Star Trek Holodeck Holographic Tech becoming a reality

Future vision concept art of room scale holographic display from Light Field Lab, Inc.

OTOY (Octane Rendering) is teaming up with startup Light Field Lab to build holographic content. Light Field Lab raised $7 million this year to complete a prototype of a display technology which is similar to Star Trek’s holodeck. Light Field Lab’s Holographic tech will be installed in the walls of a room to immerse multiple people in virtual worlds without any headgear. 

According to Light Field Lab’s CEO Jon Karafin they’ve been demonstrating prototypes already this year with “No headgear, no head-tracking, no vergence/accommodation conflict, no motion latency, no headaches or eye strain, nor other artifacts associated with other non-holographic technologies,” Karafin wrote in an email. “The panels are flat panel, solid state and directly emissive— meaning there are no moving parts or arrays of projectors or cumbersome accessories. When you see the holographic objects with the prototype system, your eye naturally focuses on the actual object in space, and your brain tells you it’s floating right there in front of you — because it is a dense holographic projection with converging ray bundles that form real images.  The current prototype represents the foundational building block that produces large format panels, walls, and surfaces as we head into manufacturing next year.”

The founder of OTOY Jules Urbach also has a goal of creating Star Trek’s holodeck. OTOY (Octane Rendering) is used by film industry professionals to create hyper realistic scenes like the opening sequence of Westworld. Now imagine walking into a room not knowing any of this. 

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Atlas Robot Acting Human

Things are getting surreal. You've probably already seen this a hundred times but if not check out this robot acting human and athletic.

Atlas does parkour. The control software uses the whole body including legs, arms and torso, to marshal the energy and strength for jumping over the log and leaping up the steps without breaking its pace.  (Step height 40 cm.)  Atlas uses computer vision to locate itself with respect to visible markers on the approach to hit the terrain accurately.  For more information visit www.BostonDynamics.com.

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3D Printed Bionic Eye Prototype

We are truly living in fantastic times when it comes to technology and things that we could only dream of or read about in comic books. New research published this week in Advanced Materials describes the process of the 3D-printing an array of interconnected semiconducting photodiode (light receptor) devices on a glass hemisphere. 

I think you can see that the implications for something like this are pretty endless.

See the video below for more.

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UberAir Taxi's are looking for a host city

If you have been following my journey on this site, i am a little bit obsessed with flying cars and overall I try to touch base on all subjects I can find related to our inevitable sci-fi (cyberpunk) future coming true as it relates to the neo-noir graphic novel I've been working on. 

So far, we're moving a long, not little by little, but noticeably advancing new technologies all the time. The latest from UberAir is their search for a host city to market test their flying taxis.

From their site:

To bring uberAIR to market, we plan to partner with three ‘launch cities’. This will allow for a balance between focus and city diversity that will set the service up for long-term success.

Dallas and Los Angeles were previously announced as the first two launch cities, and we are now seeking an international city as the third partner. These three cities will be the first to offer uberAIR flights, with the goals of operating demonstrator flights starting in 2020 and beginning commercial operations in 2023.

Considerations for a Good Launch City

To help understand what would make for a good urban air mobility pilot, we have provided the following considerations:

Cities with a greater metropolitan area population in excess of 2 million people and a density of over 2,000 people per square mile will be able to support pooled ridesharing services and thus benefit the most from an uberAIR network.

Ideal cities are polycentric, with multiple dense nodes of development in an urban area, and face significant traffic congestion. A large and dispersed city layout means that uberAIR will be able to offer significant time saving benefits at speeds of 150-200 miles per hour.

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Awesome Blade Runner Animated Short Film: Skinjob

This is an entertaining Blade Runner inspired short film. Check it out.

A group of Android slave workers steal a space shuttle Off - World and journey back to Earth to find answers to the question why do they exist? Its a dangerous journey which they have to take in a bid for freedom. Written, Directed and Animated by Steve Simmons. Movie poster below and the video at the bottom.

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Kawasaki's J Concept Motorcycle looks amazing!

You may have already seen it, but it is worth a look to remind you of what is coming. J Concept is Kawasaki's new 3 wheel hybrid electric motorcycle which has been in the works for about 5 years, supposedly it is launching in 2018.

It was first unveiled at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, and has been teased in several videos leading up to this year. Check out the Kawasaki Evolution video below to see more details.

Here's some more info on this bike...

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The latest humanoid robot is a 10 year old child

You've probably seen Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro's robot double of himself in the past, well his latest creation is a 10 year old child named Ibuki. Interesting enough Ibuki translates from Japanese as "breath." Anyway take a look at the two videos below to watch this little guy move and twitch. It's an interesting concept. After that, try and unsee it if you can. 

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The Nano-Bots are coming!

You can obviously use your imagination to think about where this technology can lead. The applications are almost endless. But here is Rolls-Royce official statement below.

