Author, Speaker, and Consultant on Hyperinnovation, Future Studies, GigaMarket$, The New Industrial Revolution, and Advanced Robotics and (iRev) Intelligence Revolution.
Monday, 13 March 2017
Natural tooth repair method, using Alzheimer drug, discovered by King College researchers, is about to revolutionise dental treatment
Fillings could be consigned to history after scientists discovered that a drug already trialled in Alzheimer's patients can encourage tooth regrowth and repair cavities.
Researchers at King's College London found that the drug Tideglusib stimulates the stem cells contained in the pulp of teeth so that they generate new dentine – the mineralised material under the enamel. Now, the King's College team is racing to put together a repeatable, sunctioned treatment. Read Full Article
Friday, 10 March 2017
Teachers Fear for Future of High School & Six Form Design and Technology Courses
'Design and Technology, languages and arts are among the subjects being dropped as schools struggle to deal with severe budget pressures, according to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).'
In a world where technological evolution is moving from exponential growth in price-performance improvement, towards explosive growth.
In a world where there is a need for a good understanding of the processes and techniques of Innovation, Enterprise, Entrepreneurial-ship, Design, High-Level Software Coding, and Applied Science, because of the very explosive growth in technology and innovation.
But in spite of this essential need, the UK Exchequer is about to cut high-school and sixth-form budgets in these areas in terms of their related subjects.
Apparently, as interesting as it may be, the lessons of English History and its wonderful well-heeled Monarchy, are more important than learning functional or technical foreign languages, like German, in world that is interconnecting ever faster. Some will say that history repeats itself, and therefore learning from the past is important. To a degree, yes, but the future of technology from now on will not only be different from the past, there will be no comparison.
So, who are these stuffed shirts who make these damaging decisions, who insist that the world will almost be the same as the past, an therefore History is more significant than applied Design and Technology? When I was 15, and especially an inquisitive seventeen year old sixth-former, I lived in my D&T classroom (lunchtime and after school hours). In the end, I almost lived their. And then years on, I practised as Lead Aerospace Design Engineer, and now as a consultant and write about technological innovation and design! I can tell you that the teams I have lead have created countless jobs (directly and indirectly) over the 25+ years in practise, and no doubt helped inspire many new products and service concepts, and even new businesses, through my books on innovation. Read these two recent articles on the these issues. However, be warned, if you are a Brit and a bit like me, you won't be happy:
(It's on BBC News, right now - 10/03/2017 - bbc.co.uk/)
Planes, Trains and
Automobiles
Is it a Car? Is it Plane? Is a Train? No! It’s Multi-Vehicle!
A Concept Car That Transforms
into All Three!
Meet the Pop-Up!
The multimodal transportation concept, is a passenger capsule that can transform
into different modes of transit, by attaching wheels for driving, connecting propellers for flying, or joining a train-like transit system such as the high-speed transit concept known as the Hyperloop.
Huge Problem - Radical Solution - Breakthrough Technology
Astro Teller 's Secrets to Building Hyperinnovative Dream Teams that produce Radical Solutions using Breakthrough Technologies that solve the Worlds' Largest and most Challenging Problems!
Astro Teller, entrepreneur, scientist, author and expert in Intelligent Technology.
If you've ever wondered who is one of the Top-Guns behind the secretive and infamous Google-X Projects, then Teller is a good start!
His premise on team leadership is to inspire and let go of people working on an X-Project. Get out of their way, and inspire them to focus on Hugest Problems the World has, and Fix them by offering Radical Solutions via Breakthrough Technologies, especially with ones that have failed in the past (try, try, try again); or indeed, new to the world space science-fiction-like technologies.
Watch this video and listen a legend in the making!
4 Characteristics Extremely
Creative Folks Have in Common
If you are a regular visitor to this site, you probably have a somewhat creative bent, or at least appreciate the significance
of creativity in the process of innovation.
If you think about it, Creativity is 'the' fundamental phenomena, above all else! Clearly nature and its laws is where it all stems from. But here on the ground, it is people that breath the life of new things. So here's 4 personality traits to look for when looking for creative people.
They’re curious about everything.
Acutely creative people have extremely diverse range of knowledge in
multiple field and contexts. This is simply because they are very
curious and have an insatiable thirst for learning (like you). Discovering new
things is a big part of creating other fresh ideas that combine elements from
arts, history, astronomy, and why not, gastronomy; or as I call it
‘Hyperinnovation.’
Creatives easily switch off from work.
If you are highly creative, you’ll probably have periods of doing
nothing, or at least low productive days (even weeks, and in extreme cases,
years – me!).
