In commemoration of the 200-year anniversary of Antarctica discovery by Estonian born Admiral Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Her Excellency Kersti Kaljulaid, President of the Republic of Estonia, made her successful expedition to Antarctica. President Kaljulaid’s efforts included managing state affairs in real-time from Antarctica and signing digital legally binding documents from the polar areas using the weather resilient Iridium Certus specialty satellite broadband service.

The trip to Antarctica began on January 27th with the President returning to Estonia on January 31st.

The next generation of single-aisle aircraft has a lot to learn from MAVERIC, Airbus’ latest aircraft demonstrator. The game-changing “blended wing body” design could generate up to 20% fuel savings and significantly improve the passenger experience thanks to its exceptionally spacious cabin layout. 

The conventional tube-and-wing configuration with wing-mounted engines: it is the iconic aircraft shape that has captured the imagination of aviation enthusiasts for decades. But someday soon, passengers may find themselves travelling in an aircraft that looks nothing like the ones seen on today’s runways.

At first glance it looks like a normal mirror, but it isn't. It is a 3D printed part, a technology that CUPRA has begun to implement in the development of the new Leon Competition in collaboration with HP, known as printer manufactorer and now a 3D printing technology developer. Greater agility, efficiency and flexibility are the benefits of a system that is set to revolutionise car development. Below are the key points.

On the end of January the University of Tartu and Bolt presented the test car procured for the University of Tartu’s autonomous driving lab. This high-technology vehicle will be used for experiments in several research and development fields. The aim is to conduct test runs in urban traffic this year already.

Yanmar and Nauti-Craft announced that both companies have entered into a technology transfer agreement with the purpose of commercializing Yanmar’s boats by utilizing Nauti-Craft’s patented marine suspension technology.

Cooperation between Yanmar and Nauti-Craft began in 2016 with Yanmar evaluating the technology by constructing a 10-meter Suspension Boat concept. Yanmar showcased the concept boat at the Japan International Boat Show in Yokohama in March 2018 where it was widely appreciated and confirmed the marketability of the technology.

ABB and Ericsson, together with Swisscom, showcase for the first time, how easily and effectively robots can be controlled over wide distances utilizing the real-time communication capabilities of 5G.

During WEF 2020, world leaders will witness the potential of no-latency communication enabled by 5G. At the Congress Center in Davos, Switzerland, an ABB YuMi® collaborative robot will carve a message in a sandbox that will be replicated at the same time by a second YuMi® robot located 1.5 km away.

Euro NCAP publishes its Best in Class for 2019. Fifty-five cars were assessed among which forty-one achieved the top accolade. This makes 2019 one of the most impressive years on record since Euro NCAP started to evaluate consumer safety of cars on the European market.

HP revealed its list of predictions for 3D printing and digital manufacturing in 2020. Informed by extensive interviews with a team of experts, this year’s research identifies top trends that will have a major impact on advancing Industry 4.0 such as the need for more sustainable production, how automation will transform the factory floor, and the rise of data and software as the backbone of digital manufacturing.

In October 18, in a first for drone delivery in the U.S., Wing delivered packages, over-the-counter medication, snacks and gifts to residents of Christiansburg, Virginia.

With an expanded Air Carrier Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Wing became the first company to operate a commercial air delivery service via drone directly to homes in the United States. Wing’s FAA permissions are the first to allow multiple pilots to oversee multiple unmanned aircraft making commercial deliveries simultaneously to the general public, paving the way for the most advanced drone delivery service in the nation.

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.