Important Innovations

Pizza Hut's Pie Maker on the Road with Zero Emissions Source:  Pizza Hut As Fresh as It Gets - Green Pizza Pizza Hut has a prototype robot that cooks pizza on the way to customers' homes.  It's a mobile pizza factory in a Toyota pickup truck.. The pizzas are as fresh as they can get. Zero Emissions Pizzas The pizza robot with 4 wheels includes a refrigerator, a pair of robotic arms and a portable conveyor oven.  The system runs on the truck's hydrogen fuel electric powertrain.  It was unveiled at the SEMA show on automotive specialty products in Las Vegas.  It's a green delivery system of green pizzas with zero emissions. "The Kitchen" The robotic pizza system is called "The Kitchen" and Pizza Hut thinks it has the potential to deliver fresher pizzas to wider delivery areas.  Futuristic means of food delivery are in vogue.   Uber reportedly is looking into delivering food by drones.  And Alphabet, Google's parent, is teamed w...

Human and Machine Interactions Source:  DARPA Supersonic Jet DARPA and Sikorsky Autonomy Flights The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, and Sikorsky are demonstrating ways for pilots to interact with autonomy.  The purpose is to help military pilots build trust and confidence in autonomous flight systems.  The progressive training is being performed in simulated military missions in Virginia. This will have eventual impact on commercial passenger flight too. Building Pilot Trust for Autonomous Systems This is part of DARPA's Aircrew Labor in-Crew Automation System (ALIAS) program.  DARPA believes that cockpit assistance builds pilots' trust in autonomy.  The October 2018 flights started introducing pilot inceptors as a way for them to interact with the autonomous system in addition to a tablet interface for interaction.  The pilot is in command and can choose to engage autonomy to help operate, plan, adjust or exec...

Musk New Track to United Arab Emirates Source:  Hyperloop to Dubai Innovators Journeys Elon Musk's startup Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has announced it has another destination to deliver hyperloops..  It's going to build a commercial Hyperloop track, an XO Square Innovation Center and Hyperloop Experience Center in Abu Dhabi, the capitol city of the United Arab Emirates.  It appears that long train track of innovation is starting at six miles from Dubai to Abu Dhabi.  The trip would take 12 minutes.  What a great journey of innovation and entrepreneurship! Competition from Virgin Musk Hyperloop and its competing startup Virgin Hyperloop One have each about $200 million in investment respectively.  They're in competition right now.  The Virgin Group is going to build a test track for its "Kitty Hawk" in Dubai.   All-aboard and stay tuned. Hyperloop Green Machine Hyperloop is a highly advanced green means of transportation....

YuMi, the Robot Conductor, to Do Duty on Factory Floor Source:  ABB's YuMi conducting Lucca Philharmonic Orchestra in Italy ABB's New Shanghai  Robot Factory At the new ABB robot factory in China, the Swiss engineering group will use robots to make robots.  It's a $150 million, state of the art facility in Shanghai that the company just announced today.  ABB is building the factory to strategically secure and defend its place as China's largest maker of industrial robots.  YuMi, the highly acclaimed robot conductor, will be part of the workforce.  YuMi humanoid robots are designed to work side by side with people. China 2020 The new factory will open in 2020.  It's close to ABB's China robotics campus.  It will build robots for China and for export elsewhere in Asia.  China is ABB's #2 market after the US. Shanghai Global Technology Center In a statement announcing the project, ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said:  "Shanghai ha...

 Innovative Bird Brains Source:  Max Planck Institute Max-Planck Institute and Oxford University Discoveries Scientists at the renowned Max-Planck Institute of Science in Germany and Oxford University in the UK have researched and shown how New Caledonian crows combine single wood parts and build long distance stick tools. It's a remarkable discovery. Crows are able to combine individual parts to form a tool to work on what they want at a distance.  It proves a crow's brain is something significant and very special. Only humans and great apes have been able to do this. Scientific Significance - Brilliant Crows The tools that the crows create are compound tools and complex, designed solely by them to reach at long distances.  The birds are able to combine two or more otherwise non-functional elements to reach their goal.  Until now, that's a task only humans and great apes have been able to do. Crows Calling What the New Caledonian crows are able to...

Cleveland Clinic Landmark Research Source:  Stock Photo Cardiorespiratory Fitness is Key Here's another great reason to even more enjoy your favorite exercise like running or biking.  It's now proven to lead to a longer life.  Researchers at the renowned Cleveland Clinic have found that cardiorespiratory fitness leads to a longer life.  And they say there are no limits to the benefits of aerobic fitness. Substantive, Long Term Research Results This is a very substantive study.  The research team retrospectively studied testing results on 122,007 patients who exercised on treadmills.  The time frame is from January 1, 1991 thru December 31, 2014... almost 2 decades.  The researchers measured all causes of mortality relating to fitness and exercise. Aerobic Fitness Extends Life The researchers say aerobic fitness is the key to a long life.  And there is no limit on how much exercise is too much.  According to the stud...

Breakthru for VR & AR - New Ultra Lite Gloves Source:  ETH Zurich Enables Touching Virtual Objects for Real It's the ultra-lite glove that's less than 8 grams per finger.  The gloves enable you to feel, grasp and manipulate virtual objects.  The system developed by Swiss scientists provides extremely realistic feedback and could run on a tiny battery. That allows unparalleled freedom of movements for VR and AR.  This is a big development in VR, AR tech. Global Quest for This Tech Globally for years, scientists, engineers, and software developers have been trying to achieve what the scientists at ETH Zurich and EPFL have just done.  It's the quest for tech that lets users grasp, touch and manipulate virtual objects while feeling they're touching something real. Swiss Scientific Achievement The gloves are called DextrES.  They've been successfully tested on volunteers and will be presented at  an upcoming international symposium.  ...