Creative minds need to find time for relaxation which is why they have
developed the skill of taking their mind off from work. Big ideas usually pop
up when the brain is relaxed. Plus, time out re-fuels and re-motivates the
brain creative powers. Creative people don’t take themselves too
seriously.
Imaginative bods are often quite playful, because they like and in time
learn that having fun opens-up original insight, wooden-top thinker would never
see or get. They like to have fun with their work as well as with other people
and prefer to find humour even in the direst of situations.
Creativity addiction.
You know the saying, bad habits (alcohol, drugs, over eating, etc.) ruin
lives. Good patterns in life (routine exercise, healthy diet, regular relaxing
and good body of continuous learning) gives a good platform for a good
life. Highly creative people know the importance of creating something, no
matter how small, as often as they can, even daily (this is why get frustrated when
my partner locks me out of my Saturday Morning kitchen and I get that creative Chef verve).
This is how Creatives turn Imagineering into a habit. They recognize that once
you get used to do it all the time, it’s easy to enter that creative state ofmind.
Friday, 24 February 2017
Hyperinnovation 2025
Watch this video for where Sony thinks Hyperinnovationcould take us by 2025 After all, there's not merely one future in front of us, there is literally an infinite number of possibilities to choice from. All it takes is a little visioning to pick the most exciting and most valuable ones and work to make them real
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
CHILL with Cisco's
Hyperinnovation Living Labs
Cisco
Systems has recently been ranked number 31 in the Top 50 Most Innovative
Companies, by Boston Consulting. And personally, I’m pleased to say they are
using my model of Hyperinnovation: interconnecting
ideas, technologies, people, organisations, markets and whole industries across
boarders in multidimensional ways.
Innovation
is strongly associated with – amongst others – creating new gadgets, novel services,
step-change improved processes, and funky techniques that move things on. Clearly,
all kinds of innovation requires human intervention to plan, build, manage and
thrive on the chaos that comes with innovating – anything.
Cisco
Systems Inc. call the process ‘Cisco
Hyperinnovation Living Labs (CHILL).’ True to its name, CHILL provokes
disruption by emulsifying solutions from non-competing companies in various
industries. This involves mustering senior executives from Fortune 500
companies at undisclosed locations around the globe for 48 hours.
The
locations of these conclaves are trivial; it’s the ideas and solutions, which
are most intriguing.
For example, CHILL brought together four of retail’s biggest brand titans –
Costco, Nike, Lowe’s, and Visa. With a willingness to focus on customer needs,
learn quickly, and build on ideas, sleeves were rolled up and co-innovation
blossomed over 48 hours. These companies worked together under the single
ambition of how to remove queues from the retail experience. Ideas ensued and —
with the power of Cisco engineering, proto-typing, and technology resources to
support them — moved the needle toward real tangible solutions that could be
taken to market. Click on link below to watch a series of CHILL videos (for some reason I've watched them several times!).
A growing number of companies are looking at the viability of airborne, autonomous taxis as a way to ease urban congestion and transportation woes, but the city of Dubai could leapfrog those with a plan to deploy a passenger-carrying drone as early as this summer.
Uber, Airbus and others are still talking about creating test vehicles that would begin transporting cargo first, but Dubai’s Roads & Transportation Agency lead announced (via Mashable) at the World Government Summit in the city that they’re going to begin operating passenger service along predetermined routes starting in July, using the Ehang 184 autonomous quad-opener electric drone to ferry people through the air.
'Seasteading' is the concept of creating permanent dwellings at sea, called seasteads, outside the territory claimed by any government. Most proposed seasteads have been modified cruising vessels. Other proposed structures have included a refitted oil platform a decommissioned anti-aircraft platform, and custom-built floating islands.
What's coming net may be revolutionary. Purpose built cites in the politically unclaimed territories the planet large oceans.
One organisation (there are many) is The Seasteading Institute, who work to enable seasteading communities – floating cities – which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for government. The most successful can then inspire change in governments around the world. A big idea indeed. Click here to view their site Also see Seasteading report on flouting cities.
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Quantum Computers Around the Corner!
Peter, once again, has hit a hot tipping spot.
Next year, we may see the launch of the first true quantum computers.
The implications will be staggering.
This blog aims to answer three questions:
What are quantum computers?
What are their implications?
Who’s working on them?
There's a lot to unpack here, so hang tight, and let's jump in!
'Claire Lomas of
Leicestershire, England has just completed the Great North Run, the biggest half marathon in
the UK, despite being both paralyzed and 16 weeks pregnant.
