New Technologies
New Technologies designate highly evolving fields and various techniques, which can make relationships between people and with machines more accessible:
1. In the broad sense, all “high technology”;
2. In the narrow sense, new information and communication techniques (ICT) (Internet, Smartphone, Bluetooth protocol, etc.).
We are in the middle of the 4th industrial revolution and technology is changing faster than ever. Here are the most imminent trends everyone should prepare for new technologies:
Example of New Technologies
AI as a service
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most transformative technological developments of our time. As highlighted in Bernard Marr’s book, Artificial Intelligence in Practice, most companies have started to explore ways to use AI to improve the customer experience and streamline their business operations. This will continue and as people become more accustomed to working with AI, designing and deploying our own AI-based systems will remain a costly proposition for most businesses.
For this reason, a large part of artificial intelligence applications will continue to be carried out via ‘as a service’ platform providers, which simply allows us to input our own data and pay for algorithms or computational resources. during their use.
Currently, these platforms, provided by companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, tend to be quite broad in scope, with some (often expensive) custom engineering required to apply them to specific tasks an organization may require. We will see wider adoption and a growing number of vendors who may begin to offer applications and services more suited to specific or specialized tasks. So no business will have more excuses for not using AI.
Read also ? Behavioral Economics and How to Apply it to your Customer Relationship
5G data networks
The 5th generation of mobile internet connectivity is going to allow us super-fast download and upload speeds, as well as more stable connections. Although 5G mobile data networks first became available in 2019, they were mostly still expensive and could only operate in confined spaces or large cities. With more affordable data plans as well as vastly improved coverage, meaning everyone can enjoy it.
Lightning-fast data networks will not only give us the ability to stream movies and listen to music, in superior quality, even when we are on the move. The dramatically increased speeds will make mobile networks more usable than wired networks operating in our homes and businesses. Businesses need to consider the business implications of super-fast, stable, anywhere Internet access. With new technologies, the increased bandwidth will allow machines, robots and autonomous vehicles to collect and transfer more data than ever before, leading to advancements in the Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT ) and intelligent machines.
Autonomous driving
Even though we are not yet at the stage where we can expect to regularly travel in autonomous vehicles, or even see their emergence, they will undoubtedly continue to generate great enthusiasm.
Tesla chief Elon Musk said he expects his company to create a truly “complete” autonomous vehicle by the end of the year, and vehicles capable of operating with less range – like automated braking and lane changing – will become commonplace. In addition, other in-car systems not directly related to driving, such as safety and entertainment functions, will become increasingly automated and depend on data capture and analysis. Google’s sister company Waymo has just completed a trial of self-driving taxis in California.
Of course, it’s not just about cars, road and shipping will also become increasingly self-sufficient, and breakthroughs in this area.
With the development of autonomous driving technology, we will also hear more and more about actions taken by regulators, lawmakers and authorities. Changes to laws, existing infrastructure, and social attitudes will likely be necessary before autonomous driving becomes a practical reality for most of us. The autonomous driving debate is likely to spread outside the tech world, with more and more people questioning the idea that the question is not “if” but “when”, It will become a reality.
Personalized and predictive medicine
Technology is transforming healthcare at an unprecedented rate. The ability to collect data from portable devices such as smartwatches will allow us to increasingly predict and treat health problems in people before they even show symptoms.
When it comes to processing, we’ll see much more personalized approaches. There is also talk of precision medicine, which will allow doctors to more precisely prescribe drugs and apply treatments, thanks to a database that will help to see their likely effectiveness for a specific patient.
Thanks to recent technological advancements, especially in the fields of genomics and AI, this idea is not new, but it does allow us to better understand how the bodies of different people are more or less well equipped to fight. specific diseases, and whether they are likely to respond to different types of drugs or treatments.
With new technologies in predictive medicine, we will see new applications of predictive healthcare and the introduction of more personalized and effective treatments to ensure better outcomes for every patient.
Computer vision
In computational terms, “vision” involves systems capable of identifying elements, places, objects or people from visual images – those gathered by a camera or sensor. It is this technology that allows your smartphone’s camera to recognize which part of the image it captures is a face and feeds into technology such as Google Image Search.
We will see tools and technology with computer vision deployed for more and more uses. This is fundamental to how self-driving cars will be able to “see” and control danger. Production lines will use computer vision cameras to detect faulty products or equipment failures, and security cameras will be able to alert us to anything out of the ordinary, without the need for 24-hour monitoring, 7 days on 7.
With new technologies in computer vision also enables facial recognition. We have already seen how the technology allows to control access to our smartphones in the case of Apple FaceID and how the airport of Dubai uses it to offer the customer a more peaceful journey.
Robots
Relieve humans of low added value tasks or on the contrary increase their activities, whether they are electromechanical or a virtual agent, robots are always more efficient and autonomous. If the myth of the “job destroyer” is still very much present in some minds, the involvement of robots in the company’s value chain should be put into perspective with regard to the time they will free up for employees, allowing them to focus on what the robot itself can never bring: its creativity.
