Boarding a flight at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) may no longer require digging out that boarding pass and passport — all you need is your face. On Monday, March 19, the Lufthansa Group airline announced the launch of biometric boarding at LAX. The announcement comes after the airline successfully tested the tool and boarded about 350 passengers on […]

Tesla has thrown its hat into the ring to build the world’s biggest Powerpack project in the United States, following its record-breaking success with a battery backup facility in South Australia at the Hornsdale Wind Farm. Records show Tesla has bid standalone battery project for Xcel Energy, Colorado’s biggest utility company. The new facility would be less powerful than Tesla’s  South Australian project, […]

  DRONE COUNTRY Residents of Switzerland should be prepared to see more drones in the sky, as the country begins to move forward with plans to integrated unmanned drones into their air traffic management systems. The system will track drones and register operators in order to make airspace safer for the tiny vehicles. Ars Technica reports that Skyguide, a Swiss air […]

Remember that online artificial intelligence (AI) that helped people dispute their parking tickets? Well, DoNotPay — the parking lawyer chatbot developed by Stanford University student Joshua Browder a few years ago — has since expanded its services. DoNotDay’s latest addition is retail price protection for air travel and hotel accommodations. Browder launched DoNotPay’s flight and hotel price protection service on March 6, 2018 — and just like […]

DediBot – a 3D printer manufacturer out of Hangzhou, China – has created quite a buzz in Shanghai this week with the launch of something it’s calling the Fly Elephant. The prototype that took flight at the company’s booth at the TCT Asia trade show is no ordinary multi-rotor drone, but features an extruder that can be used for rapid […]

In 2018 we have almost become jaded by levitating objects. You name it and there’s probably a levitating iteration on the market: turntables, Bluetooth speakers, cameras, lightbulbs, clocks, and even cloud-shaped lamps. Joining that list is the LeviZen, a water-levitating device that uses acoustic levitation to suspend a droplet in mid-air and simulate the effect of zero gravity. Most levitating gadgets on the market utilize magnetic […]

  The next time you buy a house, it might not be from a real estate agent. At least, not an agent of flesh and blood. Real estate agencies and some startups have started employing robots to do some of the perfunctory jobs that their realtors typically do, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their workplace. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) highlighted […]

  SAFFiR, the US Navy’s experimental firefighting robot, may be in for some competition. That’s because researchers at Italy’s IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have successfully tested a new-and-improved version of the WALK-MAN humanoid robot, which is designed to support firefighters. WALK-MAN was developed through a European Union-funded project that also includes the University of Pisa in Italy, the École Polytechnique Fédérale […]

  Many disposable diagnostic devices, often used for pregnancy tests and glucose level monitoring, contain a small lithium battery. Only one percent of that charge is used before the item is tossed away. While batteries are small in size, their impact on the environment can be significant. That’s why Juan Pablo Esquivel created a new paper battery, Fuelium. Since beginning his […]

If you’ve ever wanted to explore the underwater world using your own ROV (remotely-operated vehicle), there are now a number of consumer modelsin the works. The Sibiu Nano is one of the most recent to hit the scene, and it’s being made with the do-it-yourselfer in mind. Created by Spain’s Nido Robotics, plans call for the ROV to be available either […]