Wearing a bionic
suit by ReWalk Robotics and assisted by her
husband Dan, Claire reached the finish line in 5 days. The course runs for
21 km (13.1 miles) from Newcastle to South Shields.
36-year-old Claire
was paralyzed after a horse riding accident 9 years ago. Prior to the incident,
she was a professional event rider. During an event, she was thrown from
her horse breaking her neck, cracking her ribs and back, and also
punctured a lung.
Like a fairy
godmother granting a wish, the ReWalk exoskeleton made moving again a reality
for Claire . Equipped with motion sensors, the suit makes it possible for
users to lift their own legs. The sensors are located on the
feet, the hips, and the upper body, giving the user control over movement.
Claire also used crutches to assist with keeping her balance.'
5 Things Your Kids Really Need to Master, and Continually Learn and
Develop in the Coming Era of Ubiquitous Strong Artificial Intelligence.
Do you have young children, or an extended family of kids?
Because if you have, you and the family need to think about and act on what I
say below!
Because your kid’s future will be fundamentally different
when it comes to work and the workplace, as they are going to be busier than
ever without what we call work today!
Crazy?
No!
Work as we know it is going to
disappear, as automation is rapidly replacing jobs in the factory; and now in
the service sector (how did you book your last holiday? Go to a travel agent,
or do it via your iPhone and a Net App?). Mass production driverless cars, are
just a few years away! Next, buses, trains, taxies, and all and sundry delivery
systems become autonomous (there’s ~one-hundred thousand taxi drivers in the UK
alone! What’s next for them?).
Schools, health-care, and security
provision are about to go Botmatic! Why learn from a teacher, when you can
learn at home with AI cobot? Why go to the quack when prognosis and
prescription is carried out by an AI? And would any one mess with a Superstore
Security Robot made of Titanium, or rob a Boutique when every (every) product
has a Smart GPS Tag (in fact why would any shop need a metallic Robot? By the
time the assailant get home, Robocop is waiting at his door step, ‘Prisoner,
you have the right to remain silent, or get your Butt kicked).
OK, so here’s the rub.
Not all jobs will be automated
and augment with AI. As what can be automated (all repeatable processes) is
different from what should be automated (working down a mine). And that comes
down too moral values, even ethics. But in the end, most maker and service jobs
will be Robotised!
So what are your kids going to do
for work, and the major reason for work in the first place: earning a liveable, even higher wage? The jobs of the future will not
look like the jobs of the past. In fact, they will not resemble anything like
work as we know it today.
They will look like play, fun,
hobbies, interests, passions, obsessions, even delusions (for many) as we know
it now.
For sure, the first 3 eternals
skills/knowledge and application set will become ever more relevant. That is, Mathematics,
Language, and Science. But two more ‘need-to-understand’ bodies of know-how are
rapidly becoming an imperative: high-level software design/development, and the
core processes of innovation, enterprise, and entrepreneurial-ship.
Because without these five bodies
of knowledge your kids won’t have a job of any kind.
Especially the new kinds
of jobs now emerging.
Think of the English farmer two-hundred
years ago, would he have any idea what new
jobs will come into play in 20, 30, 40 or 50 years from then?’ To the
farmer, the industrial revolution was nowhere in sight 200 years ago.
Now ask yourself, ‘what short of jobs will be around in 20,
30, 40, 50 years from today?’
What’s different today, with
regards this question, is our technologically enabled capability to forecast
technological trends with finer and further accuracy than 200 years ago. Big
Data, the World-Wide-Web, and Cloud Databases, are tools that enable the
mapping of technological trends with reliable accuracy.
We can forecast many of the new
jobs in the years to come because of this capability. We know for sure that the
AI and Robot Revolution is happening now, and will carry on into the distant
future. AI will be everywhere, robots and automation will be ubiquitous.
So programming and maintaining
bots and writing AI code will be a must. Most factory and service jobs will be
out the window. So innovating new kinds of jobs, businesses, whole industries
will be sacrosanct.
So maths, language and science, augmented
with high-level software
design/development, and the core processes of innovation, enterprise, and
entrepreneurial-ship, will be a must have skill set.
Hence, ‘You Incorporated/You-Brand,’ creating unheard of value through the invention of extraordinary new applications and custom programs for AI and Robots in new technological arenas not insight now, is how will be how our children make
a living in the future.
The body of knowledge of combined
innovation, enterprise, and entrepreneurial-ship, is easy to reach
these days. Millions of books (try mine), websites, and conferences are
available at reasonable prices (go figure).
But consumer and high school level
programming of Robots and AI is still in its infancy. So how do we get started
on all this (see post below)?
LEGO Mindstorms: Serious Play with Toy Robots.
