A swarm of dazzling drones lit up the sky and swirled around in a twinkling, orchestrated dance at a TED2016 conference in February.
The drones, which weigh no more than a slice of bread, were just part of a menagerie of futuristic flyers whose "aim is to push the boundary of what can be achieved with autonomous flight," Raffaello D'Andrea, a professor of dynamic systems and controls at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, said in his talk.
The new cadre of autonomous flyers are poised to take flight for inspection, environmental monitoring, journalism, photography and film, not to mention commercial package delivery.
The buzz of the engine roars as a vehicle launches from its start position, accelerates to high speeds and then banks hard around a corner. This may sound like your typical NASCAR event, but this thrilling race actually takes place on a different course — one that's high in the sky.
The Drone Racing League's semifinals for its first race of the season took place yesterday (Feb. 29) in Miami, where drone pilots from around the world gathered to test their chops on an aerial course that includes navigating tight turns, manoeuvring through glowing gates and dodging objects throughout the stadium.
Racing at speeds that exceed 80 miles per hour (129 km/h) at times, the skilled pilots don first-person view (FPV) goggles (that show a video feed of what the drones are seeing) to race custom-built drones through a course that weaves in and out of Sun Life Stadium, home of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.
Eight pilots racaed in yesterday's semifinals, a field narrowed from the 12 competitors who took part in the first round. The racecourse required pilots to navigate around the stadium, zooming around bleachers, through concession areas, up a spiraling staircase, and then back around the bleachers again, according to a Drone Racing League (DRL) video about the event.
Each of the pilots raced with a custom-built DRL Racer2 drone that has a carbon-fiber frame to protect electronic and camera components, according to the DRL. The drones were also equipped with ultrabright LED lights to make them easy to identify on the racecourse. When pilots put on their flight goggles, they were able to see a video feed from a camera attached to the drone that helps them direct their machine through the course with handheld controllers, according to the league's website.
After yesterday's race, only the four highest-scoring pilots will continue on to the final round. To obtain the highest score, a pilot needed to pass through two checkpoints and cross the finish line in less than 2 minutes, according to DRL officials. The faster a drone flew through the course, the more points the pilot was awarded.
The Drone Racing League's scoring system awards each pilot 50 points for each checkpoint his or her drone passes and for crossing the finish line, according to league officials. In addition, each pilot is awarded 10 points for every second under the 2-minute time cap he or she posts as a final time, DRL officials added.
Something amazing happened at the TED2016 conference today: Holo Lens developer Alex Kipman "teleported" a NASA scientist onto the stage, on the surface of Mars.
Jeff Norris of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was physically across the street from the auditorium in Vancouver, Canada, but with the Holo Lens cameras, a hologram of him (a three-dimensional, talking hologram, which is made entirely of light) was beamed onto the stage where a virtual Mars surface was waiting.
To go with those 4K televisions, manufacturers will soon be releasing 4K Blu-ray players.
Samsung, pictured, and Philips were two of the major companies to announce devices at CES. Samsung is aiming for a March release but has not disclosed a price, while Philips' player is expected to cost under $400.
Film studios also used CES to announce products, with Warner Bros. saying it will release 35 4K Blu-ray movies this year, including Mad Max: Fury Road and The Lego Movie.
Startups are becoming a bigger part of CES every year.
Eureka Park, a section devoted to small businesses, has grown every year its inception in 2012. This year it hosted 500 exhibitors, up from 375 last year.
The ideas span a wide range, from retina-reading luggage to coffeemakers that can print photos into the foam at the top of the cup.
One unique idea is Droppler, from California's Nascent Objects, which measures water consumption by listening to how much noise a household's taps make. The $100 US device then syncs with an app, where users can see exactly how much water they're using.
"You/we'd be surprised how much people lower their consumption once they can actually visualize it," says company founder Babak Elmieh
Virtual reality was the biggest news at this year's CES, with companies touting numerous headsets, controllers and applications.
Taiwan's HTC is one of the companies leading the charge with its second-generation Vive Pre headset, which is more compact and comfortable and features improved lenses, as well as refined handheld controllers.
The Vive Pre also has a front-facing camera for detecting its wearer's surroundings and keeping him or her from walking into things. It's a mind-blowing experience, but it still needs a high-powered computer to work.
HTC will start taking pre-orders in February with an expected ship date in April, although the company has not yet announced the price. San Francisco-based Oculus, its main competitor, plans to sell its Rift headset for $599 US later in 2016.
Virtual reality could one day incorporate all the senses, creating a rich and immersive experience, but existing virtual reality headsets only simulate things you can see and hear. But now, a group of engineers wants to help people "touch" virtual environments in a more natural way, and they built a wearable suit to do just that.
Designed by Lucian Copeland, Morgan Sink and Jordan Brooks while they were students at the University of Rochester, in New York, the suit looks something like a bulletproof vest or light armour. Each section of the suit has a small motor in it, not unlike the one that makes a mobile phone vibrate to signal incoming messages. In addition, there are small accelerometers embedded in the suit's arms.
The vibrations provide a sense of touch when a virtual object hits that part of the body, and the accelerometers help orient the suit's limbs in space, the researchers said.
When the suit is connected via a cable to a computer, it links to a virtual reality (VR) headset, such as the Oculus Rift or HTC's Vive. The suit also shares data with a motion-tracking system — the current version connects to a Microsoft Kinect, but any system will do, according to Copeland.
The combination of motion-tracking and accelerometers means that it doesn't matter if your arm is out of view of the camera because the program generating the virtual environment will "know" where your hand is and can calculate where it is most likely to be, based on how long your arm is and what the accelerometer tells the device about how your hand is moving.
With that information, a virtual environment can show a tree branch, for example, and tell the suit to vibrate in the spot where it would touch if it were hitting your side or if you were touching it with your hand, the researchers said. It can also set up virtual walls that you could feel. This way, when you are walking around in your virtual environment, you won't accidently bump into a real wall or trip over your coffee table.
"The real issue is when you use controllers to move in a virtual reality space — it doesn't correlate to movement," Copeland told Live Science. "The tracking component lets you get out of the chair and walk around."
