Welcome to a new month, year and decade. What a decade this promises to be. If the pace of technological development has surprised you over the past 10 years, that pace will only increase over the next 10 years. There are so many factors that are allowing us to develop new and fascinating technologies. Computational speed is increasing, cloud computing and edge computing are allowing more storage and processing, 5G and other transmission technologies speed up the process. We also have the promise of vastly improved AI, Machine Learning and Quantum Computing on their way.
This week I will have a look at a few developments in Autonomous Aircraft, Tech for pets, a new cheaper LIDAR and a mobile phone battery with enough charge to last for 5 days.
An Autonomous Fighter Jet
The Royal Australia Air Force (RAAF) and Boeing are building an autonomous fighter jet for possible operational use in the mid-2020’s. The windowless Jet is 11 meters long and expected to be much cheaper to produce than the $100M F-35 that the RAAF currently uses. The strategic purpose of the project is to test whether comparatively cheap and expendable autonomous fighters can be used to bulk up Australia’s air power.
The aircraft can be operated individually however they are also designed to be able to operate as a swarm. The aircraft can collect information, trigger hidden defenses, jam enemy electronics and possibly drop bombs and shoot down enemy aircraft. The jet will shortly to be tested in an unnamed location in South Australia (probably Woomera, which is larger than North Korea and the largest weapons testing range on the planet). If the project is a success it is possible that the Jet will be cheaper to produce than the missiles that will be needed to shoot it down.
Cheaper LiDAR
We have spoken before about LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) that is used by some autonomous car companies (Tesla uses cameras, most others use a form of LiDAR). One issue with LiDAR is that it is very expensive. Currently the most expensive component of a self driving car. This week, Sony announced a silicon based LIDAR that will be far cheaper than current competing models. The system is also more compact and less resilient to vibrations.
In December, Avea, a US startup, announced a new LiDAR that integrates all they key elements onto a photonics chip (it still needs the lasers on the outside of the car). Avea has reduced the size and power of the device while achieving full functionality over 300 meters for low reflective objects. It is also able to instantly measure the velocity of every point detected. At scale the Avea chip will cost less than US$500, in contrast to the several tens of thousands of dollars for current LiDAR systems.
Technology for Pets
I am reluctantly including these stories as one of my most loyal readers is almost certain to insist that I purchase one or more of these items. However, here goes.
Inupathy has developed a device that detects the mood of your dog. Is the dog barking because it is happy, scared or angry?
The device monitors, records and analyzes your dog's emotional states -- since dogs' heart rates spike when stressed or anxious -- creating a predictive index of their mood. The dog's current mood is displayed via the LED display, with green denoting relaxation, red equating to stress and a rainbow for overall happiness. An accompanying app will provide feedback on the overall mood of your dog during the day. The device is likely available later this year.
AI is being developed to decode the communications that various animals make. Whale songs are complex and varied and may be a primitive form of communication. AI can already recognize conversations between Marmosets (a small monkey). Marmosets have a vocabulary of 10 to 15 calls. Currently the systems just recognize the different calls however that is a start to decoding their language.
Many animals have shown signs of intelligent thinking. One day we might be able to decode those thoughts and communications and talk back.
Finally if you have a dog that spends long periods of time at home alone then you may be interested in the Wayzn Smart Sliding Glass Door Opener. It is an app-powered device that lets you open and close a sliding door, remotely, whenever your pet needs. The system senses whenever your dog is standing at the door waiting to go out, it then sends you a notification so you can remotely open the door for them and have the door close automatically behind them.
A 5 day charge for your Mobile Phone Battery
Mahdokht Shaibani at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and her colleagues have developed a battery with a capacity five times higher than that of lithium-ion batteries. The battery maintains an efficiency of 99 per cent for more than 200 cycles, and a smartphone-sized version would be able to keep a phone charged for five days.
The battery is a lithium-sulphur based. Typically Sulphur based electrodes are problematic as the sulphur electrode capacity is so large that it breaks apart over the charging de-charging cycle. The team were able to give the electrodes more space to expand and contract. Using a polymer to create a series of bridges between particles they were able to balance the resistance to cracking with the ability to discharge a large amount of energy.
These lithium-sulphur batteries should also dramatically reduce the cost of batteries for electric cars and grid energy storage. Sulphur is abundant and extremely cheap. It is hoped that the batteries will be commercially available in the next few years.
Bathroom Technology
We may finally have proof that everything that we sensibly need has been invented. Procter & Gamble has unveiled a two wheeled robot that will bring you a spare roll of toilet paper when you need it most. Charmin, a P&G subsidiary, has released SmellSense, which is an electronic sensor that will monitor bathroom air quality and tell you when it is safe to enter. Charmin has also released, V.I.Pee, a portable toilet for concert venues. The toilet contains a VR headset and surround sound to let you continue to enjoy the concert whilst you attend to any urgent needs. Kohler has released a shower head that works with Amazon’s Alexa (I have no idea why you would need this) and French company Mateo announced a smart bathroom mat that tracks your weight, body composition and posture.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
If you have any questions or comments please email me via my website craigcarlyon.com
I would also appreciate it if you could forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested.
Till next week.