May 2021 show notes
Story 1: This Swedish carbon-fiber battery could revolutionize car design
Source: Ars Technica Story by Jonathan Gitlin
As consumer demand for longer range all-electric vehicles grows, increasing the size and weight of batteries is not a viable long-term solution for the auto industry.
But what if some of a car’s basic structural components [for example a car’s chassis] could be batteries themselves?
A group of researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden recently achieved a breakthrough by creating a remarkable formula for a material strong enough to make structural components and serve as batteries at the same time!
OK, here’s the super geeky science behind this amazing innovation:
The University’s prototype structural battery material combines a carbon-fiber anode and a cathode made with lithium-iron phosphate-coated aluminum foil.
The anode and cathode layers are then sandwiched between a glass fiber separator to create a battery electrolyte matrix material strong enough to be formed into structural components.
OK reality check – the research team noted that it will be years before structural components in a car can be replaced with these new structural composite batteries.
But this discovery could help usher in a new era of longer range, lighter weight electric vehicles.
Story 2: Robotic lizards may play a role in the future of disaster surveillance
Source: Washington Post Story by Dalvin Brown
Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/04/06/innovations-robot-lizard-australia/
Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia have created a
vertical wall climbing robotic lizard equipped with a video camera to help rescue teams have eyes into difficult to access areas, such as a collapsed building.
To figure out how lizards climb up walls, the team captured two lizard species and filmed them walking and climbing.
Geckos were filmed walking across a plastic vertical surface while Australian water dragons were filmed slithering across a specialized carpet.
The researchers used software to track the animals’ foot placement and how their bodies moved before constructing a remarkable clawed robot prototype.
Their robotic lizard is nine inches long, and has legs and feet designed to mimic the way lizards can defy gravity and climb vertical flat surfaces.
The feet have pushpins for claws, allowing them to grip into surfaces and release with ease.
Story 3: Microsoft Lands $22 Billion to Put Custom HoloLens Headsets on U.S. Soldiers
Source: Gizmodo.com STORY BY Victoria Song
Link: https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-lands-22-billion-to-put-custom-hololens-head-1846597839
Microsoft recently inked a contract with the military to deliver more than 120,000 augmented reality headsets over the next 10 years.
Reminder: augmented reality is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world. Think Pokémon GO.
The new, custom headsets are based on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset which will be linked to the company’s cloud computing services.
The headsets will enable soldiers to see a map and a compass, as well as thermal imaging for night vision capabilities.
And the headsets are also capable of helping soldiers aim a weapon.
Microsoft believes the headsets will also help keep soldiers safer by “enabling information and decision-making communications.”
Story 4: Researchers develop health tech tool that can detect vital signs from a person’s face via video
Source: Gizmodo.com Story by Lisa Stiffler
Link: https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-lands-22-billion-to-put-custom-hololens-head-1846597839
A team of scientists from the University of Washington and Microsoft Research have developed new technology that allows medical providers to remotely check a patient’s pulse and heart rate.
The tool uses the camera on a remote patient’s smartphone or computer to capture video of their face.
The video is then analyzed to measure changes in the light reflected by a patient’s skin, which correlates to changes in blood volume and motion that are caused by blood circulation.
The research team used machine learning, three datasets of videos, and health statistics to train its system.
One challenge the team faced was that the accuracy of the new technology varied with different skin colors.
Lighter skin is more reflective, while darker skin absorbs more light, and the tool needs to perceive subtle changes in the reflections.
To overcome this problem the team increased the video capture of a patient’s face to 18 seconds.
The longer video segment is then used to calibrate the machine learning program to accommodate for an individual’s skin tone before it calculates pulse and heart rate.
This is a great example of the global research in progress to boost remote health care diagnostics.
Story 5: NASA’s Perseverance rover recently split CO2 to make breathable air on Mars
Source: ScienceNews.com Story by Lisa Grossman
Link: https://bit.ly/3eLhuwx
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover recently operated an experimental device that split carbon dioxide molecules into their component parts, creating about 10 minutes’ worth of breathable oxygen.
It was also enough oxygen to make tiny amounts of rocket fuel.
The instrument, about the size of a toaster, is called MOXIE (which stands for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment).
Carbon dioxide is the primary component of the red planet’s atmosphere.
And this device breaks oxygen atoms off of carbon dioxide.
Think of it as working like “an electrical tree” that breathes in CO2 and breathes out oxygen.
On April 20, the instrument ran for long enough to produce five grams of oxygen.
That’s not enough to breathe for very long.
But NASA’s main reason to make oxygen on Mars isn’t for breathing, it’s for, in the future, and on a much larger scale, making rocket fuel for the return journey of spacecraft to Earth.
