This week’s Top 5 engineering technology articles include a thread of commonality between them. All of the base technologies included have been around for many years and yet we still strive for improvements in the way they interact us with today.
- Microsoft’s New Android Keyboard Cuts Down On App-Jumping
- How Self-Driving Cars Could Make Traffic Worse
- World’s First Robot-Run Farm To Open In Japan
- Finally, A Breast Pump That Doesn’t Suck (Figuratively Speaking)
- This Plastic Can Repair Itself
Microsoft’s New Android Keyboard Cuts Down On App-Jumping
Wired
One of my long running complaints about my smartphone (outside of my seemingly unbreakable addiction) is that I can pretty much only do one thing at a time and I need to navigate from feature to app to function without much coherence. Microsoft is looking to change this process with their new Hub Keyboard.
Faced with a large UX challenge in terms of real estate on the screen, you can’t simply run side by side apps. So, the engineers at Microsoft have developed a software keyboard that offers shortcuts and tunnels into other apps. You can train hotkeys and different tactile responses to customize your own experience with the keyboard.
It does have some drawbacks. If you’re a swipe user, this isn’t currently part of the functionality, but there’s potential for a number of different changes, additions, and customizations in versions to come. So, as long as this keyboard evolves with the user’s needs for the phone, it’s a big win for everyone.
How Self-Driving Cars Could Make Traffic Worse
Gizmodo
Cars have been around for more than a century and the number of improvements, advancements, and gadgets is truly mind boggling when you see a list. Over the past two or three years though, self-driving cars have been the elusive leap in technology that now seems like a potential reality instead of a staple of science fiction movies.
Driverless cars have huge potential upside; traffic flow improvements, better safety measures, multitasking, etc. However, one thing that hasn’t been expressed to this point is the potential downside to the driverless car becoming a reality.
Downside you say? What could possibly be the downside? Well one prime example is the increased number of cars that will actually be on the road. How many times have you consider taking a trip into a metro area just to check something or sightsee and decided against it because you didn’t want to deal with the traffic jams? Well, if you can simply relax and chat with the other passengers until you get there, maybe you aren’t worried about the extra 20 minutes.
Maybe you currently take public transportation on your commute because of traffic issues or distance. However, if a driverless car picks you up at your front door and drops you off at the front door at work, why expend the energy to get to the bus stop or subway station?
Before you start thinking about a survival bunker off the grid, we’re a long way from complete gridlock, but all technological advancements are worth a what-if scenario.
World’s First Robot-Run Farm To Open In Japan
Cosmos
I grew up in a small town surrounded by lots of farm land. You name it and I went to school with someone who had an area of their farmland dedicated to it. However the latest farm in Japan isn’t going to look anything like what I’m used to seeing.
Kyoto Japan is about to open the world’s first robot-run farm. The only job done by a human will be the initial planting of the seeds. Everything else from re-planting, watering, and harvesting will be done by robots.
The lettuce crop being produced is set to be sold in 2,000 Japanese supermarkets. Spread, the company running the robot farm, is saying the production of the crop will increase production to 50,000 heads of lettuce per day.
And, in addition to cost savings and increased production, Spread is hoping to attract a younger crowd of farmers. The average age for a Japanese farmer is currently 65. So, maybe instead of a high rise going condo, it will now go country…farm country that is.
Finally, A Breast Pump That Doesn’t Suck (Figuratively Speaking)
Mashable
Having three children meant that one of the items that went with my wife constantly was an item that gave the outward appearance of being a black backpack. However, once the compartments were unzipped and opened, it was a mass of tubing, cones, plugs, knobs, and switches. Her breast pump was slung over her right shoulder each and every day as she left the house following maternity leave.
Many times she would come home with stories of how locking her office door or putting up signs failed to stop someone from intruding in some way. And the noise of the pump meant that taking a meeting or conference call at the same time was difficult at best.
Now a company called Babyation is aiming to solve these issues with their new Kickstarter campaign. With a slim line profile, a set of tubing, and noise reduction, they believe they have hit upon a combination that will allow a nursing mother to pump sitting at their desk with no one able to tell. I know my wife would have appreciated the effort and then immediately gotten her credit card out to become a backer of these advancement in a pretty stagnant technology.
This Plastic Can Repair Itself
Popsci.com
What if you had a material that didn’t age? That was the question that Nancy Sottos and her team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is trying to answer as they develop composites that can essentially “heal” themselves.
Materials that become scratched, dented, or cracked would have a microcapsule embedded into the material that would release resin and a catalyst. However, once the microcapsules are used up, the material would be susceptible to damage just like any other material.
However, changing the nature of how these materials heal themselves could mean they are on the right track to finding the answer to their question. Imagine a material used for hospitable structures on the surface of Mars that could repair damage from atmospheric debris. Or, something a bit closer to home, a cell phone screen that can heal itself after being dropped or cracked. That could make iPhone users quite happy.
That’s it for me this week. Until next time, keep your eyes wide open to new technology. However, it never hurts to look around at your old technology to see what has been improved.
The post This Week’s Top 5 Engineering Technology Articles appeared first on ANSYS Blog.