SFU engineering science professor Bonnie Gray has spent more than five years researching ways to embed a variety of electronic and micro fluidic sensors into fabric. It’s all part of a goal to create smart, flexible, wearable fabrics embedded with devices that can, for example, monitor athletes’ sweat for salt and lactate content, monitor heart rate, or test tears for glucose levels. Skin cancer survivors and others could wear these devices to monitor sun exposure. They could even be used for neonatal infants, eliminating the need to adhere electrodes to the infants’ delicate newborn skin.

Now, Gray and doctoral student Daehan Chung have come up with a way to screen-print the devices directly onto fabric. Gray is in discussions with other SFU researchers and local companies about commercializing the novel technology.
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Source: https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2017/new-smart-fabrics-can-monitor-your-health.html?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C4679568781

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Samsung just took another step into science fiction. South Korea has just granted the tech giant a patent for contact lenses with a display that can project images straight into the user’s eye. The news comes from a Samsung-centric blog SamMobile.

The lenses are equipped with a built-in camera and sensors that can be controlled simply by blinking. Content is sent to your smartphone through embedded antennas. This is where the data is processed. It seems that Samsung is developing the smart contact lenses as an alternative to creating improved augmented reality experiences over the current crop of wearables, reports SamMobile. With contact lenses instead of glasses, users will be able to enjoy augmented reality content more discreetly.

Blinking to control an ocular interface may lead to a lot of awkward situations and accidental input, but it’s not entirely unrealistic. Thankfully, there’s always the option of controlling the interface through your smartphone, like you would everything else. With this development, Samsung joins Google in the arena,who also owns two patents for smart contact lenses. Google’s contact lenses are mainly intended for medical use, with sensors and flexible electronics to read tear fluid chemicals to determine blood sugar levels.
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Source: https://futurism.com/samsung-patents-smart-contact-lenses-built-camera/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C9254129294

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When Jan Scheuermann volunteered for an experimental brain implant, she had no idea she was making neuroscience history. Scheuermann, 54 at the time of surgery, had been paralyzed for 14 years due to a neurological disease that severed the neural connections between her brain and muscles. She could still feel her body, but couldn’t move her limbs.

Unwilling to give up, Scheuermann had two button-sized electrical implants inserted into her motor cortex. The implants tethered her brain to a robotic arm through two bunches of cables that protruded out from her skull. Scheuermann’s bet paid off. With just a few days of practice, she was able to bring a bar of chocolate to herself, using only her mind to control the prosthetic. That was 2012. The field of brain-machine interface has been on fire ever since.

Prototype neuroprosthetics can already let the paralyzed walk and the blind see again—granted, the effects are still far from perfect. Various exoskeletons and retinal implants are steadily making their way through human trials, striving to reach mass market by the end of the decade. Future brain implants may be even bolder, helping restore memory loss in the elderly or giving healthy brains a boost. But we’re not there yet. And electrodes—the heart of these devices—are partially to blame."Using electrodes to target specific brain circuits is like bringing a bazooka to an ant."

Most electrodes come in a stamp-sized array that activates any neuron in their vicinity. Using them to target specific brain circuits is like bringing a bazooka to an ant—you’ll get the target, but also stimulate thousands of other cells and potentially lead to unintended effects. They also don’t like biological environments. Chemicals in the brain erode the electrodes over time, and the foreign implant often causes surrounding tissue to scar. Since scar tissue can’t conduct electricity, it renders the electrode useless.

To get around these issues, a team from Harvard and Palo Alto Research Center went back to the drawing board. Recently, they published research on a new type of implant made of tiny, thin copper coils embedded in silicon. Unlike its predecessors, the micro coil uses magnetic waves rather than electricity to stimulate the brain.

Using magnets to tweak brain activity sounds bizarre, but scientists have long harnessed magnetic fields to treat severe depression and anxiety. The therapy, trans cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), usually involves a figure-8 shaped wand that scientists wave over certain parts of the patients’ skull. The device delivers focused pulses of magnetic waves that travel through the skull and trigger tiny electrical fields. Depending on the orientation of the fields, they can either jolt or dampen the activity of select neurons. Magnetic waves can also easily penetrate scar tissue, making them ideal for long-term use.
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Source: https://singularityhub.com/2017/02/22/new-tech-makes-brain-implants-safer-and-super-precise/amp/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C6640286795

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It looks like a test tube with dried salt at the bottom, but Microsoft says it could be the future of data storage. The company reported that it had written roughly 200 megabytes of data, including war and Peace and 99 other literary classics, into DNA.

Researchers have demonstrated that digital data can be stored in DNA before, but Microsoft says none have written so much of it into DNA at once. DNA is a good storage medium because data can be written into molecules more densely than the basic elements of conventional storage technologies can pack it in, says Karin Strauss, Microsoft's lead researcher on the project, which also involves researchers from the University of Washington. Right now the technique is expensive and finicky, but the company hopes to piggyback on the plunging costs of tools for creating and reading out DNA driven by the biotech industry. DNA is seen as a potential replacement for magnetic tape, which is the standard mechanism for long-term data stores today.

IDC predicts that the worldwide total of stored digital data will hit 16 trillion gigabytes this year, most of it housed in huge data centers. Strauss estimates that a shoebox worth of DNA could hold the equivalent of roughly 100 giant data centers.

DNA can also be remarkably durable, particularly when kept cool and dry. In March, researchers announced that they had partially reconstructed the genomes of ancient humans whose bones had been in a Spanish cave for more than 400,000 years. In contrast, the magnetic tape that is the best long-term data storage option today lasts only a few decades before starting to degrade.

Storing data in DNA requires translating the 1s and 0s of binary digital files into long strings of the four different nucleotides, or bases, that make up DNA strands and write out the genetic code. In 2012, Harvard molecular biologist George Church wrote a 50,000-word book totaling less than a megabyte of data into DNA and printed it onto a glass chip smaller than a pollen grain. This year he reported having encoded 22 megabytes of digital data. Microsoft says it has now written almost 10 times as much digital data into a collection of millions of pieces of DNA, each 150 bases long.

Microsoft won’t disclose details of what it spent to make its 200-megabyte DNA data store, which required about 1.5 billion bases. But Twist Bioscience, which synthesized the DNA, typically charges 10 cents for each base. Commercially available synthesis can cost as little as.04 cents per base. Reading out a million bases costs roughly a penny.
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Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601851/microsoft-reports-a-big-leap-forward-for-dna-data-storage/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C1194193220


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WhatsApp could put the brakes on Snapchat’s international growth with yesterday'slaunch of WhatsApp Status, a new tab for sharing decorated photos, videos and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. It’s another Facebook-owned Snapchat Stories copycat, but the twist is that it’s end-to-end encrypted like WhatsApp messaging.

