3D lidar is an optical perception technology that enables machines to see the world, make decisions and navigate. At present, machines using lidar range from small service robots to large autonomous vehicles.

Lidar technologies and markets are rapidly evolving, there are more than 100 3D lidar players worldwide. Each player claims to offer a unique, next-generation product that is superior to competing technologies. The technology landscape is cluttered with numerous options for every component in a lidar system.

IDTechEx identified four important technology choices that every lidar player and lidar user must make: measurement process, laser, beam steering mechanism, and photodetector. The beam steering mechanism is the most complicated and critical choice.

A robot which encourages kids to wash their hands has helped pupils at a remote Indian primary school take a fresh approach to hygiene. The hand-shaped robot, dubbed ‘Pepe’, is the product of a collaboration between researchers from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in India.
 

ABB today opened its first global healthcare research hub on the Texas Medical Center (TMC) campus, in Houston, Texas – showcasing a number of concept technologies, including a mobile YuMi® robot, which will be designed to assist medical and laboratory staff with laboratory and logistics tasks in hospitals.

The dual-arm mobile YuMi® will be able to sense and navigate its way around its human co-workers autonomously, while learning to find different routes from one location to another. It has the potential to undertake a wide range of repetitive and time-consuming activities, including preparation of medicines, loading and unloading centrifuges, pipetting and handling liquids and picking up and sorting test tubes.

Following the recent news (Wednesday 2 October) that UPS has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to operate a fleet of aerial delivery drones;

Mike Vousden, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view on this home delivery development:

“This remarkable development heralds a new era of parcel logistics. It is a clear indicator of how UPS will provide coverage on critical ‘last mile’ of parcel delivery – the distance between the delivery van or local hub, and the front door of the intended recipient.

Sequent SuperCharger² is a fundamental re-engineering of award-winning first and only smart watch with an Automatic Self-Charging battery system, providing world record power autonomy. Smartwatch is pledged $377,898 of $49,433 goal for now.

This new award winning Swiss engineering smartwatch has some groundbreaking features: the more you move, the more you transform 100% clean kinetic energy into electrical power to support the high precision built-in sensors, that track all your activities.

The City of Turku and the telecom company Elisa jointly organized a 5G hackathon at the SHIFT Business Festival held on 29–30 August 2019 in Turku, Finland. The hackathon challenged teams to create and develop new 5G-enabled solutions for preventing social exclusion.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as the most frequently mentioned theme among the key disruptive technologies in the discussions of the world’s leading CEO’s during the first half (H1) of 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s CEO Influencer Platform, which tracks over 300 of the world’s leading CEO’s from blue chip companies and unicorns, and their discussions pertaining to emerging trends, pain areas, new fields of innovation and other popular areas on Twitter, reveals that Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) were the other disruptive technologies which received huge coverage during the period.

The Institute of Software Science of Taltech University and startup company Thinnect  are developing technology that can monitor urban air and measure traffic flows via hundreds of sensors powered by solar panels and connected by mesh network.

Sensor hubs are placed to street lighting posts of Tallinn and are connected to a network. Different combinations of sensors can measure noise, sound radars can analyse traffic conditions and microphone arrays can record anything for further scientific research. For example, a student of taltech collected birdsongs and analysed different bird species heard my microphone arrays over the city.

Skeleton Technologies, the European market leader for ultracapacitors and energy storage systems for transportation and grid applications, will supply ultracapacitor systems to Škoda Electric, a traction equipment manufacturer, for 114 trams to be delivered by Škoda Transportation to Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Ludwigshafen in Germany.

The ultracapacitor system recuperates the braking energy of the trams and uses it for re-acceleration, saving energy and decreasing costs. Ultracapacitors are ideal for this application due to their high efficiency, reliability, and ability to recharge in seconds.

Technology company from Estonia - Cleveron introduces Cleveron 501, a one-of-a-kind grocery robot that enables grocery pick-up in just 20 seconds. Cleveron 501 is an efficient delivery alternative to home delivery, making grocery click and collect cheaper, faster and more convenient for both grocers and consumers.