Space Surgeons

Hello guys and welcome. Now we have a rather creepy kind of robot. If anyone has seen the Matrix you’ll remember that creepy belly-button-bug-thing that the bad guys (the agents) put into Neo. From the company Virtual Incision and  developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as part of Nasa’s Human Research Program, this robot is designed to perform surgery via the belly button. I know it sounds strange; why not just get a doctor? Well this robot is designed for uses in remote areas, (really remote) like space. Now at first it doesn’t seem really necessary but imagine you’re an astronaut in space and suddenly develop appendicitis. What’s great about this is that this robot is linked to a remote interface. The robot is sent commands from a linux machine within the surgeon interface. The surgery would be performed from a different location (probably Earth in this case) and the robot would send visual feedback what’s going on inside the abdomen. The robot would use carbon dioxide gas to inflate the stomach for better visibility. The robot is said to be controlled via Phantom Omni haptic devices, a monitor and foot pedals.

The robot surgeon weighs 400g. It begins by making an incision in the belly button and then, once inside, can begin to removing a diseased organ or infected appendix. The research team says that the robot can "facilitate minimally invasive surgical resection of abdominal emergencies" including appendectomies, gallbladder removal, prevention of abdominal bleeding and perforation of gastric ulcers. Once the robot is inside, half of the robot remains outside of the body so that the no carbon dioxide gas escapes and the seal is maintained. The robot has a torso and two arms. Each arm has a shoulder and elbow joint which are powered by a DC motor and an onboard control system. The forearms are fitted with specialized interchangeable tools such as a grasper, a tool for cauterising wounds or surgical scissors.

Now obviously this robot has not been actually made available. Virtual Incision will begin testing the robot in zero gravity on a parabolic flight in 2015. Prototypes have been tested in pigs, so there is still some way to go, but I can imagine that this is the first step to robot surgery. Maybe in the future we will see robots that perform multiple different surgeries and all automatically. Without a doubt this robot is the first step to the future of medical practice.

Sources:

Article: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-04/02/belly-button-surgery-bot-space 

Neo image: http://static02.mediaite.com/geekosystem/uploads/2014/04/matrix-stomach-bug-real-life.jpg 

Space Surgeon image: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/02/article-2595059-1CC39B9B00000578-629_634x474.jpg 

New USB and Time Warp Photos

Hey guys. I just wanted to let you know that I will not be able to post any blogs for about two weeks as I will be in South Africa and probably without any internet, so I will post two blogs, one tonight and then one tomorrow afternoon.  I hope you enjoy! Thanks for all the support!

So I think many of you have had problems with USB cables. It usually takes me about two tries to actually insert the USB and however this may only be a first world problem it is a pet peeve of mine. Now this invention is definitely not going to change the world - maybe it will, who knows - but it is pretty cool and useful. USB type C is a different kind of USB. It’s incredibly small and almost looks like an iPhone 5 charger. Another important factor is that it’s reversible which means that you don’t have to worry about the direction it needs to go in. This is a very early design concept so there aren’t very many tech specs, but I can tell you it offers a bandwidth of 10Gbps (I have NO idea what this actually means but it means something). Obviously no computers actually have this plug so I think it has to actually be approved and then put into manufacturing so I can imagine it will take some time for it to be available on the market. Still I believe that something like this idea will definitely be produced.

Now I’m going to leave you some time warp photos. These pictures are modern day pictures from six different cities that are morphed with pictures of that exact same place from an older time period. It is quite touching and interesting to see how much these areas have changed. I’m only going to pick out my favourite ones, so be sure to check out the link below to see the rest of the photos. Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Sources

USB: http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/2/5573680/first-images-of-the-reversible-usb-cable 

Time Warp Photos: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2014/04/these-time-warp-photos-show-six-cities-in-the-past-and-present/

Space Generator

Sorry this post is coming slightly late. I’m in Paris and the internet in my hotel is really dodgy but I’ll try and post this on Sunday morning. This next concept you are about to read about might the single coolest invention I’ve seen this year. Please welcome the Space Generator.

Designed by Maria and Grigory Malitskaya, Space Generator is a field of height adjustable modules that can transform to create multiple structures. It is quite hard to explain so here are a couple of pictures. Each cell is called a jack plate (the blocks) and can have different designs such as squares, circular, elliptical, trapezoidal and so forth. The cells are driven by hydraulic or electrical means and can be made of different materials. The cells can even have LED screens to display messages.