Story 6: Mars might be hiding most of its old water underground, scientists say
Source: The Verge Story by Joey Roulette
Link: https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/16/22332649/water-on-mars-martian-researchers-nasa
Until recently scientists believed that nearly all of the water on Mars escaped into space billions of years ago.
However, a new report in the journal Science suggests that vast amounts of ancient Martian water may have been buried beneath its surface.
The new findings from a team of scientists at the California Institute of Technology may help better explain the disappearance of the planet’s water, which was abundant on the surface of Mars billions of years ago.
Using data from Mars probes, rovers, and meteorites, the team found that between 30 to 99 percent of the Red Planet’s water could have vanished from the surface between 3.7 to 4.1 billion years ago.
These new research findings suggest that the water was locked away in the rocks of Mars through a geological process called crustal hydration.
In fact, through crustal hydration the researchers now believe as much water as roughly half of the Atlantic Ocean remains trapped underground on Mars.
Story 7: U.S. Startup Promises Battery That Could Last Up To 28,000 Years
Source: TechTimes.com Story by Lee Mercado
Link: https://www.techtimes.com/articles/258611/20210331/diamond-nuclear-battery-lasts-forever.htm
California-based startup Nano Diamond Battery recently announced a battery made out of diamonds and nuclear waste that could last up to 28,000 years without charging.
The company’s new diamond battery technology is primarily intended for deep space probe applications.
The new battery technology now in development would derive its power from radioactive isotopes recycled from nuclear waste, specifically from radioactive graphite.
To absorb the energy emitted by the isotopes, the battery will be enveloped with layers of panels embedded with nano-diamonds.
Since isotopes generally have half-lives that last thousands of years, and diamonds are excellent heat conductors, the battery will keep emitting energy for thousands of years without the need for recharging.
The team at Nano Diamond Battery is also developing a diamond battery that would last for nine years for mobile phones and consumer electronics.
Story 8: High-tech wearable robots that make you super strong and tireless may someday be available in retail outlets like Home Depot
Source: based on BBC News Story by Bernd Debusmann
Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56660644
Robotic exoskeletons are increasingly being used around the world in warehouses, factories, and for many other applications.
In simple terms, a robotic exoskeleton is an external device you wear.
Sometimes also referred to as “wearable robots”, they can be battery-powered and computer-operated, incorporating motors and hydraulics.
A full body robotic exoskeleton can give you super strong legs, back and arms.
For example, Delta airlines is testing a full body robotic exoskeleton for freight handling and other physically demanding tasks.
One California based robotic exoskeleton manufacturer SuitX [that’s S U I T X] recently made news by predicting that robotic exoskeletons may go mainstream
in the not too distant future.
However, right now the cost of robotic exoskeletons currently available is the challenge, as today they cost around $45,000.
But the team at SuitX predicts they can drive down the cost of making their robotic exoskeletons to the point where they could be sold at outlets like Home Depot.
And the SuitX team also predicts there could be a market for recreational exoskeleton robotics as well.
Story 9: Mushrooms Growing on Mars? Rock-Like Formations on Surface May Actually Be Fungi
Source: Science Times Story by Marie Morales
A new study, Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior From Sequential Images, published this month in the journal Advances in Microbiology contends that what NASA has identified as rocks are fungus-like life forms growing on the Martian surface.
The study,created by an international team including scientists from China and the United States, claimed that the odd ‘puffball-like’ rocks found on Mars “are actually mushrooms.”
After analyzing images captured by the Curiosity rover and the orbiting craft, HiRISE, the team claimed that the mushroom-like puffballs appeared to shrink, reappear and disappear over a number of days, weeks, and even months.
In one instance, the team said there is evidence of the fungi “re-sprouting” in tracks that the NASA Curiosity rover left behind.
This is not the first time such a claim has been made. Another study released two years ago also suggested the possibility of mushroom-like life forms growing on the surface of Mars.
Story 10: Robot Uses Lasers to Eradicate 100,000 Weeds Per Hour
Source: Popular Mechanics Story by Caroline Delbert
Link: https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a36331690/autonomous-farming-robot-kills-weeds/
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPhhw-2ShI&t=1s
There’s a new autonomous tractor robot from a company called Carbon Robotics that can destroy 100,000 weeds per hour—day or night.
It looks like a big rectangular metal box on four wheels
Here’s how it works:
The chassis of the tractor uses GPS and computer vision to autonomously drive within the bounds of a field, navigate furrows, and automatically turn around to start on the next row.
While the tractor moves at about 5 miles per hour, its 12 high-resolution cameras continuously scan the ground below.
Meanwhile, an onboard computer uses artificial intelligence-based machine learning to identify weeds in mere milliseconds.
Once the robot pinpoints weeds, it fires its eight carbon dioxide lasers at them.
