We also had the chance to meet representatives from the US Army, on hand at NextFEST to demonstrate the new soldier-protection and communication technology coming online in 2010. As part of the Future Force intiative, they showcased new armor - lighter and stronger. They demonstrated new communications gear, including bone-conduction microphones in helmets. Even a heads-up display. The video runs just over 2 minutes.
This is just too good to pass up. This robot with an Einstein-ian resemblance was located in Robot Row at NEXTFEST.
PONG is back. Atari released their version of William Higinbotham’s “Tennis for Two� in 1972. In 2006, Atari has brought PONG back…only this time the game is projected on a wall and players use their hands to move the virtual paddles along the game board. The hand movement is picked up by cameras stationed next to the projector.
There are actually three ways to play PONG (or derivations of it) at NEXTFEST. Atari has their set up, another group has an air hockey game projected on a table, and an artist has a 3-dimensional representation where players move their LCD screens (and bodies) to rebound the ball to their opponent.
A good number of the attendees to NEXTFEST, including myself, were not around to play PONG in the arcades when it debuted. The amount of excitement over the newest iteration is proof that good game play stands the test of time.
We’re getting more sophisticated all the time on this blog. Here’s a quick video the of the VeinViewer exhibit. This technology lets physicians get a clear look at the veins in your arm for inserting an IV or drawing blood. This would have been helpful for me a few months back when I was giving blood at work.
The nurse could not find a strong vein and it took her four shots to strike gold and get the blood flowing. Boy I could have used this. Better luck next time. Check out the video!
Adam Rasheed
It’s been all too common these days to open the paper and read about education and the lack there of for today’s students. They’re cutting music programming, kids are performing average or below average in science and math and we’re (the U.S.) not doing anything to encourage our youth past turning on the most recent reality TV shows or playing their PS2 (that’s PlayStation 2 – if there isn’t something new by now). But let me tell you … my faith has been restored at NextFest!
As I’ve worked the Energy booths and observed patrons over the past three days it’s been so refreshing to see the interest in science and technology. Sure, it’s cool to look at a flying car or a robot that is, quite frankly, all too human, but it really went beyond that with the children. Throughout the education day I watched students from fourth graders to sophomores in high school ask thought-provoking and insightful questions about renewable energy. The detail of their questions and the knowledge they brought to the exhibits was impressive – they were truly educated consumers in training. They knew what a megawatt was – something that I would have to admit I don’t think I knew until physics class in junior year of high school – they were able to guess within 20 feet the height of a wind turbine and they knew how solar panels worked and why wind turbines couldn’t be residential.
One student informed me, “The wind turbines can’t be residential because it’s too much money to connect them to the electric wires, but my Dad says there’s a Wal-Mart that has wind turbines powering it and that’s cool. I bet you I could figure out a way to make some wind turbines for my house.� And, he’s actually fairly accurate. There is difficulty and expense around residential wind (something GE doesn’t dabble in to my knowledge) with grid connectivity and power distribution and there is an Environmental Wal-Mart Supercenter in McKinney, Texas, that has a 50 kW wind turbine powering it on site.
The teachers deserve credit too, as many of them would explain each exhibit and even told their students there would be a quiz the next day on what they had learned (we found this out by watching a studious young boy scribble notes feverishly on his NextFest program) as he really “wanted the ‘A’.� Some of the teachers that came through discussed with me that they went on the NextFest website in advance and learned about the exhibits and taught their students about specific ones so they could get them excited and them have them see the real thing the following week.
Overall, this technology exhibition is an impressive forum for innovation – tomorrow’s ideas and today’s technology. It’s a great venue for educating and inspiring young and mature minds. So far, it’s certainly been an encouraging weekend. I look forward to seeing what develops from the scientists in training I’ve met. Hopefully they’ll keep their innovative and educated spirit.
I had to moment to chat with Sara Backlund, Studio Director for the Interactive Institute in Sweden. We spoke about her group’s work with technologies that help people visualize how much energy they are consuming. The Interactive Institute is a think tank that tackles many issues – their unique approach begins with an idea, followed by several weeks of surveys and interviews of “regular people�. They use that survey data to guide the research of the Institute and its students.
Among the technologies on display at NEXTFEST was a lamp that opens or closes (think flower petals) based on your home’s energy consumption. Using too much power? You’ll have to cut back before you can light up your living room.
Sara also illustrated the wasted energy in a light bulb. “Only 5% of the energy is used for light…the other 95% is given off as heat,� she explained. To demonstrate the energy “loss� as well as provide a functional appliance, the Institute developed a matrix of light bulbs that act as a light as well as a heater. In the somewhat chilly convention air, several people stopped to warm their hands as if the “Element� was a campfire of sorts.
