Welcome to our weekly selection of digital innovation news. Based on our opinionated always changing automated token based selection algorithm we present some top innovation news to get you thinking, debating and collaboration on making our world better.
1 Treading a new path towards sustainable transport
Road and railway transport have a big impact on the environment. Through research into recycled materials and other sustainable techniques, an EU-funded project has put European transport on track to becoming environmentally friendly, and has trained a new generation of transport researchers.
2 Headset-free device uses augmented reality to tell an objects story
The Lumen projector uses machine learning to recognise objects and then generate ‘stories’ for those objects. Lumen uses an onboard algorithm to generate the ‘stories,’ using a graphical interface that serves as the story builder. For example, pointing the Lumen at a statue in a museum could generate an animation of a docent discussing the statue. The award will allow Sanjeev to develop the Lumen for use in the museum. Sanjeev is exploring a wide variety of uses for the Lumen, but is initially focusing on museum applications.
3 Bright future for ‘chaotic’ optical communications
Ground- breaking developments using optomechanical crystals, microchips and ‘chaos’ pave the way for faster, safer and more robust digital communications. All this, thanks to the ongoing work of the EU-funded PHENOMEN project.
4 An AI system for editing music in videos
Trained on over 60 hours of videos, the “PixelPlayer” system can view a never- before-seen musical performance, identify specific instruments at pixel level, and extract the sounds that are associated with those instruments. Zhao says that a system like PixelPlayer could even be used on robots to better understand the environmental sounds that other objects make, such as animals or vehicles. The system, which is “self-supervised,” doesn’t require any human annotations on what the instruments are or what they sound like. However, Zhao says that he can tell that the system seems to recognize actual elements of the music. But what if there were a way to play a video and isolate the only instrument you wanted to hear?
5 Building flux capacity: Citizen scientists increase resolution of soil greenhouse gas fluxes
With training and support from project scientists, citizen scientists collected data that demonstrate spatial independence of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide at scales between 1 m and 175 m. Citizen scientists participating in this one-day event reported levels of satisfaction commensurate with longer- term, immersive campaigns. Collaborations with citizen scientists may be viewed as a conundrum in these disciplines, which often require substantial labor and technical experience; citizen scientists could improve sampling capacity but may reduce sample quality or require training and oversight prior to and while performing specialized tasks. A collaboration between university researchers and citizen scientists allowed us to assess spatial and diel patterns of soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes with an intensity and frequency that would otherwise be beyond the capacity of a typical research laboratory. Despite perceived barriers to entry, this study demonstrates the mutual benefits of citizen science collaborations in soil science and ecosystem ecology, encouraging adoption by disciplines that have been slow to take advantage of such collaborations.
(PLOS ONE)
6 Voice-activated internet is getting its act together!
Scientists from the two worlds of acoustics and speech recognition have joined forces in an EU-funded project to develop a compact system – software and hardware – for voice-based access to web applications in today’s smart homes. With groundbreaking results, people are listening to what they have to say.
(EUROPA – Research Information Centre)
7 “Blind” Cheetah 3 robot can climb stairs littered with obstacles
MIT’s Cheetah 3 robot can now leap and gallop across rough terrain, climb a staircase littered with debris, and quickly recover its balance when suddenly yanked or shoved, all while essentially blind. If, for example, the robot unexpectedly steps on a wooden block, its body will suddenly tilt, shifting the angle and height of the robot. That way, it can handle unexpected obstacles while moving fast.” Researchers will present the robot’s vision-free capabilities in October at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots, in Madrid. The contact detection algorithm helps the robot determine the best time for a given leg to switch from swinging in the air to stepping on the ground. This will help in mapping the general environment, and will give the robot a visual heads-up on larger obstacles such as doors and walls.
8 What is the Internet of Things?
In fact, it can seem as though everything from toasters to mirrors is now part of the Internet of Things (IoT). Add / Remove Purchase almost any electronic device and you may well hear it described as “smart,” “connected” or part of the “Internet of Things”. What are the implications for industry and individuals of this huge growth in the Internet of Things? Despite these concerns, the number of IoT connected devices continues to grow rapidly. Put simply, the IoT describes devices that can be connected to the Internet.
9 The State of Innovation in Healthcare
Employees often have easy digital solutions for healthcare efficiencies and what seems like a small change, can result in millions of dollars of savings at scale. You see, perhaps no industry more than the healthcare sector has been impacted by technology changes over the past decade. Here are four areas that we think innovators in the healthcare industry will focus on. In a recent survey, researchers found that seventy-five percent of hospital executives at a location with 400 or more beds are planning to build an innovation center. According to Gartner, innovation centers can serve many purposes, including building cultural innovation norms in the workplace, providing workspaces for strategic goals, and beyond. There are numerous ways to start scaling our approach to healthcare around the world. People want better care for less money and there’s a lot that healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies can do to become more efficient.
10 Which Fintech Businesses Will Prevail in the Digital Future
One of the most popular resources that IdeaScale has ever created was our white paper about how crowdsourcing was going to impact the financial sector. I think the reason why that white paper was so popular was because crowdsourcing was just one of many emerging trends that were beginning to shake up the financial sector. Other financial trends included the emergence of blockchain, sophisticated hacker schemes, and much (MUCH) more.