by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Technology
Barcelona : In a first, Huawei has unveiled a technology that uses Artificial Intelligence-enabled smartphone to drive a car that can not only identify objects on the road but take smart decisions to avoid collisions or hitting someone.
In a video released by the China-based technology giant, the driverless Porsche Panamera is controlled by Huawei’s flagship “Mate 10 Pro” smartphone that can “understand its surroundings”.
“Our smartphone is already outstanding at object recognition. We wanted to see if in a short space of time we could teach it to not only drive a car, but to use its AI capabilities to see certain objects, and be taught to avoid them,” said Andrew Garrihy, Chief Marketing Officer at Huawei Europe.
According to a report in theinquirer.net on Friday, Huawei’s ‘RoadReader’ project “pushed the boundaries of its object recognition technology and put the learning capabilities, speed and performance of its AI-powered devices to the test”.
During the test, the smartphone-driven car did not hit a real dog sitting right in the middle of the road and moved on from the side.
The camera app on the “Mate 10 Pro” can tell the difference between food, pets, landscapes and more.
Huawei will showcase its “RoadReader” project at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain on February 26-27.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Opinions, Technology
By Rajendra Shende,
Srinivasan leaves his office in Bengaluru where the lights and air-conditioners are switched off when sensors planted inside notice that he is leaving. He is prompted on his e-watch as to how much time it would take for the elevator to arrive on his floor, based on movement-recognition by sensors at the entry of the corridor.
He utilises that time to check on his smart phone, connected to his refrigerator, the items that he needs to buy on the way. His smart phone has already received a message from the sensor in his electric vehicle (EV) that there is enough charge in the battery to reach home if he takes the club route, as other routes have heavy traffic.
Welcome to the world of Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Networking and Machine Learning.
The numbers are crazy, but as per the presentations given by Ericsson’s former CEO Hans Vestburg in 2010 — and repeated by Cisco — by 2020, 50 billion devices and machines would be talking to each other. That is about six times the human population. By 2030, as per one estimate from IBM, one trillion devices would be connected to each other in the Cloud, networking more than 100 times the human population.
Scary? If yes, then the story is not even complete.
There are more than five billion mobile phone users among the world’s population of 7.5 billion. That heralds 100 percent market penetration for digital dialogue very soon. Half the world already uses Internet and digital social media. Countries are competing with each other for declaring the targets of 100 per cent EVs and banning petrol and diesel cars “earlier than thou” and growth rates of EVs in many countries are more than 60 percent.
After the announcement of aggressive policies in the manufacture of EVs by China, France and the UK, India’s EV story is “on the verge of imploding” as per the Indian press. Today’s global car population of more than one billion would double by 2040. The share of EVs is likely to be 40-60 per cent. Growth rates of home appliances in India and China are more than 10 per cent.
Now take a pause and imagine something else: The horrendous amount of e-waste generated as the new models and latest versions arrive and as the existing appliances and devices retire and become “unwanted”.
The sheer numbers of not only sensors but lithium batteries needed in a sharply growing market of EVs, driverless cars, mobile and smart phones, clean energy storage, along with rare-earth metals needed for sensors and PCBs for internet-based computing and CCTVs point to a nerve-racking and daunting challenge to tackle e-waste.
That waste is the dark side of the bright story of the global future. These devices, when discarded for the new versions or at the end of their life, would pose life-threatening consequences to our world. Improper and unsafe treatment and disposal through open burning or in dumpsites pose significant risks to the environment and human health.
Good news, however, is that the sound management of e-waste — starting with legislation and its enforcement — can create new areas of employment and drive entrepreneurship. The latest report of the International Telecom Union (ITU) and UN University (UNU) states that new era of emerging opportunities has arrived.
E-waste contains precious metals, including lithium, gold, silver, platinum and palladium, but it also contains valuable bulky materials such as iron, copper and aluminium along with plastics that can be reprocessed in plasma reactors and recycled. Overall, UNU estimates that the value of precious metals in e-waste is worth $60 billion.
In 2016, the Indian government, under Prime Minister Modi, issued the E-Waste (Management) Rules that place responsibility on electronic goods manufacturing companies and bulk consumers to collect and channel e-waste from consumers to authorised re-processing units. Firms are now required to set yearly collection targets linked to their production numbers. These are steps in the right direction to enhance the liability of the companies, if the enforcement is effective.
(Rajendra Shende is Chairman, TERRE Policy Centre, and Director, UNEP. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at shende.rajendra@gmail.com)
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Markets, Startup Basics, Technology, World
By Nishant Arora,
Los Angeles : Although supersonic travel bade goodbye over a decade ago with Concorde, a US-based start-up, Boom, is now developing a jetliner that will fly nearly 75 people — at the cost of a business class ticket — from New York to London in a little over three hours in 2023.
