20 most recent innovations in technologies

LED Emits and Detects Light

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 00:00:00 Z

An innovative new LED able to both emit and detect light could open the door to contact-free phones powered by ambient light.

The team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created the LED from nanorods made up of three different kinds of semiconductor materials: one that emits and absorbs light, and two that control the electron flow. The LEDs can shift from absorbing light to detecting light three times faster than the standard LED refresh rate, which causes the display to appear as if it is always on, even as it performs different functions.

Training Tech Lets Competitive Swimmers Hear Water Pressure

Wed, 10 Aug 2016 00:00:00 Z

Swimming has been an Olympic sport for 120 years, and nowadays it's the competitors with the best technique that manage to beat the rest of the field and walk away with the medals. Now, researchers at Bielefeld University in Germany have developed technology that could provide athletes with an edge in training, converting pressure data into live audio, allowing the swimmer to perfect their technique in real time.

The idea of the new system is to enhance the athlete's perception of the water that surrounds them. Swimmers can already see the way that their hands and body move through the water, and they can feel the way it glides over them. Bielefeld's "Swimming Sonification" system takes things to the next level, recording flow pressure and converting it into audio feedback.

It consists of a pair of specialized gloves, which include a number of thin tubes placed between the fingers. Water passes through the tubes as the swimmer moves through the water, measuring water flow pressure. That data is then fed to specially-designed software that translates the information into sound, which the athlete then hears in real-time through headphones.

Smart Glove Turns Sign Language Into Text And Speech

Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:00:00 Z

Sign language has helped the hearing-impaired communicate for many centuries, way before it was formalised and officially recognised, but this long-standing language of gestures has now been given a 21st-century technological upgrade. Saudi designer and media artist Hadeel Ayoub has invented a smart glove that recognises hand movements and converts them into the relevant text.

Much like Google Translate can give anyone a basic grasp of a foreign language in an instant, this glove is designed to help sign language users make themselves understood by those who can't usually interpret it.

Five flex sensors sit on the fingers, monitoring how they're being manipulated, while an accelerometer integrated into the fabric of the glove figures out how the hand is being held and the direction in which it's pointing. Through three successive prototypes, the glove has been made thinner, lighter, and faster, and the latest version includes a text-to-speech chip to vocalise the words as they're signed.

Ayoub has also created a computer application for displaying the signed words and phrases on a small screen. Eventually, she wants to create a mobile app so the same effect can be seen on a smartphone or tablet, and once Wi-Fi is incorporated - scheduled for the next prototype - the glove could also be used to send texts and emails. The addition of a motion controller in the fourth version of the glove should add to its accuracy too.

"I had one mission when I started this project and it was to facilitate communication between all kinds of disabilities, eliminating barriers between people who have a visual, hearing, or speech impairment," explains Ayoub in a press release. "The prototypes each have a new additional feature, an LED light, and a speaker for example, that took me one step closer to my goal. Once I've incorporated Wi-Fi and translation features into it the glove will be useful for all - no exclusions as to who the user can reach, wherever, whoever, from any country at any time."

While other researchers have worked on similar projects in the past, Ayoub says her invention is the lightest and most practical yet. She also has plans for a version for kids and wants to incorporate multilingual capabilities into the device so that speakers of sign language are able to communicate in whatever tongue they choose.

The fourth prototype is expected to cost in the region of £255 (US$386) and Ayoub has already been approached by several companies interested in manufacturing it. She's hoping that the costs are eventually picked up by schools and companies buying the gloves for their students and staff. You can keep up to date with the project at Hadeel Ayoub's own blog.

New Filter Boosts Low Light Performance

Tue, 03 Nov 2015 00:00:00 Z

The low-light photographic performance of smartphones could soon get a significant boost, thanks to the development of a new type of color filter. Created by an engineer at the University of Utah, the new filter is said to let in three times more light than conventional filters, resulting in brighter and sharper images with better color reproduction.

