Top TechTop Tech #41: Remote control electrodes, Hyperspectral Tricorder, Tilt-rotor Drone
Promising products and interesting innovations
By Paul Worthington
Today’s Top Tech:
• Electrodes Remote-Control You
• Hyperspectral imaging promises a Tricorder
• Tilt-rotor Drone prototyped
Electrodes Remote-Control You
File this under creepy: electrodes on your leg can control your walking direction.
Scientists at Leibniz University of Hanover in Germany call their work “Cruise Control for Pedestrians.” They also call it “really basic technology,” using electrodes pilfered from a massager, activated by a signal from a smartphone.
“The electrodes stimulated the sartorious, the long, thin muscle that connects the outer pelvis to the inner knee and controls the rotation of the leg,” Wired reports. “As long as the volunteer is providing forward locomotion, the sensation makes them turn.”
The scientists say the tech could be used for downloadable walking tours.
Hyperspectral imaging promises a Tricorder
Star Trek’s “Tricorder is no longer science fiction,” Tel Aviv University claims.
Researchers there “may be able to turn smartphones into powerful hyperspectral sensors, capable of identifying the chemical components of objects from a distance,” the school adds.
Working with Unispectral Technologies, the researchers patented microelectromechanical optical component that’s suitable for mass production — and even compatible with standard smartphone camera designs. The optical element acts as a tunable filter and the software’s image fusion library extracts all the relevant information from the image. Every material object has a hyperspectral signature, a distinctive chemical fingerprint.
Hyperspectral imaging could “play a major role in consumer electronics, the automotive industry, biotechnology, and homeland security,” TUAV concludes.
There’s more information here.
There’s a video demo here.
Tilt-rotor Drone prototyped
There are drone quadcopters, and drone planes — but this may be the first plane-style drone that can quickly fly forward, yet is also equipped with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.
The Republic of Korea’s Arirang television network reports the tilt rotor drone can fly for 6 hours at 310 mph.
Mass production is not expected until 2024, however.
Popular Science has a short article here.
The original news video is here on YouTube.
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