Category: The Future

Uber Elevate – The Flying Taxi Service

Uber cabs have begun to dominate the local transportation market in many large countries. Like other big companies, Uber plans to expand its services, intending to provide their customers with the easiest ways of commuting. One of their ideas is to fly passengers to their destination. This would decrease the amount of time each journey takes and could be used to travel long distances quickly and easily. The project is known as Uber Elevate, and the company has revealed their plans and progress in their Second Annual Elevate Summit.

The vehicles would be Vertical Takeoff and Landing Vehicles (VTOL), which the company plan to make cheaper than taking a car. They are also expected to be autonomous, when this becomes possible. Uber has announced plans to begin testing prototypes within the next two years. The company has several obstacles that will need to be overcome before this can be attempted, however, and have put an extra effort into recruiting top aviation researchers to put the pieces together. Company officials are also hoping to collaborate with governments, vehicle developers, and other technologically advanced companies to bring the best product to the market.

The VTOLs would need take-off and landing locations and the company has proposed using the tops of parking garages, existing helipads and unused land close to highways. This would cost less than existing infrastructure for commute, such as roadways and trainlines. Unlike cars, which need to follow roads, or public vehicles, that make stops at certain places along the way, the VTOLs would have access to any required route. Uber has also pointed out that an increase in technology has facilitated the creation of several VTOL prototypes, and companies continue to maximize resources to get them up and running.

Other benefits include making use of electric propulsion so there are no operational emissions, as well as being relatively quiet transport vehicles. The inclusion of autonomous flying would significantly reduce accidents, caused by operational error. The company plans to begin by using the Uber Elevate services for daily long distances journeys in urban and suburban areas, and in places that are lacking current travelling infrastructure.

Uber has taken every step to prove that ‘flying’ will no longer need to be an expensive, and rare, form of travel and they plan to fulfill their customers requirements completely. Uber’s main aim in creating their flying taxis is to give commuters back some of the time it takes to get places. Time which can be spent with family or being more productive at work. Regardless of the circumstances and obstacles that will need to be overcome, it is guaranteed that there will be a built-in customer base as soon as their VTOLs are up and running.

Biohybrid Robots – Artificial Intelligence with Human Features

The human body works in remarkable ways. Our skeleton creates a base for muscles, ligaments and joints which make it easier for us to perform intricate tasks. Although robots can do many of the same things humans can, their ability to maneuver is limited in several ways. Biohybrid robotics is a field that is rapidly expanding and consists of equipping robots with biological tissue. This will enhance their maneuvering abilities and the tasks that they can accomplish, increasing their functions exponentially. Researchers from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science have recently created a biohybrid robotic finger with the ability to bend itself up and down. They published the results in Science Robotics recording that the finger remained functional for more than a week.

Their creation began with the construction of the finger’s skeleton using 3D-printed resin, with a joint and anchors for the tissue’s attachment. Electrodes that would stimulate the living muscle, causing it to contract, were the skeleton’s final addition. The muscle was made using myoblasts, stem cells with the ability to mature into several types of muscle cells. These were housed in hydrogel sheets that had holes from which they could be attached to the skeleton. To encourage muscle fibre to grow between the anchors, some striped structures were added. The muscles in the biohybrid functioned similarly to those in our body, as a pair, with one contracting while the other expands. This prevented them from shrinking or breaking down.

Once biorobotic construction and its range of motion has been mastered, the possible uses are endless. Currently, a robot’s initial movements are jerky, preventing them from being able to undertake specific tasks. The inclusion of muscle tissue would result in smoother, steadier overall movements. Scientists are planning to use these biorobots for more detailed exploration of the human body, as well as to enhance our medical capabilities. This could be partially accomplished by performing tests on the biorobots, instead of humans. In addition, they would increase the manufacturing ability of robots, currently limited due to intricate parts and assembly necessary, and their ability to monitor certain environments.

Despite the great benefits of biorobotics, the technology does have its limitations, including the need to feed these living cells. Until a way to do this can be found, the biorobots would have a limited lifespan. The surrounding temperature would also affect the length of time they could survive for, as well as their operating capacities. As the field expands, these limitations are expected to be improved upon, and it is almost a certainty that biorobots will eventually become a part of our daily lives.