Most digital cameras, with exceptions such as the Fujifilm X-Trans and Sigma Foveon cameras, use a Bayer filter to help capture color information. These filters sit over the image sensor and filter light into a mosaic pattern of red, blue and green on a pixel level, before "demosaicing” it into a final image with full color information. However, this absorptive color-filter array is said to be inefficient, as it prevents 50 to 70 percent of light from ever reaching the sensor.

As such, we’ve recently seen developments like Panasonic's Micro Color Splitter which aim to address the problem and get more light to the image sensor. The latest development comes from Computer Engineering professor Rajesh Menon of the University of Utah, who has created a new transparent diffractive-filter array, which lets in three times more light than its Bayer alternatives.

The new transparent filter measures just a micron thick (100 times thinner than a human hair) and consists of a wafer of glass with precisely-designed microscopic ridges etched on one side. This bends the light in certain ways as it passes, and creates a series of at least 25 new codes or color patterns which are, in turn, read by software.

Because three times more light reaches the sensor, and the filter is producing more color information (25 or more codes compared to the traditional red, green or blue) this is said to result in brighter images with more accurate color representation, and virtually no digital grain.

While the filter could be used for any kind of digital camera, Menon is developing it specifically for smartphone cameras where low-light performance is a big issue. He thinks the first commercial products to use this new filter could be out within the next three years. He also sees industrial applications such as for robots, security cameras and drones. For example, this type of filter could allow self-driving cars to better decipher objects on the road at night.

Steering Wheel Detects Drowsiness

Tue, 14 Jul 2015 00:00:00 Z

We've already seen systems that detect driver fatigue via steering wheel movements or by analyzing drivers' faces. German engineering firm Hoffman and Krippner, in cooperation with Guttersberg Consulting, has now developed what its designers believe is a better alternative – a fatigue-sensing steering wheel add-on that tracks the driver's grip.

The technology is based on the fact that when people drive and are reasonably alert, they're constantly applying pressure to the wheel and/or moving their hands along it. If someone should fall asleep, have a heart attack or otherwise lose consciousness, that pressure will lessen and their hands will move less.

The actual device consists of a thin strip of sensors developed by Guttersberg Consulting that is applied to the inside rim of a manufacturer's existing steering wheel, beneath the leather (or other) covering. That "Sensofoil" strip is made up of thin layers of foil, that have a weak electrical current running through them.

When pressure is applied and causes the layers to touch one another, it creates a short circuit between those layers, much in the same way that a resistive touchscreen works. A microprocessor keeps track of the intensity, frequency and location of those shorts, and uses it to establish a typical driving pattern for the user. When they deviate from it significantly, the car will then alert them to wake up and pull over.

Additionally, the system could be programmed to feature up to 10 "hot spots" on the wheel, which the driver could touch to activate features such as entertainment or communications controls.

According to the company, its resistive technology is superior to capacitive systems being developed by other groups in that it's less sensitive to factors such as dirt, sweat and temperature changes; it works even when the driver is wearing gloves; it detects pressure changes incrementally, as opposed to just all or nothing; and, it can register those changes more quickly.

It might be some time before you see it in your car, however. A rep tells us that commercialization is still "years away," and that it will then likely first appear in luxury vehicles before trickling down to lower-priced cars.

Spine-Inspired Hinge

Mon, 11 May 2015 00:00:00 Z

Modeled after the human spine, the revolutionary eyeglasses hinge from Spine Optics holds eyeglasses securely in place with a gentle spring tension.

Instead of rotating on a screw, the hinge is made up of a series of segments connected to a pair of springs. The new arrangement takes the stress off the hinge area while creating a gentle tension that “clamps” the glasses to the head for a snug fit, which also allows a single frame to fit different-sized heads.

Pinched Power Cables As Remote Controls

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 00:00:00 Z

In the wireless-powered society of today, cables and wires are thrown out the window whenever possible. An overhaul of what a cord can do might save it from turning obsolete. MIT’s Media Lab, through Cord UI, is discovering other ways to utilize the trusty cable.

