Lifeboat Foundation

The US Army is testing augmented reality goggles on its service dogs in hopes to allow troops to give orders remotely.

Pooches are commonly deployed to sniff out explosives, hazardous materials or to assist in rescues. The tech would retrofit special safety goggles military dogs already wear with live cameras and visual indicators so handlers can issue specific directions – allowing the dogs to work without putting soldiers in danger.

“Augmented reality works differently for dogs than for humans,” said Dr. Stephen Lee, an Army Research Office senior scientist in a statement. “AR will be used to provide dogs with commands and cues; it’s not for the dog to interact with it like a human does. This new technology offers us a critical tool to better communicate with military working dogs.”

The US Army is developing augmented reality goggles for dogs to help protect their human guardians.

The BBC reports that the project, funded by the Small Business Innovation Research program, aims to allow soldiers to give dogs specific directional commands while they’re not in direct line of sight.

“Augmented reality works differently for dogs than for humans,” Stephen Lee, an Army Research Laboratory senior scientist, explained in a statement. “AR will be used to provide dogs with commands and cues; it’s not for the dog to interact with it like a human does.”

At this year’s #MSIgnite we revealed how HoloLens 2 is helping build the NASA’s Orion Spacecraft, designed to return astronauts to the moon and pave the way for human exploration to Mars.

Before #COVID19, we like to imagine a #future where we can get and do anything from home, including working, with the help of novel #technologies such as #VR and #AR.

However, the #COVID19 pandemic shows us the human nature, that is, “going out” is one of the basic needs for human being!

One revelation here is that: When speaking of how #technology can change our lives, we often neglect the humane factors and focus only on the technical ones. Take #VR as an example. Yes, it does allow you to have a shopping experience similar to (or even better than) shop outside. However, do you really want to stay at home 24/7 and complete everything online?

Continue reading “Report: Fewer Americans want to work from home” »

A team of researchers using the Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality platform has created what is believed to be the first interactive holographic mapping system, e.

Inspirational speaker and Amazon best-selling author Sanjo Jendayi once said, “Listening doesn’t always equate to hearing. Hearing doesn’t always lead to understanding, but active listening helps each person truly ‘see’ the other.”

Jendayi was providing a little philosophical advice during a motivational speech, and technology was likely the last thing on her mind. But her words in fact might best describe the notion behind groundbreaking advances by the Facebook Reality Labs Research (FRLR) team’s top scientists, programmers and designers.

A post on the FRLR web site last week provided a peek into where the social media giant is heading in the world of augmented reality and virtual reality.

What do you think about this technology? Would you wear one?

Amanda Christensen, ideaXme guest contributor, fake news and deepfake researcher and Marketing Manager at Cubaka, interviews Dan Mapes, PhD, MBA co-founder of VERSES.io and co-author of The Spatial Web: How Web 3.0 Will Connect Humans, Machines, and AI to Transform the World.

Amanda Christensen Comments:

Continue reading “Optimising the Everyday with The Spatial Web” »

Researchers have fashioned ultrathin silicon nanoantennas that trap and redirect light, for applications in quantum computing, LIDAR and even the detection of viruses.

Light is notoriously fast. Its speed is crucial for rapid information exchange, but as light zips through materials, its chances of interacting and exciting atoms and molecules can become very small. If scientists can put the brakes on light particles, or photons, it would open the door to a host of new technology applications.

Now, in a paper published on August 17, 2020, in Nature Nanotechnology, Stanford scientists demonstrate a new approach to slow light significantly, much like an echo chamber holds onto sound, and to direct it at will. Researchers in the lab of Jennifer Dionne, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford, structured ultrathin silicon chips into nanoscale bars to resonantly trap light and then release or redirect it later. These “high-quality-factor” or “high-Q” resonators could lead to novel ways of manipulating and using light, including new applications for quantum computing, virtual reality and augmented reality; light-based WiFi; and even the detection of viruses like SARS-CoV-2.