Robots, ice and taxis – innovation roundup
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business,
Environment,
Media,
Technology
| Tags: links,
Twitter,
climate change,
TED,
robots,
photography
This month, the Grant Thornton team has been reading about robots with smiling faces, documenting climate change using time-lapse photography and ‘tweeting’ for a taxi home…
Robots that ‘show emotion’ : A fascinating TED talk and live demo by David Hanson shows the latest in facial robotics. Not only can they recognise and respond to human emotion, but they can mimic it and create expressions of their own. Hanson is CEO of Hanson Robotics and a former Walt Disney imagineer.
Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss: Another Ted talk, this time by innovative photographer James Balog, who has used camera technology to see climate change in action. He designed, built and deployed 25 time-lapse camera units, powered by the sun and with a custom-made computer, to record Arctic and Alpine ice loss. Over three years, the images of receding glaciers, toppling icebergs and shrinking ice lines show ice as the dying ‘canary in the global coal mine’.
You can now hail a taxi using Twitter: At least you can in London as an innovative, eco-friendly cab company has started using the microblogging service to accept bookings – or ‘twooks’ – for its Prius taxis. They ask for full contacts details, address, destination and payment method. Not sure how all that info fits into the140 character limit, though.
See more innovation links
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