The first of the five prototypes is a standard study lamp that substitutes the dimmer knob with a knot on the cord. As the knot is tightened embedded sensors and a micro-controller dims the light. In another prototype, a standard office clip clamping on the Macbook charger wire was able to send the computer to sleep. The charger cable, infused with pressure-sensitive sensors, sends a pulse when pinched to put the computer to sleep.

The headphones use special external woven fibers that detect both touch and pressure. When the cord is pinched, it triggers the pause/resume functionality of the iPhone’s 3.5mm jack. By using resistors that detect ground and human touch, pinches from cord stress will not trigger a response.

A kink-sensitive cord also acts as the kill switch for the power strip. By kinking the cord with hands or feet, the power is automatically cutoff. The last of the five prototypes is a hard drive cable. A tug on the cord will send requests to the computer for safe device ejection eliminating the often forgotten ritual of right-clicking before pulling out the USB plug.

The cord has always been seen as a means of transporting data or power but with limited use for control. MIT Media Lab’s Cord UI projects opens up a new world of interface with water pipe metaphors for power and data transfer that can make everyday tasks easier.

System That Projects Materials Onto Furniture

Mon, 24 Nov 2014 00:00:00 Z

One of the frustrating elements of furniture buying is getting just the right fabric and material combination you want. Or maybe you don’t really know what you want but beige isn’t it. Typically, a salesperson or design assistant presents a giant bundle of fabric swatches usually each the size of a napkin and commences scattering them across the piece you are interested in. This is supposed to enable you to imagine how that 4″x4″ swatch of lime green will look covering an 8′ long couch. Maybe great, maybe a mistake you’ll live with for a long time.

Luxury furniture brand Ligne Roset has partnered with a tech startup Vizera Labs to devise a system to visualize numerous fabric and material options on actual pieces of furniture without stocking all the products on a showroom floor. PSFK received a demo of the system recently at a Ligne Roset showroom in NYC which aims to make customizing furniture a less risky and stressful process for customers.

Vizera Labs started by digitizing all of Ligne Roset’s upholstery and finish options individually along with 3D scans of each of their furniture pieces. An infrared sensor detects a piece of Ligne Roset furniture constructs a real time digital 3D model based on the prior scan. The fabric and material options are then mapped to this model and projected on the “furniture in white” piece. The advantage of the system is that the furniture piece can be moved or turned and the computer will regenerate a new projection to fit the new orientation.

Automatic Shifting System For Bikes

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 00:00:00 Z

BioShift is an automatic shifting system, that could mean you never need to think about gear selection again. It's a product of US research and development by Baron BioSystems and works together with Shimano’s existing Di2 electronic components.

So how does Bioshift work? Firstly, rider-specific parameters and details on the bike's transmission are first programmed into the handlebar-mounted unit. Then data pulled from speed and cadence sensors and a hub-based power meter is processed through an algorithm to determine optimum gear choice.

Bioshift is also programmed to avoid ratios that result in an extreme chainline and has the ability to restrict certain actions, for example the front derailleur will not shift in a high-torque climbing scenario.

Transparent Self-Sensing Deformable Surface

Wed, 08 Oct 2014 00:00:00 Z

Microsoft's research division is showing off an amazing thin transparent film called FlexSense that can sense deformations and allow us to interact with tablets and eReaders in fascinating new ways.

Relying on thin sensors printed directly onto the plastic's surface, the shape, movement, and deformation of the film can be detected and translated to software without the need for cameras or any kind of external tracking.

Microsoft's researchers envision the FlexSense film being used alongside existing apps for new methods of interaction. For example, when photo-editing on a tablet, peeling back the film could automatically remove the effects of a filter, revealing the original image. And for hand-drawn animation the film could be used as a digital version of onion skin, letting an animator trace an image underneath, and easily flip back and forth between frames. It even has the potential to make ebooks feel more like traditional printed tomes, letting readers physically flip back and forth between pages of a magazine, making the transition from print to digital a little less jarring.

