MIT SkyCall Uses Drones as Tour Guides

Nowadays, we often hear about unmanned aerial vehicles aka UAVs or drones in the news as next generation weapons of war. The researchers at MIT’s SENSEable City Lab want to dispel that notion and show people that this new technology can be used in more positive ways. For example, as tour guides.

skycall mit senseable city lab uav drone quadcopter

The SkyCall project uses a Wi-Fi network, a mobile app and quadcopters equipped with GPS, a camera and other onboard sensors to create smart tour guides. A prototype of SkyCall is already being tested at the labyrinthine grounds of MIT. To summon a drone, the user uses the call feature on the SkyCall app. When your friendly guide arrives, the user enters the alphanumeric code for his destination (I don’t know how he gets the code in the first place though). The guide will then start moving at a leisurely pace.

The drone will even talk about landmarks along the way and can be stopped by the user through the app. The drone also uses GPS to detect if the user has fallen behind a certain distance and will wait and then alert him through the app.

The SkyCall: why ask people for directions when you can build a sophisticated network of satellites and robots to guide you through life? As someone who is socially inept, I’m only being half sarcastic. I’d love to have a drone buddy to guide me around and perhaps even protect me.

[MIT SENSEable City Lab via Dezeen]

littleBits Modular Magnetic Electronics Kits: No Solder, No Problem

A few months ago I talked about a Kickstarter project called the LightUp, an electronics kit for kids and newbies. Instead of wires or solder, LightUp uses magnets to connect the modules together. It turns out that there’s already a very similar product out on the market. It’s called littleBits, and it already has a growing number of modules and a healthy community.

littlebits modular magnetic electronics kit

Like LightUp, littleBits uses color-coded modules that easily snap together using magnets. Each module also has screen-printed labels that identify its parts. Unlike LightUp, littleBits uses the polarity of magnets to prevent you from sticking a module to another module the wrong way.

The modules are separated into four types: power, input, output and wire. The first three are self-explanatory, while the wire module is used to extend or branch out your circuit. Each type has multiple variants. For instance, there’s a USB and a coin battery power module, a button and a light sensor input module, an LED and a DC motor output module and more.

Head to littleBits’ online shop to order a kit. The base kit costs $99 (USD) and comes with 10 modules. You can also buy more modules separately.

Check out the littleBits website and their YouTube channel to see what customers have built with the kits.

[via Make:]

Coders Have Russia To Thank For A Thankless Programmers’ Day

Coders Have Russia To Thank For A Thankless Programmers' DayWell, Friday the 13th came and passed uneventfully this year.
Internationally, there were no earth-shaking calamities. In fact, quite
the contrary. Russia, America’s on-again-off-again ally was instrumental in
sealing the day for chemical disarmament in Syria. And unbeknownst to a
lot of us folks, Russia is the only country in the world to officially
recognize "Programmers Day."

Disney Ishin-Denshin Microphone Passes Sound Through Touch: Operator 2.0

You can convey a lot of things through touch. You can give a sympathetic hug, a joyous high-five or an angry punch. But Disney Research Pittsburgh came up with an interactive installation that can transmit sound using the human body. The sound will then be heard when a carrier touches someone’s ears. This means you can transmit a verbal message through touch.

ishin den shin

The researchers call their invention Ishin-denshin, after a Japanese idiom that describes “unspoken mutual understanding.” Ishin-denshin consists of a microphone connected to a computer’s sound card. There’s also a thin piece of wire connected to the microphone’s cable and wrapped around its metallic casing. The microphone is set to start recording when it receives sound with an amplitude above a preset threshold, presumably so it won’t record ambient noise.  The recorded loop is sent to the computer, which converts the sound into a high voltage but low current electric signal and sends it to the thin piece of wire. The signal is then transferred to the person holding the mic, who can then pass it on to someone else via touch. The signal can be passed to multiple people before it’s directed to someone’s ear.

I wonder if it’s possible to make a visual version of the Ishin-denshin.

[via Disney Research & New Scientist via NOTCOT]

This Week’s Robot Roundup

A look at what has been going on in the world of robots in the past seven days. Robots are working their way into the world of art, as man’s best friend and a few other interesting places.