Boom supersonic airliner will aim to fly at Mach 2.2 (more than double the speed of sound) and cut flight times to half — 2.6 times faster than the current airlines.
Los Angeles-based Arrivo Corporation, that aims to commercialise the Hyperloop technology, is building fast corridors — starting from Denver, Colorado, in 2019 — that will drastically reduce travel time by road.
Brent Bushnell, who calls himself the nerdiest nerd on Earth, is creating “mad engineering projects” to teach kids science and robotics at his LA-based engineering and entertainment start-up Two Bit Circus, that offers tequila clouds, flame tanks and robot bartenders.
These start-ups have one thing in common: SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE solutions offered by the French 3D Experience major Dassault Systemes that are providing wings to their ideas.
Mike Jagemann, Head of XB-1 (XB-1 supersonic prototype is scheduled to fly this year) at Boom Supersonic, first learned SOLIDWORKS in college as part of a competitive aerospace team.
At one of the sessions, Jagemann explained that Boom is using SOLIDWORKS to design the entire aircraft — not just pieces of fuselage or the interior but the complete package, including computer-aided design (CAD), product data management (PDM), simulation and Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR).
“Coming to the SOLIDWORKS conference is to connect with the best designers in the business who can help Boom take a giant leap. It’s a great place to grow your career,” Jagemann told the audience at one of the sessions.
Emerging start-ups are fast embracing SOLIDWORKS to design things that will change the future — from transportation to healthcare.
According to Ryan Kraft, an engineer from Arrivo, people who live in urban areas spend an average of 100 hours a year in traffic and the US loses billions of dollars as a result.
The company is using SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE solutions to design a high-speed super urban network to move people around cities.
The Arrivo network would have a magnetised track that parallels existing freeways. The system could support existing vehicles as well as cargo sleds and its own specially-designed vehicles.
According to Kraft, the company selected a minimum set of tools and processes to enable quick yet accurate manufacturing and testing, and will add in further toolsets and processes as they move to a production mindset.
“The company will spend the next 18 months to two years focusing on moving forward with technology, partners and customers… with doubling its engineering staff,” Kraft said.
British engineering company Gilo Industries is using SOLIDWORKS to design the “Mako” jetboard for water surfing.
According to its founder Gilo Cardoza, while the concept of a jetboard has been around since the 1930s, no one has ever done it really well.
“It needed to be lightweight, like a surfboard, and travel fast. The Mako goes 56 km per hour, has a 12-horsepower engine and goes from zero to 35 in 2.8 seconds. Using SOLIDWORKS, we went from art to finished product in just 12 months,” Cardoza told the gathering.
For Bushnell from Two Bit Circus, the best immersive experience is not a smartphone or a laptop — but real life.
“Engagement is the key to creative design. There’s no experience more immersive than real life and everyone in the SOLIDWORKS community has the tools and skills to create something innovative, engaging and memorable,” he noted.
When it comes to healthcare, Kyoungchul “KC” Kong, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Sogang University in South Korea and CEO and founder of SG Robotics, has developed wearable robotics to help those in need of assistive technologies.
“Angelegs” is one such wearable robot system that helps paraplegic people walk.
According to Neri Oxman, a designer and professor at MIT’s Mediated Matter Lab, we are in the middle of the transition from the “age of the machines” to the “age of organisms”.
“In the ‘age of the machines’, 3D printing processes worked with voxels, but in the ‘age of organisms’, this information won’t be captured in binary systems but in systems based on genetic codes,” she noted, adding that the “Bio-digital” age will enable manufacturers to 3D-print organic materials.
“We all share a big dream and, most importantly, we have the knowledge, talent, character and determination to make things happen. Let’s make a better world for everyone,” reiterated Gian Paolo Bassi, SOLIDWORKS CEO.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Business Ideas, Entrepreneurship, Markets, Startup Financing, Technology, Your Business Plan
By Mehtap Yilmaz,
Ankara: The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and Global Environment Fund (GEF) will support entrepreneurs who work on innovation in clean technology, the council’s head has said.
TUBITAK President Prof. Ahmet Arif Ergin told Anadolu Agency: “Entrepreneurs who succeed in the Clean Innovation Program will be supported by a $3 million fund from the GEF and TUBITAK.”
The program, conducted with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) under the financial support of the Global Clean Innovation Programme (GCIP), has been hosted by TUBITAK since 2014 in Turkey, he said.
Within the scope of the program, clean technology innovation is being encouraged, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups that work on energy and water efficiency, renewable energy, waste management, green buildings and transportation field, are being backed, he said.
According to UNIDO, the GCIP “promotes an innovation and entrepreneur ecosystem by identifying and nurturing clean-tech innovators and entrepreneurs; by building capacity within national institutions and partner organizations for the sustainable implementation of the clean-tech ecosystem and accelerator approach”.