Tray That Thaws Frozen Foods Faster

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 00:00:00 Z

Defrost frozen meats in a fraction of the time—and without hot water or electricity—with the ThawTHAT! II defrosting tray.

The ThawTHAT! II is made of anodized aluminum and features an "energy reservoir" equipped with heat-pipes and a bio-safe thermo liquid. The liquid actively draws the cold away from any item placed on the surface of the tray, drastically reducing the thawing time. The ThawTHAT! II is also designed with a gently concave surface that allows liquids to flow into the built-in drip catcher.

In tests, the ThatTHAT!II proved able to thaw a 9 oz. steak in just 13 minutes (compared to 28 minutes on the kitchen counter top).

Shrink-Wrapped BioSuit

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 00:00:00 Z

In space, astronauts typically wear oversized, pressurized suits. We’ve all seen them, and if you’re like me, you wonder how those people get anything done up there. The suits — from the head gear to the gloves — are bulky and cumbersome.

But a team of researchers from MIT are working toward the future, where astronauts wear lightweight, skintight suits that give them much greater freedoms of mobility.

Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, and her colleagues have engineered a “second-skin” BioSuit that employs springlike coils to produce active compression. The coils are made from a nickel-titanium shape-memory alloy that can be twisted or bent in one direction and then returned to its original shape when it’s heated.

In the case of the BioSuit, Newman and her colleagues embedded the coils into the fabric of compression cuffs. When they applied an electrical current to heat up the alloy, the coils contracted.

“With conventional spacesuits, you’re essentially in a balloon of gas that’s providing you with the necessary one-third of an atmosphere [of pressure,] to keep you alive in the vacuum of space,” Newman said in a statement for MIT News. “We want to achieve that same pressurization, but through mechanical counterpressure — applying the pressure directly to the skin, thus avoiding the gas pressure altogether. We combine passive elastics with active materials.”

The material relaxes when cooled, making it easy for the astronaut to remove the skin-tight suit.

One of next challenges to tackle is to figure out how to keep the coils in their contracted state. Maintaining the electrical current could cause too much heat over long periods of time and overheat an astronaut. A better solution, and one the team is exploring, could be some kind of locking mechanism that keeps the coils from loosening.

Newman said that the suits are not only made for space. But could also be used in athletic wear or military uniforms.

Phone With A Curved Edge Display

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 00:00:00 Z

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge is essentially a Galaxy Note 4 with a special curved display on the edge of the phone. The Edge display works entirely independently of the regular screen, while at the same time offering contextual controls based on whatever app you’re using.

For instance, if you’re in the camera app, the camera’s controls will appear on the Edge display. If you’re using the S Note app, controls for drawing, text, etc. will show up on the Edge display. If you have music playing, controls for seek, volume, and pause/play will show up there.

However, if you’re simply just using the phone like normal, the Edge display will show a list of your favorite apps. The tray of apps is totally customizable via the settings icon on the bottom of the Edge display.

The Edge display (Super AMOLED) is independently scrollable, and gives you options to see a ticker for sports, stock quotes, weather, and more. At night, users can have the phone display off and turn on an “Alarm Clock” mode that shows the time on the edge display only, mimicking a table-side alarm clock.

Chairless Chair

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 Z

If you work somewhere such as a factory, warehouse, or restaurant kitchen, then you'll know how tiring it can be to stand for several hours at a time. Unfortunately, however, it isn't always practical or safe to carry a stool around with you wherever you go. That's why Swiss start-up noonee has created the Chairless Chair. Worn as an exoskeleton on the back of the legs, it lets you walk or even run as needed, but can be locked into a supporting structure when you go into a sitting position.

Company CEO Keith Gunura started developing the Chairless Chair in 2009, when he was a student in the Bioinspired Robotics Lab at the ETH Zurich research institute. He was inspired to do so by memories of his first job, in which he worked while standing at a packaging line.

