Top TechTop Tech #32: Drone delivery, aluminum battery, medical holography
Promising products and interesting innovations
Today’s Top Tech:
• Autonomous drone delivery system launches
• Ultra-fast aluminum alternative battery
• Doctors will see your insides via hologram
Autonomous drone delivery system launches
The first drone delivery system is ready for action — and it’s not from Amazon.
Instead of suburban retail sales, Matternet says it will initially focus on getting crucial medicines and other small packages to places otherwise inaccessible.
“Commanding a smart autonomous vehicle over 20 kilometers directly to your feet is undeniably magical,” the company says. Matternet “revolutionizes last-mile logistics, transforming the way you access things locally.”
It’s copter is “exclusively designed for transportation” and carries a 1-kilogram payload more than 20 kilometers “on a single battery charge.” It can fly autonomously without need for a human pilot. “With just a few touches on our mobile app, this smart drone will self-fly between landing stations you’ve authorized. Matternet’s cloud-based routing system does all the work for you. It guides the Matternet One along a secure route at low altitude – between 50-100 meters above ground – adjusting for inclement weather, avoiding tall buildings, mountains and restricted airspace. Unlike a car or truck, Matternet One is able to travel the most direct route, avoiding traffic, impassable roads, rivers and challenging terrain.”
The California company says its prototypes have already “been flown in the most remote places on earth…From the extreme altitude of the Himalayas in Bhutan, to the dense rainforest of Papua New Guinea.” Also, as the copter will be delivering to directly to people, it’s made to be safe around them with guarded propellers.
When Amazon announced its plans, it seemed kinda, well, silly. But as Matternet puts it, it’s clear drone delivery can be truly disruptive (yes, I used that word). “More than two thirds of the goods we access everyday weigh less than 1 kilogram,” the company notes. “Medicine, documents, electronic goods — our need to transport lightweight goods on-demand, efficiently and cost-effectively is growing every day. A network of Matternet One vehicles operating 24/7/365 is able to meet this demand at minimal cost and the smallest carbon footprint of any transportation system ever invented.”
There’s more information here.
Singularity Hub has an article here.
Ultra-fast aluminum alternative battery
My phone charges fast enough… I thought. But now Stanford University says its scientists have invented a flexible aluminum battery that charges in about 1 minute.
Stanford says its the first high-performance aluminum battery that’s fast-charging, long-lasting and inexpensive — and “offers a safe alternative to many commercial batteries in wide use today.”
And unlike other methods, “Our new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.”
The Doctor will see you now — your insides, via hologram
Soon your doc won’t even need to slice you open to gander at your insides.
(For surgery, well, a scalpel’s still required.)
California-based EchoPixel says its True3D Viewer provides doctors with a full 3D image of a body part or organ that they can move around, zoom in on, and manipulate.
“Current medical visualization techniques have limitations in representing the complex 3D relationships present in human anatomy,” the company says. “The True 3D system is a real-time interactive holographic… It enables readers to visualize and interact with tissue and organs in open 3D space (rather than only on a 2D monitor) using a hand-directed stylus as if they were real physical objects.”