Extended reality
Extended Reality (or XR) is a broad term that covers several new and emerging technologies used to create more immersive digital experiences. More specifically, it refers to virtual, augmented and mixed reality. Virtual Reality (or VR) offers a fully digital immersive experience in which you step into a computer-generated world, using headsets that blend into the real world. Augmented Reality (AR) superimposes digital objects on the real world via smartphone screens (think Snapchat filters). Mixed Reality (or MR) is an extension of AR, which means that users can interact with digital objects placed in the real world (imagine playing on a holographic piano that you placed in room via AR headset).
These technologies have been around for a few years now, but they are largely confined to the entertainment world – with the Oculus Rift and Vive headsets currently providing the cutting edge in video game technology, and smartphone features such as camera filters and games in the style of Pokemon Go, are the most visible examples of AR.
With new technologies in virtual reality and augmented reality will increasingly be used for training and simulation, while offering new ways of interacting with customers.
Blockchain technology
Blockchain is a technological trend for storing and transmitting information without a controlling body. With new technologies in blockchain, they are essential in a digital ledger used to record transactions, but secure due to its encrypted and decentralized nature. In 2019, some commentators began to say that this technology was being over-promoted and perhaps less useful than expected. However, the continued investments by FedEx, IBM, Walmart and Mastercard in 2019 should start to pay off and, if they can prove their case, could quickly lead to increased adoption by smaller players.
Examples of New Era Technologies (Emerging Technology)
Agriculture
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural robotics | Research and development, trial projects | Agricultural drone | |
| Closed ecological systems | Research and development, working demonstrators (e.g. Biosphere 2) | Agriculture, scientific research, space colonization | Greenhouse, Biosphere 2, Eden Project, Bioshelter, Seawater greenhouse, Perpetual harvest greenhouse system |
| Cultured meat | Research and development | Humane, resource-efficient, healthier and cheaper meat | New Harvest |
| Vertical farming | Research, development, experiments, and diffusion | Crop and meat production |
Aviation
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neural-sensing headset (trans-cranial neural sensing and characterization). | Research and development | Assisting pilots | Brain–computer interface, neuroprosthetics |
| Ion drive | In use | Spacecraft propulsion | |
| Plasma propulsion engines | Research and development | Spacecraft propulsion | |
| Automatic Visual Inspection of Aircraft | Research and development, prototypes | Aircraft maintenance, repair and operations | Airbus, Donecle, HAL, A*STAR |
Construction
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claytronics | Hypothetical, experiment | ||
| Four-dimensional printing | Research and development | ||
| Molecular assembler | Hypothetical, experiment | Replicator (Star Trek), Von Neumann universal constructor | |
| Utility fog | Hypothetical, experiment |
Architecture
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcology | Research, development, commercialization | ||
| Domed city | In progress in Dubai Mall of the World project that is being scaled down | Weather-controlled city, colonization of other bodies |
Materials and textile science
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerogel | Hypothetical, experiments, diffusion, early uses | Improved insulation, insulative glass if it can be made clear, sleeves for oil pipelines, aerospace, high-heat & extreme cold applications | |
| Amorphous metal | Experiments | Armor | |
| Bioplastic | Some products developed | Recyclable packaging and single-use items | |
| Conductive polymers | Research, experiments, prototypes | Lighter and cheaper wires, antistatic materials, organic solar cells | Jacquard weaving style |
| Cryogenic treatment | Research, experiments, prototypes | Oil and gas Blowout preventers (BOP), jet engines, power turbines, locomotives, electric vehicles, gears and bearings | |
| Dynamic Armor | Prototypes | Better protection for ships from shaped charge weapons | |
| Fullerene | Experiments, diffusion | Programmable matter | |
| Graphene | Hypothetical, experiments, diffusion, early uses | Components with higher strength to weight ratios, transistors that operate at higher frequency, lower cost of display screens in mobile devices, storing hydrogen for fuel cell powered cars, sensors to diagnose diseases, more efficient batteries | |
| Lab-on-a-chip | Some commercialization | ||
| High-temperature superconductivity | Cryogenic receiver front-end (CRFE) RF and microwave filter systems for mobile phone base stations; prototypes in dry ice; Hypothetical and experiments for higher temperatures | No loss conductors, frictionless bearings, magnetic levitation, lossless high-capacity accumulators, electric cars, heat-free integral circuits and processors | |
| Magnetic nanoparticles | In development | ||
| Magnetorheological fluid | developed and researched | Magnetorheological damper heavy motor damping, operator seat/cab damping in construction vehicles, seismic dampers positioned in building absorbing detrimental shock waves and oscillations within the structure making them earthquake-proof, enhance body armour fluid bullet resistant, Humvees, and various other all-terrain vehicles employ dynamic MR shock absorbers/dampers. Magnetorheological finishing was used in the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope’s corrective lens, shock absorbers of a vehicle’s suspension are filled with magnetorheological fluid. | Electrorheological fluid |
| Microfluidics | |||
