Kozminski Techblog

Mohamed Dhaouafi founded the new startup Cure Bionics. He was inspired by his friend’s cousin who was born without arms, and her family couldn’t afford prosthetics. He decided that he would create an innovative project that would make it easier for people like her to function. He gathered investors, funds and together with a few engineers, they started working on the mechanical hand.

The parts from which the design was created were mostly printed by a 3D printer. AI sensors help adapt to a patient as their body grows and changes, meaning costly replacements are required less frequently. It is designed to be sleek and user-friendly. solar charging allows the prostheses to function in communities where electricity is intermittent.

Currently is in the testing process. Various types of VR games are used for testing. While playing, the device remembers the movements of our muscles in different situations. That’s why it’s so easy to learn how to use it. Cure Bionics’ prostheses cost much less than other prosthetics. The expected cost of the prosthesis is approximately $ 2000- $ 3000.

Dhaouafi has been included in the global list of promising innovators under 35, compiled by the renowned “MIT Technology Review”. Mohamed strongly believes that disabilities are not obstacles but opportunities and even superpowers and dreams of more inclusive communities.

Sources:

https://www.sztucznainteligencja.org.pl/reka-ladowana-sloncem/

Amputees in Developing Countries Often Can’t Afford Artificial Limbs. A Tunisian Engineer Is Changing That

BMW is trying to reclaim its mantle as a leader in electric mobility. As part of a suite of announcements outlining the German automaker’s latest products, BMW revealed a bold new electric scooter concept: the Motorrad Definition CE 04.

CE 04 is the result of an attempt to create a “smart” car for getting around the city, although its appearance can make you smile. The e-bike is equipped with a flat battery at the bottom, providing 120 kilometers of range. Conveniently and compactly placed the engine and the associated belt drive system.

Under the oblong single seat is an unusual luggage compartment where, for example, you can store your helmet. An important design feature is the specially left open suspension parts. CE 04 is equipped with an on-board computer displaying the technical condition of the scooter and a built-in navigator.

According to scooter producers, CE 04 – exclusively urban. Its future owners are townspeople who drive within 15 kilometers a day. But even though e-scooters are cheap to run, they can be expensive to buy. Prices are coming down but e-scooters from major brands like BMW are far more expensive than petrol versions. For example, the BMW C-Evolution costs just under £13,000 while a standard scooter can cost anything between £1,000-£1,500. You’d be lucky to find a good e-scooter for less.

Of particular interest is an accessory that has nothing to do with the scooter, but nevertheless, created by BMW especially for it – the “smart” driver’s jacket. It is made of waterproof material and has LEDs integrated into its sleeves and hood. You can make it glow with the help of sensors sewn into the sleeves. This jacket also has its own powerbank built in, with the capability of wirelessly charging your phone when it’s in the pocket, and that’s another nice touch. It’s lightly armored and designed to be worn on and off the bike. Again it’ll be interesting to see if, and how this gear makes it through the certification process.

It is obvious that BMW will have a lot of competition if and when it decides to move the CE 04 out of the concept category and into the realm of reality. There are a variety of relatively inexpensive motor scooters available today and more on the way. Of course, the more choice will be, the better for customers, but it is still unknown whether BMW will live up to the expectations imposed on them.

Soutces:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/11/21560306/bmw-electric-scooter-concept-motorrad-definition-ce-04

https://www.techcult.ru/technics/9025-bmw-gotovitsya-zapustit-v-proizvodstvo-sobstvennyj-elektroskuter

https://newatlas.com/motorcycles/bmw-definition-ce-04-electric-scooter/

In the 21 century we started to talk about saving water. With all the changes in the environment the climate is getting hotter, which means we will have less and less water on the earth.

While using a lot of water we are also wasting a tone of money. In many households we cannot detect many problems with our plumbing, so sometimes we just aren’t aware that there is a problem, and we are wasting more water.

• 30% of all water leaks are happening in single-family homes.
• Open taps can waste up to 6 liters of water in an hour.

Phyn was developed over a decade by machine learning researchers at the University of Washington and Belkin International. The technology was created to detect any leaks. This system has many HD ultrasonic sensors that are checking the pressure in you plumbs 240 times every second.

With Phyn you are protecting your newly built home, holiday house, or even your business with any problems in your plumbing system. While it is connected to your place it learns your own schedule of using water and gives you insights on how much of it is being used. While detecting any problems or learning, it can also provide you with some tips on how to use less water. It is now very important to do it, because one day we can have a problem with access to water.

