cars for its autonomous challenge race

January 20, 2021

By Mariella Moon

Indy-has-selected-AI-powered-cars-autonomous — It’s the first autonomous vehicle race to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Indy Autonomous Challenge has revealed the vehicle participating universities will have to program and race in October 2021: the Dallara IL-15 racecar. IAC has made the announcement during its press conference for CES 2021, where it also hosted discussions about the commercialization of autonomous vehicles and technology in motorsports. The competition, which has a $1.5 million prize purse, challenges universities to build AI algorithms that can power an IL-15 that has been fitted with hardware and controls that enable automation.

Back in 2020, IAC announced that 37 universities from 11 countries registered to compete, with teams being composed of members with varying expertise. There are undergraduate and graduate student participants, as well as faculty and industry experts in AI, machine learning and robotics. To win, their AI-powered car must be able to beat all other participants in a 20-lap race around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. The winning team will get $1 million, while the rest of the purse will go to the hackathon and simulation race winners before the main event in October.