Do you remember whiling away the hours playing with Lego bricks as
a child? I do! On my 10th birthday, my mother took me to the famous Hamleys Toy Store, Regent Street, London. Where she bought me a
huge box of Lego. To say I was hooked, is the least of it.
Well, things have not stood still for Lego since the early 1970s.
Lego has become intelligent! And for the aspiring Robotologist; or indeed,
budding Robotics design/industrial engineer, they would not go that far wrong by
learning the elementary ropes with a range of intelligent Lego sets called ‘Mindstorms.’
One thing is rock sure, that young people today – that is tots and
teens and adolescents – will be swamped in Robot technologies 10 years from now
(2025). A child going through his education; or indeed a young adult going
through college education without any engagement with and/or learning about
Robot technologies is the equivalent of not learning to write in their native language;
or indeed ignoring the universal language of mathematics. They just will not cut
it in the future of work (as I will explain later in this book).
Even for me, more than halfway through my career, I am having to
start a new engineering apprenticeship in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (and
Biotechnology and Nanotechnology).
Lego Mindstorms
is a sequence of toy kits that include hardware and software that allows the
would-be Robotist to build a vast array of customisable, programmable toy Robots
out of a combination of traditional Lego bricks and advanced Lego components.
Beginners
can manipulate intelligent Lego-brick computers that command the systems;
attach sets of modular sensors and servo motors; and click together Lego parts
from the Technic line (such as gears,
axles, beams, and pneumatic parts), to tailor mechanically unique Robot systems.
Mindstorms, as the name suggests, is both fun and taxing to learn.
Mindstorms
can be used to build a model of embedded systems with computer-controlled
electromechanical parts. Many types of real-world embedded systems, from programmable
vehicles; devise controllers for miniature elevators, carrousels, conveyors,
and rotary systems; to mock industrial Robots; can be put together with Mindstorms.
Mindstorms
is primarily a recreational toy. Little’ens are fascinated by it. But it is
much more than time killing amusement. It is in fact a highly addictive
learning and discovery tool. Various kits are sold and used as educational tools.
Where the academic version is called
Lego Mindstorms for Schools, and comes
with the programming software.
For youngsters, the Lego software is fairly easy
to learn, and more than enough to get to grips with the basics. But for the
inquisitive 20/30/40+ something, the Lego software can be up-graded with third
party firmware and/or programming languages; including some of the most popular
ones used by professionals in the embedded systems industry. Java and C for example.
The only difference between the educational
series, known as the ‘Challenge Set’,
and the consumer series, known as the ‘Inventor
Set,’ is that the education set includes more touch sensors and several
more gearing options. Opening up the prospect for more adventurous Robot
projects.
As I said, reading this right now, might seem that Lego Mindstorms
is a past-time toy, to occupy inquisitive young minds. But Mindstorms is the
result a LEGO and Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab joint
venture. To bring LEGO-based educational products to market based on
leading-edge and highly effective ‘constructivist’
learning methodologies.
Lego Mindstorms has been named after the 1980
book, Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas; by Seymour
Papert. Papert proposed a unique computer-based learning environment called, ‘Microworld.’ His primary belief about
the Microworld's design is that it complements the natural knowledge building
mechanisms of children, known as a constructivist
approach to knowing and learning.
His
primary implication is that Microworld learning profoundly affects the quality
of knowledge gained. This work is one of the first large-scale attempts to
mediate educational computer-based technology with Piagetian-based theories (just
below) of learning and knowing.
Papert
timing could not be better, having been at the centre of three learning revolutions: child development psychology, artificial
intelligence, and computational
technologies for education.
His
fundamental research on applied human-and-machine intelligence and cognition
has touched children around the world. For those in the know, it is difficult
to envision a school Robotics subculture without Papert. Or for that matter,
most of technology-enabled project-
Another influential chance
meet-up, came at the 1960 symposium on Information
Theory, London. Where Papert bumped into the marvellous Marvin Minsky (Don Professor
of AI, at MIT); whereby they both coincidentally presented papers on a similar
theorem.
Later in close partnership
with Marvin Minsky, Papert became co-founder of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence
Lab. Further, ‘Perceptrons,’ the
groundbreaking 1970 book co-authored by Minsky and Papert, was possibly the
first look at AI to gain widespread notice beyond domain experts.
Papert crafted ‘Logo,’ a revolutionary programming
language, the first designed expressly for use by children, at a time when
computers used to fill entire rooms and were impossibly complicated.
Papert’s vision was that
children should be programming the computer rather
than being programmed by it. In 1970, Papert convened a symposium
at MIT called ‘Teaching Children Thinking;’
where he laid out his case for children teaching computers.
