Category: Innovation

Wearable Electronic Tattoos

October 14, 2020 /

Wearable electronic tattoos that can sense electrophysiological signals like heart rate and brain activity or monitor hydration and glucose levels from sweat are under development. They can even be used for controlling mobile devices, for example shuffling a music playlist at the touch of a tattoo, or for luminescent body art that lights up the skin.

The professor in the TedTalk above has created and tested a tattoo that uses UV radiation sensors, so it can change colour when your sun lotion needs replacing.

These tattoos are not as permanent as normal tattoos and not as ‘comfartable’, but neither is electronics placed under your skin which are being developed by biohackers.

Some more on this story over at FastCompany

Samsung to produce and transparent phone

September 21, 2020 /

Samsung are reported to be creating a fully transparent phone.
The patent was filed in January this year, the details of
the technology are available and it can also be used for TVs,
monitors, laptops, and so on.

“This display, in specific, is equipped with a transparent luminous display panel, through which light can shine. Therefore, the content can be displayed on it, and yet the light goes through it.

This display can be both flat and flexible, while a rollable display can also be created out of it, it seems. Patent sketches basically showed a modern-looking smartphone, which Letsgodigital recreated in the provided renders.”
Quote from Android Headlines

Remote Robot Shelve Stackers

September 15, 2020 /
A Japanese supermarket chain is testing remote working,
but in a new way via remote controlled robots.
Family Mart is working with Telexistence a Japanese robotics firm,
The Model-T is remote controlled by a human equipped
with a VR set using their “Augmented Workforce Platform.”

The Robot’s main function with the aid of an operator would
be to stack shelves, enabling the human staff to interact
and engage with the customers.
According to soranews24
its very hard to get store workers and this solution will
help by making it so they only need cashiers and not shelve stackers.

Are we a step closer to the Will Smith Film iRobot?!

 

‘Impossible Tattoo’ Inked Remotely by Robot Arm over 5G Network

September 11, 2020 /

T-Mobile has demonstrated the potential of its #5G network with an #advertising
campaign involving the world’s first remote #tattoo.
The tattoo artist worked on tattooing a false arm in one location, while
tattoo client sat in a different building where the robot arm – controlled by,
and precisely replicating, artist’s actions – drove the needle and ink into her skin.

 

Thanks to Mert Tol for the sahre

Virtual and physical world come together.

September 10, 2020 /

Water and electronics don’t normally mix well, but here they have combined the thrill of the water slide with the thrill of VR. I can honestly say this passed me by, its been around nearly two years, but i am posting because I am seeing VR getting stronger and stronger with more consumers engaging with the devices and may experiences.

the next step will be the hacking together of other technology such as haptic sound and touch to take the experience to a completely new level.

Really feel the sound

September 2, 2020 /

 Woojer uses haptic feedback to make you feel sound in a totally new way.

I was lucky enough to try some hardware similar to this at CES 2020 and the sound intensifies massively, the biggest difference in the base you feel it hitting your body which intensifies the music even more.

This could be used in so many ways, for example add Oculus + Woojer to create gaming immersive experiences with visual and sound to enhance and take you to the next level of gaming.

Brand experiences could also be intensified and imaging watching a film with this on.

@Woojer, If you want a real demo send my way.  

The Strap is currently on offer for $129 and the vest is $349

 

Mini portable projector

September 1, 2020 /

This smart new projector comes full of punch, you can lay it flat to project on your wall to watch the latest movies or stand it upright to interactive and use like a touchscreen.

If all of this is true then its an impressive piece of kit, also if anybody has a real demo please send our way, especially the interaction part.

Links to tech spec etc. 

Review Here  

Buy it here

Amazon Halo Fitness Band Spy or Future Innovation

August 27, 2020 /

Amazon have announced its new innovation in fitness with the Halo band. The band has no screen so you can avoid distractions, it measures all the normal stuff like fitness, steps, sleep and diet.

But it has a few new additional features that will either excite you or freak you out. Firstly it listens to you, and based on your tone can let you know if you are being too negative in certain situations or over positive etc.. of course they have offered the ability to turn this feature off as well.

The other feature that stood out was the body scan feature, you scan yourself in the mirror and the app lets you know how to shred those extra few pounds, and claims to be better than any smart scales. 

I’m personally excited that tech is finally moving forward, Amazon is truly showing its the power house when it comes to voice and leading the way. 

When you purchase the strap you get 6 months free subscription, after that you have to layout the monthly fee.

Would I purchase one? not sure, i think we have so many subscription models at the moment its hard to manage your monthly finances when you have subs for streaming services, mobiles, music, games and now fitness straps.

Also we have the massive privacy issues that the voice function is likely to open up.

Though saying all that I would love to try one to see if it lives up to its hype.

 

There is a really long and extensive article on Halo over at the Verge

 

 

 

Need help learning a new language?

August 27, 2020 /

 

Vagus nerve stimulation has been used for more than 20 years to treat conditions like epilepsy, but it usually involves surgery to implant electrodes so they are directly in contact with the nerve in the neck

Now some smart folk at the university of California and San Francisco have developed an ear bud that connects directly to your brain and helps people learn unfamiliar sounds new languages. 

The device has been tested on 36 English speaking volunteers, the device is so advanced you are not aware its actually working. out of the 36 test it seems to have worked on 2/3 of the test group.

