Several times in these posts I end up mentioning how scientists are learning more and more by observing how Nature solved problems through millions of years of evolution and how this knowledge is then leveraged for creating new technical solutions.

And this one is another instance of that. When developing a lens optical engineers have to fight distortion and depth of field,

This chip has been called “bugs view”! Now that means something!

that is a limited amount of a scene can be on focus. However, it has been noted that insects do not face this kind of problem. A fly needs a “macro lens” to focus at just 3 mm from its head and it also needs to focus a few meters away to see any incoming danger. This would be impossible for a lens, and for our eye as well!

How could the fly overcome optical limitations that are rooted in physics? Well, by using other parts of physics!

Flies, as most insects, have composite eyes, that is they have hundreds of eyes each one with a very small aperture providing huge depth of field, everything is in focus. They make up for the lower aperture (less light) by having many eyes. Moreover, the eyes are geometrically disposed on a curved surface that avoid distortion.

Now scientists have created a sensor mimicking the insect composite eye to produce a camera with incredible depth of field and no distortion. As you can see in the photo the sensors are placed on a curved surface made possible by flexible connections among the various elements.

First application of this sensor is expected in endoscopic instruments where the depth of field is crucial.

I guess anyone of us had the Golden Arches experience: getting in line to order a Big Mac, and seeing just beyond the counter a number of boys and girls cooking hamburgers, adding BLT, wrapping them and placing them on the shelf to be picked up.

Now Momentum Machines has created a robot that can prepare up to 400 hamburger per hour, seasoning, packaging and wrapping them ready to eat.

More than that. The robots starts to work on your order as soon as you place it. Hamburgers are not prepared in advance, but right when the order is placed, and the same goes for the slicing of the tomatoes and all the other trimmings.

On the left hand side you can see the schematics of the robotic processing of your order. Since everything is made at the time of order you can have an hamburger that is 1/3 beef and 2/3 bison or whatever you whim is. You can select to have tomatoes but no lettuce and so on.

According to Momentum Machines there are many advantages with their product: flexibility, freshness and therefore quality, speed and proper consistent hygiene.

They also state the huge savings in personnel cost, and this can of course be true but at the same time provides a further indication that a lot of jobs are on the way of being replaced by machines.

We have had this kind of concerns for at least two centuries and that has been proved false. As new machine can take up the work of workers they also open the door to employment in new professions. However, in the last decade, and more so since 2007, studies are pointing out that for the first time since the Industrial Age, the work destroyed by machine is not offset by new working opportunities being created.

This is bad news, or at least is something that will require a rethinking of the rules of the game upon which our Society is based today. Add to this the saturation of markets in several areas (like cell phones in developed countries but soon in developing countries as well) and you see that we are moving from an expansion phase to a stable phase. Since our financial engines are running on an expansion model this creates big problems (see what is happening in the automotive sectors where we now have lost the expansion “drive” and cars are only bought to substitute old ones).

I think we need to get ready for dramatic paradigm changes in the next decade…

Headphones components produced through 3D printing. Image form Teague Labs

The number of news on the advances in 3D printing keeps growing, some related to better (and cheaper) 3D printers, others to growing fields of application.

On the left an image of headphones components produced using 3D printing. They are ready to be assembled and this can be done at home… Still it just represents another possible application and does not seem to be a game changer, and the same can be said for the many other applications that we have seen so far and for those you can see here, by 3D systems (look at the nice guitar that has been printed using their 3D printers!)

However, and this is what the science of connectivity in large sets is telling us, you may reach a point when all of a sudden particles that were independent one another and just connected to a few other become completely connected and change the overall structure (as it happens in areas like whipping up the eggs to make the mayonnaise….). It is what physicists call a phase transition.

It happens also in economic systems and in this case it changes the value chains that have been in place for decades and even centuries.

Well, someone has started to foresee this change as result of the growing application of 3D printing.

Acoustic guitar printed by 3DSystems

An interesting paper, that you can download here, deals with “the implication of 3D printing for the global logitic industry”.

According to the paper:

 ‘3D Printing’, or ‘additive manufacturing’ as it is also known, has the potential to become the biggest single disruptive phenomenon to impact global industry since assembly lines were introduced in early twentieth century America.

This is no small claim! As a matter of fact, think of the implications: what is now decentralised production (in China and the Far East) may be completely reversed by the possibility of producing products near the sales point (or even at home).

More than that. Whereas in mass production all product instances are the same, with a 3D printing potentially each product can be customised, thus transforming a product into a service at the production level. Additionally, customisation can be further enhanced by embedded chips (and software) and communications plugging in that product on the Internet.

I suggest to read the paper. It may be addressing a distant future but technology evolution is not just shrinking distance and cost, it is also shrinking time….

