Emerging Technology |

21May 2013

Track Your Concentration with Innovative Headband

Melon comes in black or white.

Are you on a quest for greater self-awareness or simply a productivity junkie seeking to frugally extort every second out of the day? The Melon headband quantifies the brain’s focus during any activity of your choosing to better understand your working habits. Together with its proprietary mobile app, Melon gives insight into the brain’s response to various stimuli: action, environments, emotions, or whatever behavior you decide to measure, and visually records the data. This makes it extremely easy to understand productivity flaws and how to correct them. The device can be worn when coding, studying, weightlifting, writing, or whatever you choose.

Does your focus skyrocket while listening to ambient music but dips when coding? Try combining the two and measure the new effect on focus levels.

EEG and the human brain
Each human brain consists of billions of interconnected neurons that discharge a faint electrical signal whenever active. The resulting aggregated electrical activity, brainwaves, is measured on the forehead with electroencephalography (EEG), a technique that’s been used in the medical industry for decades. Melon compresses this technology into a head band that’s wireless and portable. Rather than covering the entire scalp, Melon places only three electrodes on the forehead region with the primary electrode placed on the FP1 area to allow pre-frontal cortex brainwave monitoring.

Melon’s thoughtful suggestions
Using EEG, Melon detects brain waves and compiles a focus level calculation using specific algorithms supplied by NeuroSky, a leader in consumer EEG technology. The data is fed into the Melon mobile app to display personalized results along with optional feedback on how improve. If your concentration is slipping, Melon’s app may suggest taking five deep breaths or listening to a specific genre of music proven to boost focus in the past.

The Melon app’s interface makes it easy to select an action and initiate a session using input tags. At the end of every tracking session, the app provides both a numerical score associated with the action along with the option of storing the data as trends to forecast periods of time. Melon’s ultimate goal is to simplify the notion of self-awareness and introspection.

An open invitation for DIY
As part of the effort to engage the public and evoke creative uses for the Melon, a hardware hacking guide along with the software development kit for both iOS and Android apps is made freely available to the public; this includes the focus data, raw EEG data, and list of algorithms for different mental states.

Know yourself to empower yourself
The first step in fixing a problem is identifying that problem. Why settle for being inadequate at certain things when you can empower yourself to become a better person? Melon makes it possibly to identify your best working conditions to emulate them.

Visit Melon’s Kickstarter page to learn more or support the project.

Source: Electronic Products

01May 2013

Synthetic Biology Research on the Rise

Jason Carr ⋅ 1 Comment

The number of private and public entities conducting research in synthetic biology worldwide grew significantly between 2009 and 2013, according to the latest version of an interactive map produced by the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The map is available online at http://www.synbioproject.org/map.

Synthetic biology, an area of research focused on the design and construction of new biological parts and devices, or the re-design of existing biological systems, is an emerging field and the focus of labs and companies around the world. The map, which builds on work the project started in 2009, is populated with more than 500 companies, universities, research institutions and other entities working on synthetic biology, showing clusters of activity in California, Massachusetts, Western Europe and East Asia.

“Part of this new activity has been driven by continuing government investments in the science,” said David Rejeski, who directs the Synthetic Biology Project. “Another important factor has been the rapidly declining costs of gene sequencing, which has supported more effective approaches to engineering biological systems.”

The Synthetic Biology Project found that the number of companies conducting synthetic biology research increased three-fold since 2009. A plurality of the companies involved in synthetic biology is focusing on developing bio-based specialty chemicals, fuels and/or medicines.

Since 2009, the industry has also experienced moderate levels of consolidation and failure. Of the 61 companies included on the initial 2009 inventory, six were acquired by other companies, closed their doors or can longer be identified. An additional 11 companies that were tracked between the release of the 2009 inventory and the 2013 update were also acquired, closed or cannot be identified.

In addition to the expanded listings, the updated map features improved functionality, more detailed information and additional categories and subcategories. The updated map can also be accessed on Android and Apple mobile devices.

The 2013 analysis can be found here: http://www.synbioproject.org/process/assets/files/6302/_draft/findings_2013.pdf

The map will be updated periodically. Users can submit additional entries to the map using this online form: http://www.synbioproject.org/sbmap/add-item/

Source: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Science and Technology Innovation Program

17Apr 2013

Let’s Explore Google Glass

Jason Carr ⋅ 1 Comment

Google Glass is thought to be the next great thing in augmented reality but most people are still not clear about how the new smart devices are going to work. The infograph below details how Google Glass is expected to work in a great way so I thought I’d share with you today. Based on the image below, there’s actually a small integrated projector that is recognized by the human eye without obscuring vision…cool. As an individual that wears glasses, I’m curious what Google is doing to accomodate those with prescription wear such as myself. The author of the infographic below has suggested that individual prisms for each user will need to be customized – something that may make the cost of the devices skyrocket. Time will tell. Either way, I am excited about the future of Google Glass and personally can’t wait to try them out. What are your thoughts on Google Glass? Are you planning on getting a pair when they’re available?

