Saturday, September 15, 2018

Notations From the Grid (W-End Edition): On A Window Into the Future

As the Week-End looms, Please Enjoy!!!!


Music Made by AI Composers Improves Concentration

What it is: Brain.fm is one of several companies using artificial intelligence to help us hone into a hyper-productive state of work, a deep state of sleep, or a impeccable state of relaxation. While most music is designed to sound good, Brain.fm works with teams of scientists and engineers generating music that helps listeners achieve their desired state of mind. Human composers write and record the core sound tracks, and an AI engine mixes, matches, and remasters these motifs into longer tracks. Funded by an NSF Grant, this convergence of neuroscience with music theory is shaping up to be a powerful productivity tool.
Why it's important: Artificial intelligence is a user interface allowing us to access the breakthroughs of neuroscience. While direct brain-computer interfaces are a few decades from being consumer-facing, we are seeing a slew of applications that use our existing senses to optimize how our brains function.  Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield Written by Max Goldberg 

InVia Robotics Creates New Model to Sell Robots to the Masses

What it is: InVia Robotics is selling robotic services versus robots to make warehouses more efficient. The inVia team capitalized on the many mistakes of past robotics manufacturers to build robot hardware and innovate with their business model. InVia engineered movable, puck-shaped robots with a lift that can move the puck’s platform up and down, an arm that can move forward and backward, and a suction pump to drag boxes around a warehouse. InVia demonetizes access to robotics through its Robotics-as-a-Service business model. Instead of purchasing robots, customers can pay by the unit of work robots perform.
Why it's important: InVia’s robotic services are specially designed to address problems in e-commerce warehouse logistics. Older warehouse systems simply can't accommodate the variability (e.g. bundles, colors, sizes, and combinations) of e-commerce shipping and packing needs. By only requiring payment for work performed, Robotics-as-a-Service tears down the initial capital barrier to transitioning to robotics -- a prime example of new business models (as a service) converging with exponential technologies.  Share on Facebook
Spotted by Eben Pagan Written by Max Goldberg 

Research Team Develops the World's First-Ever 4D Printing for Ceramics

What it is: A team of researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed the world's first successful method of 4D printing ceramics. With its high melting point, ceramic is a challenge for conventional laser printing, and current 3D-printed precursors rarely achieve complex shapes. But with CityU’s novel "ceramic ink" — a mixture of polymers and ceramic nanoparticles — 3D-printed precursors are remarkably malleable, able to stretch to three times their initial length. And given their elasticity and printable joints, these precursors can then morph and solidify into countless computer-designed shapes under the right heat treatment, boasting strength-to-density ratios far sturdier than other printed ceramics.
Why it's important: Overcoming 2.5 years of materials science challenges, the CityU team's 4D printing convention marks a tremendous breakthrough in self-assembling printed structures and ceramic shapes. With the fourth dimension of time, 4D printing involves objects capable of shape-morphing or self-assembling under certain stimuli, including temperature changes, mechanical force, electrical currents, water, and even light. This has tremendous implications for everything from global communications to space.  Share on Facebook
Spotted by Richard Kane Written by Claire Adair 

VR Helps Amputees Adjust to Their Prostheses

What it is: Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) are leveraging virtual reality to help amputees more readily adjust to their prosthetic limbs. This virtual reality therapy works by essentially tricking patients into seeing their prosthetics as a part of their physical bodies. The EPFL research team used vision and touch by applying a neurosimulation currents to the nerves in the end of the amputee's stump. The applied current mimics the feel of a tactile stimulation to one finger of the new prosthetic, while the team illuminates -- in virtual reality -- where the prosthetic finger is in real life. By the end of the simulation, the patient’s feeling of where the prosthetic is located matched the actual location of the prosthetic in the patient's mind. Notably, these results lasted for up to 10 minutes after the simulation ended.
Why it's important: Exponential technologies both supplement and supercharge our day-to-day lives. Robots, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence provide extra help and essential healing for us everyday. Now, we are seeing intricate prosthetic limbs rehabilitating individuals’ abilities to carry out nominal day-to-day activities, restoring freedom of movement.  Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield Written by Max Goldberg 

Light-Guided, Genetically Engineered Bacteria Paint Micro Mona Lisa

What it is: Researchers at Italy's Sapienza Università di Roma have genetically engineered E. coli to respond to light, using targeted light stimuli to guide their movement into micro-masterpieces like the Mona Lisa. Geared with living motors and their own propellers, E. coli can swim through liquids at ten times their own length in a second. And by using a recently discovered protein that causes ocean-dwelling bacteria to be powered by light, researchers are now able to direct the E. coli by locally decreasing light intensity. Light-responsive bacteria thereby accumulate into brushstrokes of E. coli, and researchers can shine negative micro-portraits, from Darwin to Einstein.
Why it's important: Engineered E. coli "microbricks" with genetically incorporated traits (such as light sensitivity) could propel numerous real-world innovations. As explained by Sapienza University of Rome's Roberto Di Leonardo, "these fantastic micro-robots could be controlled using physical external stimuli [...] in order to exploit their propulsion for transport, manipulation of microscopic systems inside miniaturized laboratories on a chip.” And given E. coli's infinitesimal scale and our newfound ability to manipulate its movement, this breakthrough could allow for everything from optical 3D printing of sub-millimeter microstructures, to in-vitro biomedical applications, to diagnostics on the single-cell level in labs-on-chips.  Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield Written by Claire Adair 


Hi there, 

Here are this week's top briefs.

From Construction To Art, Here Are 25 Industries That 3D Printing Could Disrupt
3D printing is efficient and highly customizable, and has potential applications across a wide range of industries.



From Tracking Food To Last-Mile Delivery, 125+ Startups Disrupting The Supply Chain & Logistics Industry
From digital freight forwarding to autonomous last-mile delivery, these startups are innovating the supply chain and logistics.



Here’s Why Amazon Is No Shoo-In To Win The $513B Global Cloud Market
While Amazon Web Services remains the dominant cloud services platform, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform are increasing their market share. As a result, companies are employing "multi-cloud" strategies that are changing the structure of the cloud industry and the power dynamics that lie within.



Periodic Table Of Rare Disease Treatment: 100+ Companies & Investors Focused On Curing Rare Disorders
We look into some of the top companies, investors, and acquirers focused on treatments for rare diseases, from immune system deficiencies to respiratory diseases.



How JPMorgan Is Preparing For The Next Generation Of Consumer Banking
JPMorgan Chase is rebuilding its consumer business model to create a "digital everything" strategy that trades short-term losses for long-term profits.



 These Brands Are Redefining Feminine Care And Sexual Wellness
Startups are transforming the feminine care and sexual wellness space with better-for-you ingredients, product innovation, and inclusive branding.



Rent Race: Can Startups Take On Airbnb In The Already Crowded Vacation Rentals Space?
Funding is pouring into the vacation rentals market as startups look to carve out their niche in a space dominated by Airbnb.



3 Trends Shaping The Future Of Beauty According To The Indie Beauty Expo
From wellness-infused personal care products to big tech brands in beauty, we round up 3 major trends at the 2018 Indie Beauty Expo.



 Plant-Based Sushi? How Startups Are Disrupting Seafood
As tariffs, species collapse, and other challenges plague the seafood industry, startups are emerging to provide solutions.




Massive Cargo Ships Are Going Autonomous. Here Are The Companies & Trends Driving The Global Maritime Industry Forward.
Established corporates and new startups are driving progress in autonomous shipping. The technology could improve safety, lower costs, and reduce energy consumption.