Tag Archives: robots

The global auto industry is worth $2 trillion, but electric and hybrid cars currently make up less than one percent of that figure. However, experts are predicting an explosion in electric car adoption.
Financial services company UBS predicted demand for electric cars will reach an inflection point in 2018 as their cost shrinks to equal (and eventually undercut) the cost of internal combustion engine vehicles. China saw a 53 percent increase in electric car sales from 2015 to 2016, and India is aiming to sell only electric cars by 2030.
Even though they’ll be affordable, and they’ll keep the air cleaner, though, electric cars will still have one major limitation, and that’s…the fact that they’re electric. Electric things run on batteries, and if batteries don’t get recharged every so often, they die.
Tesla’s Model 3 will go 200 miles on one charge, and Chevy’s new Bolt goes 238 miles. These are no small distances, especially when compared to the Volt’s 30-mile range just three years ago. Even so, once the cars’ batteries are drained, recharging them takes hours.
Researchers at Stanford University just took a step toward solving this problem. In a paper published last week in Nature, the team described a new technique that wirelessly transmits electricity to a moving object within close range.

Wireless power transfer works using magnetic resonance coupling. An alternating magnetic field in a transmitter coil causes electrons in a receiver coil to oscillate, with the best transfer efficiency occurring when both coils are tuned to the same frequency and positioned at a specific angle.
That makes it hard to transfer electricity while an object is moving though. To bypass the need for continuous manual tuning, the Stanford team removed the radio-frequency source in the transmitter and replaced it with a voltage amplifier and a feedback resistor.
The system calibrates itself to the required frequency for different distances. Using this system, the researchers were able to wirelessly transmit a one-milliwatt charge of electricity to a moving LED light bulb three feet away. No manual tuning was needed, and transfer efficiency remained stable.
One milliwatt is a far cry from the tens of kilowatts an electric car needs. But now that they’ve established that an amplifier will do the trick, the team is working on ramping up the amount of electricity that can be transferred using this system.
Switching out the amplifier itself could make a big difference—for this test, they used a general-purpose amplifier with about ten percent efficiency, but custom-made amplifiers could likely boost efficiency to over 90 percent.
It will still be a while before electric cars can get zapped with infusions of charge while cruising down the highway, but that’s the future some energy experts envision.
“In theory, one could drive for an unlimited amount of time without having to stop to recharge,” said Shanhui Fan, professor of electrical engineering and senior author of the study. “The hope is that you’ll be able to charge your electric car while you’re driving down the highway. A coil in the bottom of the vehicle could receive electricity from a series of coils connected to an electric current embedded in the road.”
Embedding power lines in roads would be a major infrastructure project, and it wouldn’t make sense to undertake it until electric car adoption was widespread—when, for example, electric cars accounted for at least 50 percent of total vehicles on the road, or more. If charging was easier, though, more drivers might choose to go electric.
Tesla has already made electric car ownership a bit easier by investing heavily in its Supercharger network. There are currently 861 Supercharger stations around the world with 5,655 chargers, and hundreds more are in the works. The stations charge Tesla vehicles for free in a half hour or hour instead of multiple hours.
Ripping up roads to embed power lines that can charge cars while they’re moving seems unnecessary as technologies like the Superchargers continue to proliferate. But as electric vehicles proliferate too, drivers will want their experiences to be as seamless as possible, and that could include not having to stop to charge your car.
Despite the significant hurdles left to clear, charging moving cars is the most exciting potential of the Stanford team’s wireless transfer system. But there are also smaller-scale applications like cell phones and personal medical implants, which will likely employ the technology before it’s used on cars. Fan even mentioned that the system “…may untether robotics in manufacturing.”
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A programmer used artificial intelligence to create images of dinosaurs that were constructed entirely out of flowers. Continue reading →

Singularity University’s Exponential Finance Summit begins today and runs through June 9 in New York, the finance industry’s bustling capital. You can tune into the summit as it happens from anywhere with this livestream.
Singularity Hub is also covering the event as it brings together financial and technology leaders from across the industry. From exciting startups like Lemonade and HyperScience to established financial institutions such as BlackRock and Bank of America, we’ll be learning about how emerging technologies are changing the workings of the finance industry and how financial services companies do business.
At the summit, experts will dive into:
The future of blockchain and digital currencies.
How artificial intelligence is being used in finance.
The further decentralization and digitization of banking.
What quantum computing can do for finance.
How major institutions are evolving strategies to take advantage of new fintech startups and technology.
Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Services, and Sharon Sputz, director of Columbia University’s Data Science Institute, will discuss the future of financial advice and investing. Angela Strange, partner at Andreesen Horowitz, will break down exponential technology and insurance, and BlackRock’s chief talent officer, Matthew Breitfelder, will take a look at the future of work.
Of course, as usual, we’ll also keep an eye on talks and question-and-answer sessions with Ray Kurzweil, Singularity University cofounder and chancellor, and Peter Diamandis, Singularity University cofounder and chairman.
Be sure to join the conversation on the future of finance in real-time on Twitter with @SingularityHub and @xfinance or using the hashtag #xfin.
Much of the latest technology driving fintech is still new, and its impact has yet to be fully fleshed out—which should make for an interesting summit.
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Singularity University is dismayed by the Trump administration’s choice to withdraw from the Paris Accord. Climate change is one of the greatest risks to humankind, and the decisions we make over the next few decades will impact life on earth for thousands of years.
At SU we’re proud to support the responsible development of exponential technologies, such as AI, robotics, nanotechnology, and digital biology, that may provide solutions to climate change. These exponential technologies should be nurtured in enabling policy environments, but independent of the decisions made by politicians, SU will move forward with our plans to address climate change.
The 2017 Global Solutions Program this summer will focus on challenges facing our climate and environment.
We’ve had 23 Global Impact Challenges aimed at climate change this year already.
We have flourishing companies in our startup ecosystem, such as Getaround, addressing congestion; Semtive, improving the way we generate energy; Modern Meadow, biofabricating leather; Impact Vision, addressing supply chain inefficiencies and food waste; BlueOak, collecting and converting the e-waste into a sustainable source of metals; and so many others.
Energy is a key topic discussed at all of our events, including our recent Exponential Manufacturing Summit in Boston a few weeks ago and Exponential Finance Summit this week in New York.
We’re proud to see an increase in breakthroughs that greatly improve our stewardship of the planet and global abundance such as in vitro meat production, carbon capture techniques, genetic engineering of climate resilient crops, advances in atmospheric water extraction, and countless others.
While this is a disappointing decision, there are more powerful forces at work. The global response to the federal government’s decision has renewed our faith in the common goodness of humankind. Innovation will continue. We will move forward.
We at SU provide access to a deep and broad innovation ecosystem that includes forward thinking corporations (e.g., Deloitte, Google, Lowes), development organizations (e.g., Stockholm Resilience Center, Unicef, World Wide Fund for Nature), and governments around the world. We will continue to work across industries and disciplines to bring abundance to all.
We welcome you to join our bold march into the future.
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