Kozminski Techblog

Are we coming to an era that will allow us to communicate with other nationals who speak different languages than our native language? Well, it is not that far. A new language processing technology is already on the way. A smart earpiece is developed that will automatically translate foreign languages or sentences to the language you choose, most probably your native language.

So, the earpieces will understand what the person we talk to and translate into any language we want. In this way, we can listen a German speaker on the television or a French customer on the phone and understand what they say thanks to the earpieces.

Those earpieces will be connected an app installed in our smartphones and this app will make translation and send the date to earpieces. It will be two times bigger compared to standard headphones. The good side of the technology is that no internet connection is needed. Every language is defined to the app so it is usable during a trip, hotel or business meeting, simply anyplace.

According to the developers of the translation technology, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish will come default in the app, but other languages will be will be offered as packages to be sold.

Language translation technologies have big progress in recent years and it made easier for different nationalities to create new connections both in private and business manner.

References:

1. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/meet-the-pilot-smart-earpiece-language-translator-headphones-travel#/
2. http://www.waverlylabs.com/pilot-translation-kit/

About the one percent of the world population has autism spectrum disorder. Life is very hard for children with autism and according to the Autism Society in the United States, the U.S. cost of autism over the lifespan is about $2.4 million for a person with an intellectual disability, or $1.4 million for a person without intellectual disability. It costs more than $8,600 extra per year to educate a student with autism.

Parents of the autistic children have problem to find proper education for them and it is very costly and incapable in most of the world. To contribute a solution to this huge problem, a new startup in Kansas City, United States developed a new smart toy called as Leka for the autistic children to socialize.

Leka is a lot more than a cute for a smart toy. It is interactive and has multi-sensory device. It is designed as a buddy specially made for autistic children. This toy encourages children to create autonomy via playing with it.

It looks like a ball and it plays music and sound. It may speak, light up and vibrate to engage children in multi-sensory activities. This toy is customizable so they can adjust it according to child`s comfort and needs.

I believe that Children with children with developmental disorders needs those kind educational mediums for their education and it is a good tool for a start.

References:

1. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/leka-an-exceptional-toy-for-exceptional-children-autism–2#/
2. http://www.autism-society.org/what-is/facts-and-statistics/
3. http://mashable.com/2016/12/18/social-good-innovations-2016/#5fy4KuQXCmqU

There is been always new inventions throughout the history and some inventions changes ages. In our modern era, silicon, concrete and stainless steel were indispensable and very vital materials. In addition to those materials, there are new type of materials which are made of single-layer atoms and they have very big potential for the future. They are also called as two-dimensional materials or in other words 2D. They are called as for instance carbon (graphene), boron (borophene) and hexagonal boron nitride (aka white graphene), germanium (germanene), silicon (silicene), phosphorous (phosphorene) and tin (stanene). Theoretically, there is a possibility to synthesize new materials but they are not made yet.

We call it a revolution in science. Those two dimensional monolayer materials were first introduced by two scientists who won the Nobel Prize. The product is called as 2-D graphene. It is harder than diamond. It is tougher and stronger than steel. It is thin, translucent, lighter than almost anything. It is flexible. It conducts electric faster than copper.  It is also water resistant except water vapor, because substances of the vapor pass through its molecular structure.

Graphene was more expensive than gold when it was introduced but thanks to new production technologies, its price started to drop. Now this material is enough cheap to be used in water filters and in water purification plants. Furthermore, along with the decreases in the price of graphene, it is thought to be implemented in road paving substances as well as concrete of structures to clean city air. Because aside from its other benefits, this material eits carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides from air.

This material is also planned to use for 3D printers. Graphene, for instance, may be used to create flexible sensors. Also, when mixed with polymers, it will be possible to produce lighter plane wings or tires. Graphene is also combined with hexagonal boron nitride to improve lithium-ion batteries. There will be less charging times, more batter life, less weight by this invention.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDJRlBSXsow

References:

1. http://www.2-dtech.com/
2. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/two-dimensional-materials

A new material is invented by a team of researchers in Stanford University which can keep people cool in warm climates and decrease the need for air-conditioners that requires expensive energy costs.

The material is a plastic-based textile produced with low-cost that lets human body to discharge the warmth in a new way. As we know, sweating helps bodies to balance body heat and this new fabric does this too.

This new fabric allows people to perspire for evaporation like regular fabric does. But, there is new method by this plastic fabric. It emits the body head as infrared radiation and it passes through the fabric. Researches combined nanotechnology, photonics and chemistry to create the cooling fabric. They give polyethylene, a kind of plastic we also use as kitchen wrap, several characteristics required in a clothing material. When the new fabric is applied to clothing, the material could make the person feel almost 2 Celsius cooler.

(Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

All living organisms leave behind heat as infrared radiation. It is imperceptible and benevolent wavelength of light. For example, we get warmed under blankets because blankets don’t let the heat thrown off from our body in the form of infrared radiation. It is also noted that, people are seen in dark via night vision goggles thanks to the thermal radiation produced by our bodies.

Energy consumption related to cooling via air-conditioners constitute nearly %12 of total energy consumption in the United States, as reported by the researches.  There are some attempts to use this fabric in buildings to cool the air inside which is called ‘smart temperature control. But, researchers point out the fact that focusing on the cooling of person rather than entire buildings are far more efficient.

Yi Cui, one of the researchers in the team and associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University, said that ‘If you can cool the person rather than the building where they work or live, that will save energy.’ On the other hand, we have to take into account that, the cost of the new material should be lowered to be used in mass production of clothes.

References :

1. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-09/su-sed082616.php
2. http://news.stanford.edu/2016/09/01/plastic-clothing-material-cools-skin/

The Tesla Model S has gone few meters, in a straight line between two spots in a parking garage. The interesting thing was that there was no driver behind the wheel. There was a person in the passenger’s seat who put a EEG headset which allowed him to control the car with his mind. Let me introduce the `Teslapathic car` to you.

A team of successful scientists located in California used 2015 Tesla Model S 85D for a project to be placed in a Hackers event. The team of scientists used EEG headsets. EEG which is `Electroencephalography` is an electrophysiological monitoring method to record electrical activity of the brain. According to team`s project description, those EEG headsets are put on the driver`s head and it translates the brain activity for “stop” or “go” into analog signals by an off-the-shelf RC radio and articulated actuators on the pedals and a motor on the steering wheel. In this point, a machine learning program converts the brain reactions into commands.

Developers of this project creates special gestures for it. For example, to start the engine and move the car, the passenger in the backseat with EEG headset tap his right foot. Additionally, if he wants to stop the car, he clenches his left hand. Actually, the driver sends analog signals to his brain which converts those to commands connected to the car electronically.

Moving and stopping are developed as brain controlled but what about steering? Well, steering was somewhat bulky, and unfortunately not brain-controlled. The team built in a windshield wiper motor fitted with a potentiometer on the steering wheel. A head-mounted gyro for the driver allowed some steering ability thus when the driver moved his head right or left, the steering wheel reacted accordingly.

The developer team also planned about safety of the driver. While developing the tool for mind-controlling, they created an emergency break code, in the event of a failure. So the driver should hold a dead man’s switch to send a signal to stop the car.

Maybe mind control will have a future in the automotive industry?

References:

1. https://electrek.co/2016/11/16/tesla-model-s-mind-control/
2. http://www.seeker.com/hackers-turn-tesla-into-a-brain-controlled-car-2105181698.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography