Ian Bell is the owner of Slightly Mad Studios, which is company that focuses on gaming such as racing on mainstream consoles and PCs. Jumping out of its shell, the Slightly Mad team decided to build a console that had virtual reality integrated into the system. They’ve decided to dub this new console MadBox. Bell took to his personal Twitter account to talk about how this particular VR hadset is capable of 180fps, which has never been achieved before.

Key Takeaways:

• The Mad Box is able to reach 180fps, which no other VR headset is able to reach.
• Mad Box’s owners are in contact with over 20 hardware companies in order to choose the best candidate for manufacturing.
• The team of developers at Mad Box have the necessary skills to create a cost-effective plan with optimal functionality.

“When pressed about Slightly Mad’s lack of hardware production experience, Bell pointed to his first job “28 years ago” building PCs. Bell does not list that work experience on his LinkedIn page, nor did he clarify how that experience in a PC-building shop might apply to our question about “producing a computer system at scale.””

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/project-cars-studio-announces-its-next-project-a-next-gen-wireless-vr-console/

EPFL and the University of Zurich have created a drone that is able to fold itself while in flight. A servo motor is located in each of the drone’s arms which helps spin the propeller as it is swerving through the air. Since it is a compact drone once it is folded, it is able to avoid many external disturbances that other drones of larger sizes cannot avoid. This helps it capture much more footage due to being air-bound for much longer periods.

Key Takeaways:

• Unlike humanoids which can easily change their shape, quadrotors cannot but quadrotors are fast, cheap, and capable of performing several tasks.
• Although there have been drones in the past that could change their shape in flight, the foldable drone in the article has arms which can rotate independently.
• The configuration of the foldable drone arms could be asymmetric and some configurations of the arms are: completely unfolded (“X morphology”), completely folded (“O”), and straight line (“H”).

“The (relatively) simple design helps the Folding Drone maintain both efficiency and versatility, allowing it to operate autonomously with onboard sensing and computing. It doesn’t sound like the drone can autonomously decide how to reconfigure itself to get past an obstacle yet, but the researchers are definitely working on that.”

Read more: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/foldable-drone-changes-its-shape-in-mid-air

Commercial airlines are trying to find a way to help reduce their carbon footprint in order to contribute to the avoidance of the earth warming by another two degrees Celsius. The process of developing electric airplanes that have this ability requires finding a battery that is capable of handling the battery density necessary to maintain prolonged flights. Since the most common lithium batteries only come with a density of 250-watts, this is quite an extensive project in itself.

Key Takeaways:

• The world is doing its best to keep the global temperatures from rising above two percent each year but to achieve this would involve more than just decarbonization.
• Decarbonization in energy use or the elimination of carbon or fossil fuels for energy has already started in things like cars and buses.
• One drawback of using batteries for air travel is that they have relatively low energy density, and a lot of weight and space would be needed to use them.

“The researchers look at a set of related issues. One is whether batteries can reach an energy density sufficient to make using them for air travel possible. The other is whether doing so will be economical.”

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/12/when-will-electric-airliners-make-sense/

Just last year, Rocket Lab released its Electron booster three different times, two of those times being within a two month time span alone. It is presumed that the Electron booster will be sought out by the national security market with it being such a prominent advancement in the space world. A space tourism program is also expected to start, with Virgin Galactic reaching space last year. Spectators assume it will begin this year in 2019.

Key Takeaways:

• The Electron Booster by Rocket Lab has been released two times in just the past two months alone.
• Many companies are looking to secure profit through this invention due to its national security market.
• A Dragon spacecraft is rumored to be released by SpaceX in the next few months.

“This is probably the year that NASA’s commercial crew program finally gets off the ground. Originally, the agency targeted 2015 for the launch of private spacecraft built by Boeing and SpaceX to the International Space Station, but chronic underfunding by Congress hampered development.”

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/01/this-year-offers-much-to-look-forward-to-in-spaceflight/

Companies such as Google are now creating their own chips with neural networking technology in order to enhance how their software is able to dissect and recognize images. Many experts note that 2012 was the most vital year in the development of image recognition because that is when the AlexNet paper came out. One of these experts is Sean Gerrish, who spoke about how before the development of AlexNet paper, everyone just put image recognition technology on the back burner.

Key Takeaways:

• As data sets and networks expand, the levels of accuracy across software brands significantly increases.
• Images are recognized by the right side of the graphic’s neurons lighting up to a certain digit.
• Each graphic has an output of a sequence of neurons that display themselves in a specific way to enhance recognition.

“Prior to 2012, deep neural networks were something of a backwater in the machine learning world. But then Krizhevsky and his colleagues at the University of Toronto submitted an entry to a high-profile image recognition contest that was dramatically more accurate than anything that had been developed before.”