This artificial intelligence product, before your usage, has been learning +40 million showers and many other activities.

Phyn is always on a watch for some leaks to ensure, everything is okay and if not, it will alert you via App or SMS. What I think is amazing about this product is that it can identify small problems that can cause bigger ones. And with that information, that you are provided, you can easily repair them and not pay a lot of money.

You can have everything under control, even on your phone. You can easily download the app from apple or goggle store that connects to the Phyn. With it you can have control this system while you aren’t at home. It gives you opportunity to do the needed actions threw this app. You can also teach it how you use the water, so it won’t ever shut it off when you need it.

Phyn plus not like any other water monitoring processes, uses just a single device, that is in one place, to protect your entire household. It is very innovative, because other products, that are available, need many sensors around your home to detect any problems.

What Phyn offers:

• Get alerted to leaks-SMS and push notifications sent as soon as Phyn Plus detects a leak.
• Auto Shutoff mitigates damage-Once Phyn learns your fixtures, it automatically shuts off your water in event of a leak.
• Turn off your tap, with a tap-Control your home’s water shutoff from anywhere.
• Diagnostic “Plumbing Checks”-Daily tests report on pressure irregularities and tiny leaks.
• Watch your water use-See how much water you use monthly, weekly, daily and hourly.
• Water usage insights-See how much water is used by your showers, toilets, irrigation and more.
• Monitor multiple properties-Easily manage leak alerts and see water usage for up to six properties.
• Frozen Pipe Detection-Early warning alerts before your pipes freeze.

The price for this product ranges from $299 to $699

In my opinion for such a product, that can help us save more money and water, it is a great prize. But the downside is that it is only available in The US and Sweden, it means that it is not spread around the world. The company should also think about applying it in flats, because now it is only available for houses. There is a lot of work to do, but I think with the great mindset, we can save our future.

Sources:

• Phyn | Water Leak Detector | Water Usage Monitoring System
• Water Leak Detection & Fixture Level Montioring Technology by Phyn

If Google refuses to make the Google Street view ….  sheep will. Citizens of the Faroe Islands,  one of the most beautiful islands in the world, asked Google to make a special service for users so they can admire local beauty online. First, their request has been rejected. However, locals have discovered another way to create online 3D maps.

The idea was to attract Google’s attention. So citizens attached cameras to sheeps’ bodies and let them go. In this way, animals have become real explorers helping to solve such a complicated problem. Animals have been having a walk through overwhelming landscapes, dreamlike paths, and green hills. In addition, images have been captured in various ways: by cars, kayaks, ships, on foot, and even wheelbarrows were involved. Almost every creature has been working on this project. The outcome has exceeded all expectations. Organizers believed Google to pay attention and finish their work. Actually, that has happened. Woolly pictures have become a local trend and now there is a specialized service that performs separately from Google. It provides users with unique “woolly” photos and videos, offers sightseen tours and accommodation facilities.

Moreover, locals have also made their own version of Google Translate – The Faroe Islands Translate. This is because you can not learn Faroese words and phrases using Google Translate. 

That is an example of how a problem could be solved in a creative way and how to monetize the outcome.

Sheepview 360 

https://visitfaroeislands.com/ 

The American company, The Walt Disney, has developed a robot that mimics a person’s face’s movements, including blinking and involuntarily moving his head. The sensor in the chest area warns you when you need to return to the person standing next to you. His gaze shifts from direct eye contact to rapid eye movement, known as saccades. Also, the robot moves slightly up and down, simulating breathing. The publication notes that most humanoid robots focus their gaze on the human face, but this is not how humans communicate. The Disney team of researchers explained in their paper “Realistic and interactive view of the robot”: “The view is a key social signal that shapes people’s perceptions of each other when interacting. For example, people with whom we have more eye contact are perceived by us as more intelligent, honest, sincere, and reliable. The developers added that a view is an important tool for the interactive nature of the robot. The study aims to develop a system that mimics the mutual human gaze. Disney will be able to use this technology for animatronic characters in its theme parks. The company’s research division has been working for some time to make more realistic robots; in 2018, he introduced his robot Stickman, which could do a backflip in the air, “to mimic the height of a man performing a trick with his hands raised above his head.”

Realistic and Interactive Robot Gaze

Are you in the market for a new phone and have large amounts of disposable income? You might want to look into this new device by XOR coming to the market in the first quarter of 2021. It is called Xor Titanium. It is a luxury “dumb” phone, that will cost you a low price of just under $4,000.

