Nowadays, it’s become much harder to draw the line between science fiction and science fact!
One of the biggest reasons that the famous TV show Black Mirror was so famous was that it feels more like journalism than escapism. While the series aims to explore the dark side of technology, there is a lot to be excited about in the realms of robotics inventions and AI.
So, here are 9 of some of the most innovative inventions in robotics that are causing a buzz!
1. Smart Mirror
If there ever was a sci-fi re-telling of Snow White, the Evil Queen would definitely be making full use of a Care OS smart mirror.
This clever piece of tech is essentially a Health and Lifestyle guru in a mirror! Each member of your house can set up their profile and regulate their environment to their preferences.
It knows the temperature you like your showers, monitors air quality and power consumption. It even prepares a fitness program with a virtual instructor and knows if you need to get your eyes checked!
As with all smart products, the list of functions is on the increase as we speak, so keep an eye on this one!
2. Xenobots
Okay, so this one is not easy to explain. But the fact that it’s so complex is what makes it so amazing!
This is the first living robot. A robot built completely with organic material.
Using a combination of skin and heart cells from frogs, researchers in the US have figured out a way to computer program them to move under their control.
That is putting things very simply. But safe to say, while there is still a lot of work to do with xenobots, it’s hard to believe this is a thing. Think about the implications these little critters could have in medicine!
3. Self-Driving Car
This is totally a “The future is now!” moment.
Companies like Telsa express great confidence in the sophistication of self-driving technology. At the time of this article being written, Elon Musk predicts the full release of a Level 5 automated driverless car sometime this year.
With new technology such as electromagnetic brakes innovating ways for safe operation in other machines and vehicles, it seems that the reality of fully functional self-driving vehicles is just around the corner!
4. Sophia
If you haven’t heard of her, where have you been?!
Sophia has been a guest on talk shows. She engages in humanitarian work (seriously!). And, now, she is offering herself to keep the sick and elderly company during the lockdown.
Hanson Robotics intends to mass-produce Sofia in 2021, so she can be available to the public. (If only Asimov were alive to see this!)
The biggest selling point of Sophia is her AI. It is designed to pick up social cues and maintain more sophisticated conversation than similar AIs like Siri or Alexa.
What Hanson Robotics needs, though, is enough data to develop Sophia’s personality through human interaction. It seems that Sophia’s vocation will be just as beneficial to her as it will be to her companions!
5. Life-Sized Mech
This is one for you anime fans! Last year engineers in Japan produced the largest humanoid robot ever built. It’s based on an 80’s franchise similar to Transformers.
While its scale is impressive, it doesn’t do much compared to its comic book counterpart.
Although this may seem like a bit of fun on the first impression, it turns out that this giant has a lot of real-world applications.
The reason we don’t live in a world full of Transformers and Gundam is down to what engineers call scaling laws. The desire to make this hulking piece of metal walk will yield a lot of data that could transform how large motors are built. Not bad for a bunch of comic book geeks!
6. PigeonBot
Speaking of innovation in the industry, check this out! It looks like something out of Leonardo DiVinci’s journal!
For decades, engineers have been obsessed with replicating the subtle design of a bird’s wing.
Birds have the ability to control dominant feathers the way we control our fingers and toes. This means that they can dance through the sky with elegant grace, letting nothing get in their way. mimicking these movements have been an enigma for years! But scientists at Standford University may have cracked it!
PigeonBot is a robot bird whose wings closely emulate the dynamics of a real pigeon.
With the data gathered from this guy, we could see applications to drone technology and small aircraft. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? I honestly can’t tell!
7. Spot
Boston Dynamic has been very proud of their robot dog. Countless Youtube videos of it playing tricks in the lab have gone viral. It especially became famous for its fictional counterpart taking over the world in a Black Mirror episode.
Over the last few years, Spot, as he is called, has been rolled out to the public for tasks nobody wants to do. Our cyber-best friend has had many trial jobs from a surveyor to an intern at Chernobyl.
But his most recent gig is as a social distance enforcer in a park in Singapore. Equipped with cameras and sensor spot is able to make a polite announcement to visitors that they should stand at least 1 meter apart.
As scary as he may sound, Spot’s bark is louder than his bite (figuratively speaking, of course. He doesn’t have teeth!)
8. Project Loon
Google’s ballon is basically a flying cell phone tower.
Its purpose is to hover over the remotest parts of the earth delivery sweet internetty goodness to all!
With a mechanism called “Hans”, Loon teams up with a sophisticated navigation AI to travel the skies. The goal is to offer easier access to telecommunication at a fraction of the cost.
While there are still a few kinks to iron out when it comes to Loon not bursting in mid-air, the tech seems extremely promising! Because who wouldn’t want to access Amazon in the jungle!
9. Electronic Skin
And back to Singapore one last time with ACES (Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin).
This synthetic material contains an artificial nervous system that interacts with its environments in unbelievable ways. It recognizes hard and soft and responds 1000 times quicker to stimuli than the human sense of touch.
The team aims to apply this robotic technology to the field of prosthetics so that one day your dream of being a cyborg can be fully realized!
The Future of Robotics Inventions
As we’ve seen, robotics inventions are much more than taking sci-fi concepts into the real world. While certain products might seem entertaining and light-hearted, all of them have world-changing potential.
One day in the future we will look back on some of these items listed here and wonder how we lived without them. At the same time, we can be sure that we will have moved on to even greater visions. The mind boggles at what they could be!
So, as the lines between fiction and reality continue to blur, all that these inventors ask of us is that we continue to look to the horizon with them because the future belongs to all of us!
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