In this issue of the Tech Digest: a new technology turns still photos into ultra-realistic speaking videos, robots sew T-shirts without human interventions, and drones help temper the effects of climate change. All that and more in a 10-minute read.
Robots to Sew T-Shirts
Sewing has always been hard to automate. When a seamstress works with textiles, the material bunches and stretches. To compensate, human hands are adjusted to keep fabric organized as it passes through a sewing machine. Robots, to the contrary, typically are not capable of handling the task. However, one robotic company managed to overcome it.
SoftWear, an Atlanta-based advanced machine-vision and robotics startup, delivered robotic systems called Sewbots. The systems pair sewing machines with sensors. Then, fabric is cut into pieces which are the front, the back, and the sleeves of the future shirt. After that, the pieces are loaded into a work line, where a complicated vacuum system stretches and moves the material. No person pushing the fabric through a sewing machine is needed. Learn more about the technology and how to apply it.
A New Technology to Make Photos Speak
Remember MyHeritage app that turned classic family photos into lifelike moving portraits? Its creators, D-ID, are back with a new application. This time, they transformed still photographs into ultra-realistic video, capable of saying whatever you want.
What can the app be used for? Customers may use this new product to create a multilingual TV anchor that can express various emotions. They also may create virtual chatbot personas for customer support and interactions with them. Learn more about the app, its features, and use cases.
Drones to Fight Climate Change
More than 10% of the world’s giant sequoias, the largest trees on earth, were killed in Sierra Nevada by fires last year. Sequoias can live through many fires throughout their lives as their bark is fire-resistant. But as climate change hits harder, wildfires are also intensifying and growing harder to control.
To help restore forests damaged by fires and temper the effects of climate change, young startups found a solution. They will scatter seeds from drones. Dendra Systems, CO2 Revolution, and Flash Forest have agreed to plant a billion trees or more. Read about their initiative
Real-World Examples of AI and 5G to Reshape Four Industries
In the next 10 years, AI is expected to transform every industry, and the catalyst for this transformation is 5G. Together, the two technologies will enable fast, secure, and cost-effective deployment of IoT and smart networks. Sounds promising, right? What industries will benefit from the usage of this powerful duo?
Car manufacturing. We see thousands of cameras monitoring automated vehicle assembly appear in the last few years. Visual inspection software with deep learning algorithms is used to recognize defects in vehicles. And the trend is thriving. Together, 5G and AI allow car manufacturers to analyze and identify quality issues on the assembly line. What are the other three industries that will take advantage of the technology couple?