FUTURE SCIENCE

HOLOGRAPHIC LEARNING TECH VISIONARY 21ST CENTURY WHEELCHAIR

Imagine a classroom where students are immersed in truly visual and interactive learning environments. HoloStudy is looking to revolutionise education by bringing MR reality lessons to the classroom to teach subjects such as biology, chemistry and physics. MR is mixed reality, a technique where three-dimensional holographic images, graphics and data are dynamically interwoven onto real-world environments. The man behind this technique is Alexey Yakubov, CEO and founder of HoloGroup, a Russian-based company which is developing applications in collaboration with 3D designers, experienced teachers and scientists from world leading universities and science think tanks. The HoloStudy apps are being developed exclusively for Mixed Reality headsets, such as Microsoft HoloLens and Meta 2. Brazilian-born tech innovator Alex Kipman has worked for Microsoft for 16 years. He was the genius behind Microsoft’s Kinect motion controller which became the fastest-selling consumer device of all time when it launched at the end of 2010. His boldest venture yet is the HoloLens, a holographic headset that he thinks will be a “game-changer” in the way people will experience computing in the near future. The augmented reality (AR) viewer lets you see, hear, and interact with holograms within an environment such as a classroom, living room or an office space.

A development edition is now available for those wanting to start making games and apps for the forthcoming headset. Current cost of the development edition is $4400. A group of students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Zurich University of the Arts have developed a self-balancing wheelchair that is capable of climbing stairs. Called Scewo, the next-gen wheelchair uses rigid rubber grips as a way to navigate up and down steps, even including spiral staircases. In addition, it can lift users up to either provide them with a better vantage point or allow them to grab objects that would otherwise be out of reach. The wheelchair uses three gyroscopes which measure the angular velocity to keep the chair balanced automatically. The students hope to have a finished product on the market by the end of 2018. to programme the drill to cut a specific path.

The shorter surgery period should lower the risk of post-op infection and make recovery quicker.

The development of the drill was published recently in the journal Neurosurgical Focus.