Top TechTop Tech #60: Wearable WiFi cams, Seeing silicon, Brain-controlled Bionics, Disposable Drones
Important innovations in science and technology, every day
By Paul Worthington
Today’s Top Tech:
• Narrative adds WiFi to wearable cam
• Silicon that sees and learns
• Brain-controlled bionics
• Navy developing Disposable drones
Narrative adds WiFi to wearable cam
Just as phones have radically changed the way we all take photos (from special occasions to every day) I think wearable cameras will further transform photography.
The Swedish company Narrative says its $199 device allows you to capture “Memories like you’ve never shared them before: Authentic smiles, sudden surprises, or your baby’s first step. The automatic photo capture of Narrative Clip 2 lets you stay in the moment while capturing it. Keep your mind and hands free when it matters, while still being able to collect and share your stories.”
Also, its online service’s smart algorithms provide “automatic organization,” Narrative adds, and “sorts your photos into collections of moments and highlights your best shots to let you easily dive in and relive or share your favorites.”
With the upcoming version 2 of its Clip wearable camera, Narrative will increase the capture resolution to 8-megapixel, and add WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. For WiFi, the camera has to be connected to an external power source “since you can’t move 8GB of data through the air on such a small battery.” The Narrative Clip 2 is also weatherproof, adds a gyroscope, and has a wider lens (86 degrees) than its predecessor (68 degrees). It should ship in the Fall.
Silicon that sees and learns
Chip developer Synopsys “showed off a new image-processor core tailored for deep learning,” reports MIT’s Technology Review, that may “add a degree of visual intelligence to many kinds of devices, from phones to cheap security cameras.”
The tech may be added to chips for smartphones, cameras, and cars — where it will recognize speed-limit signs. Thanks to “deep-learning” it can be trained to recognize faces for video surveillance, using significantly less power than conventional chips.
Brain-controlled bionics
“Brain-controlled bionic legs are finally here,” reports Popular Science. “No, really. Amputees have been testing them for over a year.”
Developer Ossur says its current Proprio foot “offers an unprecedented level of mobility and stability for a world that is not flat. The powered ankle motion, intelligent terrain adaptation, and natural function make it the most life-like prosthetic foot available.” PopSci says the Proprio “is essentially a wearable robot, with algorithms and sensors that automatically adjust the angle of the foot during different points in its wearer’s stride.”
But now the company is testing brain-controlled bionic feet at its Reykjavik headquarters — and one patient “can move his right ankle by thinking about it. When the electrical impulse from his brain reaches the base of his leg, a pair of sensors embedded in his muscle tissue connect the neural dots, and wirelessly transmit that signal to the Proprio Foot.”
Navy developing Disposable drones
Disposable drones developed at the Naval Research Laboratory “fly like paper, and spy like planes.”
Named Cicadas for the bugs that fly out of the ground every few years, (and for “Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft”) the lightweight, disposable drones are a “tiny robot warrior ready for the future,” Popular Science reports.
They have only 10 moving parts — no motors — and may cost $100-1,000 each.
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