Infographic via: brille-kaufen.org

11Apr 2013

Neural Networks Could Make Automated Oilrigs a Reality

Jason Carr ⋅ 1 Comment

Geologists are constantly searching for new sources of energy, but offshore drilling remains controversial. Environmentally sensitive areas can be damaged by oil spills, and water supplies are easily poisoned. Researchers feel that a majority of oil spills are caused by human error.

That’s why engineers are proposing automated oil rigs as an answer to many environmental problems. Oilrigs would have to be fairly intelligent if they operated on their own. Current designs call for only partial automation, but full automation could come in the near future as advances in artificial reasoning/computation are made. This would solve many of the problems associated with offshore drilling today.

Human error wouldn’t be an issue since computer controls couldn’t become distracted. Boredom is actually a serious problem when it comes to any long-term maritime operation. When people become bored they’re more likely to be distracted. Ennui can actually cost lives, but it’s not an issue that plagues machinery.

Heuristics algorithms would also be quite helpful. Advanced neural networks that emulate brain wave patterns could easily be applied to the field of oil exploration. Satellite systems have been able to use radar for locating new oil deposits, but this isn’t an exact science. Oilrigs linked by neural networks could locate deposits from the ocean and work them without any need for outside intervention.

This makes them particularly useful for areas where supplies of oil aren’t particularly plentiful. Automated oilrigs could periodically work small deposits and then move on after they’ve been drained. This methodology could supply somewhat ample supplies of fuel for countries that would otherwise have to import almost all of their energy.

While it might not be obvious to casual observers, these systems would actually have a beneficial influence on the environment. Considerable amounts of fuel are used to move energy resources between different countries today. Nations that are currently supplying all of their energy from foreign oil wells are increasing their carbon footprints as a result of moving fossil fuels between continents.

By working small deposits in these countries, they could supply up to half their own energy needs. This would have a beneficial influence on local economies as well. Patents would probably be the biggest issue with an emerging technology like this. Agencies that manufacture automated devices would probably want to maintain a stranglehold on the technology.

Open source development is a possible solution for these problems. Everybody would have access to open resources. When the threat of a patent infringement lawsuit is taken out of the equation, smaller countries would be more likely to invest in this type of technology. Automated rigs would actually be less expensive to operate than regular ones. They don’t require expensive crews either. While this is certainly an advantage, it could create some interesting labor problems.

On the other hand, automated mineral energy devices will become increasingly important in a society run by technology. Independent machines would have to collect their own energy sources, which means that automated oilrigs and other similar projects would become commonplace in the near future. It’s not hard to imagine engineers making similar devices to collect natural gas or mineral wealth in the future.

02Apr 2013

The Misguided Search for Validation via Social Media

Jason Carr ⋅ 14 Comments

We human beings are social creatures. It’s natural for us to orient ourselves in terms of the world outside and what the people around us are thinking and doing. This socialization instinct is strongest in us when we’re young and still developing our own sense of identity. Historically speaking, this dynamic has typically played itself out in school and work environments and in various social rituals. Nowadays, the Internet has created a much vaster field for people to immerse themselves in.

The process of public validation is certainly not a new phenomenon. Writers, painters, filmmakers and poets have always had to contend with critics. In the days of pulp magazines, writers would see their words in print and then face the feedback (and possible backlash) of readers within the letters page of the magazine’s next issue. The main things that the Internet has changed are (1) the distance that the average person’s voice can reach to and be heard by multiple people at once and (2) the speed at which feedback can be given and received in this manner.

Both of these factors can work to encourage an “everybody can be a celebrity” mentality in a culture that already worships celebrities. Young people can be especially vulnerable to this. Adolescence is largely a process of unfolding identity (and one’s sense of it). It’s natural for people to compare themselves to others when they’re going through so many rapid changes and trying, in the midst of it all, to define who they are in terms of the world outside.

The Internet – particularly social media – has broadened the comparisons field to a size that we’ve never witnessed before. Moreover, the situation is such a recent development that no one can accurately gauge all of its long-term implications.

In our lives we experience many feelings and sensations that really need to gestate for a time before we can become clear about what they mean for us and thus can share them with others. In the writing community this process is sometimes referred to as creative composting. It is a process that can’t be rushed. We need to “digest” certain experiences before we can share them with others with any degree of clarity.