WhatsApp tested the feature for beta users in November, and now the Status tab is rolling out worldwide on iOS,Android and windows Phone. Users can watch updates from friends and reply privately, shoot and adorn their imagery with drawings and captions and send their creations to all their contacts they’ve chosen with a persistent privacy setting. Sending media to specific friends is still done through message threads.

The new Status feature replaces WhatsApp’s old AOL Instant Messenger-style away messages. That was actually WhatsApp’s only feature when it launched almost exactly 8 years ago.

“The original idea behind the project was to build an application that lets your friends and other contacts know what you’re up to,” CEO Jan Koum writes. But the company tells me it saw so many people quickly updating these statuses to communicate in real time that it pivoted to chat, but always kept the away Statuses. Now WhatsApp has 1.2 billion monthly users, with users sending 60 billion messages per day, including 3.3 billion photos, 760 million videos and 80 million GIFs. WhatsApp is parleying this success in messaging back into broadcast social media in a way that could spell trouble for Snapchat. If WhatsApp Status takes off, it could hinder Snap’s global growth opportunity in user-generated content, forcing it to rely on squeezing more cash out of existing users, or earning more revenue from hardware or professional content.
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Source : https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/20/whatsapp-status/amp/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C7305710885

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Life can be very hard for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. There’s the frustration that comes when people simply have trouble communicating with you. Unfortunately, for many of the 370 million deaf people in the world, their inability to communicate is often perceived as an intellectual handicap which is likely preventing some very brilliant minds in our society from reaching their full potential.

Ryan Hait-Campbell, CEO and founder of Alameda, California based motion savvy, is one of those brilliant minds. He, along with his colleagues who are all also deaf, have developed a groundbreaking technology that combines the latest in motion sensing and mobile computing called the UNI.

UNI consists of three parts: a tablet computer, a specially-designed smart case, and a mobile app. The smart case contains hardware from leap Motion and consists of a couple of cameras to track the location of both the user’s hands and fingers. The app, which is powered by the tablet, translates the hand and finger movements of sign language into audible speech or text displayed on the screen. The app in turn can also translate spoken word into written text for the deaf person to read.

UNI does more than simply interpret; it also learns. Just like spoken language, sign language consists of various “dialects” and “accents”. UNI learns your own style of signing as you train it to improve its accuracy. It will also grow smarter through a database of new gestures and terms that are “crowd signed” by its users.

Ryan shared that he hopes that UNI’s technology will eventually find itself in all tablets and mobile phones, as the front-facing camera technology continues to advance. He also envisions bringing UNI outside the computer to be used for television and home automation.
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Source: http://www.medgadget.com/2014/10/motionsavvy-uni-sign-language-interpreter-gives-a-voice-to-the-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing.html

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At Microsoft's developers' conference in San Francisco last year, a proof of concept to use HoloLens, the world's first and only untethered holographic computer,to advance medical education, was presented to the audience. Alex Kimpan, Technical Fellow, Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft, announced at this year's conference that the concept has moved into production.

The school piloting the use of holographic computing in medical education is Case Western Reserve University,a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio."At Case Western Reserve, our model is to think beyond the possible and today we and the Cleveland Clinic (a non-profit academic medical center in Cleveland) are constructing a state of the future health education campus. Within this building, our students will learn using the most forward-looking educational programs. HoloLens is a key part of this," said Dr. Pamela B. Davis, Dean, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University.

By using holograms to learn in detail and in an interactive way, for example, the nervous system or the intricate parts of the brain, the school hopes to change what it means to be in class."Anatomy is about mastering complex systems in the body and you can see from the digestive system that there are a lot of small parts in a small space. And students need to understand not only to have these parts fit together, to have it work together. And with HoloLens it becomes easier to get the feel of things," Dr. Davis said.

Microsoft first introduced the HoloLens at a Windows 10 event in January 2015, a sneak peek into a world with holograms. It said it envisions the holographic computer to enable people to "visualize their work, new ways to share ideas with each other, more immersive ways to play, new ways to teach and learn, new ways to collaborate and places we've never been, and new ways to create the things we imagine."
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It's foldable like origami, but it's as strong as Kevlar. A team of engineers from Brigham Young University successfully developed an ingenious new bulletproof shield inspired by origami but which can deflect bullets fired by revolvers and pistols.

Professor Larry Howell, one of the engineers involved in the design, said they worked with a federal special agent, SWAT teams and police officers to understand what their needs were. The group discovered that current shields are too heavy, too cumbersome and not portable. Indeed, current shields are typically made of solid steel, often weighing about 100 pounds. What's more, those shields are only large enough to protect one person.
Because of this, Howell and his colleagues set out to create a shield that was lightweight, portable and compact, and worked well to protect law enforcement.

The new bulletproof shield developed by Howell and his colleagues can be folded compactly when not in use. It is also much easier to deploy and transport. When expanded, which only takes five seconds, the bulletproof shield can offer cover for police officers and shield them from bullets such as the 9 mm, .44 Magnum and .357 Magnum. This new shield is also lightweight, weighing only55 pounds. It was built with 12 layers of Kevlar and a common creasing origami-like pattern, which makes it foldable into a more manageable size.

During tests, the bulletproof shield prototype proved to be surprisingly efficient. Howell said they suspected that a bullet as big as .44 Magnum would tip over, but it didn't happen."The barrier is very stable, even with large bullets hitting it," he said .The prototypes were constructed to be protective and stiff, while maintaining the flexibility of Kevlar fabric. Since this material was sensitive to water and sunlight, as well as susceptible to abrasion and fraying, Howell and his team made sure to reinforce it against the environment.

Researchers believe their bulletproof shield will not only be efficient for law enforcement, but it can also be deployed in case of grave emergencies, including school shootings or when someone is injured during a hostage situation.
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Source: http://www.techtimes.com/amp/articles/198174/20170218/engineers-develop-origami-inspired-bulletproof-shield-to-protect-police-officers.htm

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Bionic implanted eyeballs, “Star Trek”-style visors, telescopic contact lenses ... these are just a few of the many exciting projects underway to both restore and provide enhanced sight. Significant strides have been made in tech that will restore and transform lives - replacing white canes, service animals, braille machines and more for the visually impaired.

There has been a lot in the media about prosthetic breakthroughs for U.S. veterans, but what about vision? Last year the Blinded Veterans Association told the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs that there are an estimated 131,580 legally blinded veterans in the U.S., citing data from the Depatment of Veterans Affairs.