These cells are then raised and lowered out of the floor to make different floor arrangements. The cells could create areas such as presentation, exhibition, leisure or art spaces. Some of the examples we can see are of a maze, a motorbike and vehicle driving course, and fashion runways however I can imagine that the uses of this are limitless. According to the Red Dot article, Space Generator is self cleaning and can also be installed on walls or on ceilings either outside or inside. Unfortunately this was all I could find whilst researching this concept but I will edit this post if I find anything new.

What I love about this concept are the endless possibilities there are. Personally I would love to see a transformable sports field. For example you could have grass on a cube and then change that material to hard wood allowing for a basketball court without needing to build or find another sports venue to play in. It would be very convenient and save a lot of money. I also believe that Space Generator could be used to also create art exhibits or even build buildings that have never even been thought about being built before allowing the user to express his/her ideas in 3-D. Imagine being able to make a staircase out of the ground just by pressing a button! I can’t wait to see if Space Generator will actually be created and see how it will perform in real time.

Phone That Fits on Your Finger

Before starting our first blog I just want to show you this really awesome yacht made by Rolls Royce. I mean just look at it! It’s got such an interesting and sleek design I wouldn’t be surprised to see James Bond own one of these. Now unfortunately it is only a concept to no guarantees if will it be in production (sorry to all the millionaires out there). Anyway lets move on.

I’ve been seeing some really interesting concepts on Yanko Design (http://www.yankodesign.com/). This one particularly stood out. Designed by Issam Trabelsi, this is a completely new direction to the evolution of cellphones. This one literally goes around your finger. Yes finger. As you can see by the picture it is really portable (not sure why it says Nokia). Made from soft silicone and rubber the phone is actually waterproof! It has basic functions such as texting and calling (not sure how you would text). Similar to some of the smart watches out there, this phone vibrates when you get notifications. 

Now to my disappointment I could barely find anything on this concept so I’m in the dark about this one. Looking at the design there are some immediate flaws I can see. Firstly I can imagine that this design would be relatively uncomfortable and could also easily fall off your finger when swimming or jogging. The biggest flaw I see is the limits of this technology. Sure it’s portable but with all smart phones you have an endless possibility of functions. With this I can only see two. I can imagine this concept would be great for those old fashioned folks that only see phones to be used for talking and texting. As a result I can imagine that if this product were to be put onto the market it would not sell very well. 

We have very similar products to this already (eg. smart watches) which can do a lot more than text and call. The future of cellphones is in portability but also in function. This concept is only following the portability road and almost ignoring the function road. This is a great concept design but I think the only way it would sell if it were able to link with a cell phone so that you don’t have to take it out of your pocket when receiving a call. I can’t picture this device to operate by itself. Anyways fantastic design but definitely needs some thought and revisions to it’s function. Thanks for reading!

Sources: 

Rolls Royce Yacht: http://www.yankodesign.com/2014/03/20/phantom-of-the-marina-rolls-royce-inspired-yacht/ 

Nokia Finger Phone: http://www.yankodesign.com/2014/03/18/on-my-fingertips/ 

Bionic Plants and Smartphone Blood Tests

Hi guys. Hope you've had a great Sunday! Welcome back to another blog entry. We will talk about two different articles today.

First of all I just want to ask you guys, what do you think happened on Malaysian flight 370? I mean how have the authorities not found the plane yet! I personally think it was a hijacking instead of a malfunction. Anyways, it would be great to hear your thoughts and opinions on what happened on flight 370.

Now onto our first article about bionic plants. A team of biologists have successfully turned the flower Arabidopsis thaliana into a pollutant detector with carbon nanotubes. This achievement is pretty amazing as it is but they also want to turn plants into chemical warfare detectors that can sniff out sarin gas (a gas used in chemical warfare) or explosives. The biologists have published a very interesting article, called “Nature Materials”, explaining in depth about their discoveries.

The team firstly began by trying to boost the plant’s ability to absorb sunlight to make sure it would still thrive while working as a detector. To do this, the team put a special type of substance called cerium oxide nanoparticles which was wrapped in polyacrylic acid. The acid delivered carbon nanotubes which helped the chloroplasts absorb different wavelengths of light. This technique together made the chloroplasts thrive for an additional seven hours. When they tried this technique on the Arabidopsis thaliana, they found it boosted energy capture by 30%.

