The Future

The future is near and the future is almost here!
What did we imagine as being the future?

Exoskeletons

In 2010, defense contractor Raytheon demonstrated the experimental XOS 2 -- essentially, a wearable robot guided by the human brain -- that can lift two to three times as much weight as an unassisted human, with no effort required by the user. Another company, Trek Aerospace, is developing the Springtail Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle, an exoskeleton frame with a jetpack built in, which could be capable of flying up to 70 miles per hour (112.6 kilometers per hour) and hovering motionlessly thousands of feet above the ground, as well.

                                              


But others besides the military may benefit from the advent. It's possible that someday people with spinal injuries or muscle-wasting diseases may get around as easily as fully-abled people do, thanks to full-body devices -- essentially, wearable robots -- that enable them to do what their own muscles and nerves can't. Early versions of such powered exoskeletons, like Argo Medical Technologies' $150,000 ReWalk device, are already on the market.

3-D Printing Body Parts

Ears

Courtesy Cornell University
Team: Cornell University How it's made: Bioengineers take a 3-D scan of a child's ear, design a seven-part mold in the SolidWorks CAD program, and print the pieces. The mold is injected with a high-density gel made from 250 million bovine cartilage cells and collagen from rat tails (the latter serves as a scaffold). After 15 minutes, the ear is removed and incubated in cell culture for several days. In three months, the cartilage will have propagated enough to replace the collagen. Benefit: At least one child in 12,500 is born with microtia, a condition characterized by hearing loss due to an underdeveloped or malformed outer ear. Unlike synthetic implants, ears grown from human cells are more likely to be successfully incorporated into the body.

Kidneys

Courtesy Wake Forest Institute For Regenerative Medicine
Team: Wake Forest Institute For Regenerative Medicine How It's Made: A 3-D bioprinter deposits multiple types of kidney cells—cultivated from cells taken by a biopsy—while simultaneously building a scaffold out of biodegradable material. The finished product is then incubated. The scaffold, once transplanted into a patient, would slowly biodegrade as the functional tissue grows.Benefit: An estimated 80 percent of patients on organ-transplant lists in the U.S. await kidneys. Bioprinted kidneys are not yet functional, but once they are, the use of a patient's own cells to grow the tissue means doctors will someday be able to provide every recipient with a perfect match.

Blood Vessels

Courtesy University Of Pennsylvania
Team: University of Pennsylvania and MIT How it's made: Using an open-source RepRap printer and custom software, researchers print a network of sugar filaments inside a mold and coat the filaments in a polymer derived from corn. They then dispense a gel containing tissue cells into the mold. Once it sets, they wash the structure in water, which dissolves the sugar and leaves empty channels in the tissue. Benefit: Researchers showed that pumping nutrients through the channels increased the survival of surrounding cells. Because blood vessels maintain tissue health, learning how to scale up and print a larger, more robust vascular system is the key to eventually printing entire organs.

Skin Grafts
Courtesy Wake Forest Institute For Regenerative Medicine
Team: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine How it's made: First, a custom bioprinter scans and maps the patient's wound. One inkjet valve ejects the enzyme thrombin, and another ejects cells mixed with collagen and fibrinogen (thrombin and fibrinogen react to create the blood coagulant fibrin). Then, the printer deposits a layer of human fibroblasts, followed by a layer of skin cells called keratinocytes. Benefit: For traditional grafts, surgeons take skin from one area of the body and splice it onto another. The Wake Forest researchers hope to print new skin directly into a wound. Ultimately, they plan to build a portable printer that can be used in war and disaster zones.

Bones
Courtesy Washington State University
Team: Washington State University How it's made: Researchers print scaffolds with a ceramic powder (human bone is 70 percent ceramic), using the same 3-D printers that produce metal parts found in electric motors. An inkjet covers the ceramic with a layer of plastic binder. This structure is baked at 2,282˚F for 120 minutes and placed into a culture with human bone cells. After a day, the scaffold supports them. Benefit: Every year, millions of automobile-accident survivors suffer from complex fractures, which are difficult to repair using traditional methods. Using MRIs for reference, doctors could print a custom graft that perfectly matches the fracture.

Car of the future!

