Car Technology - Latest and Future Trends

The rate at which technology advances in the world presently is amazing. The good thing is that it takes us all in its stride as it moves. For this reason, cars are not left behind. Car technology has taken new dimensions over the years. Each year, something new and different turns up. Some of these new car features are yet to hit the market. This piece contains some of the proposed advancements that will leave car users drooling.

Humans are incomplete and imperfect. Thus, we tend to be less conservative even in the face of depleting resources. When driving our cars for example, we could turn off our air conditioners to conserve fuel. However, we would rather leave the conditioner on than roll down the windows. This is because we 'feel cool' with the windows rolled up and the chill filling up all the spaces in our car.

Technology has introduced the economy mode in cars. This innovation allows the vehicle to make the decisions that affect its use and conservation of its features. When activated, it would simply determine what features are essential at any point in time. 

It could choose to turn off the air conditioner or the cruise control, depending on the prevailing circumstances. This saves fuel and ensures the longevity of the vehicle. These adjustments are made automatically. This technology has been test-run in many hybrids and it has been successful to say the least.

There is also the black box technology for cars on the horizon. If air planes can have them, why can't cars? The black box has been very important in retrieving information from planes especially when mishaps occur. The fact that it might allow people intrude into the privacy of the car owner is still being debated. At present, General Motors and Ford are making use of them in their new model vehicles. They have been renamed "recorders". These "recorders" store vital information about the speed the car was moving and the places it had visited amongst others. They also aid insurance companies in the event of an accident.

Great Security Option for SmartPhone Users - IRIS Recognition Application

A new smartphone with iris recognition has developed by Japan. Paynter-Krigman Professor in Engineering Science Stephanie Schuckers, who is the director for the Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), said the iris recognition systems in the Fujitsu smartphone are offering people more options to safeguard their electronic devices. The application, convenience, price and cultural assumptions related to each system can influence personal choice.

Iris recognition systems use near-infrared lights to analyze the pattern of the muscles in the iris, not the color of the iris. Near-infrared lights are used in many technologies, including security systems, and are not dangerous to the user in this application. The iris recognition technology has improved in recent decades, the reliability of the biometric depends on the system itself and the sophistication of the software. Iris recognition is very high quality like a fingerprint, but no biometric--an iris or a fingerprint-is perfect. And this technology should be available in the United States in the near future.

Robotic Arm Technology Has Rapidly Improved

Cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick professes to be the "first Cyborg." Project Cyborg began in August of 1998, when Warwick implanted a computer chip into his left arm, which later allowed him to open doors, move a robotic hand and operate an electronic wheelchair. The implant also allowed him to tap into the Internet at Columbia University in New York and control a robotic arm at the University of Reading in the UK.

Another one of the experiments tested telepathic communication between two individuals by way of implants. In the 70s, researchers felt that robotic arms would be a vital asset to the workplace. Little did they know, humans would consider fusing themselves with this technology to become super-human cyborgs!

Starting in 1975, robotic arms have been used for industrial purposes. In some cases, they do the work more quickly, more accurately and more efficiently than human workers ever could. Yet in other instances, they simply perform work that is too monotonous, dangerous or undesirable for men and women.

In the US auto industry, for example, there is one robotic arm for every ten workers. Industrial robots lift heavy objects, handle chemicals, and paint and assemble parts. Rather than replace jobs, the robotic system is intended to free up more creative, fulfilling work for people instead. After all, the Czech word "robota" translates to "drudgery work."

Using a modified robotic arm, Dr. Alon Wolf and Dr. Howie Choset have developed a machine that can perform minimally-invasive surgery with great accuracy. The invention is called the "CardioARM" and has been designed for abdominal surgery, heart bypass surgery and mouth surgery, but can also be used to perform a laparoscopy, colonoscopy, and arthroscopy.

The CardioARM is operated by a joystick and can navigate through the body to the problem areas. The flexible tele-operated probe is programmed to remember pathways and it can take tools into regions that surgeons would otherwise have to slice into. "Tools in operation rooms are not flexible. The CardioARM is flexible enough for remote and hard to reach anatomies," explains Dr. Wolf. "The heart is a good example... now we don't have to cut the person open."

Robotic arm technology has rapidly improved over the span of just thirty years. But what is the end goal of robotics technology? Is it to build robots that can work as our slaves? Is it to find minimally-invasive, infallible methods of performing surgery? Is it to treat injuries? Is it to teach? Or is it to become super-humans? There are a number of ways to approach this science, making it impossible to tell just what the future of robotic development holds.

The Many Uses of Robotics Technology

Robotic vehicles can do the jobs that are too dangerous, boring, or disgusting for people. Unmanned vehicles can plunge to the deepest parts of the ocean, the farthest corners of the galaxy, into the wells of a volcano, and inside combat areas which would be too perilous for vehicles driven by human beings. This technology won't replace drivers; it will help the current workforce with robots that will drive anywhere in the world under any conditions.