So how does this detect pollution? In plants nitric oxide is a pollutant that contributes to acid rain. The nanoparticles in the pores of the leaves were wrapped in a polymer that made the nanotubes change appearance if nitric oxide bound to it. The system can also detect different molecules such as hydrogen peroxide, TNT and nerve gas in tests unrelated to plants.

This is obviously a very basic to sniffing out everyday pollution but it’s a start. You can only wonder how this technology will apply to our everyday lives and even military uses. I would be interesting to use these plants to show us our pollution emission based on household appliances (I’m not sure exactly what household appliances contribute to pollution but I’m sure there are some). In terms of the military, these plants could be a safer version of mine detectors that could be a safer and more reliable than previous bomb detectors. Amazing how much technology is evolving.

Next we have an article on an interesting use of smartphones. At the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, blood tests have now been developed to be performed with Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. Developed by Qloudlab, this tool is developed for people undergoing anticoagulant treatment which prevents blood clots from forming in the arteries or veins. The main aim of this invention is to see that the patient with thinned blood isn’t at risk of bleeding.

For the test, the system uses a single-use film made out of a microstructured plastic layer on top of the screen (the prototype uses an S4 screen but Qloudlab is confident it will work on other models). A drop of blood from your finger touches and enters the film which makes the blood coagulate. An app on the screen will then tell the patient if there are any disruptions which can then be analysed to tell if the patient if they are at a risk of bleeding. The team is also looking to adapt the system to test for other blood related conditions such as looking for blood glucose levels in diabetes.

So far this idea seems pretty amazing making it a lot easier and safer for patients suffering from different blood diseases. As well as making it more convenient I can imagine that it makes it a lot safer for the patients allowing them to check their blood before any serious conditions evolve. Qloudlab says they hope for their product to reach the commercial market in 2015.

Sources:

CNN image: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/17/opinion/bergen-flight-370-terrorism-role/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Bionic plants article: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/17/bionic-plants-sense-explosives

Arabidopsis thaliana pic:

http://www.uniprot.org/taxonomy/3702

Cerium oxide nanoparticles:

http://www.csj.jp/journals/bcsj/bc-cont/bc81-6.html

Blood test article:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/17/smartphone-blood-test

Qloudlab picture:

http://qloudlab.com/?page_id=2

Blood test picture:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/17/smartphone-blood-test

Drone That Shoots you With 80,000 Volts

Hello all. Hope you have had a great weekend wherever you may be in the world! Today we will take a look at the future of robot security.

With the release of the new RoboCop movie this new article is quite scary. Meet CUPID, a drone that can identify you as an intruder and can shoot you with an 80,000 volt taser (or pepper balls if you’re feeling kind). I personally haven’t seen the movie, RoboCop (or the old one), but I understand that the future of the police force in America has robots patrolling the street making the streets safe. CUPID really doesn’t seem to different to the robots in the movie (of course the size or the fact that it looks nothing like it, but you get the point).

Created by Chaotic Moon in Austin, Texas CUPID (Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone) acts as police officer (possibly a little harsher). The drone is fully autonomous which can identify you as an intruder warning you to stop where you are before it shoots with you a taser. If you try to get up CUPID will continue to pump volts of electricity into you whilst calling the authorities.

Lets take an example of an intruder and how CUPID deals with them. When someone walks onto your property he will activate motion sensors waking CUPID and flies over to get a visual of the person. CUPID notifies you via smartphone and sends you a picture of the person. If it is not an intruder you can tell CUPID to return to it’s post. However if it is an intruder you can tell CUPID intercept the intruder. CUPID tells the intruder to leave, or you can also speak via CUPID to the intruder telling them yourself. If the intruder leaves CUPID returns to it’s post but if the intruder keeps walking, CUPID will shoot them with an 80,000 volt taser. The authorities will then be notified. You can see a video here.

As well as CUPID Chaotic Moon are also working on other drones. There is an oil and gas drone that can remotely inspect gas and pipelines and check for leaks via a thermal camera. Another drone that they are working on can also send out EMP pulses destroying paparazzi drones from spying on people (probably not going to be for the average joe but still pretty cool).

