The Electric Flying Taxi
Image Source - Google | Image By - www.vertical-aerospace.com
What's the best way to get rid of the traffic? Well, it’s flying. And if your journey by air can help to prevent climate change and bring us one step closer to the zero carbon-emission goal, that would be awesome! Wouldn’t it? And that’s exactly what Bristol-based startup Vertical Aerospace aims to achieve by 2024. The reality of flying cars isn’t that too far as the world’s first electric flying taxi ‘VA-1X’ will be in use as early 2024. It is 13 meters in length with a 15-meter wingspan and can cruise at a speed of 150 miles per hour with a usable range of 100 miles. It can carry 4 people and a pilot and has additional space for luggage. Furthermore, It aims to make air travel environmentally friendly as it will use a lithium-ion battery to generate power so zero carbon emissions.
Michael Cervenka, CEO at Vertical Aerospace, said that it would be sustainable and cost-effective. Its price will be in between a helicopter flight and a private car. It is 30 times quieter than a helicopter and can take off and land from existing helipads.
Self-driving Motorcycle
Image Source - Google | Image By - BMW Motorrad
People talk about self-driving cars that they soon will be on roads. But, how about self-driving motorbikes. BMW Mottarad has made a self-driving motorcycle. They built this self-driving motorcycle to test and develop new safety systems. This motorcycle can start from the rest position, lean on turns, increase or decrease the speed, apply brakes and can stop and be on its stand all by itself, without a driver. Well, their plan isn't to develop a fully self-driving motorcycle but to provide more stability in critical riding situations and build a technology to assist inattentive drivers to have more control to avoid accidents. As we know Technology for self-driving cars is moving forward and already has features like automatic emergency braking or line keep, so we can say that this is the start which BMW gave to move towards the fully automated motorcycles. But I think, it's more fun to ride a motorcycle by ourselves.
Augmented Reality: Interactive Projections
Image Source - Google | Image By - Microsoft Research
Augmented reality or AR is one of the latest and biggest technological Trends right now. In near future, all electronic devices will be equipped with AR. AR is an interactive environment which is created by superimposing digital visual element, sound, or other sensory stimuli over the physical world. 'Pokemon Go' is the best example out there. And, eventually, it got banned in many countries, as many people died while catching a Pokemon in the middle of roads. But, interactive projection is another amazing example of Augmented reality as it allows a person to interact with a 3D projection. It creates a 3D environment around you and it changes the environment according to the motion of the person by sensing his movements. It's like playing a 3D game physically. You can create your energy Ball by moving your hands in that specific motion and released the 'Kamehameha'.
Fastest Rubik's Cube Solver Robot
Image Source - Google | Image By - news.mit.edu
Ben Katz and Jared Di Carla from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a robot that can solve Rubik's cube puzzle in just 0.38 seconds. That is super fast. Isn't it? The robot captures the image, does computation, and moves the cube, and it does all this stuff in 0.38 seconds. It's insane. The human record for the fastest time to solve the Rubik's cube is held by Yusheng Du which is 3.47 seconds. So, it is 3.09 times faster than the human record. The previous world record was 0.637 seconds which was achieved by robot Sub 1 Reloaded created by German engineer Albert Beer. To identify the configuration of the cube, they used two PlayStation Eye cameras from the old PS3 console. And, they destroyed several cubes to achieve this record as while rotating cube couldn't handle the torque. Each move takes about 15 seconds in total. Mathematicians have found that a maximum of 20 moves or turns is needed to solve any pattern of the Rubik's cube. So, we need just move it 20 times as fastest as possible to have the minimum time. But, it's not the case always. Sometimes to move in a particular pattern is more time-consuming, and more moves can be less time-consuming. So, the Robot needs to move in such a way so that it can solve it in the minimum time possible.
HRP–5p Human Construction Robot
Image Source - YouTube | Image By - AIST
As a solution to the problem of labor shortage in Japan due to the aging population and declining birth rate, AIST, Japan's National Institute of advanced industrial science and technology, developed an HRP-5p robot to replace heavy-duty human labor. This robot can carry out various building-construction tasks, such as picking a wooden board and screwing it onto the walls. It has been created with an aim to be useful for practical applications in the construction of buildings and some large structures, such as ships and aircraft. This robot is equipped with object recognition technology, improved intelligence, and environment measurement abilities. It weighs 101 kg with a height of 182 cm. It has a neck of two degrees of freedom, waist of 3 degrees of freedom, each arm of 8 degrees of freedom, each leg of 6 degrees of freedom, and each hand of 2 degrees of freedom, which combines to a total of 37 degrees of freedom which is a maximum in HRP series. It can carry gypsum board and ply panels of dimensions 180 x 910 x 10mm, about 11 kg, and 800 x 900 x12mm, about 13 kg, respectively, with both arms.
As a solution to the problem of labor shortage in Japan due to the aging population and declining birth rate, AIST, Japan's National Institute of advanced industrial science and technology, developed an HRP-5p robot to replace heavy-duty human labor. This robot can carry out various building-construction tasks, such as picking a wooden board and screwing it onto the walls. It has been created with an aim to be useful for practical applications in the construction of buildings and some large structures, such as ships and aircraft. This robot is equipped with object recognition technology, improved intelligence, and environment measurement abilities. It weighs 101 kg with a height of 182 cm. It has a neck of two degrees of freedom, waist of 3 degrees of freedom, each arm of 8 degrees of freedom, each leg of 6 degrees of freedom, and each hand of 2 degrees of freedom, which combines to a total of 37 degrees of freedom which is a maximum in HRP series. It can carry gypsum board and ply panels of dimensions 180 x 910 x 10mm, about 11 kg, and 800 x 900 x12mm, about 13 kg, respectively, with both arms.
'Sodapop': Soda Bottle Speaker
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| Image Source - Google | Image By - Sodapop Audio |
Permafrost, an Oslo-based studio, came up with a unique and very innovative solution to the problem of small portable loudspeakers. They designed a mini-speaker called 'Sodapop'. The 'Sodapop' can connect to its own designed case or any other plastic bottle. You just simply need a regular bottle to use, whether it's a water bottle or a soft drink bottle. Sodapop gives rich sound without distortion with the help of two full-range 4 watt speakers and a passive bass membrane in the center. It provides features to change songs, answer phone calls, or adjust the volume. It comes with a long-lasting 16 mAh, 3.7V rechargeable battery. It can play music for 30 hrs non-stop. And it has a great sound. The empty bottle attached to it boosts its bass performance significantly. It is completely wireless and its design helps to triples the volume of the device. The air inside the bottle and bottle's characteristics can increase the sound volume as much as 10db in the bass range, and it almost sounds twice as loud to the human ear.
