Posts tagged technology
Video: ‘PediPower’ energy harvesting shoe.
A team at Rice University has shown off their energy harvesting shoe, designed to take energy normally wasted when the heel of a shoe strikes the ground, instead turning it into useable energy to power medical devices or other low energy gadgets.
The PediPower hits the ground before any other part of the prototype shoe. A lever arm strikes first. It is attached to a gearbox that replaces much of the shoe’s sole and turns the gears a little with each step. The gears drive a motor mounted on the outside of the shoe that generates electricity to send up to the battery.
“It may be worth looking into having both the heel and the ball of the foot produce power, especially if this shoe could be used while running,” Armada said.
The students expect the project to be picked up by another team at Rice in the fall, with the hope they can refine the materials, shrink the size and boost the power output, all of which will get PediPower closer to being a commercial product.
“If we could prove that we could produce some usable power, store it in a battery and discharge that battery on a mobile device or an MP3 player, then we could prove this device works,” Armada said. “Now the next team can come in and make it smaller and lighter without sacrificing power.”
Artificial heart ready for human trials.
French company CARMAT have announced that their artificial heart is scheduled to be implanted into patients in four medical centers around the world. The device completely replaces the patient’s original heart.
The artificial heart consists of two cavities, mimicking the organ’s ventricles, which are separated by a moving membrane that’s hydraulically powered via a special actioning fluid. This membrane reproduces the action of the ventricular wall during contractions, creating blood flow in and out of the device. The system is works in conjunctions with sensors and a microcontroller that continuously adjust the activity of the prosthesis to match the needs of the patient.
Autonomous NASA rover released on Greenland ice sheet.
GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, is an autonomous, solar-operated robot that carries a ground-penetrating radar to examine the layers of Greenland’s ice sheet. Its findings will help scientists understand how the massive ice sheet gains and loses ice.
The robot’s tests on the ice began on May 8, defying winds of up to 23 mph (37 kph) and temperatures as low as minus 22 F (minus 30 C). The tests will continue through June 8. Its trial in Greenland will also serve as a test of using rovers in harsh polar regions to gather data.
Samsung hopes for 2020 launch of 5G.
Despite 4G technology still only just reaching many consumers, Samsung have been working on the next generation of mobile data transmission, claiming speeds of up to 1.056 Gbps. By comparison, real world tests on speeds of 4G networks in the US hardly got above 10 Mbps, or 0.01 Gbps.
Samsung said it plans to accelerate the research and development of 5G technologies, including adaptive array transceiver at the millimeter-wave bands, to commercialize those technologies by 2020.
Could Dekko be the killer app for Google Glass?
Dekko claims to turn the real world into an operating system, bringing images, information, and animations into the world using augmented reality through Google Glass.
It’s hard to explain exactly, so check out the video!
Video: Google Glass app shows off facial recognition features.
MedRef for Glass is a new “Glassware” app designed for doctors to allow them to quickly identify a patient through facial recognition and pull up relevant files and information on that person. The app also allows users to add photos and voice notes taken with Glass to a patients file.
The video here also gives a good insight into how it looks to see someone using Glass itself. He looks freakin ridiculous, staring off into space and stroking the side of his glasses like Dr Evil stroking Mr Bigglesworth. Damn I wish that was me.
Photo: NASA’s Sounding Rockets Launch from the Marshall Islands
Red and white vapor clouds filled the skies over the Marshall Islands as part of NASA’s Equatorial Vortex Experiment (EVEX). The red cloud was formed by the release of lithium vapor and the white tracer clouds were formed by the release of trimethyl aluminum (TMA). These clouds allowed scientists on the ground from various locations in the Marshall Islands to observe the neutral winds in the ionosphere.
The EVEX was successfully conducted during the early morning hours on May 7 from Roi Namur, Republic of the Marshall Islands. A NASA Terrier-Oriole sounding rocket was launched at 3:39 a.m. EDT and was followed by a launch of Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket 90 seconds later. Preliminary indications are that both rockets released their vapor clouds of lithium or trimethyl aluminum, which were observed from various locations in the area, and all science instruments on the rockets worked as planned.
Volcanic ash cloud to be recreated for test flight.
An aviation-industry group is preparing to test an airborne ash avoidance system by releasing a tonne of volcanic ash collected from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.
The team behind the AVOID (Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector) system say they will disperse the ash from an Airbus plane at an altitude of over 30,000 feet, before flying a second aircraft as far as 100 kilometres behind towards the cloud. If successful, the second aircraft will use AVOID to detect and navigate safely around the ash cloud.
BBC shows off ‘Surround Video’.
BBC’s R&D Production Labs have shown off a similar system to Microsoft’s Illumiroom technology, allowing video to be projected around walls and ceilings for a more immersive viewing experience.
The company started working on the project in 2006, when 250 engineers were given a week to work on a number of ideas that “the company didn’t really know what to do with” at the time.
The system, which requires about an hour of calibration in a new room, uses a standard HD projector with a fish-eye lens that bounces off a nearby mirror. It mimics the eye’s natural tendency to focus on details at the center of our vision, while picking up movement in our peripheral vision.
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