One of the first and most promising “bionic eyes” is the Argus II made by Second Sight, which is geared toward patients with retinitis pigmentosa. retinitis pigmentosa is is an inherited condition that involves the loss of cells in the retina and causes a decline in vision.

The system has two parts: a very high tech retinal implant and a camera mounted on eyeglasses or shades. The “bionic eye” is surgically implanted in, and on, the eye. It has an antenna, an electronics case, and an electrode array. The camera processes what it sees and sends it to a small computer that the person wears. The data is processed and translated into instructions that are sent wirelessly to the antenna in the implant.

In fact, this approach could potentially help those blinded by cancer or glaucoma. This new device bypasses the retinal layer and implants electrodes directly onto the visual region of the brain. Second Sight announced a major breakthrough for its Orion I project late last year. In a trial at UCLA, the very first of these devices to directly plug into the brain, a wireless visual cortical stimulator, was implanted in a human subject. The test was a success and restored vision to a 30-year old patient with no major side effects.

Advances in this field are also creating the potential to give US war fighters super vision. Augmenting soldiers with vision-enhancing tech could provide advantages for ground troops and special operations in particular. Warfighters could switch between seeing in night vision, infrared, thermal, zoom, telescopic and more. Whether worn or implanted, it would provide enhanced capabilities that remove the weight of carrying optics and the time lost shifting optics by switching instead at the speed of thought.
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Source: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/02/16/bionic-eye-on-future-from-star-trek-visors-to-mission-impossible-contact-lenses.amp.html

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Blindness first crept up on Yvonne Felix when she was just seven years old. That’s when she was hit by a car that she never saw coming.“I was diagnosed with juvenile macular degeneration,” says the now 36-year old mother of two, who is legally blind. “By the time I was 13, I lost whatever sight I had centrally. By my late teens and early 20’s I was using a cane and braille. It was very lonely and isolating.”

Yvonne Felix has been legally blind since age 7. The new electronic eSight 3 glasses allow her to see.

ESight 3, a visor-like headset that uses a high-speed, high-definition camera, has changed the way the world looks for Felix. Where she once saw blurry shadows, she now sees details, like the expression on a person's face.“I can see everything, your eyes, that you’re smiling, the pattern on your blouse,” Felix describes as she demonstrates the new eSight 3 glasses last week in Oakland, Calif.

The headset looks like a cross between a pair of everyday sunglasses and a set of virtual reality goggles. They’re big, but not obnoxiously huge, and fit over the wearer’s prescription glasses via a pair of elastic, magnetic bands. On the front is a1080p camera that grabs a live video feed of everything in sight, pipes it down to a processing unit that tucks into a pocket or purse, then sends it back to a pair of OLED screens. The person wearing the headset sees full color video images clearly, with no lag time, and can zoom in. He or she can also capture photos and video with the device.

The Canadian company behind the headset is trying to change that. “What’s really unique about this device,” eSight CEO Brian Mech explained, “is that it lets Yvonne instantly auto-focus between short-range vision like reading a book or texting on a smartphone, to mid-range vision, seeing faces or watching TV, to long-range vision, such as looking down a hallway or outside a window.”

Each person who uses eSight 3 can control color, contrast, focus, brightness and magnification (24X). “It’s worked for 70% of people who’ve tried it on and allowed people with traumatic eye injury,some forms of glaucoma, and[more than a dozen other]conditions to see instantly.”
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Source: http://amp.usatoday.com/story/97960470/

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3D printing technology is fast evolving, with companies now producing objects ranging from castles to lawn mowers. But until now, no one has been able to print a 3D airplane that flies. Now, European aerospace company, Airbus, has created a mini-plane, named Thor, which is the world's first 3D printed aircraft.

Thor is a windowless drone that weighs in at 46 pounds (21 kilograms) and is less than four metres (13 feet) in length, looking more like a model airplane than the jets we would normally recognize.

The aircraft is completely 3D printed, except the electrical elements, which are built from a substance called polyamide. Both Airbus, and their rival, Boeing, are using 3D printing to make parts for some of their planes, such as the A350 and B787 Dream liner. However, at only 46 pounds (21 kilograms) and less than four metres (13 feet) in length, Thor is the first time an entire aircraft has been 3D printed.

Speaking to AFP, Jens Henzler, managing director of Hofmann Innovation Group, said: 'The printed pieces have the advantage of requiring no tools and that they can be made very quickly. 'The metal parts produced can also be 30-50 per cent lighter than in the past, and there is almost zero manufacturing waste.'

However, 3D printing does not stop with planes - engineers are also looking to use it in space. The European Space Agency (ESA) are planning to launch their Ariane 6 rocket in 2020, which is set to feature 3D printed parts. Partially as a result of this, the Ariane 6 may have half the price tag of its predecessor Ariane 5.
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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3627187/World-s-3D-printed-plane-unveiled-Airbus-windowless-Thor-aircraft-pave-way-cheaper-faster-flights.html

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Mind-controlled prosthetic limbs have been a reality fora few years, but researchers have not found ways to give the people who use them the same, smooth motor control that people have over their natural limbs.

Now, a team of researchers says the members have solved part of the problem of smooth motor control by connecting an artificial limb to a different part of the brain. Previous designs for mind-controlled prostheses linked the artificial limb to either the person's motor cortex or the individual's premotor cortex, which both translate signals from the brain to the limbs.

This time, the connections to the robotic arm were wired into a patient's posterior parietal cortex, which is located on the side of the head near the ear.

"The [posterior parietal cortex] forms the initial plans to make movements," said Richard Andersen, a professor of neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology and one of the researchers who developed the new prosthesis. For example, when a person decides to grab a coffee cup, the posterior parietal cortex outlines the steps in movement, then, the motor cortexes translate that plan into actual signals that are sent to specific parts of the arm.

Krishna Shenoy, a professor of electrical engineering who studies neural prostheses at Stanford, was enthusiastic about the new prosthesis. "This is clearly the very first recordings from [the] posterior parietal cortex in humans in the context of qualifying the signals for use in prostheses," he said. "It is important to investigate many brain areas for potential use in prostheses, as different areas may well have different advantages.""This is an excellent example of this important biomedical science and engineering research path in action," Shenoy said.
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Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-01/uocf-nto012417.php?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C9623900630

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Surgeons will soon be deploying armies of tiny robots to perform micro surgeries throughout the body. Though this may seem like science fiction,a research team from Drexel University has developed a micro-robotic technology that is being considered for an important mission—drilling through clogged arteries.

