Whether you like it or not, technology is rapidly improving, offering new innovations and revolutionary projects every year. Some of the very sharpest minds are out there creating the next piece of future technology that will completely change how we live our lives. It can feel like scientific progress is steady, but we have lived through a period of immense technological improvement in the last half-century.
There are innovations happening right now that are ripped straight from the pages of science-fiction. Whether that is robots that can read minds, AI that can create images on their own, holograms, bionic eyes, or other mind-blowing technology, there is a lot to expect from the world of future technology. Below, we've picked out some of the biggest and most interesting ideas.
AI image-generation
As artificial intelligence continues to perform jobs just as well as humans, there is a new industry to add to the list – the world of art. Researchers at the company OpenAI have created software that is able to create images from just worded prompts.
Type in ‘a dog wearing a cowboy hat singing in the rain’ and you’ll get a host of completely original images that fit that description. You can even choose what style of art your request will come back in. However, the technology isn't perfected and still has issues, like when we gave it poor prompts on designing cartoon characters.
This technology known as Dall-E is now in its second iteration and the team behind it plans to continue developing it further. In the future, we could see this technology used to create art exhibitions, for companies to get quick, original illustrations, or of course, to revolutionize the way we create memes on the internet.
No longer a science fiction trope, the use of brain-reading technology has improved hugely in recent years. One of the most interesting and practical uses we’ve seen tested so far comes from researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL).
Thanks to a machine-learning algorithm, a robot arm, and a brain-computer interface, these researchers have managed to create a means for tetraplegia patients (those who can’t move their upper or lower body) to interact with the world.
In tests, the robot arm would perform simple tasks like moving around an obstacle. The algorithm would then interpret signals from the brain using an EEG cap and automatically determine when the arm had made a move that the brain considered incorrect, for example moving too close to the obstacle or going too fast.
Over time, the algorithm can then adjust to the individual's preferences and brain signals. In the future, this could lead to wheelchairs controlled by the brain or assistance machines for tetraplegia patients.
3D printed bones
3D printing is an industry promising everything from cheap house building to affordable rugged armor, but one of the most interesting uses of the technology is the building of 3D printed bones.
The company Ossiform specializes in medical 3D printing, creating patient-specific replacements of different bones from calcium phosphate – a material with similar properties to human bones.
Using these 3D printed bones is surprisingly easy. A hospital can perform an MRI which is then sent to Ossiform which creates a 3D model of the patient-specific implant that is needed. The surgeon accepts the design and then once it is printed, it can be used in surgery.
What is special about these 3D printed bones is that because of the use of calcium phosphate, the body will remodel the implants into the vascularized bone. That means they will enable the full restoration of function that the bone it is replacing had. To achieve the best integration possible, the implants are of a porous structure and feature large pores and canals for cells to attach to and reform bone.
Realistic holographs
Holograms have been filling science fiction books, films, and culture for years now, and while it does exist, it remains a difficult thing to achieve, especially on a large scale. However, a potential technology that could change this is hollow bricks.
Developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge and Disney Research, hollow bricks are a way of tiling together multiple holograms to produce a large, seamless 3D image.
The issue with most holographs right now is the amount of data that they require to make, especially when done on a large scale. A regular HD display for a 2D image takes about 3 GB per second to generate. A hologram of a similar size and resolution would be nearer to 3 TB per second, which is a huge amount of data.
To combat this, hollow bricks would provide individual sections of one large holographic image, heavily reducing the amount of data needed. This could eventually lead to the use of holograms in daily consumer entertainment like movies, games, and digital displays.
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