Kozminski Techblog

Computers have gone through big changes since their release to the public. They have gone from a cubed-shaped box to a simple folding laptop. They started heavy and ugly and through innovation became light and elegant. Their usage became much more simple and nowadays most of the population is using a computer. Each year new features are being added or updated to our devices and one of them could soon be “Typealike”.

Typealike is a new technology that uses your computer camera to sense your hand movement and carry out commands based on what symbol you are showing with your hand. For example, when the user shows the webcam their thumb pointing upwards, the volume will change to higher. The technology was built by machine learning techniques and is able to understand a variety of different hand movements. Each user could set their own hand gestures to specific commands based on their liking. The point of this is to make the user experience faster and smoother.

The question is whether this system will actually make it easier to use the computer. You can change the volume of your device with a press of a button anyway so making a hand gesture to do it might not make such a big difference in accessibility. Perhaps Typalike could be implemented in different fields such as replacing the need for controllers for gaming consoles.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220105094430.htm

Humans unfortunately don’t have the ability to regrow naturally or artificially one of our body parts. Instead, we use prosthetic legs or arms to fill the missing body part. This isn’t ideal but it’s the best way to restore our abilities. Most animals are similar to us with the exception of salamanders, starfish, crabs, and lizards which have the capability of filling the regeneration of at least some limbs.

Lately, scientists at Tufts University and Harvard’s Wyss Institute published a study that showed a frog with a missing limb being treated with a five-drug cocktail using a wearable bioreactor in the stump. After the 24-hour exposure to the drug, it took 18 months for the frog to restore its limb nearly fully. This was the first of its kind successful procedure which led to a significant milestone in medicine and surgery. The next big step is to test the drug on mammals and with a little hope of success, one day a similar drug can be implemented on humans.

In my opinion, the journey to imposing this drug on humans is still very long. By the time more experiments are done and tests on a larger variety of animals will be conducted, a new technology might be introduced. The early stage of the five-drug cocktail might be a false hope for currently disabled humans that had a body part amputated.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220126144001.htmhttps://theswaddle.com/scientists-regrew-a-frogs-amputated-leg-using-drug-at-wound-site/

Our planet is currently struggling with limiting its carbon dioxide emission and the race to make energy sources renewable and “clean” is on. One method to combat greenhouse gas emissions and reduce fossil fuel dependence is installing solar panels. Solar panels convert sunlight into electrical energy through photovoltaic panels or mirrors that concentrate solar radiation. This energy is used for electricity or can be stored in batteries.

The competition to make these panels more efficient is big. Recently a research team from the National University of Singapore achieved a technological breakthrough in solar panel design. They managed to set a new record in converting sunlight to electricity managing an impressive 23.6% in conversion rate. They managed to achieve this using only perovskite and organic materials as opposed to conventional silicon solar cells. This is significant because perovskite and organic materials have the ability to react to different wavelengths of light and convert more sunlight. Moreover, they offer a more flexible design, semi-transparency, lightweight, and more. Solar cell technology is growing rapidly year after year as a sustainable energy source. The efficiency, reliability, durability, and price have a crucial impact on commercial potential and global usage. The potential of solar panels is huge and there is plenty of room for improvement, the conversion efficiency and cost of production could be still significantly improved. Until then, solar panels still aren’t beneficial for some households and unless that will change, the problem of individual home carbon emissions will remain.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220121124856.htm

The Xenobot is the world’s first living, self-healing robot created from stem cells from the embryos of frogs. Named after an African species, the clawed frog from which its stem cells are taken, the machines measure around one millimeter wide. That’s small enough to travel around our organism by walking or swimming around and they can survive without the need to eat for weeks as well as work together. The cells from the African clawed frog were scrapped from its embryos and left to incubate. After that, they were cut and redesigned into different forms made by a supercomputer. The process of their making has never been done before. It was revealed that Xenobots have self-healing abilities. After being cut, they can rebuild themselves and keep on living. The University of Vermont (where the robots were developed) says that “They’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It’s a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism”. Recently, scientists announced that Xenobots could reproduce on their own. It happens rarely and on specific conditions, but it accomplished a special milestone in the science of biology and artificial intelligence. With the help of a supercomputer, more suitable shapes of the Xenobots were designed such as a C-shape body rather than the old spherical form. Scientists found that the robots were able to find tiny stem cells in a petri dish, collect them in their mouth, and within a few days, pop out new Xenobots. While researchers say these inventions could potentially help with cleaning radioactive waste, collecting microplastics in the oceans, or even delivering medicine to human bodies, their ethics could spark controversy. To the average person, it may cause concern that AI-created robots (even in microscopic form) have the ability to self-replicate. A future when these robotic organisms will be more advance could be dangerous for the species of mankind.

Source:

https://7news.com.au/technology/science/the-worlds-first-living-robots-have-now-learned-how-to-reproduce-scientists-say-c-4823775

Warehouses are often associated with hard physical work and give workplace for many. They offer an easy salary for many people in need but that might change. Norwegian contract company AutoStore builds autonomous warehouses which replace humans with self-driving robots which can detect the location of the products, pick them up and then drop them off at the requested place. This innovative solution not only eliminates the need for hiring workers but also saves a great deal of space as it allows the warehouse structure to be taller instead of wider. The machines collect their packages from stacked shelves using an elevator mechanic which consequences in a cramped hall not wasting any area. This technique causes a double or even quadruple increase in the inventory capacity compared to a standard warehouse without wasting considerably as much space. AI programmed robots simply move around the storage on special tracks and are built to maneuver around each other in a coordinated order. With demand for these revolutionary systems constantly accelerating, revenue for AutoStore doubled and reached $85m only in the third quarter of 2021 despite the costs of production increasing and its biggest component aluminum, rising to a record high price prompting a slight margin fall. AutoStore battled their rival company-Ocado, in a legal dispute about patent infringement of their robotic systems resulting in a major win for the Norwegian giants, boosting their revenue. Now the warehouse manufacturer has a clear path to further revolutionize the robotic industry and expand their horizon. This might come at the cost of thousands losing their jobs, leaving them unemployed. Consequences might be huge if new work opportunities don’t come available for those left stranded by robots.

Sources:

https://www.ft.com/content/7a800a3c-c940-4a4b-94e7-f4d8e95624a8