Atrial plaques form when fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances are deposited on the inner walls of the arteries, which carry blood throughout the body. Over time, these arteries harden and narrow. This process called atherosclerosis limits the ability of oxygen rich blood to reach vital organs and increases risk for heart attack or stroke. Although the cause of atherosclerosis is unknown, a combination of habits (such as activity level, smoking and diet), genetic risk factors and age contribute to its development. Two conventional surgical approaches for blocked arteries are angioplasty and bypass surgery. During an angioplasty, a vascular surgeon inflates a small balloon inside the blood vessel and inserts a metal mesh tube called a stent to hold the arteries open and improve blood flow. By contrast, a bypass surgery involves the rerouting of blood flow by using unblocked veins or arteries to bypass the narrowed artery.

This new innovation in nanomedicine, however, takes the form of small micro beads that join together to form a corkscrew-like structure capable of navigating the treacherous waters of the body’s vascular system. The micro-swimmers are made up of tiny iron oxide beads as small as 200 nanometers, joined together in a chain. These beads are “composed of inorganic, biocompatible materials that will not trigger an immunological response,” says MinJun Kim, a professor in Drexel University’s College of Engineering.

In order to remove arterial plaques, the scientists will use a catheter to deliver the micro-swimmers and a tiny vascular drill to clear the occluded artery. Upon deployment, the micro-swimmers will launch the initial attack loosening the hardened plaque, which will in turn be finished off by the surgical drill. After the surgery, the biodegradable beads are designed to release anticoagulant drugs into the bloodstream to help stymie future plaque buildup.

“I watched inner space when I was in high school in 1987. The film contains numerous concepts of micro-robotics and nanomedicine that have served as an inspiration to both myself and other researchers in this field,” says Kim. “I am excited to be part of a project that is involved in bringing this science fiction into reality.”
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Source : http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/tiny-robots-can-clear-clogged-arteries-180955774/

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As in crazy short, in a very short period of time we have two very different companies looking at two very different ways to eliminate traffic. Tesla wants to tunnel under the ground to avoid traffic, while Uber wants to fly overhead. Transportation has been a tad static for the last 40 years or so, and that apparently is about to change big time, as some folks even are reconsidering lighter-than-air transport.

I think what is going on, in part, is that a new breed is transforming the workforce -- people who haven't had it drummed into them that they couldn't do something different. They're not just filling entry positions, either. A large number of successful startups have come from trailblazers like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who, rather than asking "why?" effectively are asking "why not?"It is fascinating that their ideas are all over the map. We suddenly are making advancements both above and below the ground. We are applying ever more intelligence to everything from toys to cars. The result is the emergence of what some are calling the "new industrial revolution."

What's happening is that folks like Bezos and Musk are forcing other CEOs to step their game up a lot. For instance, Michael Dell decided to build one of the most powerful tech companies in the world and make it private. He's another guy who seems to be asking "why not?" and now his catch phrase is "go big or go home." It kind of makes you wonder what he'll do next. Nvidia basically is building artificial brains in a box, and even Microsoft is attempting to alter the way we view reality.

This is the kind of competition that drives amazing change -- and new above ground and underground transportation systems are just the start. It isn't just transportation that is going nuts -- it's everything from the way we order and get products, to how we build them, to how we view and interact with the world -- and even which world we live on. (Yes, we are going to Mars.) This already has been an amazing decade, but what is even more amazing is that we likely are in the slow startup phase. What comes next will even be more amazing.
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Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Tesla-Goes-Underground-and-Uber-Takes-to-the-Skies-The-Birth-of-Magic-84295.html

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An international agricultural company has licensed a formula for fighting crop disease that a University of Central Florida scientist spent more than five years perfecting. Gowan Co. recently signed an agreement with UCF to obtain exclusive rights to the anti-fungal and anti-bacterial formulation developed by researcher Swadeshmukul Santra. The formulation couples a centuries-old agricultural practice with cutting edge nanoscience. Gowan plans to market it for use on a wide range of fruits and vegetables, including citrus, potatoes, tomatoes, watermelons, berries and more.

"We are very excited to partner with UCF on this innovative new product as it will enhance the fungicide/bactericide portfolio that we are able to offer our global customers," said Gowan Co. chief operating officer Jacque Palmer. "It's an excellent opportunity for us to use our expertise in bringing critical technologies such as this to market to help growers protect their crops."

It's common for the private sector to license technology invented by UCF researchers. But this agreement represents the first time a UCF discovery has been licensed for the agricultural industry.

Santra, an associate professor with joint appointments in UCF's NanoScience Technology Center and Department of Chemistry, began working on the formula in2011. Through trial and error, Santra and his research team developed more than two dozen formulations before finding the right one - known internally as SG-25, for the 25th formula from the "Santra Group."

It relies on an age-old treatment: Copper, which was first used in agriculture in 1761 for treating seeds to protect from soil-bornefungal attack. Since then, copper compounds have been a staple in preventing crop disease. But this isn't your grandmother's copper. Santra developed copper nanoparticles about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, and embedded those tiny particles in a silica matrix. Field trials have shown the new formulation is more effective at preventing disease than the industry standard. And it's safer for the environment, Santra said. When growers apply copper compounds to their crops, it can build up in the soil over time. Too much copper limits the ability of plants to take in other nutrients, and at high levels can be toxic to aquatic species - reasons why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates its agricultural use. And over time, bacteria can develop resistance. Nanoparticles have much greater surface area than copper in its normal state, so they're more effective at lower levels.

This is Santra's first agriculture-related development, but others are in the works and already undergoing field trials. Last year, UCF established the MISA Center of Excellence - which stands for Materials Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture - with the goal of combating crop disease and feeding the world's growing population. Santra is director of the center.
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Source : https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-01/uocf-nto012417.php?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C8243295221

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(Nanowerk News)BrainComis a FET Proactive project, funded by the European Commission with 8.35M€ for the next 5 years, holding its Kick-off meeting on January 12-13 at ICN2 and the UAB. This project, coordinated by ICREA Research Prof. Jose A. Garrido from ICN2, will permit significant advances in understanding of cortical speech networks and the development of speech rehabilitation solutions using innovative brain-computer interfaces. More than 5 million people worldwide suffer annually from aphasia, an extremely invalidating condition in which patients lose the ability to comprehend and formulate language after brain damage or in the courseof neurodegenerative disorders. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), enabled by forefront technologies and materials, are a promising approach to treat patients with aphasia. The principle of BCIs is to collectneural activity at its source and decode it by means of electrodes implanted directly in the brain. However, neuro rehabilitation of higher cognitive functions such as language raises serious issues. The current challenge is to design neural implants that cover sufficiently large areas of the brain to allow for reliable decoding of detailed neuronal activity distributed in various brain regions that are key for language processing.