Rolls-Royce today demonstrated an exciting vision of how robotics could be used to revolutionise the future of engine maintenance. Bringing another element of its IntelligentEngine vision to life, Rolls-Royce teamed up with academics from the University of Nottingham and Harvard University to discuss and demonstrate a wide range of potential future technologies at the Farnborough Airshow, from ‘snake’ robots that work their way through the engine like an endoscope, to miniature, collaborative ‘swarm’ robots that crawl through the insides of an engine.

Rolls-Royce | SWARM robots from Rolls-Royce on Vimeo.

The IntelligentEngine vision, first introduced by Rolls-Royce at the Singapore Airshow earlier this year, describes a world where product and service have become so closely connected that they are inseparable. This vision drives activity across a range of fields, including robotics, with a particular focus on digital technologies.

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UPDATE: Live Action Alita: Battle Angel Trailer

SDCC this year has revealed a lot of cool stuff. The latest is a new live action trailer for Alita: Battle Angel. This is Cyberpunk heaven right here. It has everything you need for human cyborg relations. I started checking this out in December last year with their teaser. 

(New Trailer all the way at the bottom) 

Okay, This is the first live action film version of Alita: Battle Angel based on the original Comic book (Manga Series) created by Yukito Kishiro in 1990's seen below.

The Manga was later developed into an Anime series (below) released in 1993.

It is still a pretty awesome story for more than 20 years old. Now with current technology, anime and manga come to life.

Visionary filmmakers James Cameron (AVATAR) and Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY) create a groundbreaking new heroine in ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, an action-packed story of hope, love and empowerment. Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita (Rosa Salazar) is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. 

Everything is new to Alita, every experience a first. As she learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield Alita from her mysterious past while her street-smart new friend, Hugo (Keean Johnson), offers instead to help trigger her memories. A growing affection develops between the two until deadly forces come after Alita and threaten her newfound relationships. It is then that Alita discovers she has extraordinary fighting abilities that could be used to save the friends and family she’s grown to love. 

Determined to uncover the truth behind her origin, Alita sets out on a journey that will lead her to take on the injustices of this dark, corrupt world, and discover that one young woman can change the world in which she lives.

DIRECTED BY

Robert Rodriguez

SCREENPLAY BY

James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis and Robert Rodriguez

BASED ON THE GRAPHIC NOVEL (“MANGA”) SERIES:

“Gunnm” By Yukito Kishiro

PRODUCED BY

James Cameron and Jon Landau

CAST

Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson

Following the arrival of the first trailer above, 20th Century Fox has now released a new featurette for Alita: Battle Angel which sees Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron take us behind the scenes of the upcoming manga adaptation and includes interviews with the director and producer; watch the featurette below.

NEW TRAILER BELOW!

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Who's up for some Sheborg?

Written and directed by Daniel Armstrong and starring Daisy Masterman, Whitney Duff, and Emma-Louise Wilson, Sheborg tells of an alien fugitive that crash lands into a local puppy farm and begins turning people into mutated robot killing machines with a taste for puppy flesh. Say wha...

If you have been following this film which started back in 2015, it's finally coming true. Check out the trailer below. 

Looks like some cheesy sci-fi-fun.

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BlackFly is another step closer to flying cars

Well this looks interesting. I think we are in a new age of flying machines. It seems like every week we have new personal flying transportation options from different companies. Flying cars, jet packs and more... This is truly an exciting era to be part of. The latest flying machine is called The Black Fly. This thing seems pretty stable compared to the other ones so we are getting closer, but its landings are a bit funky. Here's some more info on it and then check out this thing in the video below.

We spend too much time confined to a two-dimensional network of concrete and asphalt. The dream of futurists has always been a flying vehicle capable of efficiently moving passengers from A to B.

Opener is realizing this dream in an affordable, safe, easy-to-operate, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle: BlackFly.

Opener's BlackFly heralds a new era of aviation. Time and money spent traveling and maintaining infrastructure will be reduced. People will go places they never thought possible.

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Dragon Drone can shape shift in mid air

We are one step closer to our own robotic, cyberpunk, sci-fi world right here. This is an amazing new direction for drones. I can imagine this thing slinking through someones open window and navigating through a building. Now if they can only make it silent. Check out the video below. (watch the whole thing)

The JSK Lab at the University of Tokyo created project DRAGON. This flying "Dragon" drone can change its form to navigate through different spaces. DRAGON can change its shape to move through complex environments and even manipulate objects. DRAGON is able to autonomously decide how to transform when given the constraints of the space it needs to pass through.

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Just some more robotic technology becoming a reality!

Check out this wild robotic creature. The video at the bottom of the page is worth the watch, advancements in robotics today are really quite amazing.

Like its biological model, the flic-flac spider, the BionicWheelBot can both walk and roll. Together with its discoverer, Professor Ingo Rechenberg, the Festo bionics team has used these unique movement patterns and turned them into a technical masterpiece for the Hannover Messe 2018.