XOR is a successor to Vertu, a Britain-based company handmaking luxury phones, that was forced to close down due to high prices of it’s phones and the growing market of smartphones. According to Hutch Hutchison, the co-founder and head of design, the company learned from the mistakes of its predecessor, namely trying to compete with the big names in the smartphone industry like Samsung or Apple. Hutchison says that Titanium is “something that aspires to be in that select group of objects that feel personal, say something about you and that you treasure.” That it is a “little wingman,” and will “look after you.”

So for that price tag the phone must have some of the most amazing hardware, right? Well… not really. As it is an old fashion cell phone it is technologically very simple. It has no touch screen, no app store and no time wasting games. What it does feature however is a 256-bit AES encryption. It provides end-to-end encryption of calls and messages, even over the  highly insecure GSM network. But the encryption only works when messaging or calling other XOR devices. It also features a battery said to last 5 days and an air-quality sensor, that checks the air quality every hour and notifies you if anything is wrong. What the sensor detects is not known as Hutchison himself is not sure, but he did mention air pollutants and strange chemicals. The phone itself is also quite good looking, made with high quality titanium and wrapped in leather.

With a high price tag, security features and the ability to wipe the phone remotely using a secure code, the device seems to be targeted at a very specific market including people like spies, high class criminals and other shady individuals. For a normal person this phone is likely going to be a pass as most of sane individuals expect a device of that price to be more akin to a small, portable personal computer and not an expensive WhatsApp machine.

sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2020/11/28/rich-mans-whatsapp-the-4000-xor-phone-encrypts-calls-and-texts/?sh=1eb1b9192325

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/vertus-successor-xor-to-launch-first-phone-in-2021-report/articleshow/79176513.cms

https://www.gsmarena.com/xor_is_the_spiritual_successor_of_vertu_launching_its_first_phone_in_q1_2021-news-46215.php

In 2018 Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of a division dedicated to blockchain and David Marcus, Facebook vice president, was moved from Facebook Messenger to a new division.  Confirmation that Facebook intended a cryptocurrency, known as”Global Coin” or “Facebook Coin”  first emerged in 2019. Libra was formally announced on June 18, 2019 as brand-new currency tied to a basket of fiat currencies and securities. Many central banks and regulators have been concerned about this project. That’s why the Libra Association, the consortium created by Facebook, changed course and started working on several single-currency stable coins. According to a report from the Financial Times, cryptocurrency Libra could launch in January 2020.

Stable coins are cryptocurrencies that do not fluctuate in value against a specific fiat currency. This gives Libra a big advantage over bitcoin. Libra mentioned USD, EUR, GBP or SGD as base currencies for its various stable coins: 50% United States dollar, 18% Euro, 14% Japanese yen, 11% Pound sterling and 7% Singapore dollar.

Facebook will most likely launch its own Libra wallet, Novi, at the same time.

Novi is a pure Facebook project headed by David Marcus. You will be able to download a standalone Novi app on your phone. While you do not need a Facebook or WhatsApp account to create a Novi account, it will also be accessible directly in Messenger and WhatsApp — you’ll be able to tap on a button to launch a Novi menu to send and receive money through the Novi wallet. It promises instant transactions and “no hidden fees” for cross-border money transfers and local payments. It is unclear whether Novi means there will not be any fees or there will be fees but the company will be transparent about them. Novi will also act as a ramp to convert fiat money to crypto assets and cash out your cryptocurrencies to traditional fiat currencies.But the main disadvantage – only a limited set of countries will be able to access the service at first.

It difficult to say whether Libra and Novi will be successful or not as it sounds great and promising on the one hand. But, on the other hand, one similar project has already failed. It was called ‘Gram (TON)’ and held by cross-platform Telegram and Pavel Durov. Unfortunately, on May 12, 2020, Pavel Durov officially announced in his Telegram channel the closure of the TON project, which involved the use of the Gram cryptocurrency due to the fact that the court of New York banned the Gram cryptocurrency.

Taking into consideration the fact, that Libra is still awaiting approval from United States regulators, we may only wish the Libra Association all the best the and look forward to seeing how the project will be implemented.

Sources:

https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/27/facebooks-libra-could-launch-in-january/

https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/26/facebook-rebrands-libra-wallet-service-calibra-to-novi/

https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5b4c83a578c21800a90ae56c/gram-kriptovaliuta-ot-telegram-kakovy-ee-perspektivy-5bdaa71cc6575b00aa875d66

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram

Did you have a desire to talk to your pet? Did you want to understand him? If not, don’t even keep reading, otherwise this article is for you.