Tesla and South Australia Collaborate – Constructing the World’s Largest Virtual Solar Power Plant

The government of Australia plans to increase the amount of energy the country gets from renewable sources. With the help of Elon Musk’s company, Tesla, they plan on building the largest virtual power plant in the world. It will be made up of 50,000 households that will be provided with power from Tesla batteries and solar panels. The project is currently underway with installation scheduled to take place over the next four years. The solar panel will generate energy to be stored in the batteries, with the excess being sent back to the centrally controlled grid to help power the rest of the state.

A statewide blackout in 2016, blamed on the failure of renewable energy to cover the usage during peak periods and severe weather which caused transmission towers to topple, initiated the start of the project. To create a solution to the country’s energy problems Tesla gave themselves a 100-day deadline, to build the world’s biggest battery. Alongside Tesla’s installations, the government has created their own mission which will subsidize AU$2500 of the initial costs for each system.

A trial has begun, with 1100 public housing properties expected to have a 5kW solar panel system and a 13.5kW Tesla Powerwall 2 battery installed. This will be followed by another 24,000 public houses receiving the same system. The expansion into supplying private homes will begin in 2019. The company expects the system to provide as much energy as a large coal power plant or gas turbine. Once power has been stored in the battery, it will be able to restore energy to homes in a fraction of a second following an outage.

The funding for the program will come from a grant of AU$2,000,000, plus a loan of AU$30,000,000 from a state technology fund. The project’s total cost is expected to be AU$800,000,000, with the remaining funding provided by investors. Interest in the program has already been expressed by 6500 investors, and its scale may be increased if this number grows. The government expects that the virtual power plant will provide 20% of the state’s average daily requirements, as well as cut the costs of power by 30%. The project’s success will also prove South Australia as a leader in the use of renewable energy and could encourage more countries to invest in the same layout.

The Future of Spying – Chemically Created Passwords

The safety of many countries depends on their ability to defend themselves during times of war, which often requires transporting secret messages. Each country has their own spies that are responsible for obtaining and transferring this information securely. As technology has advanced, much of this secret information is stored in password protected systems. Computers often generate these passwords which makes it possible for them to be hacked. This has caused ongoing research to develop secure ways of hiding information physically. One of these is chemical cryptography, which involves creating passwords made from atomic structures.

Although not currently on the market, the technology shows immense potential. Messages would be secured by coding them in the form of small molecules, that would be absorbed by a napkin. They could only be decrypted using the key, which would be the molecule’s structure. The method has been developed by German company Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie. Their molecular library has at least 500,000 keys that, because of their structural diversification, would be impossible to decode without the sample. The message can also only be revealed after being scanned with the same equipment used by microbiologists to analyze new compounds in their research. Researchers plan on expanding the technology to including DNA which would increase the number of keys that could be made, making passwords even more secure.

The small size of molecular keypad locks also makes them difficult to detect. This is a form of steganography, where both the locks and keys are hidden. This technology was first developed in 2007, with the possibility of only one password being used per lock. Researchers have recently found ways to allow locks to have multiple passwords, according to a study published in Journal of the American Chemical Society. Most florescent molecular sensors generate discreet optical signals but the one used was able to generate a unique optical ‘fingerprint’ for each chemical, making it possible to differentiate between them.

This inclusion enables the system to operate like both an electronic keypad lock, which can be opened by entering the correct password, and a biometric lock, opened by recognizing a unique signature (such as a fingerprint). Electronic locks have accessible entry keys, placed on the keypad, and can be opened by anybody that knows the password. Biometric locks are more secure as each user carries their own key. The molecular keypad lock would require both a password and optical fingerprint and would increase security even more, as the key is chemical and the correct password would need to be entered.