The US Army isn't a stranger to robotic vehicles. Military insiders say that a lot of their success is from small reconnaissance or tactical planes that are unmanned. The planes can fly for miles and miles from remote locations, while reporting video and photos back to the military stations. They will follow targets and hit them with extreme accuracy. One great benefit is that no US soldiers are put in danger, and the terrorists won't see or hear it coming. American soldiers use robotics technology to command drones in the Middle East.

A lot of effort is also being put into the development of robotic vehicles for a wide range of civilian applications. Synthetic Aperture Sonar is helping robots capture brand new images of deep sea beds. Farmers can use these to monitor their crops, and forest rangers can keep track of trees and wildlife in remote places in their parks. There are vehicles that can ride the surface of the water to monitor coastlines, and there are underwater devices used to recover old shipwrecks and unaccounted for lobster traps that threaten endangered marine animals.

The newest robotic vehicles will probably surprise you. Seven hundred ton Caterpillar trucks are currently being prepared by scientists that will allow trucks to transport 240 ton loads from mining productions. Automated trucks are supposed to be available in five to ten years, and they will save a lot of time and money. This new robotic innovation will be really popular due to a shortage of drivers.

Wireless Charging

Place a laptop on a table, and it will automatically start charging. No wires needed, no need to carry a power bank. That's how Intel views wireless charging for laptops, which could become a realism next year. Intel wants to make wireless chargers as easy to find as a Wi-Fi signal, and wants to bring the technology to coffee cafes, restaurants, airports and other public places so laptops can be recharged without power adapters. The first laptops with wireless charging could come out next year, and Intel has shown a few prototypes laptop being recharged on a table.

Winning the War Before You Start - Using Technology to Play it Smart

Proper use of robotic technology solves many problems in our military. It is often estimated that for every soldier or airmen on the frontline or participating in the tip of the sword there are 20-25 military personal behind them through-out the command and control and logistical supply chain. Military robotics is clearly an issue of efficiency and productivity - delivering more for less and with pin-point accuracy. Robotics and the Future Fighting Force roadmaps are dead on target and it is not by accident.

Less than 1% of all the humans who have ever lived have died in war. Although we hear more about the deaths in war today due to the far-reaching and often biased media the truth is that major fighting is concluded quite quickly with much less collateral damage thanks to smart munitions. This does not make armed conflict less devastating for those involved, yet it must be considered when discussing the reality of war technology. Indeed, just because allied forces can fight with unheard of precision does not mean the enemy will not attack pure civilian soft targets to promote their will or radical notions.

There is and has always been a good bit of the gross national product of any nation, spent on its military, as it is important to protect all they are and all they have built. Wouldn't you? Indeed and so we all do, both friend and foe. Due to the huge amount of expenditures there are always many companies and entrepreneurs willing and ready to work on research and development of war toys. Yet, the business of war is not a game and the stakes are very high - self preservation of a nation being amongst the top rationals.

Robotic Technology on, above and below the battle field have come a long way in the last couple of decades and yet this is only the beginning. Coming soon will be many new applications such as robotic units to pick up the wounded and take them to military medical facilities. There will also be MAVs or Micro-Air Vehicles perhaps capable of swarming like insects. Bird size MAVs are already nearly ready for service. Fully autonomous perimeter security mobile robots with weapons attached are already being deployed. Underwater Unmanned Vehicles are also in production with some units already in the water.

Self Powered Video Camera can Run Without an Outward Power Supply

A video camera that is the first to be absolutely self-powered, it can produce an image each second, endlessly, of a bright indoor scene has invented by a research team led by Shree K. Nayar, T.C. Chang Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering . They created a pixel that can not only measure incident light but also convert the incident light into electric power.

The camera does not have a battery but instead a supercap, which is charged to start the camera but is recharged using just energy harvested from the pixels. For a scene that is roughly 300 lux in brightness the camera can produce an image per second, endlessly. K. Nayar leads the Computer Vision Laboratory at Columbia Engineering. He reports that in the last year only, almost two billion cameras of different types were sold worldwide. Digital imaging is expected to implement many emerging fields along with wearable devices, sensor networks, smart environments, personalised medicine, and the Internet of Things. A camera that can function as an untethered device forever without any outward power supply would be especially useful.

                At the heart of any digital camera is an image sensor, a chip with millions of pixels. The key enabling device in a pixel is the photodiode, which produces an electric current when exposed to light. This mechanism enables each pixel to measure the intensity of light falling on it. The same photodiode is also used in solar panels to convert incident light to electric power. The photodiode in a camera pixel is used in the photoconductive mode, while in a solar cell it is used in the photovoltaic model.