A new cat translator app called Meowtalk has been creating a lot of excitement in the press recently. The Android app claims to help you understand what your cat is trying to say to you. Top cat apps are nothing new, but Javier Sanchez, a former Amazon engineer who worked on Alexa’s voice recognition device, created this one.The Meowtalk app actually analyses cat sounds to see if it can work out the meaning behind them.

Strangely, meows are mostly a human-cat interaction rather than one used between cats themselves. As Sanchez explained to KING5: “It’s not a language. They don’t share words or communicate with each other. Cats never meow at each other out in nature.”

Well in case you’re wondering how it works, MeowTalk records the sound and then attempts to identify the meaning. Cat’s meows mean different with different pitch and sound.

The cat’s owner also helps to label the translation, creating a database for the AI software to learn from. Currently, there are only 13 phrases in the app’s vocabulary including: “Feed me!”, “I’m angry!” and “Leave me alone!”

Of course, the developers don’t want to stop there. The ultimate objective is to develop a smart-collar that would translate your cat’s meow instantly.

“I think this is especially important now because, with all the social distancing that’s happening, you have people that are confined at home with … a significant other – this feline,” Javier Sanchez, group technical program manager at app developer Akvelon, explained.

It’s certainly a fun step along the way to communicating with our feline friends, and with over 100,000 downloads of the app already, that database of cat sounds is just going to grow – who knows what can be done with that data in the future?

Sources:

https://www.google.com.ua/amp/s/www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/11/19/how-to-download-meowtalk/%3Famp

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54991693

https://www.en24news.com/homepage-infinite-scroll

The history of Hummer is unique and interesting. It started in the late 1970s with HMMWV model, which won a US Army tender for a car for military. First prototype was made in 1980, but it gained popularity in 1991 during the Operation Desert Storm. In 1999 General Motors bought the company. Everybody wanted a Hummer in 2000s. Due to high gas prices and environmental activist, in 2009 Hummer declared bankroupcy. GM tried to sell it a Chinese company. Now American producer is writing a new history for Hummer.

First Hummer H1 had a big Detroit Diesel engine which is closely related to a truck’s engine. It had a 6,2 L engine, but in its last year of production, Hummer changed to a new Duramax engine, with a huge 6,6 L capacity and 300hp.

New Hummer EV is completely different. It is undoubtably a more technologically superior and stronger model. Powered by 3 electric motors with a total of 1000hp it can reach 560km on a single charge, according to the producer.

Customers will have access to revolutionary charging stations, with a power 350 kW, enabling nearly 100 miles of range in 10 minutes of charging. Because of that it can go 0-60mph in only 3.0 seconds. This is a very impressive time; in comparison, 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista Spider reaches 60mph in 2.9 seconds, just a 0,1 second faster!

In addition, this electric pickup truck will come with 35-inch wheels on 18-inch rims, and with new crabwalk feature, your car will even have the ability to move sideways. It also has air ride suspension to rise approximately 6”.

Another feature that is very helpful is EV’s cameras. In your modern vehicles you have a backup camera and sometimes in the front.  In this all new Hummer you have UltraVision- 18 camera views. All cameras a waterproof. They are placed low to see beyond skid plates. Also some cameras include a wash function and lens protection.

In contrast to Hummer H1, new EV model will be flooded with electronics. Interior will have 13,5-inch and 12,3-inch screens. Back window will be remoted electronically. Windows from the big panoramic roof can be removed and hidden in the front trunk.

At this moment you cannot get the Hummer EV because the reservations are already full. If you were lucky to reserve one, the start of production will take place in ZERO Detroit/Hamtramck plant of GM in late 2021. First Hummer will be out on the street in spring 2022. All the Hummer EV edition one will be the same. With 3 electric engines, only in white color interior. GMC announced that they will also create other hummers with less horsepower in 2023 and 2024.

The latest version will be EV². Price will be around $79.995. For EV 1^st edition you must pay $112,595. They price is higher because it has 1 more motor, 100 more-mile range, 375 more horsepower, and 4,100 more LB-ft of torque.

For those interested I will link the video to the crabwalk feature.

Sources:

https://www.gmc.com/electric-truck/hummer-ev

https://www.motor1.com/news/449980/2022-gmc-hummer-ev/

https://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle-make/ferrari-0-60-mph-times/