Now in prototype form and being actively marketed, the device utilizes a powered variable damper to support the wearer's body weight. The user simply bends their knees to get themselves down to the level at which they'd like to sit, and then engages the damper. The Chairless Chair then locks into that configuration, directing their weight down to the heels of their shoes, to which it is attached – it also attaches to the thighs via straps, and to the waist using a belt.

Transparent Solar Panel

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 Z

A team of researchers from Michigan State University has developed a completely transparent, luminescent solar concentrator. Whereas most traditional solar panels collect light energy from the sun using dark silicon cells and converted into electricity using the photovoltaic effect, solar concentrators actually focus sunlight onto a heat engine that produces electricity. In the case of this new technology, the plastic-like material channels specific wavelengths of sunlight towards the photovoltaic solar cells on the edge of the panel. "Because the materials do not absorb or emit light in the visible spectrum, they look exceptionally transparent to the human eye," Richard Lunt, who led the research, explains in a release.

Scientists have created partially transparent solar cells in the past, but the existence of crystal clear cells opens up some very exciting new possibilities. "It can be used on tall buildings with lots of windows or any kind of mobile device that demands high aesthetic quality like a phone or e-reader," says Lunt. "Ultimately we want to make solar harvesting surfaces that you do not even know are there."

Origami Solar Panels

Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:00:00 Z

Brian Trease, a mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is working with researchers at Brigham Young University to construct a solar array that uses origami principles for deployment.

Such devices could one day beam power down to Earth—and folding them into a small size could minimize launch and assembly costs. The researchers are intent on building an array that is 8.9 feet in diameter when folded and 82 feet across when unfolded. The 1/20th scale prototype in the video expands to a deployed diameter of 4.1 feet.

Automatic Vision-Correcting Displays

Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:00:00 Z

MIT’s research department working with the University of California at Berkeley has created digital display tech that can automatically compensate for vision problems, eliminating the need for glasses or contacts for specific uses like reading or viewing GPS navigation devices for far-sighted folks, among other potential uses.

The new display tech is actually a variation on glasses-free 3D, which works not by displaying different images to both the left and right eyes, but by sending slightly different images to different parts of each pupil, simulating an image that appears right where their sweet spot is in terms of focal distance. While the tech does mean a slight reduction in image resolution, it isn’t all that dramatic, though the use of a screen with pinholes designed to block light from hitting specific pats of the pupil mean that brightness is drastically reduced. Still, a viable solution to this problem already exists and could be implemented in commercial versions.

As for how this tech might be used, the MIT team that developed it images solutions for age-related vision loss, which generally takes the form of farsightedness – that means that if you can see far but can’t read up close, you could use a GPS unit with this kind of screen to avoid having to wear bifocals or varifocals, which come with their own downsides in terms of their effect on the wearer.

Signs That Ensure You Always Get A Seat On The Train

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 00:00:00 Z

Getting on a train always involves a certain amount of guesswork. You don't know where the train will stop on the platform or where you should stand to get a seat. One car might be full, another nearly empty. Inevitably, you're stuck boarding the former (or running madly for the latter).

In the Netherlands, a new system designed to reduce shuffling on the platform tells riders exactly where to stand to get an open seat. It's a 590-foot-long LED screen that hangs above the train platform and uses intuitive color-coding and symbols to show exactly where to stand to make boarding easier once the train arrives.

Long, illuminated blocks of blue span the length of each car, marking the space where the cars will pull in (and where the gaps between cars will be). Using information from infrared sensors in the train doors, the sign notes where seats are available--a block of green means that part of the train is empty, orange means semi-crowded, and red means that section is full. A white block with a perpendicular arrow indicates where the door will be once the train stops. Large numbers reveal whether each car is for first or second class, and symbols near the door signs--like a man with his finger to his lips--show where to stand for the quiet car, where you can board with a bike and which entrances are handicap-accessible.

A four-month pilot test in 2013 using the system in the Den Bosch railway station in the southern Netherlands proved successful in improving customer satisfaction, according to Dutch Railways. "We saw the people behave just as we wish they do," Holthius says. "They waited in line at the place they could expect the doors. There was almost no movement on the platform." The only complaint about the service was that it wasn't implemented in more stations, he says.