Social media often denies us that time – or rather, it creates the illusion that we don’t have that time simply because it’s possible for us to reach others and garner response so quickly (nearly spontaneously). We can do this without even the degree of intimacy that a phone call requires. Affirmation and response becomes more important than the experiences themselves. Many people don’t take the necessary time to check in with their own emotional reality. Instead of being resolved internally, personal issues are sorted out in a public forum.

The search for validation has its appeal only until a person has pursued it for long enough to realize that only emptiness waits on the other side. This journey will be different for each person, and may involve a series of disappointments. Social media offers many valuable opportunities for sharing across the Web, so long as people don’t become addicted to the validation that it (seemingly) provides.

Reference:

Leung, L. (2013). Generational differences in content generation in social media: The roles of the gratifications sought and of narcissism Computers in Human Behavior, 29 (3), 997-1006 DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.028

Maltby J (2010). An interest in fame: confirming the measurement and empirical conceptualization of fame interest. British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953), 101 (Pt 3), 411-32 PMID: 19646329

04Feb 2013

Adding Another Dimension to Computer Simulations

Jason Carr ⋅ 4 Comments

Four-dimensional space is a difficult concept but this idea is driving a new revolution in programming today. Individuals familiar with August Ferdinand Möbius’ research know that an additional dimension allows a three-dimensional form to be rotated over on top of its mirror image. This gives us the so-called Möbius strip. While computer algorithms that really simulate scalable four-dimensional space are still in their infancy, they’re already making a big splash.

Mobius Strip. Credit: http://paulbourke.net/geometry/mobius/

It’s important to remember that abstract mathematical concepts have no real bearing on the actual universe. Texts on theoretical physics use four-dimensional space as a term to describe the phenomenon caused by three-dimensional objects moving through time. Naturally, this concept of a fourth dimension is far different from that defined by computer scientists. While additional dimensions are valid mathematical constructs, they have little to do with the world around us. Software is merely producing two-dimensional output anyway, so its safe to assume that nothing a TV screen produces is going to break the space-time continuum.

Image Credit: John Hopkins

Computers provide mathematicians with the opportunity to produce very complex geometrical forms. In three dimensions, polyhedra are made up of distinct two-dimensional polygons. Four-dimensional space grants engineers the freedom to create polychora made up of three-dimensional polyhedra. While this might be complicated, it’s actually useful outside of the world of mathematical research.

Mapping Euclidean space gives scientists the opportunity to produce stereographic projection diagrams of theoretical objects like the Clifford torus. This could be useful in the construction of space colonies, for instance. Puzzles based around 120-cell hecatonicosachoron objects became popular for a time, and illustrate the advantages of constructing objects in a virtual world.

Average computer users probably aren’t too interested in this type of research either. They might be more pleased to hear that four-dimensional simulations are revolutionizing video games. While virtual reality might not actually be the future, a simulation of it very well could be.

Edwin A. Abbot popularized the concept of different dimensions in fiction, and Marc Ten Bosch’s new independent video game is taking it to the next level. Miegakure is a platform that is essentially set in a three-dimensional environment, but players can go through walls and inspect them by entering into an additional dimension. The game has yet to be released to the general public, but it illustrates the possibilities programmers have when they leave the confines of our limited universe. Just as an author isn’t limited when writing a novel, computer programmers can create simulations that aren’t defined by what real individuals can and cannot do.

24Jan 2013

First Autonomous Telemedicine Robot for Hospitals

Jason Carr ⋅ 4 Comments

Image Credit: BBC

iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in delivering robotic solutions, announced that the RP-VITA Remote Presence Robot has received 510(k) clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in hospitals. RP-VITA is the first autonomous navigation remote presence robot to receive FDA clearance.

“FDA clearance of a robot that can move safely and independently through a fast-paced, chaotic and demanding hospital environment is a significant technological milestone for the robotics and healthcare industries”

RP-VITA is a joint effort between two industry leaders, iRobot and InTouch Health. The robot combines the latest in autonomous navigation and mobility technologies developed by iRobot with state-of-the-art telemedicine and electronic health record integration developed by InTouch Health. RP-VITA allows remote doctor-to-patient consults, ensuring that the physician is in the right place at the right time and has access to the necessary clinical information to take immediate action. The robot has unprecedented ease of use. It maps its own environment and uses an array of sophisticated sensors to autonomously move about a busy space without interfering with people or other objects. Using an intuitive iPad® interface, a doctor can visit a patient, and communicate with hospital staff and patients with a single click, regardless of their location.