The most progressive sports car:

The BMW i8 is ready to revolutionize its vehicle class. As the first sports car with the consumption and emission values of a compact car. The strength of the plug-in hybrid lies, among other factors, in the perfect synchronization of electric motor and combustion engine, which makes itself apparent in maximum efficiency and dynamics on the road. The first sports car that even accelerates the zeitgeist.

Progressive driving pleasure:

Progress in motion: a vehicle that fascinates. With innovative Life Drive architecture, ground-breaking materials such as carbon, layering design and numerous intelligent BMW Efficient Dynamics measures. Discover the BMW i8 in action.

Development:

Every great pioneering achievement has its own story. In the case of the BMW i8, it begins in 2008 with the launch of Project i – and with no lesser objective than the reinvention of urban mobility. Just one year later, the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics concept showed what a technology leader geared fully toward energy saving can look like. This was the basis that gave rise to the BMW Concept i8, which demonstrated in near-production-ready form where the development would lead. All available BMW Efficient Dynamics technologies were already united within this vehicle, an intelligent lightweight concept had been implemented, and the idea of a sports car for the future was already detectable. Series production of the BMW i8 marks the current peak of the development: a plug-in hybrid with the appearance and the breathtaking performance of a sports car, which at the same time exhibits the consumption and emissions of a compact car. And thus convincingly resolves the apparent contradiction between efficiency and dynamics.

Design :

Through its overall concept, the BMW i8 embodies the accomplished vision of a modern and sustainable sports car. The highly emotive design instantly shows which qualities the BMW i8 has to offer. Yet is doesn’t rely entirely on its sports car character. Its aesthetics also pursue functional aims: more aerodynamics for maximum efficiency.

Drive system: 

The BMW i8 offers far more than pure athleticism. With its unique drive concept, it essentially reinvents the idea of sporting mobility. This is because the powerful plug-in hybrid system with the combination of BMW eDrive technology and a BMW TwinPower Turbo 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine brings together the benefits of an electric motor and a petrol engine to produce an outstanding driving experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8K4Rq7uhGw

Neurocam

The "neurocam" is a wearable camera system that detects your emotions. It automatically records moments of interest based on an analysis of the users brainwaves.

The analytic's algorithm is based on the sensitivity vales of "interest" and "like" developed by Professor Mitsukura of Keio University and was co-developed with the neurowear team especially for the neurocam. The users interests are quantified on a range of 0 to 100. The smartphone camera is triggered to automatically record and save 5 second GIF clips of scenes when the interest value exceeds 60. The scene is saved together with time stamp and location, and can be replayed in the album function. Scenes can also be taken manually under the "manual mode". It can also be shared socially on Facebook.
                                       
The hardware is a combination of Neurosky's Mind Wave Mobile and a new customized brainwave sensor with the newest BMD chip. It transforms the smartphone into a brainwave analysis device + camera with the smartphone screen displaying scenes of interest as they are being recorded.

Robotics

NASA has unveiled Valkyrie, its new humanoid super robot with distinctive female features that is expected to compete in the upcoming DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials, and perhaps even assist in future space missio

The Valkyrie is a humanoid machine, which measures two inches over six feet in height, has detachable arms, mounted cameras, sonar sensors, and is mobile enough to help in search-and-rescue operations in disaster zones, NASA told IEEE Spectrum. Officially named R5, and developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the super humanoid robot was specially designed for the DARPA competition, and will compete with Boston Dynamics’ Terminator-like Atlas robot.

“During the challenge, robots will demonstrate capabilities to execute complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments,” NASA said, in a statement, adding that the competition would see “robots that can use standard tools and equipment commonly available in human environments, ranging from hand tools to vehicles, with an emphasis on adaptability to tools with diverse specifications.”

Video Hologram Projection System

Musion Eyeliner is a unique high-definition video hologram projection system allowing spectacular freeform3D holographic effects to be projected within a live stage setting using Peppers Ghost technology.

Musion Eyeliner produces holographic images of high resolution and quality that make them unmistakably real, which is what happened when Gorillaz & Madonna performed the opening number at the recent Grammy Awards.

Musion Eyeliner is an open system that uses a specially developed foil in reflecting images from high-definition video projectors, making it possible to show holograms of variable sizes and distinct clarity created using a proprietary software. The entire system consists of a truss box and a stage, where the virtual picture appears.

