Perfect fit one size fits all clothing is here, thanks to robots and smart materials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Inventory is one of retailers biggest cash sinks, but now a new technology combo means retailers can buy one size from the manufacturer and custom fit it to every body shape in house. You’re shopping for a sweater, and you spot one you love,...
Coffee without the coffee beans, “Molecular Coffee” has arrived
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we find new ways to produce food coffee isn’t immune, and now a company has found a way to make great tasting coffee but without using beans. Food production is going through a revolution. Take the animal out of meat, and you’ve got...
New pre-crime tech detects shoplifters before they commit the crime
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI’s that can predict outcomes from users behaviours are becoming increasingly common, and one of the biggest beneficiaries of that is the area of pre-crime detection. It’s watching, and knows a crime is about to take place before it happens – this is the...
3D Printing with sound, new tech opens door to printed cosmetics, food, and drugs
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As 3D printing becomes more popular the ability to control the size of droplets opens the door to 3D printing everything from cosmetics and materials, to pharmaceutical drugs. Harvard University has announced that its researchers have developed a way to print objects using sound....
Google creates a neural network that picks out individual voices in video
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Not only does this technology have benefits for video search, but it also has surveillance and privacy implications. Recently I talked about a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancement from Hitachi that let’s its AI’s pick out and follow individuals in a crowd – something that...
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,...
3D printed fashion takes over New York Fashion Week
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printed clothes can be customised and printed on demand using sustainable new materials, giving fashion designers new options and reducing the industry’s environmental impact. Downloadable 3D printed personalised sustainable fashion. I think you’ll agree it’s quite a catchy phrase – or at least...
DeepMind’s AI now has human like 3D vision
WHY THIS MATERS IN BRIEF As we come to rely on robots and automated systems more in our daily lives their ability to accurately perceive our world is crucial. If I showed you a single picture of a room it’s likely you’d be able to tell me about it...
Scientists have 3D printed the world’s first physical neural network
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to print advanced and complex AI’s mean we can produce them cheaply and position them at the edge of networks where computer power might be limited. Recently a team of researchers in the US revolutionised artificial intelligence when they made the world’s first...
Ocado shows off the world’s most advanced automated warehouse
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As technology and robotics get better it won’t be long before all warehouses are completely automated. They call it “The Hive,” or “The Grid.” Or sometimes just: “The machine.” It’s a huge structure that fills a warehouse on the outskirts of Andover, a small...
OpenAI’s robot hand handles objects with human-like dexterity
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Robots struggle with tasks that involve dexterity, but that problem could soon be solved. Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances are increasingly making headlines as we witness breakthrough after breakthrough, whether it’s in the creation of self-driving cars, or in the creation of the world’s first...
Biodegradable plastics made from “Tree glue” could hit the shelves in five years
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today plastics are the scourge of the environment so now companies around the world are racing to create environmentally friendly alternatives, and plastics made from true glue could be near the top of the list. Plastic’s fall from grace in the past couple of...
Nike’s new 3D printed kicks get set to revolutionise retail
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Retail will soon be going through another disruption, one where personalised products are made on demand in the back of stores, and the sportswear industry are leading the charge. We’re facing a retail revolution, another one, and this time it’s not e-commerce, one where...
New quantum resistant crypto stops quantum computers spying on your data
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When large quantum computers come online circa 2025 over 70 percent of the world’s encryption will be at risk, so companies need to adopt new method to protect themselves and their data. As quantum computing becomes an increasingly “real” technology, moving out of the...
This is the world’s first 3D printed carbon fiber bike
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Carbon fiber’s light weight and superior strength make it idea for many applications, but up until now it’s been expensive and very difficult to work with to create products, that’s all about to change. Modern carbon fibre bikes, stiffer and stronger than their metal...
CGI “Virtual influencers” on Instagram battle it out in public, snag real ad cash
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today we are used to the majority of our influencers, and contacts, being human, but as we progress into the future more of the encounters we have will be with virtual entities, in the form of avatars, bots and virtual vloggers like these. It...
Milk and dairy products without the cow, Perfect Day re-invents dairy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The way we produce food today is, for the most part, hugely wasteful and has a huge impact on the environment, vertical farms, clean meat, and now other “animal free” products are starting to disrupt the status quo. Over the past year we’ve seen...
General AI, the “holy grail” of AI, demonstrated for the first time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI’s that can learn quickly, and from very small data sets, will fundamentally change how we train AI’s, their capabilities, and how fast they are deployed into the market. Recently we saw a new “Master algorithm” that could be used to create the first...
Fantastic self-healing material regenerates after suffering “catastrophic damage”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are lots of dangerous industrial applications, and other use cases, where equipment of all kinds suffer extreme wear and tear, this new material could extend the life of products by multiples of time. The idea of creating self-repairing machines has been a popular...
Stab these soft robots and they’ll self-heal instantly
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Materials are an integral part of many products, and ones that can self-heal will help extend the life and usefulness of the products they’re used to make. Robots already seem to have a great bag of tricks to draw on. They can balance, run,...