Image Credit: Business Wire

The FDA clearance specifies that RP-VITA can be used for active patient monitoring in pre-operative, peri-operative and post-surgical settings, including cardiovascular, neurological, prenatal, psychological and critical care assessments and examinations.

RP-VITA is being sold into the healthcare market by InTouch Health as its new flagship remote presence device. iRobot will continue to explore adjacent market opportunities for robots like RP-VITA and the iRobot Ava™ mobile robotics platform.

“FDA clearance of a robot that can move safely and independently through a fast-paced, chaotic and demanding hospital environment is a significant technological milestone for the robotics and healthcare industries,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “There are very few environments as difficult to maneuver as that of a busy ICU or emergency department. Having crossed this technology threshold, the potential for self-navigating robots in other markets, and for new applications, is virtually limitless.”

“Remote presence solutions have proven their worth in the medical arena for quite some time,” said Yulun Wang, chairman and CEO of InTouch Health. “RP-VITA has undergone stringent testing, and we are confident that the robot’s ease of use and unique set of capabilities will enable new clinical applications and uses.”

About iRobot Corp.
iRobot designs and builds robots that make a difference. The company’s home robots help people find smarter ways to clean, and its defense & security robots protect those in harm’s way. iRobot’s consumer and military robots feature iRobot Aware® robot intelligence systems, proprietary technology incorporating advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. For more information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.

Source: Business Wire

23Jan 2013

Sending Odors and Tastes as an Email Attachment

Jason Carr ⋅ 9 Comments

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Andrea Danti

Research into cybernetic organs has been largely focused on replacements for disabled individuals who have lost a limb. Electronic noses and tongues are designed for a radically different purpose. Humans perceive different chemicals as various tastes and odors. Many types of additives are industrially manufactured to replicate certain flavors or scents. Electronic noses and tongues are examples of the way emerging technologies are set to change the way household products are made. Electronic noses have already shown their potential to identify people more reliably than fingerprints, sniff out bombs, and even detect lung cancer on a person’s breath. They also present an opportunity for Internet users to test products before they buy them.

An electronic nose is a tool that mimics human olfactory senses. While they’re not the best for deciding whether new odors are pleasing, they can repeat test trials over and over again. Routine analysis isn’t something that’s easy for a human test subject to do. People can only write down whether they feel a new scent is pleasant to them. Internet-based odor presentation machines are in their infancy, but may some day present computer users with smelly output.

Image Credit: Nature

Smell-o-vision was a home entertainment dream for many years, but researchers eventually gave up on the concept. Some consumers have even felt that it’s worthless. Most people wouldn’t actually want to sit down and smell what characters in a television show smell like. However, there are certain uses of this technology that could be quite popular. For instance, they might be used to sniff out a range of diseases. Or they could be used to check the quality of food in an effective manner. Electronic nose and odor delivery systems could even allow chefs to select ingredients without having to travel the world.

For instance, international produce distributors could take some fruit and digitize its odor into a certain type of file. Computer users would then download the file, and a peripheral device would synthesize the odor from existing chemical stores. This would be particularly useful for those who weren’t familiar with some sort of exotic plant. Unfortunately, the opportunity for misuse is quite strong as well. Trojan horse programs might cause a client computer to produce an odor that’s surprisingly unpleasant. It would be interesting to watch that play out.

Electronic tongues serve a similar purpose. Salt, sour and sweet tastes each correspond to a specific chemical makeup. The pH level of a substance, the presence of molecular polyhydroxyl groups and how many sodium ions are attached to the substance all play a part in deciding how it tastes. In fact, these would be easier to detect than olfactory sensations delivered to an electronic nose.

Image Credit: Washington Post

On the other hand, bitter and savory tastes would be surprisingly difficult to distinguish. These tastes don’t correspond to exact chemical compounds, so they’re harder to track. Electronic tongues do have a real advantage over their smelly brethren, though. It would actually be easier to digitize taste and transmit different flavors in a file than it would be to electronically transmit different scents. Once again this would present a very interesting target for computer hackers.

Users might not even want to imagine what sort of weird tastes someone intent on misusing this technology could come up with. Restaurants would certainly like it, though. They could let people try a free sample of their product over the Internet. That offers a distinct advantage over a JPEG of a menu, but it’s doubtful that computer peripherals are going to replace cameras in the near future.