Ergin said the program’s first phase was complete and entrepreneurs were receiving support in the fields of education and mentorship.
“Over 100 startups in energy and environment sectors have successfully the education,” he added.
He said a competition was being organized to raise awareness about the program’s success.
“Ideas which rank among top three will be rewarded with cash prizes and winners will represent Turkey in the Global Forum 2018 in Los Angeles and California,” he said.
He said invitation to the program’s phase two, which would be supported by the $3 million fund, would start next year.
TUBITAK — established in 1963 — is the leading agency for management, funding and conduct of research in Turkey.
“GEF is a private equity fund manager focused on resource productivity investments globally,” according to its website.
—AA
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Emerging Businesses, Markets, Medium Enterprise, SMEs, Technology
By Hardev Sanotra,
Las Vegas : It was a glimpse into tomorrow’s world of technology which would bring far-reaching changes in the lives of those who would finally adopt it — promising to overturn many assumptions made.
Curtains were brought down on the largest consumer electronics show on Earth here on Friday evening. But before it closed, the show brought visitors in contact with how New-Age technology would affect every aspect of our lives — from health, entertainment, security, mobility, food and much more.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) being showcased at the CES 2018 exhibition was seen to be entering new areas like farming and sea rescue.
The Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (AR) and Augmented Reality (AR), Robotics, 5G technology, smart cities and digital health brought hundreds of large and small companies here, vying with one another in offering their wares.
Some of the new technologies include a miniature 360 degree camera from Taiwan which can be adopted on to a mobile phone, taking video by two lenses with 180 degree vision and then stitching them together for VR view or other uses.
Even alternate medicine advocates were seen riding the techwagon, by offering wellness technology based on Chinese procedures like acupuncture — aiming to heal aches and pains through transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Whether this would work is open to question but they were at the CES.
So were several stalls from AR/VR companies, offering to entertain, amuse and inform the young generation through more and more challenging games. The distinction between virtual and real worlds were sought to be erased in images that were far better than what was available just last year.
Robotics — from miniature autonomous machines just millimetres in length and breadth — to oversized humanoids which could play ping pong with real human beings were enticing for visitors to try them out.
Robots with sensitive tactile ability which includes just picking up one piece of thin paper and handing it out to pet dogs who followed your command were few of the newer adaptations.
Many companies were aiming their robots at educating and entertaining children at home so that parents who are busy have a substitute to bring up kids. Perhaps aiming to alleviate fears of a human world controlled by robots by one such statement which said that machines will never replace human being — only help them live better.
NASA was there with their latest drones, and so were dozens of others. Drones overwhelmed the visitors by their abilities from surveillance in difficult terrain to rescue operations in disaster zones.
Japanese company Yamaha has come out with a drone to spray pesticides over hundreds of acres of land, avoiding human contact with dangerous chemicals. At $100,000 a piece, it may find few takers in India where pesticide spray is said to have resulted in several deaths from contact.
Kodak, which specialises in photography and photo-printing, have entered into 3D printing — perhaps a natural transition — which makes physical material from plastic and other raw materials to building the blocks for making any product.
The company still does not use metallic raw material but others at the show promised that the technology was around the corner. Once plastic and metals are mastered, there’s no end what cannot be manufactured in a factory from such 3D printers.
There were autonomous vehicles galore, showing us which way traffic would move on the roads in near future — safer, faster and with minimal human intervention.
But one of the most innovate plans on driver-less vehicles appears to be a new concept on truck driving. Instead of removing the driver’s presence completely, Sigma Integrale’s remote driving offers control of large trucks from an office hub near the driver’s home, thus keeping his or her job intact.
Large screens offer the same view through several cameras mounted on a truck that a driver would have normally seen from the driving seat, with full ability to control the movement from hundreds of miles away.
The tech is being tested out and, according to Peter Sosinski, Head of technology at the company, it would take nearly two years for such trucks to be operated by companies after all safety aspects had been thoroughly worked out.
Smart home tech has taken a leap of faith with cheaper and easier controls, wider variety of usage in entertainment, lighting control, communication and food preservation.
Developments in computer technology — from laptops to tablets and high-end personal computers to mobile phones — were there for the visitors to see.
According to CES Senior Vice Present Karen Chupka said, with every major industry now engaged in tech, “our show attracted major global brands and innovative newcomers from industries as varied as entertainment and marketing, sports and healthcare, and automotive and lifestyle”.
More than 3,900 exhibitors made it virtually impossible for anyone one person to see everything, but there was something for everyone spread over 2.75 million square feet.
Next year promises to be even bigger, with more tech advance as has been the case almost every year.
(Hardev Sanotra was in Las Vegas at the invitation of Lenovo. He can be reached at hardev.sanotra@ians.in)
—IANS