And if you still think it is just about a distant future, then read the announcement of the opening of the first 3D printing factory in NYC planning custom printing 5 million objects in 2013….

I have reported on this blog the progress being made in 3D printers and the variety of applications that can result from this, as well as the changes and impact on the distribution and retail structure.

There is Fab at Home where you can get updates of progress in this area, where people are sharing ideas and also apps in the 3D printing domain. Don’t think about it as just a hobbyist playground.

Synthesising drugs at home

Some serious research is going on there, like the one carried out by Lee Croning and his group.

They are using 3D printers to explore the feasibility of printing drugs, pills you may need to take for your flu…

Health care is taking advantage ever more of communications infrastructures and sensors (including the cell phone) to provide medical support, diagnoses, even to remote locations, something that is useful everywhere but particularly in developing countries and rural areas where no doctor is available. The problem is, once you have got the diagnoses how do you get the prescription?
This is what Lee’s group wants to solve and the application of 3D printing, in an ingenious way, can be the answer.

They are experimenting with various ways of creating drugs starting from basic components. The problem is that most drugs work because they have a specific tri-dimensional structure so it is not just a matter of pouring the desired ingredients and mix them together. And this is where 3D printing can provide the solution. His group has invented what they call a chemputer, a computer that works with chemical substances to create new ones by regulating the way they are dosed and mixed together.

I really feel we are going to see a revolution in health care by the end of this decade and a reshuffling in the whole value chain.

Let me share with you a contribution I have been asked from COMSOC on IoT and IwT…

It is happening. More and more objects (mostly sensors so far) are connected to Internet. Take a look at Pachube, as an example (https://cosm.com/?pachube_redirect=true). They started just 5 years ago with the idea of providing a place where people can send information generated by their sensors and share information. Now they have hundreds of thousands of feed. I have no connection, nor interest in Pachube, but I take them as an example of what is happening:

1. ever more objects are connected to the Internet
2. it is getting easier to do this
3. there is a growing interest in sharing data
4. start ups are at work to figure out how to leverage from this new phenomenon.

Now, lets go step by step.

STEP 1

Why is this happening? Easy, because it can!

Electronics is cheap, and getting cheaper by the day. Hence you can have embedded electronics in many objects. It is also much less power hungry so that you can power it by scavenging stray energy in the environment. No connection to the mains needed (nor expensive battery to change after a few days or months…).

Electronics and software makes object aware of their environment. They can sense a variety of characteristics around them and convert these into data. Welcome to the growing world of sensors, a world that HP estimate to reach hundreds of billions by the end of this decade (CISCO has a lower forecast but still in the number of many many billions…).

Communications is getting more and more pervasive. You don’t need to look for a gateway to connect to the Internet. The environment is, more and more, the connection gateway. The advent of LTE, or 4G, is a further step in this direction: it has larger capacity (not really needed for most “Things” on Internet, but useful when you have a growing demand from -paying- human beings and you do not want to cut your revenues by letting other stuff to chew into your capacity) and moreover it has the capability to provide a native IP connectivity. Now, this is crucial, since it makes possible to connect a “thing” with a chip costing 50c, rather than, as is the case today with 2 and 3G, with a stripped down cell phone that is still costing 20+ dollars.

COMSOC is active in all these “enabling” technologies, from radio to networks and protocols. It is also active in the sensor area as well as in application areas (including Health, possibly a driving business for IoT).

STEP 2

Is it business as usual? NO, it is not!

Our telecommunications network were designed for symmetric traffic at 64kbps with individual transaction lasting about 3 minutes. A nice gaussian shape. Internet has changed that. No more symmetric but asymmetric flows (the A in ADSL…) and no more 3 minutes average transaction but longer and bigger capacity eater (video is now the dominant traffic on Internet).

From the gaussian of POTS to the S shape of Internet today to the inverted gaussian of tomorrow...

Our (telecommunications) network has evolved to managed this, we have developed CDN (Content Delivery Networks), the architecture has changed to manage head ends and to shadow/mirror content around the network in a distributed fashion (by the way transforming our hierarchical network into a massively distributed and interconnected data bases).

And now, its change all over again. That gaussian curve that changed its shape to become an S curve with the Internet of Video, now changes its shape again to become an inverted gaussian with its lowest point representing voice-human- communications. On the right the curve grows pushed up by video consumption (and generation – more symmetry than before…) and on the left grows pushed by the billions of tiny transactions generated by the IoT. As the curve changes, new architectures are required and, most important, new biz models are needed and they in turns are being “invented” by new players.

And COMSOC, again, is on target, looking at the future of internet, at future network architectures.

STEP 3

Is IoT the next Big Thing? NO, but is is an enabler!