Recent developments show that it is possible to record cortical signals from a small region of the motor cortex and decode them to allow tetraplegic people to activate a robotic arm to perform everyday life actions. Brain-computer interfaces have also been successfully used to help tetraplegic patients unable to speak to communicate their thoughts by selecting letters on a computer screen using non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. The performance of such technologies can be dramatically increased using more detailed cortical neural information.

These technologies will help to advance the basic understanding of cortical speech networks and to develop rehabilitation solutions to restore speech usinginnovative brain-computer paradigms. The technology innovations developed in the project will also find applications in the study of other high cognitive functions of the brain such as learning and memory, aswell as other clinical applications such as epilepsy monitoring.
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Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=45580.php

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IBM and medical researchers in Japan, Hong Kong, and the US are seeking the public's help in finding prospective treatments for childhood cancers.

The researchers searching for chemical drug candidates that can affect the key molecules and proteins that control cancer cells in several common childhood cancers. However, finding drug candidates is normally an expensive and slow process. To accelerate the process and broaden the search, IBM is providing free access to its World Community Grid, an IBM-funded and managed program that advances scientific research by harnessing computing power"donated" by volunteers around the globe. This resource is the equivalent of a virtual super computer that helps enable scientists to more quickly conduct millions of virtual experiments. These experiments aim to pinpoint promising drug candidates for further study.

Volunteers don't provide time, money or technical expertise to assist with this research effort,called Smash Childhood Cancer. Instead, they participate in World Community Grid by downloading and installing a free app on their computer or Android devices. While otherwise idle, volunteers' devices automatically perform virtual experiments on behalf of the research team. The results are transmitted back to researchers, where they are analyzed.

The global initiative is led by Dr. Akira Nakagawara, an internationally renowned pediatric oncologist, molecular biologist and CEO of the Saga Medical Center KOSEIKAN, in Japan. Dr. Nakagawara used the same research approach on a previous World Community Grid project which successfully identified drug candidates for neuroblastoma,one of the most common cancers in children.

Smash Childhood Cancer expands the search for treatments for neuroblastoma,as well as other forms of childhood cancers including brain tumor, Wilms’ tumor (tumor of the kidney), germ cell tumors (which impact the reproductive and central nervous system), hepatoblastoma (cancer of the liver) and osteosarcoma (cancer of the bone).
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Source: http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/medical-researchers-ibm-launch-crowdsourced-cancer-research-effort-720343000

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It takes seven months to produce 2,000kgs of pabda (Ompok) from a fish farm the size of a football pitch. How about getting the same results in half the time from an indoor space that is hardly the size of a penalty box?One fish farmer in Bangladesh has demonstrated that it can be done. He used the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for the first time in the country.

An alternative to outdoor open aquaculture, RAS is a series of culture tanks and filters where water is continuously recycled and monitored to keep a suitable habitat for fish round the year. To prevent the deterioration of water quality, the water is treated mechanically through the removal of particulate matter and biologically through the conversion of harmful accumulated chemicals into nontoxic ones.

“It's innovative. It's promising. We've installed the indoor fishery unit in November for research and demonstration purposes. Once entrepreneurs start taking interest in RAS, this will further revolutionise the fish sector in Bangladesh,” said Rezaul Karim, who heads the Centre for Technology Transfer and Innovation (CTTI) at BCSIR. With an annual production of nearly 1.8 million tonnes of cultured fish, Bangladesh is the world's fifth largest producer of inland aquaculture after China, Indonesia, India and Vietnam, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) stated in its State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture-2016 report.

RAS' main advantage is its high stock density. Compared to one to two kgs of fish being produced per cubic metre of water in an open pond, RAS has the stock density of 20 to 60kgs per cubic metre depending on fish species.

Rezaul explained how an ideal RAS functions. He said water is purified and recirculated in the fish tanks, certain kinds of nitrifying bacteria are produced from the waste. The bacteria convert the toxic ammonia produced by the fish waste into nitrite. Since nitrite is toxic to fish, this again is converted to nitrate by the beneficial bacteria. Nitrate is not toxic, and is used by plants or algae. Prof Wahida Haque, who teaches fisheries at the University of Dhaka, told this correspondent that recirculating aquaculture is a good way of augmenting production of certain species of fish but not suitable for all kinds. She emphasised on proper treatment of the sludge to be generated from such indoor fish tanks prior to disposing those.

The RAS facility of BCSIR is established on 1,800 square feet of land while Agro3's indoor fish farm is setup on 3,000 square feet in Mymensingh's BSCIC industrial area.
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Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/indoor-farming-novel-way-fish-yield-1358101

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Re-creating a pixelated image is the holy grail of impossible CSI technology. And while zooming in on grainy footage, enhancing the image, and seeing the culprit reflected in the victim’s iris is still the stuff of fantasy, some new research from Google Brain may have done the next best thing, using a pair of neural networks to process a 8 pixel x 8 pixel image and generate an approximation of the original.

To be clear right off the bat: this isn’t some magical sharpening of the image — the faces it generates aren’t those of the initial person, but rather a fictional creation that represents the computer’s best guess at approximating the original. As Ars Technica breaks down, the software utilizes a two different neural networks to generate the images. The first is a “conditioning network,” which maps the pixels of the low-resolution picture to a similar high-resolution one that gets used as a rough skeleton of how the face or room should look. The second is a “prior network” analyzes the pixelated image image and tries to add details based on existing images with similar pixel locations. The two outputs are then combined to create the (fairly impressive) final image.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen AI used to manipulate images this way, either. Neural networks are getting increasingly advanced when it comes to generating images, and both Google and Twitter already have put effort into sharpening video and still images online through their respective RAISR and Magic Pony projects. And who knows? At the rate technology is advancing, maybe one day being able to truly zoom and enhance might just be possible after all.
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Source: http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14532206/google-brain-research-neural-networks-zoom-and-enhance-pixelated-images

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Ricoh USA, Inc. tomm unveiled the latest addition to its growing services portfolio – a virtual presenter hologram aimed to improve brand experiences by automatically and intelligently delivering targeted messages to customers anywhere, anytime and in any language. The cutting-edge RICOH Virtual Self-Service Hologram leverages artificial intelligence holograms and Ricoh's ultrashort-throw Ricoh PJ WX4152N projectors to greet, inform and bid farewell to visitors. This new service offering furthers Ricoh's dedication to help companies maximize the effectiveness of their resources and address the demands of today's changing business landscape, knowledge offering furthers Ricoh's dedication to help companies maximize the effectiveness of their resources and address the demands of today's changing business landscape, known as the new world of work.

multilingual receptionist, concierge, trade show product specialist, and more – helps companies' messages stand out. It enables those brand attributes to make an impact by vocally greeting audiences as they walk by, encouraging engagement. Photo-realistic computer-generated images (CGI) leverage personas technology to meet visitors' eyes and speak directly to them. This technology has the ability to entice visitors to pay attention longer than typical signage and can also assess how well the message is resonating by tracking engagement information and providing analytics. Additionally, the RICOH Virtual Self-Service Hologram demonstrates return on investment via PRSONAS' analytics package, which collects insights on duration, commerce transactions, conversion rates, personal identifiers, locations and A/B testing.

