Important Innovations

New Autonomous Roofers in Town Source:   University of Michigan Autonomous Roofers University of Michigan engineers and roboticists have invented a drone that can put a new roof on your house and do it autonomously.  The drone nails shingle to a rooftop and decides in flight where to target the nails.  The aerial vehicle is autonomous, positions the nail gun on a nailing point, places the nail and then moves on to the next point without any human intervention.  It's a cutting edge example of drones being capable of what can be dangerous construction work for humans. Octocopter The drone is a DJI S1000 octocopter equipped with a standard nail gun.  The drone uses a system of cameras and markers to cover test roofs with asphalt shingles.  The roofs have a range of slopes. Machine Vs. Human Right now, the University of Michigan team says the drone is less effective than a human roofer.  But they think the system will be improve...

VR, AI and AR Combining Forces to Advance Medicine Source:  University of Michigan New Tech Enables Doctors to See Patient Pain for Better Treatment New technology that allows doctors to see their patient's pain, including its location and intensity, has just been unveiled by scientists at the University of Michigan.  It combines virtual reality, artificial intelligence and augmented reality and is called the CLARAi VR.  For more details, go to Important Innovations Collection: Virtual Reality Advancing Medicine : VR Seeing Your Pain Source:  University of Michigan VR, AI & AR Showing Doctors Where It Hurts New technologies, including Virtu...

Predictive System for Driverless Cars to Anticipate and Avoid Pedestrians University of Michigan System With Very Successful Results As driverless cars increase on the roads, it is imperative that they include defensive driving systems to avoid pedestrians.  Backed by research funding from Ford, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a predictive system for self-driving cars to predict and avoid pedestrians.  It has great results.  For a great news blog on this, go to Important Innovations Collection: Driverless Cars' Pedestrian Defense : Teaching Self-Driving Cars to Predict Pedestrians' Next Moves Source:  University of Michigan Ford-Funded Predictive System Dev...

Cleaner than Clean:  University of Michigan's Omniphobic Coating  It's a durable, transparent coating that repels water, oil, grime and alcohols. And it's paving the way for grime-free smart phones, laptops, other electronics along with for your walls, floors, and tables.  It has widespread household and industrial use.  All I can say is bring it on! Grime-proof for Good It's an omniphobic coating developed by a University of Michigan scientist with a 2 year old child.  Associate Professor Anish Tuteja says for him this was personal, not just science.  The result is a tech breakthrough with wide application.  His lab is known for breakthroughs.  This coating repels any liquid. Math & Great Deal of Discovery Behind This Tuteja and his team mapped out the fundamental properties of a library of substances.  They mathematically predicted how any 2 would work together.  They came up with the perfect combo for grime-proofing. M...