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CES 2015: Robots and Dash Cams and Drones
January 12, 2015 | Dan Feinberg, FeinLine Associates, Inc.Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
An entire day at CES was spent seeing firsthand how some things that we considered toys just a year or two ago have become serious devices. In fact, they've become far more powerful devices, and in some cases, perhaps the beginning of what was considered in the '50s and '60s to be Jetsons-era technology.
In today’s column, I am going to focus primarily on robots and drones. Just a few years ago, the commercially available drones were basically model helicopters; toys that you could fly for a few minutes; or toys that could lift a few ounces and stay in the air for a few minutes before they ran out of battery power.
No more! Today's drones are much easier to use; some can be controlled by a smartphone app, while some have very powerful and sophisticated control units. It is estimated that the number of drones shown at CES 2015 is more than double from just a year ago, their capabilities are growing exponentially. Today, many drones use multiple props instead of a standard helicopter configuration of one large prop for lift and one to counteract vehicle rotation. Some drones are equipped with a parachute so that in case of a midair collision with another drone or an object, they can deploy the parachute instead of rapidly crashing down and damaging itself or even injuring someone below.
There are contradictory opinions on the value of parachutes, depending on which drone supplier you speak to. The majority opinion I heard from the leading suppliers is that parachutes, while providing an extra fail safe, are not needed. After all, even if the unit is descending in an unrolled fashion the props continue to turn, the unit basically auto gyrates down. In addition, a parachute is extra weight that will almost never be used.
The newest generation of drones not only can carry more weight and stay in the air longer. Some of them can be set to follow you or follow a preprogramed path. Let me add that a few years ago, when the first drones were making their appearance at CES, if you wanted to use an app on your own portable device to control the drone or its camera, you pretty much had to have an iPhone or iPad. Not anymore. All the units I saw that were personal device-controlled could also use Android devices; and many of them now could also use Windows devices, or soon will be.
Many of the higher echelon drones can track you through your phone, following you as you cycle, surf, skate, or sky dive, etc., taking videos all the time (click for video.) Many of them will sense when they are getting below safe levels on battery power and then fly home to their control device (could also be a phone or a tablet) and land. I even saw a landing pad that calls the drone home when fuel (battery charge) gets below a predetermined level. The unit then lands on the pad and is recharged automatically through wireless charging.
If there were an award for the best new drone accessory, I would think that the homing-charging landing pad would get it. Apparently, this is so new that most of the manufacturers I asked about regarding its availability for their units did not even know they existed, but all felt it was a great idea.
One supplier, 4Sight, a small but growing company we discovered last year, has made great progress. Last year, we reported on their line of dash cams. If you recall, dash cams are a way to record “what really happened”. They are excellent insurance against false claims as they show what really happened just before and during that accident or incident. They are becoming more and more popular. There were a number of new dash cams at the show. Two of the more impressive and complete lines I saw were from 4Sight and also from the venerable Cobra.
Those of you who were teckies in the 60’s and 70’s remember Cobra. They provided the CB Radio that everyone just had to have. Cobra CBs were like the 2012 i-Pads of their day. This year, Cobra was actually showing their latest CB. It does not look like your fathers CB radio for sure.
Back to dash cams. As we all know, it’s an uncertain world out there and dash cams are the perfect solution to continuously record your surroundings. Some units have an embedded G-Sensor which automatically saves and stores video clips when an impact is detected. The high-end, Wi-Fi-enabled models include GPS, allowing you to simulcast your precise location on a Google Map along with your video.
Drones, one of areas of high interest at CES, are a new product for 4Site, which showed me the largest drone I saw at the show—a six-propeller beast with built-in hi-definition video camera and GPS, and capability to lift an additional 20lbs load. They could not provide a final delivery date and price as yet, but based on answers to my questions, I feel it will be very soon and that the retail price will be under $2,000. One has to wonder if operating a drone, especially one of these high-capability units, will eventually require a license and also self-identifying capabilities. Joe from 4Site recommends that large drone operators consider getting insurance for their devices, liability insurance, just in case. Drones—this is one area I intend to continue to follow.
A category that has been gaining prominence at CES for the last few years is robotics. Among the first to appear almost a decade ago were robot floor sweepers from Roomba and others. They are still around, and today are certainly more capable. But now, we have the IoT. We have devices that talk to each other, that make basic decisions depending on what their sensors show. Many of the robots shown still look and feel like toys, but there are some serious contenders. I saw tiny robots from Ozobot, a smart robot that teaches robots and coding to children through social games and just plain fun. It works by the programmer, in this case the child setting up intuitive color code patterns that the tiny robot understands, telling it to follow the path, speed up, zig-zag, stop, go, and more. Now, we will have some of our brightest young minds coding for robots from a very young age. No fear, no doubt that it can be done. Just imagine what they will create.
Any of you who watch The Big Bang Theory (yes, I admit I do) will recognize the Sheldon look-alike on a screen rolling through the halls. Yes, there were some of those; they are actually being used in the medical field, allowing a doctor to do a virtual visit with a patient in a different location, any place on earth (assuming internet connection, of course).
I also came upon a toy dinosaur robot (click for video.) OK, so what? Mechanical animated toys have been around for years, so what’s the big deal? Well, this pet Dino from INNVO labs actually responds to you and exhibits emotions. My wife found herself responding to it until she realized what she was doing. I heard her say “Oh my, I am actually talking to a robot."
So, put all these trends together: the ability to move on their own, and in the case of robotic drones, to fly; the ability to do complex tasks as in the case of the robotic driven cars—let’s face it, those self-driving cars are a form of robot—with the ability to teach other robots in their net what they have discovered; and they learn. With all of these paths showing quantum advances, we will eventually have a form of “SkyNet” for good or for bad. With Google and other tech visionary giants gearing up to enter the robot market and with the trend to converging technologies, I would expect that the Jetsons world is almost upon us.
To watch the videos visit the links below:
http://iconnect007.com/video/dino.htm
http://iconnect007.com/video/minirobots.htm
http://iconnect007.com/video/actiondrone.htm
In my next column I will provide a potpourri of other discoveries and observations from CES 2015.