Carbon dioxide lasers run electricity through a gas-filled tube with reflective mirrors on the ends of the tube which deliver a form of ultra-powerful infrared light.
In fact, the light produced is so powerful it could cut through various materials from wood to steel!
A single Carbon Robotics robot can weed 15 to 20 acres in a day.
The price for the new robot has yet to be disclosed, but is expected to be $200,000 or more!
With that price point the likely target for this Robot would be large corporate mega farms.
Story 11: Xwing completes first autonomous gate-to-gate commercial cargo flight
Source: Engadget.com Story by S. Shah
Link: https://www.engadget.com/xwing-first-autonomous-commercial-cargo-flight-160057111.html
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2uc98EEPqE&t=1s
Today, several companies are building unmanned flying vehicles from scratch, but autonomous aviation startup Xwing is taking a different approach by focusing on software for existing aircraft.
In April the company announced a major milestone by completing the first fully autonomous gate-to-gate demonstration of a commercial cargo flight.
The breakthrough saw a Cessna Grand Caravan utility plane (equipped with Xwing’s AutoFlight software) leave the gate, taxi, take-off, land and return to the gate by itself.
The only human involvement in the experiment was a ground-based operator who managed communications with air traffic control.
Xwing’s AutoFlight software uses a mix of radar, satellite navigation, optical cameras and lidar to detect and avoid other aircraft and obstacles.
In the future, the company foresees a single human ground controller monitoring air traffic control for multiple flights using a simple point and click mechanism.
Xwing believes that by retrofitting existing aircraft with its autonomous system it can get to market sooner than companies building autonomous aircraft from the ground up.
Story 12: Carnegie Mellon University’s snake robot can now swim underwater
Source: The RobotReport.com
Link: https://www.therobotreport.com/snakebot-carnegie-mellon-swims-underwater/
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOef5IHyrTI
Carnegie Mellon University’s acclaimed snake-like robot can now slither its way underwater, allowing the modular robot to inspect ships, submarines and underwater infrastructure for damage.
The university’s Biorobotics Lab team recently tested the Hardened Underwater Modular Robot Snake in the university’s swimming pool.
They maneuvered the robot through underwater hoops, showing off its precise
and smooth swimming, and demonstrating its ease of control.
The university’s video of this robot in action is a must see!
The robot incorporates a clever array of propellers and modular, connected body segments to achieve its remarkable fluid snake-like movements.
Developed through a grant from the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, the project aims to assist the Department of Defense with inspecting ships, submarines and other underwater infrastructure for damage.
Story 13: Scientists Read Minds to Understand How the Human Brain Controls Tool Use
Source: SciTechDaily.com
Link: https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-read-minds-to-understand-how-the-human-brain-controls-tool-use/
Researchers at the University of East Anglia in England have made an astonishing discovery about how our brains control our hands.
They used MRI data to study which parts of the brain are used when we handle tools, such as a knife.
They read out the signal from certain brain regions and tried to distinguish when participants handled tools appropriately for use.
Humans have used tools for millions of years, but this research is the first to show that actions such as grasping a knife by its handle for cutting are represented by brain areas that also represent images of human hands, our primary ‘tool’ for interacting with the world.
The lead researcher on the team noted,”until now it was assumed that the brain segregates visual information … to optimize processing of actions associated with tools. But how the human brain controls our hands to correctly grasp 3D objects such as tools was not well understood.”
The research could pave the way for the development of next-generation neuroprosthetics — prosthetic limbs that tap into the brain’s control center, and help rehabilitate people who have lost function in their limbs due to brain injury.
Story 14: New Sweat Sensor for Non-Invasive Glucose Measurement
Source: Medgadget.com Story by Conn Hastings
Link: https://www.medgadget.com/2021/05/sweat-sensor-for-non-invasive-glucose-measurement.html
The need for regular finger pricks is a barrier for many patients with diabetes in regularly testing their glucose levels.
Now, researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a skin moisture sensor that measures glucose levels on the skin and converts those readings into accurate blood sugar estimates.
As glucose levels in sweat can vary from person to person, the sensor incorporates algorithms that personalize the measurement for each user, requiring finger-prick calibration once or twice each month.
A user simply places their finger on the sensor for a period of 1 minute to collect enough skin moisture to test.
The sensor consists of a polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel which absorbs the skin moisture.
The gel lies over an electrochemical sensor, which detects and measures the amount of glucose present through an enzymatic reaction that creates an electrical charge.
Collected data are interpreted using an algorithm that corrects the reading for each user based on a monthly finger prick calibration.
So far, the device has been tested in a small number of volunteers and could accurately predict blood glucose levels before and after a meal with over 95% accuracy.