With the second year of this millenniums second decade now under way, the world
is starting to lose some of its futuristic flavor. Back in 2000, the year even
sounded like herald of tomorrow. The year 2000! Everyone has a computer, and its
connected to an endless fount of knowledge! Theres something called Napster! Now
we carry mobile phones more powerful than yesteryears typical PC, capable of
documenting every human interaction in real time and we yawn. Have things
really gotten boring? Hardly. Anyone so cynical that they dont marvel at the
reality of modern living hasnt been paying attention. You can ask an iPhone for
the weather, and it will tell you. You can make a reservation for a commercial
space flight. You can write a letter, save it to Google Documents and access it
from nearly any device connected to the Internet. And 2012 is fat with the
promise of more to come in the future. Who out there is blazing the trail? What
industrial projects are taking us ever closer to tomorrow and have the potential
to fundamentally change how we live? Here are just a few. Googles Self-Driving
Prius Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) is a powerful hand shaping big ideas in technology.
The companys Internet search engine has come to define basic Web usage, and its
Android mobile operating system is helping shape communications in the 10s.
Google has an entire research facility devoted to big ideas, Google X , and one
of that groups projects is coming closer to a manufacturing reality each day.
Googles self-driving cars , based on converted Toyota (NYSE: TOY ) Priuses, were
first revealed to the public in 2010, but today that the machines are moving
beyond the experimental phase. Google was granted a patent for its cars in
December , allowing it to now begin unmanned testing. Apples Hydrogen Batteries
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent held by Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL ) on Dec. 29 that showed designs for a hydrogen fuel cell . A brand new
battery isnt quite as sexy a toy as a new iPhone, but the impact of an
affordable, lasting hydrogen battery could be enormous. Hydrogen batteries
convert oxygen and hydrogen into water and then electrical energy. Unlike other
batteries such as lithium ion or nickel metal hydride, a hydrogen battery would
leave no destructive by-products, just water. A hydrogen battery would mean more
than just cleaner power sources for iPads. It could potentially lead to a
variety of cleaner machines. Apple is looking to make a true renewable energy
source. Thats thinking big. Hondas Asimo Honda s (NYSE: HMC ) freaky robot Asimo
should seem antiquated at this point. The company first had the robotic
assistant trot on stage at Hondas Wako Fundamental Technical Research Center in
October 2000 and has been incrementally improving him since. Familiar or not,
Asimo remains the public face of ambitious robotics, and the most recent round
of revisions are impressive to say the least. The latest Asimo debuted in
November. Its lighter, has more joints and can walk a bit faster, but the really
impressive stuff is the improved artificial intelligence. Asimo can now
recognize different people in a conversation and can perform complex, multipart
tasks. The example given in a Tech Crunch report: Cracking open a can of beer
and then pouring it into a glass. Robot bartenders the future is truly here!
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