I’m penning this simply earlier than New Yr’s Day, and like a lot of you I’m hoping to achieve my one remaining aim for 2020, which is to be alive in 2021. I’m wanting ahead to placing 2020 behind, and whereas the pandemic has been painful, it has brought on issues to speed up in a number of areas impressively quickly. Two of these areas are robotics and synthetic intelligence, which we’ll see tailored broadly this decade with a substantial bump in 2021.
Let’s speak about all of that this week, and we’ll shut with my first product of the week in 2021, the Somnofy AI Sleep Monitor.
Let’s start.
Robots, Robots, Robots
Robots, robots, and extra robots will more and more encompass us in 2021.
We ended 2020 watching the Boston Dynamics robots do choreography. This showcased simply how extremely succesful this stuff have gotten and making a few of us marvel if we ought to be on the lookout for Skynet.
Nonetheless, quite than anticipating robots that can both kill or shield us, a lot of what we’ll see is supply and meals prep.
One of many huge issues that occurred late in 2020 was that the FAA cleared the best way for drone supply, permitting drones to fly over populated areas and at evening. Initially, drone supply will principally deploy in rural areas the place it is sensible given the shortage of high-density housing such condominium complexes that don’t lend themselves to drone supply. Nonetheless, for a few of us, drones delivering packages can be frequent by the top of this yr. For folk in New York and Las Vegas, Walmart can be delivering by air to you shortly.
We aren’t simply speaking about flying drones both, as drones with wheels are coming off their 2019 trials and going into manufacturing. California is the primary state with massive supply autonomous automobiles. Nonetheless, I anticipate, primarily as a result of we’re nonetheless principally house through the days now — so we’re round to unload the issues — that this can unfold far and vast, once more principally in rural areas, by yr’s finish.
However this gained’t simply be for the supply as a result of eating places have gotten automated as properly, since machines don’t catch or unfold ailments and might function 24/7. It strikes me that we might have gone again to the automat idea to separate prospects from these making ready and serving the meals. Nonetheless, the automated restaurant seems to be mixing industrial robots for meals preparation and supply.
Automation offers with two issues: the shortage of people who need to work in fast-food eating places (just about all of them in my space have a assist wished signal) and preserving the place open throughout a pandemic.
Lastly, we’re brief tons of of 1000’s of truckers, and one of many methods to handle that is to place autonomous tractor-trailer rigs onto the main highways for long-haul routes. This final result is iffy as a result of the unions are combating this. Nonetheless, given the huge scarcity of drivers, delivery corporations’ solely path is to switch the drivers, which implies it gained’t be lengthy till semi-trucks now not have drivers.
AI Domination
One other place we’re going to see a ton of deployments is AI. From temperature displays at entrances to transportation, places of work, hospitals, and eating places that alert and generally stop entry for these working a bit sizzling, to radically improved digital assistants, we’re going to be surrounded by AI.
One of many thrilling efforts that began in 2020 was Nvidia’s Broadcast app and its Omniverse Machinima.
These showcase how an AI can considerably improve your subsequent video convention. Consider GPU-centric capabilities utilizing expertise like deepfakes to present you a fascinating wanting digital workplace that appears extra reasonable than the backgrounds we presently have, the elimination of background noise, and even the power to take years off your age and gown you just about so that you seem extra skilled on display.
Within the following years, I anticipate this skill to dynamically dress you’ll advance so you’ll seem like wearing culturally acceptable methods for every nation you might be broadcasting. I anticipate we’ll even have points that the film “Misplaced in House” showcased when Will Robinson changed his instructor’s picture complaining about his conduct with a cartoon ape. I can consider a number of methods this functionality might finish badly for somebody.
Along with your digital assistant integrating with merchandise just like the Cisco Webex Desk Hub mixing your workplace and smartphone and backing it up with an office-focused digital assistant, we’ll have Alexa-like capabilities in our houses and places of work.
These gained’t be like Siri however are more and more backed by mature AI applied sciences like IBM’s Watson to supply way more profound insights and higher solutions to your small business questions. It is going to be simpler to seek out out who’s liable for one thing, whom you want approvals from, whom try to be collaborating with, and get way more well timed alerts in case you are doing one thing that would land you in hassle.
Lastly, the AI-driven well being displays that we put on are due for a considerable improve. Suppose extra correct blood stress, insulin, and coronary heart displays tied on to EMTs and medical providers so that you simply get the medical assist you to want extra shortly and extra precisely. This development ought to be the start of embedded expertise and type a bridge to advaced prosthetics. These developments embody improved mind interfaces, which can even lay a basis for future man-machine interfaces.
Wrapping Up
I’m solely pertaining to a number of of the developments we’ll see in 2021, however on the coronary heart of most of those are now-maturing developments in man-machine interfaces, extra succesful AI methods, and more and more prevalent robots and autonomous automobiles.
Oh, flying vehicles, flying fits, and flying bikes are additionally shifting into manufacturing in 2021.
These rising applied sciences ought to make 2021 a captivating yr — although it can seemingly take a lot of the last decade to make all of this new expertise acceptable to most of us.
The Somnofy Sleep Monitor
If you’re like me, getting an excellent evening’s sleep throughout this pandemic is problematic. Probably the greatest merchandise I’ve thus far discovered is the AI-driven Somnofy Sleep Monitor.
Not like different merchandise I’ve tried, there may be little setup, and also you don’t have to seek out the correct place below your mattress to place some screwy sensor that always doesn’t work. The Somnofy Sleep Monitor makes use of non-contact sensors and a deep studying AI to watch and report on the standard of your sleep, your sleep time, sleep effectivity, and assist you to remove the issues which can be stopping you from getting an excellent evening’s sleep.
The Somnofy measures sleep high quality, respiratory price, sleep phases, the air high quality in your room, ambient gentle, gentle spectrum (blue gentle inhibits sleep), ambient noise, and room temperature to supply an in depth report high quality of your sleeping.
It additionally displays your very important indicators to warn you when you’ve got a respiration drawback earlier than the problem turns into vital. Created in Norway, one of many nations that takes private well being extra significantly than most, Somnofy will even give you strategies like guided respiration that can assist you go to sleep. Nonetheless, it won’t monitor two folks in the identical mattress with out getting a second unit because it focuses on the particular person closest to the monitor.
Lastly, the unit has a wise alarm perform that waits till you might be in gentle sleep to wake you up, so you’re feeling extra refreshed upon rising. For the reason that Somnofy sleep monitor is an instance of one of many new utilized AI capabilities coming to market (I gave it to my spouse for Christmas), it’s my first product of the week in 2021.
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