Reference:

Fujioka K, Arakawa E, Kita J, Aoyama Y, Manome Y, Ikeda K, & Yamamoto K (2013). Detection of Aeromonas hydrophila in Liquid Media by Volatile Production Similarity Patterns, Using a FF-2A Electronic Nose. Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 13 (1), 736-45 PMID: 23296330

Schneider, J. (2006). Detection of fruit odors using an electronic nose SPIE Newsroom DOI: 10.1117/2.1200602.0137

Ciosek, P., & Wróblewski, W. (2007). Sensor arrays for liquid sensing – electronic tongue systems The Analyst, 132 (10) DOI: 10.1039/b705107g

Zakaria A, Shakaff AY, Masnan MJ, Ahmad MN, Adom AH, Jaafar MN, Ghani SA, Abdullah AH, Aziz AH, Kamarudin LM, Subari N, & Fikri NA (2011). A biomimetic sensor for the classification of honeys of different floral origin and the detection of adulteration. Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 11 (8), 7799-822 PMID: 22164046

21Jan 2013

Meet Baxter – the $22,000 Robot

Jason Carr ⋅ 5 Comments

Realistic views of robots are usually centered on grappling arms hidden behind safety cages, but Rethink Robotics is working to change that. The Massachusetts-based company produces the Baxter line of robots shown above. These machines are designed to adapt to their local environment so that even unskilled labor can train them to do work. Perhaps equally important, they’re affordable and designed with simplicity in mind.

Factories that already have an extensive physical plant usually have to undergo a painful integration period to get their new robots to work with the current assembly line structure. Baxter works out of the box, and can get acclimated to a workshop in an hour or so. Human presence detectors mean that Baxter always knows that living employees are there. While that naturally means that the unit is safer than less-capable robots, Baxter is also far more capable of working alongside people.

Most robots have to be manipulated from a remote terminal. Baxter actually comes with a display panel and a navigator control. Since it resembles a face, the display is relatively easy for even the uninitiated to get used to. That’s a real bonus for work environments that have a large number of existing employees.

The most amazing aspect of this technology has nothing to do with feats of engineering, however. Baxter and other ‘intelligent’ robots help to keep manufacturing jobs in domestic facilities. Grinding and polishing machines are quickly being sent overseas. Few places can afford to keep blister packaging operations in North America. Products are sometimes even shipped overseas, put into thermoformed trays in a foreign country, and then imported back into the domestic marketplace.

New types of robots can do these jobs without the need for sending goods to foreign countries. That’s a real benefit for companies who have been debating offshoring their operations for some time. In fact, some analysts believe that new manufacturing technologies might even help bring jobs back to domestic marketplaces. While the media has often portrayed robots as devices that steal jobs away from human workers, they might ironically actually be creating plenty of new jobs right here at home.

There are plenty of other benefits that aren’t related to socio-political trends. Offshoring is actually a major environmental problem. Transportation services use a substantial amount of fuel. By keeping manufacturing jobs closer to home, companies can actually reduce their carbon footprint as well as costs. Some businesses might end up investing in robots for these reasons alone.

A revolution is starting to take place in manufacturing. Robots like Baxter are essentially consumer electronics. They can be expected to work out of the box. There’s no reason to assume that future robotic options will be any less dazzling in the near future. Hobbyist machines already started to appear on the shelves in the 1980s. It’s only a matter of time before anyone will be able to purchase his or her own robot. Even local operations will ultimately have the option of taking advantage of this technology.

Consider the plight of a local farm, for instance. Hiring someone to perform repetitive tasks can be very expensive, but a robot doesn’t require a salary. Baxter can’t be washed down, so it’s not necessarily useful for all food preparation jobs. However, even at this moment in time the unit is rated for some. Perhaps a simulated friendly face can actually save or improve industries such as manufacturing and agriculture in the near future.

Image Credit: Rethink Robotics

18Jan 2013

Future Computing: Meet the Flexible Paper Computer

Jason Carr ⋅ 3 Comments

A collaborative project between Queen’s University, Plastic Logic, and Intel Labs has yielded one of the more exciting unveilings during CES 2013: a flexible paper computer. Dubbed the “PaperTab” tablet, the device looks and feels like a normal piece of paper, however, it’s fully interactive with a flexible, hi-resolution 10.7” touchscreen plastic display powered by a second generation Intel Core i5 Processor. What makes the PaperTab particularly easy to use is the fact that several apps or windows do not show up on a single display; rather, there are multiple interactive displays that work together. This unique design choice allows a user the ability to thumb through different pages and use one app at a time. “Using several PaperTabs makes it much easier to work with multiple documents,” says Roel Vertegaal, Director of Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab. “Within five to ten years, most computers, from ultra-notebooks to tablets, will look and feel just like these sheets of printed color paper.”

Source: Hearst Electronic Products