This radical idea would float
around for nearly two decades before digital tools would become commonplace in
the classroom. And yet to this day, there is still a great gap between
paradigms: Is the machine driving the child or vice versa?
Its applications to learning
and teaching in 2015+ are no less than startling. Mindstorms ranks in the top 10 education
books I have read. It describes not just how children develop intellectually,
but frames the role that educational technology plays in teaching and learning.
Millions of kids are now
being exposed to advanced ideas and technologies such as Robotics, Multi-agent
Modelling, Systems Dynamics, and Digital 3D Printing. The Lego company is
transforming many of these ideas into their products under the title ‘Mindstorms,’ in honour of Papert.
From his book, Mindstorms:
‘Many
children are held back in their learning because they have a model of learning
in which you have either “got it” or “got it wrong.” But when you program a
computer you almost never get it right the first time.
Learning
to be a master programmer is learning to become highly skilled at isolating and
correcting bugs ...
The
question to ask about the program is not whether it is right or wrong, but if
it is fixable. If this way of looking at intellectual products were generalized
to how the larger culture thinks about knowledge and its acquisition we might
all be less intimidated by our fears of “being wrong.'
Papert was perhaps the first
interaction designer especially concerned with digital tools and children. His
awareness that children effectively think differently than adults, and that
their cognitive evolution requires designing rich toolkits and environments
rather than force-feeding knowledge, has set the tone for decades of research.
And now, the rich form of constructivist
learning is literally being embedded in Lego
Mindstorms.
Lego Mindstorms Robotics activities are concrete,
contextualized, and provide immediate feedback – important factors in
satisfying a student’s desire for success and creating the motivation to
continue learning. Students also learn about the Robotics technologies themselves,
which impact all modern industries, from agriculture to healthcare, banking,
manufacturing, transportation, energy, and security.
The Introduction to
Programming curriculum is just that: an overture. For many teachers – and
why it is important – it will be their first experience at instructing Robotics
and Programming. However, the Robotics Academy has plenty of free resources on
its website and regularly offers teacher courses.
The
first generation of Lego Mindstorms was built around a brick known as the RCX
(Robotic Command eXplorers). It contained an 8-bit Hitachi-8/300
microcontroller, which acted as it CPU. Including 32K of RAM to store the
firmware and user programs; the brick is programmed by uploading a program from
a Windows or Mac computer to the brick's RAM via a special infrared interface.
After
the user starts a program, an RCX-enabled Mindstorms creation can function
totally on its own, acting on internal and external stimuli according to the
programmed instructions. Also, two or several more RCX bricks can communicate
with each other through the IR interface, enabling inter-brick cooperation or
competition.
In
addition to the IR port, the system includes three sensor input ports and three
motor output ports (which can also be used to drive other electrical devices
such as lamps and so forth). An integral LCD can display the battery level, the
status of the input/output ports, which program is selected or running, and
other information.
Version
1.0 RCX bricks feature a power adapter jack to allow continuous operation
instead of the limited operation time when using batteries. Power adapter
equipped RCX bricks are popular for stationary robotics projects (such as Robot
arms); or for controlling Lego model trains. In the latter context, the RCX
needs to be programmed with Digital Command Control (DCC) software to operate
multiple wired trains.
The
Lego Technic control centre was the
first programmable standalone Lego product, in the sense of being able to store
sequence-based programs and run them. It featured three output ports and manual
control, and it was only capable of storing linear sequences of manual input
plus timing information. It could store up to two programs at once.
There
is a broad community interest of all ages engaged in the sharing of
construction concepts and schemes,
programming methodologies, generating third-party software and hardware, and
contributing of other ideas associated with Lego Mindstorms (see video on bespoke Mindstorms Game).
The
Lego Mindstorms initiative has a great
website, very much organised like Wiki; harnessing the creative potential and
collaborative efforts of Lego Mindstorm contributor. Lego also supports open
innovation by encouraging open-software code for downloading; and by holding a
range of competitions and promotional events.
The
evolution of Robots, it seems, holds no bounds. If applied intelligence and sophisticated
mechanics is being embedded in objects as humble as the Lego Brick, then what ends are there insight for our understating
and application of high level artificial machine intelligence?
To
know this, surly we must come to grips with what intelligence is, how it works,
and perhaps, how we can improve upon it. And one way to begin doing that is to
understand the human mind. The most advanced form of mindstorms we know of.
Fillings could be consigned to history after scientists discovered that a drug already trialled in Alzheimer's patients can encourage tooth regrowth and repair cavities.