RICOH Virtual Self-Service Hologram can be deployed in a variety of ways to address the needs of many retail, trade show, sporting and other venues. Holograms can be set to project computer generated images of people, animals, mascots or even real-life people, such as executives or celebrities. Whether leveraging a greeter to hail those passing by at a trade show, presenting a life-like re-creation of an executive to provide office visitors with key messages, or entertaining visitors with a mascot's antics, the RICOH Virtual Self-Service Hologram provides interactive engagement options to create a welcoming environment. Thanks to Ricoh's ultra short-throw technology, the holograms require a mere 16" x 15" footprint.
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Source: http://news.sys-con.com/node/3982974

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LOS ANGELES -- Hotel robots that perform tasks like delivering amenities to guests or cleaning rooms will be the norm within the next five years, panelists at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS)held here last week predicted. The anticipated growth in hotel robots was largely attributed to falling technology costs and guests becoming more accustomed to the concept.

Early hotel adopters say devices such as Saviour's Relay robot and Maid bot are gaining favor because they are efficient at both delivering items such as toiletries and bottled water to guests and cleaning rooms. They are also a novelty among family travelers. Executives with both larger hotel owners like Host Hotels and smaller counterparts like southern California-based Seaview Investors both expressed satisfaction on the ALIS panels with their early trials of the robots.

Host Hotels managing director Michael Lentz, said, "We're testing Maid bot for cleaning rooms. You have to think in years ahead that there are opportunities to reduce our operating costs."

Panelist and Savioke"chief robot whisperer" Tessa Lau said hotels typically lease a Relay for about $2,000 a month (the company does not sell the robots) and the device, on average, performs a front-desk-to-room delivery of smaller products like toothpaste or bottled water in less than four minutes. Lau, too, alluded to the novelty factor, noting that many families with kids take "robot selfies."
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Source: http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Robots-the-talk-of-tech-innovations-at-hospitality-summit

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uBeam is a bit of a mystery in Silicon Valley. The wireless charging company claims to have developed a way to charge electronic devices using ultrasonic waves, for truly cord-less charging regardless of what surface your smartphone is touching. The company has been criticized for avoiding detailed discussions and demonstrations of its technology, drawing comparisons to disgraced blood-testing company Theranos.

But yesterday, uBeam showed off its wireless charging tech at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles. The demonstration was supposed to be “off the record,” which is a strange thing to tell a crowd of people with video cameras in their pockets. As you might suspect, various video of the demo are now floating around Twitter. Here’s a solid one shot by Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff:

In the video, you can clearly see uBeam CEO Meredith Perry holding what appears to be an Android phone near some type of device and waiting momentarily before a charging symbol appears on the display. Of course, the goal is to shrink down that large box into a device consumers could purchase and keep in their homes.

As Axis points out, uBeam’s ultimate goal is to create a device resembling a small satellite dish-shaped charger, but that maybe a while off. There are still a ton of other technical questions, too, as to how the company can overcome the limits of physics to create a product that works consistently as designed. Still, it’s a promising first suggestion that uBeam’s foundational concept is actually sound.
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Source: http://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/2/3/14505460/ubeam-wireless-charging-first-public-demo
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From Siri handling our schedules to smart cars driving themselves,artificial intelligence(AI) has turned our world upside down — except in education. Computers are trading on the stock markets for us, but our schools might as well be stuck in the 12th century. Children sit in the same orderly rows they have for centuries, learning Euclidean geometry while being bored to tears. Sure, modern students are glued to iPads, but technology hasn’t done much to boost their learning — at least not yet. The promise of almighty just be the long-awaited breakthrough that will change the way we all learn.

Just ask Vivienne Ming, a theoretical neuroscientist who claims to predict everything from how much money your children will make to how long they will live. She can forecast grades, even pointing to which questions they’ll get wrong on a final exam. No, she’s not wielding a crystal ball; instead, she has AI-powered software to study your child’s learning habits and social interactions through a combination of cognitive modeling and machine learning. Why all the Big Brother snooping? “Essentially, we’re talking about the same sorts of systems that beat the best poker players in the world … being repurposed to understand high school students,” says Ming, explaining how they will help today’s pupils build better futures. From AI systems that warn when and where a student will struggle to intelligent personalized tutors, here’s a glimpse of education’s future.
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Source: http://www.ozy.com/pov/how-artificial-intelligence-will-invade-classrooms/75191


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Dubai Health Authority (DHA) announced plans to advance the use of 3D printing in dentistry and healthcare at this weeks Arab Health Congress (AHC) in Dubai. This includes plans for the Dental Services department to make greater use of 3D printing for dentistry by the end of this year.

The Arab Health Congress also saw a number of 3D printing companies showcase new innovations. In order to understand these ambitious plans from DHA, we take a look at current dental 3D printing technology.

Also at AHC a partnership between the Middle East Dental Laboratory and local industrial 3D printing company Sinterix was made. The partnership aims to create 3D printed teeth. The metal 3D printing company showcased a 14 unit framework made in cobalt chrome last week and successfully fitted last weekend

There is strong potential for 3D printing in the dental industry and we’ve seen many different companies approaching the market. North American additive manufacturing company, 3D Systems, have just recently acquired dental company Vertex-Global. The company hope to combine their impressive Figure 4 system with the materials created by Vertex-Global’s subsidiary NextDent.
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Source : https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/dubai-dental-authority-will-begin-3d-printing-teeth-year-104967/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C4273893537

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Google Translate could already translate Japanese text into English from a captured photo, but now the app skips a step, letting you point your camera at signs, menus and other things that might contain printed Japanese words, and get a translation to English on the fly (and vice versa). The feature is available via Word Lens in both the iOS and the Android versions of the Google Translate app.