Kokusai Motor Cars: Conquering Taxi Market With Technology To Ensure People Remember Their Belongings

Taxi cabs transport us wherever we need to go – to work, when parking is
a chore; from a bar or restaurant after we have had too much to drink;
out to get groceries when no car is available; and to the airport when
preparing to jetset. Most cab users ultimately end up taking a variety
of personal belongings on board. And while trying to load them in a
rather small space, it becomes fairly easy to leave objects behind,
particularly after a long night of drinking, and perhaps even a bit of
backseat PG13 activity with a date!

What New Innovations Are Coming Soon In Bathroom Technology

Shower Floor of the FutureThe bathroom renovation of the future will include more than just new
technology. New innovations will include more customizable and
programmable features than ever. Connected bathrooms will be the norm,
as toilets automatically open and shut or clean themselves. Potentially
offensive or embarrassing odors and noises will be a thing of the past.
Your connected scale and toothbrush might monitor your hygiene habits or
send reports straight to your doctor and dentist. Nope, not creepy at
all. So take a look at what’s coming soon:

iSketchnote iPad Cover Digitizes Paper Doodles in Real Time

Livescribe pens are popular and powerful recording tools, but they only work with Livescribe’s own notebooks. A new product called the iSketchnote can’t record audio, but it presents a cheaper and more intuitive way of recording your drawing or writing. I think it can also be a good way to introduce luddites to the wonders of technology. By technology, I mean the iPad.

isketchnote ipad cover

The first model of the iSketchnote will be an iPad cover. The back of the cover has an array of sensors where you’ll place any A5-sized paper or notebook. The iSketchnote pen is just a normal pen except it has a ring-shaped magnet embedded inside. When you fire up the iSketchnote iPad app and start writing or drawing, you’ll see your work get copied in real time on the iPad. When you’re done, you can replay the recording and share it online right from the app.

The final version of the iSketchnote app will also let you change the colors of the ink, support multiple layers and more. The company behind iSketchnote also hopes they can make their device compatible with popular writing apps like Paper and Evernote. But the iSketchnote can actually work even without the iPad, but you’ll need to supply an SD card so it can store data.

Pledge at least $149 (USD) on Kickstarter to get an iSketchnote as a reward. But before you pledge note that the first batch will only be compatible with the iPad 3 and later. The company behind iSketchnote did say that their technology already works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Android, but they’re focusing on the iPad for now.

Sony 3-in-1 Walkman: Headphoneman, MP3 Playerman & Speakerman

Earlier this year Sony released a pair of waterproof and tiny earphones that were also mp3 players. Today they announced two more versatile headphones called the WH Series, aka the 3-in-1 Walkman. These headphones also have built-in mp3 players, but you can also plug them into other media players as normal headphones. Finally, the headphones can supposedly also be used as personal speakers, although I think Sony may have cheated with a bit with this claim.

sony 3 in 1 walkman headphone mp3 player speaker

The 3-in-1 Walkman comes in two models. The NWZ-WH303 has 4GB of storage and a 30mm headphone driver, while the NWZ-WH505 has 16GB of storage and a 40mm headphone driver. The WH303 will be available in black and white while the higher end WH505 will only come in black. Both models can play music for up to 20 hours on their rechargeable battery. But as I said, even if they run out of power, you can still use these as normal headphones using a supplied cable.

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Finally, by swiveling the ear cups outward and activating its “surround sound” mode, you’ll be able to listen to your music without wearing the headphones. Then again, you can do that with any pair of headphones with swiveling cups. The difference here would be the quality of the sound. Sadly Sony didn’t demo this feature in their product video.

According to Sony Europe, the 3-in-1 Walkman should be available in the UK 10/2013. The NWZ-WH303 will sell for £99 (~$160 USD) while the NWZ-WH505 will sell for £179 (~$280 USD). Barring any problems with their sound quality, these seem to be practical gadgets to have. But I think they’d be more enticing if, instead of the gimmicky speaker mode, you could wirelessly transfer music between the headphones and your media player.

[via Sony via Geeky Gadgets & Engadget]

Artificial Intelligence Could Replace Humans In As Little As Five Years

AIs Could Replace Humans Within Five YearsAccording to one technology engineer, machines could take the place of humans within sales, call center and customer service positions within the next five years. That’s a scary thought, isn’t it? Do his predictions hold water, though?