IoT is using a limited traffic capacity and it is not going to generate tremendous revenues to Operators in terms of traffic sale. Actually, the growing computation power in objects has already shifted most services outside of the network (owned by the classic Operators), so in a way it is decreasing their revenues. New biz models to leverage the value of sensors have not proved successful, so far at least from the point of view of the Operators.

However, the IoT are a piece in a puzzle of the connected world and mashed bits and atoms. This is what I call the Internet WITH Things (IwT).

Imagine a world where everything you see and touch is wrapped in bits and services, through a seamless connectivity and personalization of the interaction. If you pick up a bottle of wine or look at a monument you will be involved in a multimedia perception customized to you and your context. Who can provide this customization? Surely an Operator. It is a world that have to be seamless and simple, and it is going to be a very complex world in terms of interacting technologies. Because of this gap between the complex reality and the need for seamless, simple perception there is a need for management and that is an area where Operators can have their say. It is not going to be easy, there will be many, qualified, competitors for what is to become the new communication market and fabric, but it is a market where Operators can play.

COMSOC is now at the edges of this new marketplace. It probably needs to partner with the Computer Society and with the Consumer Electronics area,…. and with several others. And it is a game where COMSOC can be a big player.

3D printing has been used for quite a number of years (first “printers” go back to the 80ies) by manufacturers for fast prototyping. As technology got better it allowed the printing of objects ever more complex and made by a variety of substances, including steel, glass, plastic,…

A pendant produced by Shapeways, designed by a customer and 3D printed

What was missing was speed (for printing mass products objects) and dramatic cost decrease (to make printers economically viable in a broader market). Researchers have been working on both and although speed is not, yet, comparable to industrial processes the cost has decreased significantly. Actually, it has reached a point where some companies are starting to offer customized production, like Shapeways.

Take a look at its website and discover how to have them printing “your ideas”.

You can ask them to produce a back cover for your iPhone (or any other kind of cell phone), a glass, a pendant, a… whatever!

You provide the design and they just print it for you. They also provide tools to help designing objects and you can do that as part of a community of builders that can interact with you to study for a better design.

This is really bringing production to your home. You can dream of having something, you work on your idea with tools you are used to, your hands and your computer, and get some help from a community of “builders”. Then it is just a matter of a few clicks and Shapeways will print your “idea”.

For a number of years, probably through this decade, this is what is 3D printing can deliver. In a longer term, however, we might imagine to have a small printer in our home to print that little piece that has to replace a used one, to serve as a just in time fulfillment of a need. I personally feel unlike a replacement of mass market production with home made production, even in very long time frame. The economies of scale are too big to be demoted. Clearly, ever increased customization capabilities may be expected s time goes by, particularly thanks to the software embedded in products that makes them so easy to custom and evolve.

Strange question, isn’t it? It pops up after reading the news that Nevada is the first state to allow the association of a driving license to a car.

Getting out from the driver seat, but he didn't drive. The car did it!

Nevada has close to 40,000 km of roads, many of them pretty empty and I guess this is why it has become “the place” for testing driver-less cars. And the driving license is exactly for this kind of cars.

According to the new law passed in Nevada a car can get a driving license and be allowed to drive on its own. Actually, for the first period it will have to have to certified drivers on board but this is a first -important- step on the way for a transportation based on self driven cars.

The advantage, once we will reach that point, is not just more relaxing journeys (assuming you will ever be able to relax knowing that no-one is driving….) but more efficient use of  energy, less road congestions, safer traffic.

It is going to be a matter of technology to have 100% reliable cars, and it will come. It is going to be a matter of economics, having it affordable, and we know technology evolution is both about increased performances and decreased price. But it is going to be about perception, about how you and me will feel being driven and releasing control to a (robot) car. And here the bets are open. Clearly, a significant advantage in terms of safety, energy, effectiveness requires a significant penetration of automated cars and I guess it will be some decades before reaching this point.

I still remember the forecasts in the wake of the Moon landing in 1969 predicting flying cars and automated transportation replacing those days cars. Actually, after fifty years we have many more cars and much more traffic problems. The difference is that today we have the technology for enabling the paradigm shift. Not sure we have the willingness to do so.

The fading boundaries between bits and atoms will be further pushed by a generalized use of claytronics (see a previous post on this technology).

This technology provides a way to build a variety of products using tiny beads that can auto assemble under specific commands sent wirelessly.

By 2061 it will impact the way products are being produced. Of course claytronics is just one way of doing it, more will be found in the coming 50 years.