Read more on the

NewScientist

for the full article

Continue reading

Meet Spot the Robot Dog

August 26, 2020 /
You can have your very own robot dog for a sweet $75k, a steep price for the everyday person or someone who might just want a dog walker.
“A nimble robot that climbs stairs and traverses rough terrain with unprecedented ease, yet is small enough to use indoors. Built to be a rugged and customizable platform, Spot has an industry track record in remote operation and autonomous sensing. “

A quote directly from the dogs mouth and more information here on the Boson Dynamics site 

Lancôme’s VR Pop-up Store

August 24, 2020 /

Lancôme has opened a pop-up VR store to reinvent the Future of Beauty retail Post Covid according to Forbes 

We have seen a few of these VR stores pop-up (no pun intended) recently, if kind of makes me chuckle inside a little as we were presenting these type of ideas way back in 2005 and no one was interested, maybe it was to early for this type of engagement via online. What this does is gives me hope that the online experience can be as entertaining and engaging as it once was when Flash was alive.

Reference Link

The Touchless Touchscreen

August 6, 2020 /

Two Ex Samsung engineers have created a device called Glamos that can turn any screen into an interactive, its basically a tiny LiDAR device (a detention system that works on the principle of radar and light from a lazer) , this tech is used by autonomous vehicles to detect obstacles.

This new device is said to be compatible with phones, laptops, tablets, computers and smart TV’s.

Once connected to a device, ordinary screens are able to identify and respond to gestures made in the air, without the user having to physically touch the screen.

Much like LEAP when it was demo’d in SXSW in 2012, but this has advanced and moved on since then, connecting to multitude of devices for a start.

With Covid hitting the world we are having to rethink how we interact with object and products that where common to touch in the past, touchless products will become an even bigger market in the future.

 

 

Reference links

Glamos

Magic Leap

Dezeen

 

 

 

 

Apple is working on Self Drying Phones

August 5, 2020 /

 

Yes, you read correctly, over at CultofMacthey reported on finding Apple had a newly-published patent application which not only just makes the phone waterproof it actually repels water using electrode technology to actively expel water that has become trapped in the device, rather than just fighting to keep it out. 

The device would detect liquid, Electrodes would then be used to move the drops of liquid toward an exit point, where it could be safely expelled from the iPhone.

The Patent is below via CultofMac

Robot Can Guess How You’re Feeling by the Way You Walk

August 4, 2020 /

Yes you read correctly, Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed an algorithm called ProxEmo

This new discovery will enable robots to interact with humans based on their gathered data while the person is walking towards them, If angry the robot will take a wider route around the person, if sad they could approach them and ask if they would like assistance. 

 

More information on this new innovation can be found on wired

 

Tonge Touch or [in]brace

August 3, 2020 /

As part of her Masters Thesis Dorothee Clasen has created an oral wearable that connects the movement from your tongue to machine code. When you place the device in your mouth you are able to move a small magnetic element back and forth with your tongue, this in turn connects to a wifi module behind your ear and transfers the data to connected devices such as IoT / Smart home or Gaming consoles. 

With the increase in Haptic interfaces it was only a matter of time before someone looked into developing something for your mouth. 

I one side I can see the beauty in this creation from an innovation point of view, but i am still not sure what or why you would use this in the real world.

 

Stop Alexa listing to you private conversations

July 30, 2020 /

AlexaGate is a smart addon which stops Alexa from listening to all of your private conversations, its a cool looking addon that sits nicely on top of your echo devices

to activate clap three times, or tap the alexagate three times, and it toggles on and off so that you can talk to your echo as you would normally.  Turn on with three claps, and you’re once more assured of privacy. The device works by using pulsed ultrasound to jam the echo’s microphone. 

Here is the makers website Alexagate

The New York Times R&D

July 29, 2020 /

Screen recording by Azad Balanian

The New York Times has a R&D site, thats the first piece of big news, the second is this web based experience called photogrammetry where scrolling lets you enter into an immersive the story inside the visual
Imagine being able to do this with all flat images, giving you the ability to explore and immerse into different world through a visual portal. 

OpenXR – Hand and Eye tracking for Oculus

July 28, 2020 /

OpenXR Launched last summer enabling VR development across platforms, several large companies, including Oculus, SteamVR, HTC, and Microsoft, have worked to support OpenXR. Last week, Microsoft added OpenXR support to Windows Mixed Reality devices. Which is a huge deal because developers don’t have to code in different languages to have their titles working across many platforms.

Now we have an additional feature with the addition of Eye and Hand tracking modules which enable game developers to integrate these new features into up and coming games. Hand tracking is still super new, so there are not a lot of games or headsets which currently have these two features enabled.  Oculus Quest and Microsoft HoloLens 2. do and I am sure more will in the future.

These two added features might seem quite small but they wil enable significant performance increases and additional types of UI interaction on supported headsets.

The group behind the OpenXR platform is the Khronos Group

Here are some apps that use hand tracking.

Source: Nick Sutrich / Android Central

Important takeaways from Android Central where the article information was sources

  • Oculus is now accepting OpenXR-developed titles on the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest stores.
  • Eye tracking and hand tracking are now an official part of the OpenXR standard, enabling cross-platform development with these features.
  • Minecraft’s RenderDragon engine now uses OpenXR for the development of Minecraft VR.

Spotify Workout Playlist

July 17, 2020 /

Spotify has created a new tool called soundtrack your workout.

“The feature will ask for the length of your workout, if explicit content is okay (since your kids are home until further notice), type of workout, workout partner(s), your “workout vibe” and preferred genres (can choose up to two). For an hour-long solo lifting session where I wanted to be “pumped up” with rock and metal, Spotify compiled a mix of more indie rock than metal. Artists like The Killers and Paramore are alongside Europe and Twisted Sister. When I submitted the same answers with just metal as the genre, I got some of the same, but with Tame Impala and Com Truise thrown in. Those are both artists I listen to often, but they’re definitely not metal.” via Engadget