Blockchain Technology and its Implications for the Future

The use of cryptocurrency is rapidly growing worldwide, with the cost of Bitcoin continuing to increase, and its foundation is based on blockchain technology. In traditional financial systems, currency is controlled by the government, or state, through various institutions, including banks. Using this system, they keep track of the distribution of currency in a centralised ledger. Blockchain technology eliminates this centralization by operating through a network of nodes, or computers. This allows the ledger to be managed by the collaboration of these nodes, each of which has a downloaded copy of the entire chain that is constantly being updated. Whenever data is moved, all links checks to ensure that it is authorized, stopping fraudulent activity in its tracks. Any transaction that is taking place needs to be approved by all nodes, before it will be added to the chain.

The fundamental purpose of blockchains is to distribute their ledgers across a decentralized network of nodes, replacing the need for a centralized third party to verify transactions. This method enables thousands of copies of the ledger to be stored, across all the nodes, ensuring that a single point cannot be targeted by hackers. In addition, it makes it possible for anybody with a computer, and internet access, to become a part of the ledger’s maintenance.

Blockchain technology is also used to create new cryptocurrency. The nodes on the network group the most recent transactions together, packaging this data into a block which is then added to the current chain. The entire network receives this broadcast, adding it to the information already stored in the node. This process of confirming a transaction is referred to as ‘mining.’ The operation of nodes is an expensive process, and two incentives are given to those that run one on the network. The first miner to solve the cryptographic puzzle necessary to parcel together the most current block receives a reward, as well as a fee, paid by the sender, from each transaction it bundles into a block.

By decentralizing currency, blockchain technology and ‘mining’ gives a chain of people the power to introduce new money into the economy. It also presents the opportunity for them to manage the currency currently controlled by the banks, and other appointed systems. ‘Mining’ is crucial in determining that there is value to the new currency being introduced, because of the costs associated with the running of the nodes. This idea of money being stored outside of government control is appealing, especially in countries where state finances are unpredictable. Although the technology is in its infancy, there is the high possibility that its use will expand before long, as more people are beginning to trust the system and move away from government control.

The Mars Helicopter – First Flying Rover on the Red Planet

Mars 2020 is a rover mission scheduled to be launched by NASA in July 2020. Although like previous missions, in which a ground covering rover has been left to explore the planet, this one will be transporting additional cargo. A small, autonomous rotorcraft will be onboard, called the Mars Helicopter, which has been specially designed to explore the planet from a bird’s eye view. This will be the first airborne vehicle to traverse the planet, and scientists are hoping that it will provide some insight into the viability of heavier-than-air vehicles on Mars. The helicopter is also expected to scan the planet for signs of life, find ideal landing zones on its surface, identify potential problems that might arise for future visitors and assist the ground rovers, Curiosity and Opportunity, in their geological research.

The Mars Helicopter project began in August 2013, and design and testing lasted four years. The aircraft weighs 1.8 kilograms, has a fuselage the size of a softball and roto blades that move at a speed of 3000 rpm (ten times faster than those of a helicopter on Earth). The team’s design had to make allowances for the difference between our planet and Mars. The helicopter has been equipped with a heating mechanism, to keep it warm in the extremely cold temperatures that Mars experiences at night, as well as solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries. The atmosphere on the Red Planet is one percent of Earth’s so the helicopter will be flying at the equivalent of an altitude of 100,000 feet, as opposed to the highest helicopter flight in our atmosphere being 40,000 feet. To be able to achieve this, the aircraft was designed to be as light as possible while being as strong as possible.

The mission is scheduled to arrive on Mars in February 2021, where the helicopter will be deployed from the transport rover and placed on the ground. After its battery has been charged and several operational tests performed, the transport vehicle will then drive to a safe distance from which to issue commands. Although they will be sent at the speed of light, any instructions from Earth will take several minutes to reach the helicopter. During its first 30 days on Mars, the helicopter will have five different flight missions. The flights will gradually increase in time and distance, with the first lasting 30 seconds, at 20 feet off the ground.

As the first airborne rover on the planet, the Mars Helicopter will also help to determine if the planet can be inhabited, as well as search for signs of life, either past or present. It has been equipped with instruments to identify and collect rock and soil samples, encase them in sealed tubes and leave them on the planet’s surface. NASA hopes to retrieve these samples in future missions, so they can be returned to Earth to be studied.