Category: FutureTech

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Drones FutureTech Release_Candidate

The DIY Kid-tracking Drone

via The DIY Kid-tracking Drone – IEEE Spectrum.

On school-day mornings, I walk my grade-school-age son 400 meters down the hill to the bus stop. Last winter, I fantasized about sitting at my computer while a camera-equipped drone followed him overhead.

 

So this year, I set out to build one.

I had said in several presentations that I was betting that 2012 was the year we’d see the first lawsuits for stalking-by-drone. This project is the first steps to that…if you use professional-grade hardware and add in facial recognition, it’s within the boundaries of current technology to build a drone that identifies someone visually, and then just follows them around, filming them.

That said: This is a _freaking cool_ project. 🙂

Categories
Drones FutureTech Release_Candidate Robots

Romo – The Smartphone Robot

Right now, there’s no wallet-friendly, backpack-sized consumer robot on the market that does these things:

  • Remote 2-way telepresence
  • Computer vision
  • Autonomous navigation
  • Facial recognition

We want to change that, and we need your support.

via Romo – The Smartphone Robot for Everyone by Romotive — Kickstarter.

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Drones FutureTech Release_Candidate

Robot Cooperation

Categories
FutureTech Internet of Things Release_Candidate Wearable computing

Memoto Lifelogging Camera by Memoto — Kickstarter

I’ve been looking for a good answer for lifelogging for awhile, and have been anticipating the point at which the technology drops in price enough to make this possible for the average consumer. Google Glasses is the high-end answer, and this may just be the sort of thing that emerges at the low end.

The Memoto camera is a tiny camera and GPS that you clip on and wear. It’s an entirely new kind of digital camera with no controls. Instead, it automatically takes photos as you go. The Memoto app then seamlessly and effortlessly organizes them for you.

via Memoto Lifelogging Camera by Memoto — Kickstarter.

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3D Printing FutureTech Open Hardware Release_Candidate

3-D Printer Company says “not with our machine”

The WikiWeapons/Printable Gun project seems to be drawing the ire of not only one of the largest 3D printer manufacturers in the US:

Stratasys’s legal counsel wrote back: “It is the policy of Stratasys not to knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes. Therefore, please be advised that your lease of the Stratasys uPrint SE is cancelled at this time and Stratasys is making arrangements to pick up the printer,” stated the letter, which Wilson posted to Defense Distributed’s website. The next day, contractors hired by the company arrived at Wilson’s apartment in an Enterprise rental van and took the printer.

…but also the ATF:

Wilson visited the ATF field office in Austin on Monday to ask about the legal and regulatory issues surrounding the Wiki Weapons project, he tells Danger Room. Instead, he was brought into a room, questioned and was told the agency was preparing to visit his apartment this afternoon for an “investigation,” he says. He added that the ATF believes he’s not broken any laws, and that the agency believes 3-D printed guns fall into a regulatory gray area, but that he still needs to get licensed if he’s to manufacture a weapon.

This is going to be really, really interesting. Is it illegal to post instructions for a printable weapon? Where do those lines fall? The next 5 years is going to make these sorts of questions very troublesome…and just wait another 10 years until molecular-level printing is happening and see what that does for drug laws.

via 3-D Printer Company Seizes Machine From Desktop Gunsmith | Danger Room | Wired.com.

Categories
FutureTech Release_Candidate Wearable computing

Augmented Reality Welding Mask

Incredible augmented reality technology that has real-world, everyday use: use cameras and computers to make seen what can’t been seen by the normal eye. In this case, it’s welding that benefits, but there is an obvious extension into many other fields.

As computers become even more powerful, it will be possible to do similar real-time HDR image processing with little more than a smartphone. There will be a point down the road where humans will be able to manufacture cheap and lightweight glasses that are capable of providing better imaging than our own eyes can manage. This will be one of several points where true augmentation of human capabilities begins — the very definition of cyborg. It’s not science-fiction, it’s the future.

via Augmented Reality Welding Mask With 100 Million to 1 Contrast RatioRoad to Virtual Reality.

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FutureTech Internet of Things Release_Candidate Wearable computing

Sight – a dystopian take on embedded computing

Here’s one take on what omnipresent visual overlay with network connectivity might enable, although with a slight dystopian bent.


Sight on Vimeo on Vimeo

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FutureTech Release_Candidate

Artificial jellyfish built from rat cells : Nature News & Comment

“Morphologically, we’ve built a jellyfish. Functionally, we’ve built a jellyfish. Genetically, this thing is a rat,” says Kit Parker, a biophysicist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the work.

Artificial jellyfish built from rat cells : Nature News & Comment.

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FutureTech Internet of Things Release_Candidate

Google’s amazing Android Accessory Development Kit

I’ve said it before, but the rise of the cheap sensor, combined with ubiquitous connectivity, is going to do more to change the way we interact with our world than you can imagine.

The coolest thing at Google I/O this year isn’t a cheap tablet or a pair of overpriced glasses or even a killer keyboard. It is, believe it or not, an alarm clock. But not just any alarm clock — this is an alarm clock with potential. What you see above, and demonstrated in the video after the break, is the gadget that was handed out to attendees who went to learn about the Android Accessory Development Kit.

Inside Google’s amazing Accessory Development Kit demo hardware (video) — Engadget.

Categories
FutureTech Release_Candidate Wearable computing

Inside Google X’s Project Glass, Part I | Fast Company

Google’s Project Glass product lead Steve Lee walks us through his experience with the development of the company’s sci-fi-inspired eyewear–from his team’s “hundreds of variations and dozens of early prototypes” to his vision of the future.

via Inside Google X’s Project Glass, Part I | Fast Company.