Drones for the win!

Agriculture use of drones is one of the biggest areas of growth, says the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), a drone trade association. Yamaha's 9-foot long Rmax autonomous helicopter can carry a 62-pound payload and spray 2 acres of farmland in 6 minutes.

The Motion Picture Association of America and the National Football League have both petitioned the FAA to loosen rules on commercial drone use ahead of 2015. Both want to use the technology reduce production costs that sometimes require renting helicopters and using mammoth skybooms for getting top-down shots.
The video camera above is mounted on the film production company Kaspi's octocopter.

Austrian drone maker Schiebel was recently pitching its 10-foot long drone Camcopter drone to TV broadcasters. Schiebel says its drones can be a cost effective alternative to owning a helicopter. According to an article posted on Gigaom, Schiebel was showing off its Camcopter S-100 at a meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters looking for customers earlier this year.
In 2011, Grand Junction, Colorado's Presbyterian church suffered a devastating fire that caused extensive structural damage. When a firefighter fell through a wooden floor while battling the smoldering remains of the blaze officials pulled remaining fire crews out of the church and called for drone support. The local sheriff department used a Draganflyer x6 UAV helicopter style drone outfitted with thermal infrared camera to pinpoint hot spots to soak with water.

Down under the ocean!

Mantabot prototype in action (Credit: University of Virginia)

Researchers from University of Virginia and three other universities have been working on “reverse engineering” the way stingrays and manta rays move through water and have successfully created the Mantabot – an extremely agile robot that can move through water like no other.

There are about 500 species of rays known to men, most of them live on the sea floor and are related to sharks. Rays swim through water in an extremely elegant way but have amazing maneuverability and can move through great distances using very little energy.-

The rays beautiful swim style produces an efficient and effective thrust, which is why engineers were interested in mimicking them

The Mantabot has potential for both scientific research as well commercial applications, However probably the most obvious use will be as a military platform. The Mantabot will be able to travel a great distance underwater carrying a large payload (depending on its size) and perform surveillance and monitoring for both defensive and offensive purposes. It’s not inconceivable that future Mantabots will even be used as suicide drones carrying explosives which can neutralize targets ranging from mines to ships and submarines (after all the research is partially funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research).

 
Developing a mechanical ray is a very complex task and one which has to involve experts in marine biology, bio mechanics, structures, hydrodynamics and control systems. All of them were able, after intensive study of the cow-nosed ray to create a prototype robotic ray which tries to imitate the near-silent flaps of the wing-like fins of a ray, which allows it to swim forward, turn, accelerate, glide and maintain a single position. The team is aiming to do this in almost complete silence and with minimum energy. - The Mantabot flexible silicone body which contains electronics and a battery is remotely controlled by a team member using a computer. The silicone wings also contain rods and cables that expand and retract as well as change shape to allow for the creature “underwater flight”.

Solar Freaking Roadways!

Solar Freaking Roadways!

Introduction to the future

Since the dawn of  humanity, people have been travelling to various places with the major route of transportation being roads. Now, roads as we know are just static gravel and travel which do not give any information to the drivers. Everyone has to look at the signs to figure out where to go. But, with the increment of the technology, humanity can actually dream and work on a road that gives information. It not only gives the information about the road itself, but also communicates to the road management department with statistics on which roads need to be repaired and what time these repairs can take place as to not disturb the traffic pattern too much. 

            





             This is an artists rendition of the interstate.  These solar powered highways will help save our earth from the harmful ways we are using it now.  We are saving electricity which is in turn is reducing the carbon footprint of man. We can make the natural resources of earth last longer than anticipated! 

Everyone will have the power without killing our future. No more power shortages, no more roaming power outages, no more need to burn coal (50% of greenhouse gases). Less need for fossil fuels and less dependency upon foreign oil. Much less pollution. How about this for a long term advantage: an electric road allows all-electric vehicles to recharge anywhere: rest stops, parking lots, etc. They would then have the same range as a gasoline-powered vehicle. Internal combustion engines would become obsolete. Our dependency on oil would come to an abrupt end. 

It's time to upgrade our infrastructure - roads and power grid - to the 21st century. WELCOME TO THE FUTURE!