Tech startup IMRSV with its sensor based software called Cara is pushing open doors to a future in which computers know who we are and react to us accordingly.  

Cara detects multiple faces up to 25 feet away, is over 90% accurate with its gender detection, is more than 80% of the time right when it comes to noting the correct age: child (0-13), young adult (14-35), adult (35-65), or senior (65+). It also records how much and what kind of attention they’re giving the camera. This includes total duration (time in front of the camera), glances (looking away and back), attention time (facing the camera), and opportunity to see (traffic near the camera). 

MIT Media Lab’s Professor Picard and Dr Rana El Kaliouby have taken face recognition to yet another level. Their software, Affectiva, can read human emotions and is capable of distinguishing a real smile from a fake one. 

With these groundbreaking technologies already available it is only a matter of time before a combined solution hits the market and then computers will not only know who we are but also how we feel. 

They are unlikely to look like C-3PO, but in any case are you ready for this new species?

So yes, this is not a lie. A few days ago, the ‘crew’ from the Enterprise entered into a twitter dialogue with Colonel Chris Hadfield on the ISS.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield started it all by posting images of the Earth from the ISS on Twitter. That prompted a response from actor William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek TV series: “Are you tweeting from space?”. The astronaut’s reply used words uttered when Enterprise pulled up above a new world. “Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface.”

Enterprise helmsman Lieutenant “Mister” Sulu, aka George Takei, and science officer Spock, aka Leonard Nimoy, then chipped in. Not to be outdone by fictional counterparts, real-life moonwalker Buzz Aldrin piped up, too: “Neil and I would have tweeted from the Moon if we could have but I would prefer to tweet from Mars. Maybe by 2040.”

Hadfield tweets images like these:

“Tiny, perfect, weightless loaf of Russian black bread. Shelf life measured in years, good for spaceflight.”

“The Earth’s horizon, just before sunrise. Beautiful lines of colour, a rainbow halo for the planet.”

This year the winter vomiting virus Norovirus had affected 35 hospitals in the UK, with hundreds of beds unavailable after 27 wards were shut to isolate infected patients and deep cleaned. Unfortunately, viruses can spread rapidly in hospitals and in the US alone over 2 million people are infected in hospitals every year. Could a robot be the answer to the virus-infected hospitals?

It’s called the UV light-emitting robot from Xenex Healthcare and it has already proven that it’s more effect than traditional cleaning methods and even bleach.

Using a pulsed-xenon UV lamp, the portable bot shoots out 120 flashes of light per minute. Each pulse lasts a thousandth of a second each, and a typical treatment runs for 10 to 20 minutes. The UV rays pass through the outer wall of a bacterium and damage its DNA, making it impossible for it to mutate or reproduce. This stops the pathogen from propagating or being harmful.

Additionally, a system of reflectors allows the light to be focused on areas that have high-touch surfaces, such as door handles and light switches. In case someone enters the room when the bot is in operation, a motion detector halts operation to prevent accidental exposure to humans.

A recent study showed that the Xenex bot is superior to bleach at destroying one of the most concerning pathogens in hospitals, the resilient Clostridium difficile (C. diff) that can survive for months on surfaces. While cleaning with bleach only destroyed 70 percent of the pathogen in rooms, a 15-minute treatment using the pulsed UV treatment eliminated 95 percent, leaving six-times fewer bacteria around.

An increasing number of hospitals in the US are already employing the device.

The MIT is home to the world’s best innovators and brightest minds. If you, like me, are interested in technology and innovation and would like to know what the world inside the MIT walls is like, then you may enjoy reading ‘The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices’ (read review here).

Unsure about why you should pick up a book about a bunch of geeks and scientists? Here is a list of MIT inventions which may help jog your memory: 

The Kindle

Birth of the iPod

Email

GPS

Movies in Colour

The spreadsheet

Zipcar

Disposable-blade safety razor (today Gillette)

Solar power

iWalk – the robotic foot

Campbell’s Soup

iRobot