A robot that can park cars in tightest spots

                The dreaded act of parallel parking could soon become a thing of the past with Chinese inventors backing their new parking robot to take away the stress for anxious drivers. The laser-guided “Geta” (get a car) robot slides under your vehicle, picks it up, finds a parking space in the lot and places the car in tightest of spots. The soon to be launched robot needs just two minutes to park a vehicle, does not need tracks and has 360 degrees mobility, said creators Yee Fung Automation Technology.

                “The robot is designed to increase parking space and will reform parking in the future,” Yee Fung’s 33 year old chief executive Marco Wu, said. Mainland China is expected to have more than 200 million cars by 2020, meaning that finding space to park could become increasingly difficult. Wu said Geta finds spaces by transmitting signals to a computer containing a map which then directs the robot to the spot. The purple and lime green robot will cost more than $1,50,000.

World's first Holographic phone is coming

                Scientists claim to have developed the world’s first holographic flexible smartphone that lets users interact with 3D videos and images without any headgear or glasses. The device, dubbed HoloFlex, is capable of rendering 3D images with motion parallax and stereoscopy to multiple simultaneous users without head tracking or glasses.

                “HoloFlex offers a completely new way of interacting with your smartphone. It allows for glasses-free interactions with 3D video and images in a way that does not encumber the user,” said Roel Vertegaal, from Queen’s University in Canada.

                Holoflex features a 1920×1080 full high-definition Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (FOELD) touch screen display. Images are rendered into 12-pixel wide circular blocks rendering the full view of the 3D object from a particular viewpoint. These pixel blocks project through a 3D printed flexible microlens array consisting of over 16,000 fisheye lenses. The resulting 160×104 resolution image allows users to inspect a 3D object from any angle simply by rotating the phone.

                Holoflex is also equipped with a bend sensor, which allows for the user to bend the phone as a means of moving objects along the z-axis of the display. Vertegaal envisions a number of applications for the new functionality of the HoloFlex technology. “By employing a depth camera, users can also perform holographic video conferences with one another,” said Vertegaal.

                HoloFlex can also be used for holographic gaming. In a game such as Angry Birds, for example, users would be able to bend the side of the display to pull the elastic rubber band that propels the bird. When the bird flies across the screen, the holographic display makes the bird literally pop out of the screen in the third dimension.

Bite counting tech to determine overeating

                Wearable technologies that allow users to keep track of the number of bites they take during a meal may help them lose weight by reducing overall food intake. Researchers at Clemson University in the US wanted to analyse how providing bite count feedback might influence eaters in different situations and determine its efficiency in the presence of environmental cues linked to overeating. They found that people who received bite count feedback ate less and reduced their overall intake during a meal. Researchers recruited young adults to consume a meal. Some were outfitted with bite count feedback devices and given either a small or large plate. The group that received bite count feedback significantly reduced their intake regardless of plate size.

World's first scanning helium microscope

Australian researchers built the world’s first scanning helium microscope (SHeM). An announcement in this regard was made by the scientists belonging to the University of Newcastle in the third week of May 2016.

Features:

• It would enable scientists to study human, animal and plant samples, as well as pharmaceutical drugs and computer chips in their true state.
• It is expected to provide new insights into structures at a microscopic level.
• It will be useful in major industries such as solar energy, defence, explosives and information technology.
• It will help with the clean-up of toxic or even radioactive spills, without harming the surrounding flora and fauna.