Particularly we can expect to learn a lot by the growing understanding derived from embryology, where cells multiply and differentiate according to reaction to a local condition. It is not written anywhere in the DNA that the fertilized egg shall multiply several times to form a blastula exactly in the same space that is first occupied by the egg cell, nor that gastrulation should occur after a little while the blastula has formed, nor the subsequent neurulation…

All of this is the result of reaction to local condition. We are, today, far away in the capability of designing systems that can develop themselves based on local condition, but progresses are being made. It is a whole new science that once developed is likely to change several manufacturing paradigms.

Read this forecast taken by a post on the future:

Claytronics are revolutionising consumer products

Claytronics – also known as programmable matter – are now embedded in countless everyday items. This technology involves the manipulation of tiny devices known as catoms (claytronic atoms). Joined electrostatically, these work in concert to produce dramatic changes at the macroscale.

Objects featuring these catoms can be radically altered in form and function. Furniture can morph into new types, for instance. A bed could suddenly become a sofa, or a large table. Chairs can be instantly moulded to precisely suit the individual. Walls, carpets, ceilings, doors and other surfaces can modify their colour or texture on demand.

Electronic devices feature this exotic material. They can be highly adaptable to their environments, for instance – altering their structure to cope with dust and heat in a desert, then later shifting to resist humidity and moisture in a jungle, or even becoming completely waterproof. They can be personalised too: devices worn on the head or ears can mould themselves to fit the individual.

Many vehicles now make use of claytronics. Car surfaces can change colour at the touch of a button. Or they can self-heal: fixing bumps, scratches and other damage. Tyres can be instantly adapted for different terrain types or weather conditions. Transparent windows can be instantly blacked-out for privacy.

Claytronics are especially popular in children’s toys, with figures taking on astonishingly lifelike forms.

Various other everyday objects are now becoming highly configurable and morphable. Further into the future, claytronics will enable the creation of entire simulated humans.

Your cellular telephone company has to know where your cell phone is at any time, so that it can route incoming calls to you. They have to know the cell covering your device but as a matter of fact by measuring the power needed to reach you and triangulating with other radio towers it is possible to pinpoint your cell phone location within a few meters (or a bit more, depending on the location).

Pinpointing your location using your cell phone number

A start up company, Loc-Aid, has come up with a service that exploits this knowledge. The assumption is that you always have your cell phone with you, so if you are using your credit card in a shop, you should be in that shop and the cell phone location can prove it.

It works like this.  Your credit card company asks you if you are willing to let them know when you are paying with their credit card where your cell phone is. In case there is a mismatch in the location they will not authorize the transaction and you (and them) get extra protection.

They already know your cell phone number, it is part of the information you provided, and if you give them the green light they will send a message with your cell phone number to Loc-Aid and they will return the location of your cell phone at that particular moment.

To get this information Loc-Aid has set up agreements with all cellular Operators in North America (there the location of a cell phone has to be known by law for security reason – like knowing from where a 911 call is coming) and the Operators disclose the information once they receive the permission from their client (this is automatically obtained once you are agreeing to disclose it to your credit card company).

The authorization process is such that disclosure happens only to those parties you have authorized. So Loc-Aid actually send the request indicating who is going to receive the information and the cellular phone company will release it only if that “who” is in its authorized list.

What is of interest to me is that information is really coming to center stage and today we already have plenty of information. What we need are mechanisms to use it and make sense of it. Information is not a value “per se” but it becomes such once you can relate one piece of information to another. And this requires connectivity. As Telecom Operators we are too pleased to oblige.

New cloud based production infrastructures are just round the corner

Telecommunications have connected the world, people and businesses. They have also made possible new businesses, such as the ones that developed on the Internet. In the coming decade embedded communications will change most businesses by transforming what is now sold as a product into a service. That will lead to a reshape of processes and organizations in many enterprises.

It is also likely to emphasize the transition of telecommunications from being a service to becoming a commodity.

The Cloud will no longer be a tool to decrease IT cost, rather it will become a production and service infrastructure where many transactions will involve, or affect, a variety of enterprises in an ecosystem like marketplace. Tiny changes to a product (the release of  new API) may lead to significant changes in the offer, being this the result of many independent enterprise innovations.

By 2020 many products are expected to:

❏    Deliver functions by connecting to networked providers (servers, cloud, other products).

❏    Change their functionality by updating their software.

❏    Provide customer support via an embedded link to CRM systems.

❏    Be monitored and maintained from a remote location.

❏    Support a variety of service providers and related biz models.

❏    Cooperate with the environment to deliver add on functionalities.

Basically every market segment will take advantage of these capabilities, from car manufacturing to consumer electronics, from airliners (and airlines) to drugs companies, from agricultural products to furniture.

• The embedding of communications in products opens up a large audience to COMSOC. This requires much more attention to vertical markets and to the engineering of the “embedding”.
• The interface aspects are becoming very important as objects become connected and hence can provide a wider variety of functions. COMSOC shall support this area as well.