CUPID is also fitted a GoPro Hero 3 camera and can also be flown with virtual reality goggles, allowing the user to see the POV of the drone. As you can see in the picture, CUPID looks quite similar to some of the drones you see at toy stores or on amazon which really makes me think about the consequences of this incredible new technology.

So far this technology is in safe possession but what happens if some “bad guys” get a hold of CUPID and possibly fit it with guns? If any of you have seen or played Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 or Killzone: Shadow Fall you’ll remember the drones you have control of allowing you to shoot other players/bots via drone. Through CUPID this video game idea may come alive. Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of this new technology but if it comes into commercial use I think it is imperative that it stays in the hands of the “good guys” otherwise there may be serious consequences.

Sources:

Article: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2014/03/meet-cupid-the-drone-that-will-shoot-you-with-an-80000-volt-taser/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgt9ElQZ-cc

Black Ops 2 drone: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcallofduty.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FMQ-27_Dragonfire&h=0&w=0&tbnid=zfsBeUY_cKj7FM&tbnh=166&tbnw=303&zoom=1&docid=CNYG4MmEmJVeJM&ei=7rIcU-CaONCUhQfz5oC4Bg&ved=0CAIQsCUoAA

CUPID Drone picture 1: http://rt.com/usa/drone-taser-gun-security-650/

CUPID Drone picture 2: https://alpha.app.net/gizmodo or https://d2br4rmqpyjka9.cloudfront.net/1a5636f1e41debfee9fd3632535b307eaaf378af/687474703a2f2f692e6b696e6a612d696d672e636f6d2f6761776b65722d6d656469612f696d6167652f75706c6f61642f745f6b2d6269677069632f6d776661626762627932616a7335716a3673306d2e6a7067

RoboCop ED 209: http://www.omnicorp.com

Back to the Future Shoes

Hello all. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just got back from the US and have been really busy. You will see two posts today, one about Nike shoes and the other about revolutionary furniture. Anyways lets go Back to The Future. If you remember in Back to the Future part II (if you haven't seen it then watch it) Marty has a really nice pair of Nike shoes which have self fitting laces. The movie is set in 2015 which is only a year away and the bad news is I don’t think we'll be seeing any hoverboards or flying cars.

The good news is that it is possible that we’ll be seeing these kind of shoes available in 2015. Tinker Hatfield, a designer at Nike New Orleans, claimed that these shoes are not too far away from production. We have seen replicas of these shoes but without the self fitting laces. Hopefully when these shoes enter the market they won’t be overly expensive. In 2009 Nike filed a patent for ‘Automatic Lacing System’ and supposedly an ‘Automatic Ankle Clinching System’. A pair of replicas usually go for a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand pounds. Hopefully we’ll see that awesome hoverboard as well.

Our next amazing invention features revolutionary technology in furniture and home space. Boxetti, is produced by a Latvian Company El Studija and is designed by Rolands Landsbergs. Boxetti really is a revolutionary approach to furniture that may come in handy in small houses. Boxetti is designed to make the most out of your space. The models are essentially boxes that then fold out to display various types of furniture.

There are five sets in the collection, Boxetti_Private (bedroom), Boxetti_Practice (office work space), Boxetti_Lounge (living room), Boxetti_Thrill (TV and speakers) and Boxetti_Lunch (kitchen). I won’t go into too much detail here (click on the link below for their website) as I do want to talk more about this.

In the future I can definitely see homes with this kind of furniture in them. As the population increases, in major cities houses/apartments will have less space and will have to make use of the space. Boxetti really does use space effectively allowing you to fold something away if you’re not using it while looking amazing at the same time. To be honest I really can’t find many negatives about this product. Even the prices are reasonable averaging at about 7,500 euros per Boxetti model. It may be a bit confusing and difficult to use at first but my sure that it’s easy to get the hang of.  It’s something out of the science fiction universe that has warped into our dimension.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2014/02/nike-goes-back-to-the-future-with-self-tying-sneakers/

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/nike-back-to-the-future-shoes

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/17/marty-mcflys-self-tying-trainers-on-sale-from-nike-in-2015-4307880/

http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=20140130&CC=US&NR=2014026440A1&KC=A1

http://www.boxetti.com/en/