Word Lens is an app that was created by Quest Visual, which Google acquired in 2014 to build the features directly into Translate itself. It launched on Translate in January 2015, when it supported only English-to-Spanish and the reverse. Google has recently switched to AI-powered translation in its Translate app, whichhas offered big benefits in terms of speed and accuracy, so we could start to see a lot more language pairs make their way to the Word Lens translation as a result.
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Source : https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/26/google-translate-now-provides-live-translation-of-japanese-text/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C5059891506
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new algorithm from a team of Swiss researchers allows autonomous cars to merge with human traffic on highways with the flexibility of a school of fish.Researchers from the Distributed Intelligent Systems and Algorithms Laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne(EPFL) in Switzerland developed a new way for autonomous cars to drive with human traffic. Their work is a major step forward for autonomous car algorithms, which have primarily turned autonomous cars into blocky platoons along highways. The algorithm allows for a connected network of different kinds and numbers of autonomous vehicles driving on multiple lanes, that can incorporate human-driven vehicles. Their algorithm was tested on the road for the first time in October, and paves the way for Autonet 2030’s goal of deployment in 2020-2030.

The researchers from the Distributed intelligent Systems and Algorithms Laboratory at Lausanne, Switzerland’s developed a new way for autonomous cars to drive with human traffic. Their work is a major step forward for autonomous car algorithms, which have primarily turned autonomous cars into blocky platoons along highways. The algorithm allows for a connected network of different kinds and numbers of autonomous vehicles driving on multiple lanes, that can incorporate human-driven vehicles. Their algorithm was tested on the road for the first time in October, and paves the way for Autonet 2030’s goal of deploying the technology in 2020 to 2030.

Alcherio Martinoli, the head of the Distributed Intelligent Systems and Algorithms Laboratory told phys.org that they have been working on this kind of algorithm for 10 years. The lab focuses on developing optimized systems for intelligent, distributed networks, and worked with Autonet 2030, an EU funding program to gradually incorporate autonomous vehicles into popular use.

Typical methods for organizing autonomous cars on a roadway have been based on the idea of platoons –single lanes of autonomous cars spaced equally along the road, following a single leader or central intelligence. The algorithm developed by Martinoli’s team instead uses a multi-lane convoy approach. In the convoy, the autonomous cars aren’t following any one leader, but moving as a unit communicating using vehicle to vehicle (or V2V) positioning technology to flow around each other for optimal spacing and speed. Instead of being stuck in a single line,which can become unstable as more and more cars add to the platoon, a convoy is similar to how a school of fish moves as a group. Each vehicle is positioning itself, so when one exits or enters the highway, the algorithm enables the entire convoy to move to change its spacing to accommodate.
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Source : https://www.inverse.com/article/27119-algorithm-merge-autonomous-highway?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C8606031898

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For months -- no wait,years --Twitter(TWTR) users have been vying for a safer and more friendly environment. Back in 2016, a bidding war seemingly dissipated when buyers like sales force(CRM) backed out partly because of the hostile environment that occupies the platform. Trolls and haters ran abound, with little in the way to prevent them from wreaking written havoc on others.

But apparently, that's all about to change. Ed Ho, the VP of engineering at Twitter, sent off a string of tweets addressing the harassment issues. Combining the tweets, we get:

"Making Twitter a safer place is our primary focus and we are now moving with more urgency than ever. We heard you, we didn't move fast enough last year; now we're thinking about progress in days and hours not weeks and months. We'll be rolling out a number of product changes in the days ahead. Some changes will be visible and some will be less so."

Ho went on to say that one of the first issues they'll resolve centers around muting, blocking and creating new accounts for offenders."This week, we'll tackle long overdue fixes to mute/block and stopping repeat offenders from creating new accounts," he said. At this point, the company has really been struggling to grow its monthly active users metric. On the plus side though, it hasn't posted a net-loss in users.

This seems like a sensible first step when looking at how to improve the platform. It's hard to deny the service and value that Twitter provides and it's understandable why shareholders feel the stock has upside.
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Source : https://www.thestreet.com/amp/story/13973560/1/are-we-about-to-see-a-new-twitter-in-2017-tech-roundup.html?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C2315606109

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Though the most popular application of virtual reality is in entertainment, like in movies and games, scientists are exploring its potential uses in the healthcare segment. A team of researchers in Cardiff University is looking at the possibility of applying virtual reality in the treatment of people with ‘visual vertigo’ — those who suffer from dizziness and nausea at places that have repetitive visual patterns, like supermarkets.

One of the hurdles in the treatment is knowing what the trigger is: it could be anything from multiple aisles and products in a department store to multiple apartments or the flow of a river. The trigger differs from one patient to another.“We do not know very much about what causes visual vertigo at the moment. There also are not many effective rehabilitation therapies. So the aim of our project is to try and understand those two things,” Georgina Powell of the School of Psychology, Cardiff University, told the BBC

The scientists believe that the different environments, presented to the patients by virtual reality, will help identify the trigger. Once the cause is known, specific rehabilitation therapies could be tailored for them . Virtual reality has also been found to be effective in the treatment of Phantom Limb Syndrome — the feeling of sensations like pain in limbs that don’t exist. It could also occur in people who have survived strokes and lost control over some part of their body. According to a report in Lancet, phantom limb syndrome patients who underwent VR therapies reported improvement in their condition after 12 sessions.
Scientists at the University of Southern California have been studying the effect of virtual reality on people with post-traumatic stress disorder. They say exposing such people to the trigger, in a controlled environment, helps alleviate symptoms. Controlled exposure through virtual reality is also used to condition human mind to conquer different phobias. For example, in New York, an entrepreneur, Tim Suzman, developed a VR app to get rid of the fear of spiders,CNN has reported.
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Source : http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/Scientists-explore-medical-applications-of-virtual-reality/article17118528.ece

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The 7th generation processors provide record-breaking performance rates and are the fastest, strongest processors available to the general public, as well as being energy saving.

Intel announced on Tuesday the official launch of its full line of advanced seventh generation computer processors. According to Intel’s Israel division, the majority of development and design for the new high-performance processors came from the company’s Haifa development center.

According to Sanderovitz, employees at the center in Haifa, and in Yakum north of Tel Aviv,are behind many of the improvements to the 7th generation processors, with support from the firm’s communications platforms in Petah Tikva and Jerusalem.“Of course, we work collaboratively with other international teams. Nothing you do is 100% local, but I would say that the majority of the design and the innovation – the big core improvements in physical design, architecture,built-in hardware security and device connectivity – were driven from our development center here,” he said.

According to Intel’s announcement, the new processors provide record-breaking performance rates and are the fastest, strongest processors available today for the general public, as well as being energy-saving.“Every year our team manages to add more and more performance power to the processors. Every year we manage to improve computing power by an average of 10%. With this line, our Israel team broke the world record once more, by 12%,” said Sanderovitz.

