This week in WDD’s HotSpot:
- The Centre for Technology Infusion is developing a new wireless technology-based solution to improve safety at level crossings. The technology provides drivers a 360 degree level of awareness of the surrounding traffic situation, and provides a warning message in the vehicle if it detects a possible collision situation.
- MIT has developed an array that tracks a motor’s vibrations through skin in three dimensions to study how people use vibrotactile cues to navigate in unfamiliar environments. Featuring eight miniature accelerometers and a single pancake motor, the array measures motor vibrations in three locations: the palm of the hand, the forearm and the thigh. Such wearable tactile displays offer a variety of promising applications; such as helping drivers navigate, directing firefighters through burning buildings, or emergency workers through disaster sites, and helping joggers traverse an unfamiliar city.
- iRobot is unlocking new applications for telepresence with their Ava 500 video collaboration robot. The iRobot Ava 500 brings together iRobot’s autonomous robotic mobility platform with the Cisco TelePresence EX Series personal system. Not only with does it enable people working off-site to participate in meetings and presentations where movement and location spontaneity are important, it also enables mobile visual access to manufacturing facilities, laboratories, customer experience centers and other remote facilities.
- Audi has introduced a wireless payment system that establishes a communication link between cars and parking garages to help eliminate some of the obstacles that drivers face when parking their vehicles. No more searching for loose change or garage tickets. The system will include an RFID transmitter that allows the car to communicate directly with the parking facility, and automatically debiting the amount from the driver’s account.
Do you have story ideas? Comment below or email wdd_web@advantagemedia.com we’ll cover them in an upcoming episode.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)