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/12/how-computers-got-shockingly-good-at-recognizing-images/

Project Soli is now the only gesture chip that can be found within Google’s public project database, and it has recently been approved by the FCC. Google has spent years trying to develop a radar-based gesture chip that is able to detect motion at an increasingly intricate rate. Their goal has been to develop a chip that can sense even the simplest maneuvers nearby, and they’ve achieved this with the release of their newest gesture chip product.

Key Takeaways:

• Digital devices that can detect hand movements are typically equipped with Project Soli radar chips.
• Since a frequency band of 57- to 64-GHz has been approved by the FCC, Google now has the most efficient Project Soli technology.
• When it comes to Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects department, Project Soli is the last project remaining.

“The biggest news to come out of the FCC documents is just that Project Soli isn’t dead. The project is being developed at Google’s “Advanced Technology and Projects” (ATAP) division, which is infamous for announcing important-sounding projects that never see the light of day.”

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/googles-project-soli-radar-gesture-chip-isnt-dead-gets-fcc-approval/

A nanoelectronics company called imec is introducing a hydrogel-based smart contact lens that has electronic features integrated into the lens itself for higher levels of functionality. Manufacturers have to work hard to build these electronic components in a flexible manner that will fit naturally with the contact lens itself. Not only do these smart contact lenses help correct common vision abnormalities such as presbyopia, they can also help those who are suffering from various iris deficiencies.

Key Takeaways:

• These contact lenses are made of a flexible yet innovative material that is referred to as hydrogel-based.
• The key is to ensure that these electronic contacts have elements that are still compatible with current technology.
• Those who suffer from aniridia or coloboma can utilize these smart contacts for effective treatment.

“The lens incorporates a blue LED light that is powered by a radiofrequency antenna. The antenna should also allow for any integrated sensors to transmit data to a handheld device for analysis. At present, the device represents a proof-of-concept, and imec hopes to expand its capabilities in the future.”

Read more: https://www.medgadget.com/2018/12/smart-contact-lenses-are-here-interview-with-prof-herbert-de-smet-of-imec.html

A man named Danny Bal was riding his motorcycle in the city of Ocala, when a driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into him. Bal was left critically injured, but Cyberdyne’s HAL exoskeleton is now giving him and tons of other patients hope in regaining their mobility. This particular exoskeleton works by stabilizing patients who have spinal cord injuries as they walk on a treadmill system with two different tracks. It helps simulate a natural walking experience that they otherwise would not be able to achieve.

Key Takeaways:

• One of the patients who utilized this exoskeleton was Danny Bal who was in a serious motorcycle accident that impacted his thoracic vertebrae.
• The Brooks rehabilitation center was the first facility to administer the use of these exoskeletons.
• The exoskeleton partially works by two harnesses stabilizing the patient over two treadmill tracks.

“Encouraged by the results they’ve seen so far, the Brooks staff plans to help Cyberdyne bring HAL to five more hospitals in the United States this year. Brooks is currently finalizing contracts to host and train visiting staff from those hospitals at their Jacksonville facility.”

Read more: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/bionics/cyberdynes-hal-medical-exoskeleton-helps-patients-walk-again-at-first-us-facility

A new streaming service, GIBLIB, has been developed for the purpose of continuing medical education. High quality videos are captured during procedures featuring narration from the surgeon. This allows medical professionals and students to learn from experts easily at lower costs. It also allows professionals to participate in continuing education more readily and avoid the hassle and cost of travel associated with teaching. The filming process is easy and requires little equipment to implement in operating rooms without disrupting the procedure at hand.

Key Takeaways:

• This database gives medical students and physicians a library full of medical procedures and lectures to view and listen to.
• Access to this extensive information gives both students and practitioners the ability to stay updated with the most current medical advancements.
• According to Brian Conyer, video content is one of the most efficient ways to learn due to how scalable it is.

“GIBLIB recently announced a partnership with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to deliver the first ever Continuing Medical Education (CME) accredited course filmed exclusively in 360-degree virtual reality. On the heels of this, we are excited to feature an exclusive interview with the co-founder and CEO, Brian Conyer.”

Read more: https://www.medgadget.com/2018/12/the-future-of-medical-education-looks-a-lot-like-netflix-interview-with-brian-conyer-ceo-of-giblib.html

The amount of things that are changing due to artificial intelligence is amazing. Smart cities are popping up all over the place and many of them are being overseen by AI machines. This is really cool and some find it to be really efficient while others feel it is scary. Cities still need the average worker to be able to do things for them. Average work is something that people still need but AI is going to be put them out of jobs.

Key Takeaways:

• There are plenty of things that are going to be affected by the implementation of artificial intelligence.
• There is so much information that is being used for all of these new technological initiatives.
• Asia is one of the world leaders when it comes to using artificial intelligence to their advantage.

“AI and machine learning can turn “Smart” cities’ mountain of data into lifesaving insights.”

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/12/unite-day3-1/