Future technology is becoming more real than you might imagine.
Popular Science magazine claims that the “golden age” of invention has arrived. The magazine’s new issue includes the “2016 Invention Awards,” which highlights this year’s top 10 inventions by independent inventors. The editors searched for innovative products that could disrupt the tech industry for the 10th annual list.
“These are independent inventors so it’s a bunch of friends who decided build a startup out their garage, it was someone who was tinkering, decided to make his hoverboard,” Sophie Bushwick (project editor at Popular Science) said Tuesday to CBS This Morning.
Rosie, the robot maid, may be a familiar name to you from “The Jetsons.” You can now own your own robot companion called Jibo, forty years after the cartoon’s first airing. Cynthia Breazeal, MIT researcher, created it to be “fun to play with.”
Jibo has many of the same qualities as Amazon’s Echo, but its unique ability to socialize makes it stand out.
It can read you a story at bedtime, and it can even take photos of you and your friends chatting. Bushwick stated that it can learn individual preferences.
The flying hoverboard of the 1980s teens sensation “Back to the Future II”? It is no longer an idea of the future. Canadian inventor Alexandru Duru broke the Guiness World Record by flying over 900 feet and balancing 16ft above the water’s surface.
Duru hopes to have the hoverboard available for distribution by 2017.
Some inventions go beyond entertainment. The PSM pill, short for physiological state monitoring, can monitor vital signs such as heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature.
Bushwick stated that “normally, measuring this kind of thing would require an invasive technique.” This is because you simply take the pill and it streams your data.
The pill has yet to be tested on humans, but it is being developed.
The Eora 3D Scanner, which works with your smartphone, scans faces and objects, is another invention.
Buschwick explained that the idea behind 3D scanning is to take multiple scans and then stitch them together using software. Then you can print it in your 3D printer.
There is also a self-powered camera and a robot that can print a bridge. You can find all 2016 Invention Awards winners right here.
