China enlists drones to disinfect its streets to prevent Covid-19 spreading
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As Covid-19 continues its rampage around the world governments are finding new uses for some familiar technologies. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Increasingly the current Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc around the world, and it’s rise to...
Thermal imaging enabled drones help Chinese identify people with Covid-19
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A shortage of Covid-19 testing kits and the need to try to identify people infected with the virus to stop it spreading means governments are now turning to drones for help. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. As...
Spanish police recruit drones to help keep people indoors during the Covid-19 pandemic
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF During the current pandemic the police are stretched, and many are falling ill, so increasingly technology is on the front line. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. As the Covid-19 pandemic ravages the world almost every form of...
Chinese authorities send robots into hospitals to help stop Covid-19
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the global Covid-19 pandemic accelerates robots are coming to the rescue. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. During the current Coronavirus, Covid-19, pandemic robots are being used to help perform remote diagnoses and clean trains and subways,...
DARPA closes in on its ambitions to build the worlds first flying aircraft carriers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of warfare will include drones, and that flips the idea of today’s aircraft carriers on its head. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A while ago I wrote an article that discussed the impending emergence of...
US Army explores the use of shape shifting robots for 2040
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology is transforming warfare, and the US military believes autonomous swarms of shape shifting robots could give them a significant advantage in battle. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently I discussed how swarms of robots were able...
Baltimore becomes the first US city to be watched from the air 24/7
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As airborne platforms, from aircraft to drones, and as machine vision and optic technologies improve, our ability to monitor cities and people from the air in real time will improve dramatically. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A...
A hydrogen powered drone just made an epic ocean crossing
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Despite advances drones today are still limited by their range, but new technologies like hydrogen fuel cells are helping overcome those limitations. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Although multi-copter drones are now being used to transport everything...
The USAF deploys it’s first microwave drone killing weapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Drones have been around for decades, but new technologies have accelerated their development and adoption, and as they’re weaponsised we need new ways to take them down. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently a black hat hacker...
Airbus and Audi join forces and unveil their flying taxi concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It seems noone wants to be left out of the flying Robo-Taxi race, so now Audi are teaming up with Airbus to develop their own concept. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Flying Robo-Taxis, which rather than the...
Volocopter completes its first flying taxi flight in Europe
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As multiple technologies develop and converge the future of transport is increasingly looking skywards. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The team at Volocopter, who in 2017 flew their flying taxi around the skyscrapers of Dubai, has ticked...
Goodyear unveils it’s flying car tilt rotor tyre concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Flying taxis are arriving, albeit in drone form, but the dream of actual flying cars is far from dead. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. If you watch any science fiction movie none of the flying vehicles or cars...
Hydrogen powered sky taxi boasts record breaking 400km range
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Traditional ground transportation has had its day, but it’s going take a long time before sky taxi’s are ready for mass transport duties. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Hydrogen is still lagging behind electric batteries as an energy...
Amazon trained their delivery bot Scout in the virtual world so it could handle the real one
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Training AI software and robots in the virtual world will dramatically accelerate disruption and the world’s rate of change. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Amazon, who are already on their way to becoming a fully autonomous retailer, recently...
New Lithium Metal batteries beat out LiOn to power drones for longer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As investment flows into new battery tech Lithium Ion suddenly has a whole host of new competitors to contend with. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. It’s easy to be jaded by new battery news, after all, there’s a...
New military virtual reality system lets operators control swarms of drones
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As drone swarms become more common we need new ways to control them. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Ever since drones became a thing the standard practice for piloting one has been one operator for each unmanned vehicle....
Future EV’s with 16,000km range and space elevators made possible with new Chinese Nano-Cable
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are multiple uses for incredibly strong cables and materials, from defence to space elevators, and even helping electric cars travel 16,000km on one charge. Recently I’ve discussed advances across a wide variety of materials, including the development of a wonder material that lasts...
Shooting lasers at drones helps DARPA keep them airborne forever
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies field drones one of their biggest hurdles is keeping them airborne for long periods of time, DARPA’s latest program hopes to solve that. DARPA, the bleeding edge research arm of the US Military that’s bought and bringing you everything from conscious robots and autonomous...
The founder of China’s largest online retailer envisions a “100% robotic workforce”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are particular industries and companies that lend themselves for full automation, and E-Commerce is just one of them. “I hope my company would be 100% automation someday … no human beings anymore, 100% operated by AI and robots.” That’s Richard Liu’s audacious goal,...
The world’s first silent, engineless aircraft takes flight at MIT
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This new type of engine, an ion engine, could one day be a useful propulsion system for drones and small aircraft but a lot of work remains to be done. Since the first airplane took flight over 100 years ago, virtually every aircraft in...
