What’s New In Technology 7 November 2014

I have talked before about robotic suits we can wear which increase our abilities, but there is a new type which has all sorts of implications. It is a soft robotic suit which can be worn under clothing. DARPA has given almost three million dollars toward the project and besides Harvard University and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Design, New Balance the famous maker of shoes and sneakers is also collaborating. The robot goes around only the legs right now. It fits like a web. It is not like the other exoskeleton suits, because this one is entirely flexible. The suit is designed to increase the endurance of the wearer and his or her strength. If you wonder how something made this way can work, let me give you a clue. The suit is made in such a way to mimic our muscles and tendons. A motor on the hip activates these “extra muscles.” It has been predicted in the next two to five years the suit will be ready to sell. The DARPA version will be militarized of course. Just imagine what this suit might be able to accomplish. If it is made waterproof, it might be perfect for SEAL teams who have to swim long distances. It could also aid people in walking who have lost the capability and I am sure there will be many other uses and when a full body suit is developed we will have the capacity of a machine when it comes to lifting.

There are many different way of generating power available to us. Many of these techniques have been ignored to a certain extent due to the power of the oil companies, but some engineers are saying they have a way to generate enough power for everything and it would be free after the cost of the devices are paid off. I don’t think energy will ever be allowed to be free, but I would like to tell you about their idea. It is a simple one. The ocean is always moving, there are tides and currents everywhere. If one were to build a device which could be powered by this movement, it could generate energy and work for many years as long as it was maintained. It is said the ocean’s currents have enough power to replace every power source on earth including nuclear power and we could do this immediately and the oil and power companies know this. The answer is to install underwater ocean turbines. An article stated that Americans are spending 100 Billion dollars a year toward climate research and that if we put just half of that amount into building these turbines, we could not only get free power for the entire country but lower carbon emissions at the same time. These devices add no heat to the environment as do other forms of power generation. We can build them so they never corrode and no sea life clings to them. They can be made not to harm marine life and they don’t take space on land. What are we waiting for?

A new pen has hit the market and it is a 3D printing pen. It is said to be the smallest of its type on the market and is called the LIX. You can actually draw in the air and create rigid structures. Its power source is a USB 3.0 port. It takes about one minute to heat up, but then it is able to use melted plastic to create structures. One’s imagination is the only limitation on the shapes which can be created. The pen is presently priced at under $150 dollars and there should be many different applications for it.

We may think we have great eyesight but compared to some animals it is woefully deficient. Some of our visual shortcomings are being addressed with a new type of Graphene contact lens. The lens gives a wearer the ability to see in the dark. It is also said the contact lens will soon be able to let us see the entire infrared spectrum, visible and ultraviolet light. Just the military applications boggle the mind. There seen to be many applications for civilians also. Astronomers will no longer have to wait for their eyes to adjust to the dark and what they see will be enhanced. People who depend on working at night in dark areas will find the lenses very useful. Some of the first civilians who may want to purchase these contact lenses will probably be hunters. The lenses are only a few atoms thick so they are not as bulky as an ordinary contact lens, making them easier to insert and wear. I am sure there will be those who will infer we got this knowhow from aliens, again denying the fact humans are very inventive.

A new technology is being developed which would increase the capacity of Wi-Fi. Researchers at the University of Southern California are building on the work of using infinity capacity twisted laser vortex networks. They are substituting radio waves however since they have found out by testing they are a lot more durable. The twisted radio waves are capable of being transmitted over much longer distances. These networks would be able to carry far more data than the networks today and it is estimated they could carry hundreds or thousands of gigabits per second. Everything using Wi-Fi today uses two dimensional radio waves they oscillate up and down. A few years ago it was proven you could transmit a radio wave in three dimensions. This was accomplished just by twisting the antenna. The radio waves then also traveled width-wise. It is said millions upon millions of wireless connections could share the same frequency with just a little difference in the twist of the antenna.

Scientists and engineers are always looking for ways to speed up our computers. One way is thought to be by replacing the silicone in our chips. They are experimenting with using “phase-change materials” known as PCMs. These materials can switch between two different electrical states. This allows the use of very short electrical pulses, thus speeding up computing. It is believed these materials could speed up computer operations by a factor of 500 to 1,000 times. A type of this material is a glass which can be melted and recrystallized in an amazing half a nanosecond which is one billionth of a second. There is a problem to be overcome however and it is the fact calculations are slower, but this may have been solved by performing the calculations in reverse.

A California couple has invented a real hover board. No doubt they got the idea from the Back to the Future movies. They claim it is like standing on a giant air hockey puck. It is said to be hard to steer and since it only works with a non-ferrous material exterior, you can’t just take it to the park. If the funding reaches $250,000 the creators say the first boards will be available by October 21, 2015.