The new processors are also a boon for gamers and the gaming industry, he said, as well as for anyone who deals with virtual reality, as they were specifically designed with the gamers and the VR sector in mind.“The Israel team is very much in tune with the public, and is inspired to excel by consumer needs.”Hours before Intel officially announced the launch, Japan’s Toshiba Corporation announced that, as of this month, nine of Toshiba’s computer models will be updated with the new processors. Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo made a similar announcement in December.
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Source : http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Tech/Intel-launches-next-gen-processors-developed-and-designed-in-Israel-477358

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On Monday, Google Inc. stated that its health-care research unit reached an agreement to work with European pharmaceutical major Sanofi SA on new ways to treat and monitor diabetes. the wall Street Journal has the story:

Sanofi is a leading maker of diabetes medication, as well as many other drugs. Google’s Life Sciences division is working on small, connected medical devices to continuously collect diabetes-related data, as well as software that learns from the information to find new treatments. Diabetes is expected to affect 592 million people world-wide by 2035, according to the International Diabetes Federation.

Google Life Sciences, led by Andrew Conrad, started about two years ago as part of the company’s ambitious goal to expand beyond its Internet search roots into big industries such as health care and transportation. Some of these efforts have stumbled, but Google Life Sciences has made steady progress through in-house research and partnerships with companies such as NovartisAG and Biogen Inc.

A Google-designed contact lens that measures the glucose level in tears of diabetics, as well as a cheap, disposable device the size of a Band-Aid to be worn on the skin to send blood-sugar measurements to a smartphone. From health-care to home-care…
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Source : https://dailyreckoning.com/4-new-google-science-and-technology-innovations-to-watch/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C9959476237

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Startup Sewbo has figured out how to get a machine to sew an entire Wem , and it may finally push clothing factories to fully automate.

Jonathan Zornow got his big idea while watching TV. The former Seattle software developer has an unusual bedtime addiction: Binging on the Discovery Channel show how It’s Made."[The show] just tapes machines doing their thing over and over again," he says of the educational manufacturing series. "I find it serene, just watching stamps go up and down and the wheels spin around."

The meditative ritual usually lulled Zornow to sleep, but one episode on blue jeans woke him up. Zornow was stunned to see the complicated steps put into creating a simple pair of pants: The stitching process is still dependent on armies of human laborers."It really bothered me," he recalls. "It seemed strange that we wouldn’t have more automation in that field. I had assumed that robots were making all of our clothes."

Currently, factories rely on humans to guide fabrics through machines and weave them through assembly lines."It seems crazy to me that there was so much labor being spent on these relatively simple goods," Zornow tells fast Company. But once I learned more about it . . . clothing manufacturing is pretty complicated, and getting robots involved has been a huge struggle."

So despite great strides in manufacturing for the automobile and aviation industries in the last few decades, apparel factories remain relatively unchanged. They just moved from the U.S. to the other side of the Pacific where low labor costs helped meet consumer demands for more inexpensive goods. According to a recent study by the United States Fashion Industry Association, 43% of American fashion companies rank rising production or sourcing costs as their greatest or second-greatest business challenge. While Zornow doubts the U.S. will ever be a net apparel exporter again ("That ship has sailed," he says), he's hopeful that at least a portion of manufacturers could return once they recognize automation's strength.
Sewbo is only a year old, but Zornow says he is already fielding dozens of inquiries from overseas factories, where almost all of the clothes on U.S. backs are now made. Domestic apparel manufacturing fell from 50%in 1994 to roughly 3% in 2015, reports the American Apparel & Footwear Association. That means 97% of clothing sold in the U.S. is imported.

How It Works
In the past, companies tried to create complicated mechanical devices to emulate the way a human sews, which "is a very difficult and complicated approach," explains Zornow. Instead, he took a different tack, manipulating the materials to make them compatible with robots. He realized that if he stiffened the fabrics by drenching them in liquid polymers, they could be turned into thermoplastic composites and treated like hard materials. And robots need hard materials.

"They’re stiff as a board, but they can be molded: You can apply heat and reshape them,and when they cool down, they’ll hold their shape," explains Zornow. The machine sews through the stiffened fabric to produce a perfectly finished product. (The process can be used with any sewing machine and most robotic arms, which generally cost about$35,000.) Afterwards, the polymers can be easily washed off with water, no detergent necessary. There are, however, some limitations. Since the material needs to be completely wet, certain fabrics such as wools or leather are out of the question. But overall, even dry-clean-only goods like silks can go through the process. During a demo, it took roughly 30 minutes for the Sewbo process to complete a T-shirt, but Zornow believes it will take less time once it’s put on a manufacturing assembly line.

"I can say with some confidence that when it goes in the production environment, it will be at the same speed as a human sewer," he holds. Unlike a human sewer, however, robots do not need breaks and are rarely subject to error.
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Source : https://www.fastcompany.com/3067149/robot-revolution/is-this-sewing-robot-the-future-of-fashion?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C1204114109

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Knitting and weaving artificial muscles could help create soft exoskeletons that people with disabilities could wear under their clothes to help them walk, according to new research. Textile processing is one of humanity's oldest technologies, but in recent years there has been renewed interest in using it to create "smart" textiles that can do everything from harvest power from the environment to monitor our health.

Now, Swedish researchers have created actuators — devices that convert energy into motion — from cellulose yarn coated with a polymer that reacts to electricity. These fibers were then woven and knitted using standard industrial machines to create textile actuators, dubbed "textuators" by the researchers.

Exoskeletons can be used to boost humans' weight-lifting abilities or help the disabled walk, but they rely on electric motors or pneumatic systems that are bulky, noisy and stiff. The researchers say their approach could one day help mass-produce soft and silent exoskeletons using textile-processing technology, as well as actuators for soft robotics."Our dream is suits you can wear under your clothing — hidden exoskeletons to help the elderly, help those recovering from injury, maybe one day make disabled people walk again," said Edwin Jager, an associate professor in applied physics at Linköping University in Sweden, who led the research.

The team started with cellulose yarn, which is biocompatible and renewable, and knitted and weaved it into a variety of textiles. These textiles were then coated with a conducting polymer called polypyrrole (PPy) using a process similar to how commercial fabrics are dyed. PPy has been widely used to create soft actuators because it changes its size when a low voltage is applied to it, thanks to ions and solvents moving in and out of the polymer matrix. As this material coats the fiber, it contracts when a positive voltage is applied and expands when a negative voltage is applied.

At present, the material still needs to be submerged in a liquid electrolyte, which serves as a source of ions for the PPy. The material also responds much more slowly than mammalian muscle, taking minutes to fully expand or contract.
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Source : http://www.livescience.com/57631-smart-exosuit-fabric-could-boost-mobility.html

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