New cities that can only appear in science fiction movies, drones that are one of the pillars of harvesting agricultural products, and VR panels that can touch objects in virtual reality. Attempts that have only been imagined to be made at least once are unfolding.
1. A conceptual city floating on the sea
Anyone ever painted future city that you imagined in your childhood? Urban construction, which is no exaggeration to say that this will become a reality, is in full swing. Neom, a futuristic city with an area of 26,500 km, and about 44 times the size of Seoul, will be built in Saudi Arabia in the middle of the desert northwest of Saudi Arabia.
Neom, which advocates zero-carbon cities, actively utilizes eco-friendly technologies. It plans to install solar panels everywhere, deploy wind turbines along the coastline, and then install large-scale facilities to produce “green ammonia” with renewable energy. Currently, green ammonia, which is being watched by the global energy industry, is recognized as a safe energy source because it is more economical than hydrogen and less likely to explode. It follows the method of producing high-purity hydrogen through “water electrolysis technology” that electrolyzes seawater and uses it again to produce ammonia. About 35 million tons of eco-friendly ammonia a day is said to be more than enough to power the city.
It is also impressive that half of the city was created as a floating industrial complex on the sea, making it a logistics hub facing the Red Sea. The logistics center is operated with full automation through advanced technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence, and to move to land, it is necessary to board the drone taxi “Bolocity” of the German drone company “Bolocopter.” Residential facilities for citizens also refuse to be ordinary. All roads for autonomous vehicles will be installed underground, and on the ground there will be road for pedestrians will be created. also announced that it will use several cluster drones to create the world’s largest artificial moon shining in the dark night sea.
2. An AI apple drone that picking apples on its own
Agriculture is the area where the most advanced technology is actively applied. It is introducing a technology that can automatically control temperature, humidity, and moisture in greenhouses and monitor the growth of fruits in real time. However, the work of distinguishing the merchantability of crops must go through human hands. After evaluating the size, shape, and ripening condition, the quality was divided, and the poor crops were sold at a bargain price for the good looking ones.
The Apple drone “FAR: a Flying Autonomous Robot,” launched by Israeli-based tech company Tele Aeronautics Technologies, broke this practice. It is equipped with artificial intelligence camera technology to identify ripe apples, and grippers mounted on drones harvest fruits without damaging them. Drones carry harvested apples safely and accurately on tractors with QR codes. Even apples covered by leaves can accurately determine the degree of growth.
Even if multiple drones and tractors are deployed for large farms, they are controlled by cloud-based central servers, allowing efficient harvesting without unnecessary intervention. It will bring a innovation in farmers who lack labor.
3. VR panel where virtual reality objects can be touched
A device has been invented that could hear, visual and to be touched in vitual world. In the game, can feel the tension when shoot the beam by collecting energy from fingertips, or can feel the touch of the ball in the bowling game. The VR panel “Emerge Wave-1,” which applies artificial sensory technology, is a principle that when a hand is raised on the panel, the sensor tracks the location of the hand and emits 3D volume ultrasound so that can feel the texture of objects mapped in the virtual world. The size is about 26×29.8cm. It can raise the hands up to 0.9m above the panel, and can feel ultrasonic waves up to 120 degrees radius.
It is a panel that can be linked to the VR headset “Meta Quest 2” that allows users to touch and control objects in games and applications only with human hands without the help of a separate controller. According to users’ reviews, some say that users in the game can shake hands with each other and increase communication between people in virtual reality. However, there are still technical problems to be solved, such as flattening the direction of the hand according to the direction of ultrasonic waves to feel a similar touch. Sooner or later, it may be possible to embrace lovers and families who are far away from each other in the virtual world.
