Top TechTop Tech #102: Hospital Robots, Spectral Scanners, Indoor Food Farms
Important innovations in science and technology, every day
By Paul Worthington
Thursday’s Top Tech:
• Robots deliver at the hospital
• Scan what’s in your food
• Click and grow your own food
Robots deliver at the hospital
No, not babies: In Singapore, the Hospi autonomous delivery robot delivers medicine, specimens, and case files.
Panasonic says the assistive robotics technology will “improve operational efficiency of a hospital.”
Hospi’s security features prevent tampering, theft and damage during delivery, the company adds. “The robot’s contents can only be accessed with ID cards.”
To avoid obstacles such as patients in wheelchairs, the robot is equipped with sensors and programmed with the hospital’s map data and complete deliveries with minimal supervision.
It will even take the elevator between floors.
Here’s more information. And a demo video.
Scan what’s in your food
Want to know “how much fat is in any salad dressing, how much sugar is in a particular piece of fruit, how pure an oil is?’
Consumer Physics bills its upcoming device, the SciO, as the “first molecular sensor that fits in the palm of your hand.” The non-intrusive, no-touch optical sensor uses near-IR spectroscopy to read the chemical make-up of materials for “instant and affordable analysis of materials. Food, plants, medication, oil and fuels, plastics are only part of what SCiO can analyze.”
The system is smart, and will earn from how people use it, the company adds. “Every time you use SCiO you are helping to build a database of knowledge about the stuff around us So when you use SCiO, you are making everyone smarter.”
It should sell soon for about $250.
Click and grow your own food
The Smart Farm unit from Click & Grow provides “effortless urban gardening.” You can grow hundreds of different fruits, herbs and vegetables with zero effort, at your home, the company says, indoors. “No mess, no hassle, just pure nature, technology and design.”
The “NASA-inspired technology” is based on the way plants naturally grow in soil, Click and Grow claims, and overall food production is 80 percent cheaper and uses 95 percent less water than other methods. The soil “balances oxygen, water and nutritional ingredients at an optimal level.” Additional growth is spurred by adjustable LED lights, which offer plants “all the specific light specters they need.” Sensors measure and monitor the need for light, water and nutrients.
Pricing starts at $1500.