Curiously, the designers found that an app, which conveyed the same information, was not received as well. Looking at your phone is not always the best way to navigate through physical space. (Who hasn't managed to walk the wrong way even while staring intently at Google Maps?) Standing in front of a sign--something in the real world--feels more natural.

Now, NS and ProRail are working to implement the system in more stations, though it may take a few years. The first step will be installing the infrared counting system in all trains. Then, Holthius estimates that LED screens--a total length of around 50 kilometers (about 30 miles)--will need to be installed in stations. In the meantime, other European countries have reached out about potentially implementing the system elsewhere. "I think it’s a universal problem," Holthius says.

Ring To Help Visually Impaired Read In Real-Time

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 00:00:00 Z

Our age-old instinct to point at things we'd like to know more about has inspired a device that assists the visually impaired consume written text. FingerReader is a 3D-printed device that is worn as a ring on the index finger and uses a built-in camera and haptic actuators to read aloud as the user traces lines of printed words.

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab were looking to develop a device to help the visually impaired read text, but that felt more natural than other solutions on the market. Read pens, scanners and apps similarly assist the blind by processing slabs of text, though in the eyes of the MIT team, could be improved upon in terms of user experience.

Aside from combining real-time audio feedback with the tactile, natural feel of running a finger-tip along a line of printed text, FingerReader is designed to make the experience closer to the physical act of reading. The algorithm scans multiple words at once and is then able to guide the user, making sure they don't veer off the line of text. The team also claims the ring starts working almost immediately, while other solutions can take several minutes to detect the words depending on changes in lighting and environment.

The researchers say that the potential of FingerReader is not limited to assisting the visually impaired. They also tout its potential in helping to pronounce words in other languages and teaching young children how to read. As for translating other languages in real time, the team sees no reason the ring couldn't rival smart phone apps currently serving the same purpose, though it hasn't implemented these functions just yet.

Smarter Automatic Doors Let You Run Through Them

Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:00:00 Z

The automatic sliding doors that we're familiar with from Star Trek are way smarter than the automatic sliding doors that we're familiar with from real life. In Star Trek, doors seem to know when characters want to go through them, and they never open by accident when someone is just walking by. Also, they manage to never be in the way when a character is running towards them at full speed (you try this at the mall and see what happens). Is it really too much to expect for automatic doors to have this sort of intelligence? It's not like we're asking for a Transporter. Now robotics researchers have (finally) made it happen.

There are two major improvements taking place here. First, the door is opened only for people who intend to use it. And second, the speed, width, and timing of the door opening is determined based on observations of the positions, speed, and number of people who are walking. The door estimates when you'll arrive at it, and times its opening such that it will have just finished opening itself as you get there. If you're in a hurry, the door cranks up its opening speed to make sure it gets out of your way in time. It also opens wider to admit more people at once when it has to. The door won't be able to tell whether to keep itself closed if you pause directly before it for dramatic effect, but otherwise, it's about as smart as a Star Trek door is.

The secret to this intelligence is no secret: the door has a fancy custom sensor (a 3D time-of-flight laser scanner) coupled with algorithms that can detect people, track their motion, and make educated guesses about whether or not they're aiming for the door. Somewhat unusually for a research paper like this, there is some serious consideration of practicalities, too. The sensor is designed to function in places with ambient light ranging from direct sunlight to total darkness (between 0 and 200,000 lx), and software can compensate for snow, rain, water on the sensor itself, and interference from other nearby sensors.

This fancier sensor comes at an additional cost than a conventional automatic door sensor. The researchers say that the custom sensor that they developed might add about $1,000 to the cost of a door, which sounds like a lot. However, the cost of hardware like this is something that tends to reduce itself dramatically year over year, so we'd like to think that we'd be able to experience smart doors like this without having to live long enough to see the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise.