Top TechTop Tech #15: transmitting power, measuring attention, lower-cost bionics
Promising products and interesting innovations
Today’s Top Tech:
• Solar soon? Energy transmitted wirelessly
• Iron Man gives kids bionic arm
• Your attention please
Solar soon? Energy transmitted wirelessly
A breakthrough could change how energy is generated and delivered: Researchers at Mitsubishi have achieved wireless energy transmission.
Long-term, it could allow solar energy harvested by satellites to to be beamed to Earth. “The SSPS is being developed as a system that will generate power on a geostationary satellite at 36,000 kilometers above the earth using solar cell panels; the generated power will be transmitted to earth by microwave/laser - i.e. without relying on cables - and the power received on the ground will be converted to electrical energy,” Mitsubishi says here. “As the power source is environmentally clean and inexhaustible, the SSPS is highly anticipated to become a mainstay energy source that will simultaneously solve both environmental and energy issues.”
The first results here were only a little energy over a short distance — but it’s a first for cable-free conductivity (unless you believe Tesla lore). “Researchers used microwaves to deliver 1.8 kilowatts of power – enough to run an electric kettle – through the air with pinpoint accuracy to a receiver 55 meters (170 feet) away,” Discover reports here.
Iron Man gives kid bionic arm
Iron Man Actor Robert Downey Jr. worked with an engineer to give a 7-year-old a new arm.
Limbitless Solutions says it can produce the limbs for about $350 — as compared to the more standard $40k variety. “We operate as volunteers under a global network of engineers and 3D print enthusiasts… Our mission is to create a world without limits, where everyone has access to the tools necessary to manufacture simple, affordable, and accessible solutions through open source design and 3D printing… synthesizing engineering principles with natural anatomy in our effort to replicate the human form in printed plastic.”
Here’s
the video of Downey with the child.
CNet
has more on the story here.
Your attention please
A new brain-scanning technique could change the way scientists think about human focus, The Atlantic reports.
Researchers at Princeton built a system to show people “what their brains are doing in real time, and signal the moments when their minds begin to wander.”
The scientists say their “mind booster” could change the way we think about paying attention.