My chat with Interactive Institute has got me thinking about how design and ecomagination can go together. Certainly, the aesthetics of a GEnx aircraft engine are far less important than safety and efficiency. However, can a wind turbine be both a power generation engine as well as a beautiful part of the landscape? Can it remind us to conserve what power we do have? And will it be NEXT?
Panel presentation on the main stage
In case no one mentioned it before, there is a Main stage here with presentations and panel discussions every couple of hours. Shortly, there will be a discussion with a group of inventors to talk about Robots and their human-like qualities. Nextfest is featuring some pretty amazing bots: ballroom dancers, Albert Einstein, and robotic limbs. It starts at noon and runs about 45 minutes.
Participants include: David Hanson, Hanson Robotics (Albert Einstein face creators); Takehashi Mita, Kokoro Company (creators of the Actroid).
Here’s the schedule for the rest of the afternoon….
Let’s Go Already: The Future of Exploration 2:00 - 2:45 PM.Robots: Here We are Now, Entertain Us 4:00 - 4:45 PM
Here’s a concept. A shirt that loves you back!!! As you walk into the NEXTFEST exhibit you come across two seemingly ordinary mannequins with matching garbs. But what you’re seeing is the HUGABLE SHIRT from WEARABLE Design. When you wear it, and hug yourself, your partner wearing the shirt will feel the hug. How does it work? shirt has removable sensors and java-enabled cell phones that send a temperature and pressure simulated hug to the sensors in your shirt. The future of relationships start here!
Brainball
Brainball measures how relaxed you are. Think of it as air hockey for your brain. The strip across that guy’s head measures your relaxation—and then pushes the ball towards your opponent. The goal is to push into your opponents goal on the end of the table. I was excellent at it yesterday—-which means that I’m either very relaxed or my opponent was not.
Well … if you’re a fan of really big rooms with lots and lots of wires, this place is for you. I just finished doing Tai Chi with Robo-Einstein and boy, are my arms tired!
There were some cuddly-looking cat-type things that moved and purred when you held them (my cat could use some consulting from these guys!) and virtual drinks that leave you thirsty after each cup.
But, the diversity of technologies and overall “cool factor� at this conference is amazing – if you stand still and open your ears, you can hear scores of “ah’s� and “wow’s� and kids from 1 to 92 are mesmerized by the atmosphere.
Today (Friday), I spent some of the day manning GE’s Healthcare Pavilion, where we were demonstrating technologies like LightSpace’s DepthCube and Mitsubishi’s DiamondSpin, both of which can be used to manipulate and display medical images. On the other side of the floor is a vein finder, which may just be your best friend next time you visit your doctor.
If you like Tai Chi, Einstein, or even robotic ballroom dancers, this is the place for you!
Making it easier for doctors and nurses to make your life easier.
This isn’t a GE product - but it’s fascinating. Anyone who’s ever gotten an IV knows how unpleasant the process can be. The Veinviewer is fast (no waiting for a scan) and uses simple near-infrared light, a digital video camera, and a digital video projector (using DLP technology from Texas Instruments) to project onto your skin an image of the vein structure below. It’s tough to overstate how simple and easy this is.
Care for a simulated drink of soda?
One of the best things about NextFest is that sometimes you see things and say, “I just don’t understand.” But that’s just it - NextFest is a place where you don’t have to fully grok the technology to appreciate it. And in that tradition, I present Conspiratio - a “novel VR system that allows users to virtually experience the sensations of drinking.”
In short, the straw creates pressure changes inside the mouth that resemble the feeling you get when take a drink. Additionally, when the speaker creates sounds - the vibrations are also transmitted to the lips.
Conspiratio - we don’t really get it, but we’re glad there’s people thinking about things we don’t understand.
What do a robotic dancing Asian woman, Albert Einstein in a space suit, an automated bartender that made the worst drink I have ever tasted, and me have in common? We are all at NextFest!
I feel like I am a kid in a candy store, except for that fact that thousands of other school children are here who to my dismay are a little more eager than I to push their way to the front of the line try out some new technology.
I am not that old at all really. I was in Middle School when I logged on to the internet, but wow, these kids are in elementary school and are playing with technology that can put them inside of video games. In ten years when they are my age will they be teleporting people here?
I got my picture taken by a 3-D camera and a heat sensing camera and found out that nose is larger than I thought and colder than the rest of my body…compelling I know!
Okay, will be back for more after I play with more gadgets!
Lots of good stuff on the agenda. Found out about an electronic pet that responds to human movement and reacts accordingly. There is a great music exhibit taking place this evening as well.
Great hit for WIRED and GE on Rocketboom, a popular video log. The crew from the show came by NEXTFEST yesterday and spent a lot of time at “Edison’s Desk” with GE’s researchers.