Today technology is on its way to transform fiction into existent. Have you ever imagined a robot building a bridge, have you given a thought about driverless cars, a personal assistant who is smarter than you? All this is real and happening and it is not going to take many days for this technology to touch every doorstep. The technology of this era has pioneered medical marvels, entertainment, and things we’ve only seen in sci-fi movies. Here are seven technologies that are on the track to taking the world by storm.
1) The Warka Water Tower
Around the world, there is a water crisis. In some cases, it’s in the form of drought, in others, there’s water everywhere, but none to drink. There are, however, some leading forms of technology that plan on fixing this problem. One of them is the Warka Water Tower, which takes water straight from the air around it, condenses it, and turns it into clean, drinkable H2O.
With the first tower being installed in Ethiopia in 2015, funding to put a Warka Tower in Haiti is underway. It is planned that the Warka Tower will be put into mass production by 2019, coming to the most desperately needed countries.
2) Augmented And Virtual Reality
Another hot topic in terms of technology is augmented and virtual reality. With the Pokemon Go phase come and gone, everybody is looking out for the next new and improved product that will not only change how we see the world but also how we interact with it. The first virtual reality headset was created back in the 60s, but it really started gaining attention just four short years ago when Oculus released its first virtual reality product. Although virtual reality is mostly in the gaming industry, it’s also being used to train pilots and, increasingly, doctors.
Studies show that there has been a decrease in errors during gallbladder surgeries when residents train using virtual reality simulators. It’s also cheaper, more efficient, and produce better results for surgeons in training.
A company Feel Real have developed a mask that takes into account the other senses as well. It can release hot and cold air, wind, and even scents to completely immerse yourself into the game. Recently, their new masks on the market are lighter and more comfortable than ever.
On their website, they state, “The FEELREAL VR is easy and functional. For this we re-imagined every aspect element in design and size to make it thinner, smaller and lighter. We also got rid of wires and complicated settings.”
Virtual reality can also be used as a type of therapy to treat phobias, autisms and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to slowly acclimate a patient into situations they find debilitating and stressful.
3) Electric Cars
Electric cars have been a long way coming, but it seems that there will be an increase in production for the near future. Tesla Motors reports that they are on track to having 13% of their motor vehicles being completely electric by 2020 and Nissan says they are scheduled to up their production to 20% by 2020 as well. That doesn’t even count the hybrid cars they have in production. The production of electric cars was actually at their highest in 1900 before Henry Ford introduced the Model T, a gasoline-powered vehicle. Electric cars nearly dropped from the market completely by the 1920s before making a comeback later on during the 21st century. In terms of efficiency, electric cars have gasoline based vehicles beat. It has a higher mpg than natural gas vehicles and fuel costs are cheaper.
However, in terms of range, natural gas vehicles still take the cake, being able to go, on average, 300 miles on a full tank of gas and electric cars able to handle around 100. The debate is still ongoing. Which is better? Which will last? Only time will tell.
4) 3D Printing
In Detroit, CEO of Olympia Entertainment, Tom Wilson needed to sell the suites in the soon-to-be Little Caesar’s Stadium, and in the buildings around it. Detroit just came out of bankruptcy in December of 2014, and at the time of the sale, the location of the stadium was little more than a large construction lot. so there wasn’t a lot of faith that it was going to be easy to sell. Instead of it taking a year like they predicted, they had sold every available spot in and around the stadium in forty days.
Thanks to 3D printing.
3D printing is making huge strides. It’s quickly becoming a leading and cutting edge technology with endless possibilities. Tom Wilson decided to get on the band wagon and, in his first time turning to 3D printing with the help of Zoyes Creative Group, created a 3D model of the stadium completely finished and refurbished. So instead of trying to verbally tell their customers about it, they could see it with their own eyes.
At the time of the sale, the location of the stadium was little more than a large construction lot. Hadley Keller, a writer for Architectural Digest, writes, “Potential developers could see on a real scale what things are going to look like and how they’re going to work,” Wilson says. “It makes everything so much easier. They could see, ‘Oh, there will be a mass of people outside my building coming from the arena every night—that makes for good business.'”
- Another way 3D printing is making history is in the medical field.
Every year, over 900 thousand people or one third of all the deaths in the US are due to waiting for an organ transplant. Erik Gatenholm believes that we may one day be able to print out much-needed organs.
L’Oreal has been 3D printing material very similar to skin to test out new products on. They print it out, cell by cell, at a rate of 10,000 micro
drops a second. If L’Oreal can print biological tissue for testing cosmetics, it’s not much of a stretch that the same could be done for burn victims. Skin grafts are the standard method for treating these patients, and it can often lead to infection and bleeding. 3D printed skin tissue can remedy that. Erik Gattenholm, a founder of the 3D printing company Cellink, predicts “Within 10 years, we’ll start seeing some implants in the cartilage field, either partial or full,” he says. “Replacement organs, it’s our lifetime.”
5) Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the interrelationship between devices that are able to transfer data through a network without necessarily needing human- human or human to computer interaction. A “thing” in this case can be a heart monitor implant, a chip in an animal, an electric toy, a vibrator, a laptop, a car, maybe even a digital clock… basically, anything that has an IP address.
Autonomous, self-driving trucks are hard at work in West Angeles, Australia for the oil mining company, Rio Tinto. While the trucks work in for different construction sites 24 hours a day, humans are overlooking the projects some 750 miles away. New smartphones are being introduced that allows for wireless charging. This could lead to new designs and possibilities for screen enhancements, such as 3D holographic.
The technologies in this area are steadily increasing, and this is causing problems and concerns. There are billions of under- and unsecured internet connected IoTs. IoT devices have been nearly unregulated for a rather long time. Imagine, smart houses could be hacked into.
A car could be stolen via a laptop miles away. Computers and smartphones, holding vital pieces of information, bank accounts, medical records, social security numbers, can be accessed. IoTs, while it is a rapidly growing form of technology, are still largely unregulated.
Luckily for us, the Senate recently proposed a bill that would require tighter security for all IoTs bought by the United States government. While this is only limited to the technologies bought by the government, it is a huge step in eventually creating a similar bill for all IoTs.
6) New Weapons For war
Weapons of war and mass destruction have a habit of changing over time. From swords to guns to bombs and tanks, all sides of war are always struggling to get that newest piece of technology to get the upper hand over their enemies.
The United States recently developed a new military weapon, and first tested it in 2013 – The Kinetic Energy Projectile. It releases a warhead that can go three to six times the speed of sound, destroying everything in its path. Like something out of a sci-fi movie, the destructive power of this is immense.
One thing is for sure, the weapons of tomorrow will be more advanced, and more deadly, than the weapons of today.
7) Artificial Intelligence
Recently, Facebook has been experimenting with AI bots. They implanted them with self learning software and, eventually, they started to develop their own language, and even lie. This is not unheard of, but it wasn’t planned. Facebook decided to tweak their software a bit to limit the negotiators to plain English. The bots apparently determined that lying here and there was the most efficient way to successfully negotiate.
Other corporations are also experimenting with AI negotiators, and one of the key things they want them to do is to understand and identify human emotions. One AI company, Affectiva, is working on just that. “Our technology analyzes subtle facial expressions to identify human emotions.” Their official website explains. Imagine a bot that could tell when you’re nervous, lying, happy, or sad, and reacts accordingly.
Leave behind your thoughts in the comments section. Click the share button and let everyone know about the technologies that are going to transform our lives very soon. Also do not forget to subscribe with us for more interesting articles. Having second thoughts about spam? Do not worry, we are no meant for it.