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Not Man, Not Machine, More... Check out the new trailer for UPGRADE!

Okay, this shit looks crazy! I'm in. 

Set in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But when Grey, a self-identified technophobe, has his world turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental computer chip implant called Stem.

“UPGRADE is a thrilling and hyper violent vision of the future from the producers of GET OUT and THE PURGE, and the creator of SAW and INSIDIOUS.

After his wife is killed during a brutal mugging that also leaves him paralyzed, Grey Trace (Logan Marshall Green, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, PROMETHEUS) is approached by a billionaire inventor with an experimental cure that will “upgrade” his body. The cure – an Artificial Intelligence implant called STEM – gives Grey physical abilities beyond anything experienced and the ability to relentlessly claim vengeance against those who murdered his wife and left him for dead.”

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If you haven't seen BREAKER, a Cyberpunk Short Film Check it out here!

Not sure how we let this one slip by, but it's cool!

In tomorrow's Tokyo, the technologically-enhanced body of a young mercenary hacker is overrun by a sentient data weapon.

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Why no posts? Because I've been binge watching Altered Carbon and you should too.

This series is Amazing! It combines all of the greatest futuristic elements within a tightly woven story that really keeps you guessing. With so many other Sci-Fi series and movies I have been able to figure out story lines and conclusions before the end. Not this one, it has kept me guessing the whole time. I highly recommend it.

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Hat's off to artist Eric Geusz.

YES, Finally! I can't tell you how many times I have passed an object in my home and said that looks like a ... Space ship, light saber, blaster, flying car etc... Finally someone has done the comparison of their final artwork and the inspiration behind it. Artist Eric Geusz takes ordinary objects and Sci-Fi's the hell out of them with his beautiful artwork.

This will make you look at ordinary things completely different.

If you want to learn more about Eric Geusz, check out his Art Station page here.

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Is It The Future Yet?

Every day I feel like we are inching closer and closer to the sci-fi-esq world that I used to dream up as a kid. It seems like technology is making the dreams possible. Here are a few futuristic ideas for transportation that look more and more interesting ever day.

XOIO and IUM (Institute of Urban Mobility) have teamed up to design a futuristic vehicle for our future: Mobuno. It’s a conceptual urban mobility yet highly realistic idea, the goal of this project was to blend all those great benefits of current means of transportation into one. User can book Mobuno privately just like any regular taxi for private use, connection with mobile communication devices are used for all communication just like usual.

Mobuno is designed to accommodate up to four persons, they can use this compact car simultaneously. Just in case you don’t mind sharing a ride, you can also switch to “Shared” mode, Mobuno will then act as a bus smartly responding to the requests of other users. In this way, all users would enjoy the benefit of lower costs.

Hanging out with several friends or multiple family members won’t be a problem, simply book and tell the operator how many people would go along then it’ll send as many units as required. Smart platooning will also allow effectiveness by combining units into an energy efficient queue. Mobuno from XOIO offers public transportation better than trains and busses.

The smart system of Mobuno can decide when it’s time this car needs to be fueld, cleaned, and maintained, it’ll automatically look for closes service point. The smart artificial intelligent also allows Mobuno to learn patterns of requests so that the network can smartly distribute units to a certain location where they are needed the most.

Due to its super compact size, this vehicle can squeeze tightly together, it doesn’t require much parking space.

Renault Subtil Concept Pickup Truck offers luxurious, capacity, safety, and comfort of an SUV. Wojciech Jurkowski, an automotive designer, explains that most people who live in big cities often don’t have the luxury to enjoy road trip due to the small capacity of their vehicles. There’s an increasing demand on Western European market for bigger cars, because there are so many attractive places there among mountains and rivers where people can leave crowded cities to find fresh air and peaceful place to relax.

Renault Subtil by Wojciech Jurkowski is designed with four independent electric motors, installed inside the wheels. The interior offers spacious area designed for passengers and their luggage.

Inspired by Renault, Subtil features similar Renault’s design DNA, both for its originality and freshness. That visibly separated wheels introduce a new style is car design, that is highly possible due to the use of electric motors.

The folding roof allows user to adapt its vehicle to their needs. User can easily transform vehicle from a family car to a pickup truck that carries up to three bikes.

The URBAN.POD compact vehicle has been designed for you to explore the urban jungle in style. It’s a small 1+2 city car aimed at both young and experienced drivers that want to explore the city with style and safety.

It is primarily built from bio-degradable plastics (bio-plastics), which can be made from several natural sources like vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, sugar cane etc.

This compact vehicle also offers several solutions to increase the safety of the passengers and decrease traffic with car-to-car sensors for optimal traffic.

The images of this vehicle pretty much describe its design, stylish, futuristic and cute car. Designer : Paulo Encarnação

Okay, overall there are some pretty cool concepts here. Although it's not a dystopia vision of the future, I imagine if I saw any of these cruising the streets of New York City I would feel like I have made it into the future.

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