| High-temperature superfluidity | Superfluid gyroscopes already exist but work at very low temperatures | High-precision measure of gravity, navigation and maneuver devices, possible devices to emit gravitomagnetic field, frictionless mechanical devices | |
| Metamaterials | Hypothetical, experiments, diffusion | Microscopes, cameras, metamaterial cloaking, cloaking devices | |
| Metal foam | Research, commercialization | Space colonies, floating cities | |
| Multi-function structures | Hypothetical, experiments, some prototypes, few commercial | Wide range, e.g., self health monitoring, self healing material, morphing | |
| Nanomaterials: carbon nanotubes | Hypothetical, experiments, diffusion, early uses | Stronger, lighter materials, space elevator | Potential applications of carbon nanotubes, carbon fiber |
| Programmable matter | Hypothetical, experiments | Wide range, e.g., claytronics, synthetic biology | |
| Quantum dots | Research, experiments, prototypes, commercialized | Quantum dot laser, quantum dot display, future use as programmable matter in display technologies (TV, projection), optical data communications (high-speed data transmission), medicine (laser scalpel) | |
| Silicene | Hypothetical, research | ||
| Superalloy | Research, diffusion | Aircraft jet engines | |
| Synthetic diamond | Research, commercialization | Electronics | |
| Time crystals | Research experiments | Quantum computers with stable qubits | |
| Translucent concrete | Commercialization | Construction of skyscrapers, towers, and sculptures like Europe Gate | |
| Hypereutectic alloy | Research, commercialization | Metals | Hypereutectic piston |
| Super-plastic alloy | Research, commercialization | Metals | Superplasticity |
Optoelectronics
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drone display | In use | Artistic uses, advertising | Swarm robotics |
| Flexible display | Research, In use | Displays over curved surfaces, Electronic scrolls, Wearable technology | Electronic Paper |
| 3D displays, Volumetric display | Research, Working prototypes, commercialization | Television, computer interfaces, cinemas, 3-dimensional imagery | Autostereoscopic display, stereoscopic display, volumetric display, Holographic display, Light Field display, Nintendo 3DS, Swept-volume display |
| Laser video displays | first commercial Laser TV in 2008, Mitsubishi LaserVue TV | Displays with very wide colour gamut | Laser TV, Comparison of display technology |
| Holography (holographic display, computer-generated holography) | Diffusion | ||
| Optical transistor | Some prototypes | ||
| Screenless display (Virtual retinal display, Bionic contact lens, Augmented reality, virtual reality) | Hypothetical, experiments | Augmented reality could allow the user to reference the blue prints like in a construction yard, in a 3D manner; Delivers the user constant up to date information on the stock market, the user’s corporation, and meeting statuses, visual disabilities | Head-mounted display, Head-up display, adaptive optics, EyeTap, Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens, AR cloud |
Electronics
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biometrics | Diffusion | ||
| Digital scent technology | Diffusion | Smell-O-Vision, iSmell | |
| Electronic nose | Research, commercialization | Detecting spoiled food, chemical weapons and cancer | |
| E-textiles | Research, diffusion | ||
| Flexible electronics | Commercialization, research, development, some prototypes | Flexible and folding electronic devices (such as smartphones), Flexible solar cells which are lightweight, can be rolled up for launch, and are easily deployable | Nokia Morph, Flexible organic light-emitting diode |
| Memristor | Working prototype | Smaller, faster, lower power consuming storage, analogue electronics, programmable logic, signal processing, neural networks, control systems, reconfigurable computing, brain-computer interfaces and RFID, pattern recognition | |
| Molecular electronics | Research and development | ||
| Nanoelectromechanical systems | Research and development | ||
| Solid-state transformer | In development, some prototypes | ||
| Spintronics | Working prototypes | Data storage, computing devices | MRAM |
| Thermal copper pillar bump | Working prototypes in discrete devices | Electric circuit cooling; micro-fluidic actuators; small-device thermoelectric power generation | Ultra high definition holographic disc, Metal–insulator transition |
| Three-dimensional integrated circuit | In development, commercialised | Memory and data processing | |
| Twistronics | In development |
Energy
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airborne wind turbine | Research | Producing electricity | KiteGen |
| Americium battery | Estimated of working battery in 5–10 years from 2019. | ||
| Artificial photosynthesis | Research, experiments growing interest in a macroscience global project | Improve natural photosynthesis, so roads buildings and vehicles convert sunlight and water into hydrogen and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates | Sustainocene, Renewable energy, Nanotechnology |
| Concentrated solar power | Growing markets in California, Spain, Northern Africa | Producing electricity | DESERTEC, BrightSource Energy, Solar Millennium |
| Cryogenic treatment | Subsea and deep water oil and gas exploration; wind and fossil fuel electric power generation, nuclear power | Oil and gas blowout preventers (BOP), jet engines, power turbines, locomotives, electric vehicles, gears and bearings | |
| Electric double-layer capacitor | Diffusion, continued development | Regenerative braking; energy storage: generally faster charging, longer lasting, more flexible, greener | |
| Energy harvesting | Experiments | Constant energy source for mobile, wearable and ubiquitous devices | Humavox |
| Flywheel energy storage | Some commercial examples | ||
| Fusion power | Research, experiments | Producing electricity, heat, fusion torch recycling with waste heat | ITER, NIF, Wendelstein 7-X, Magnetic confinement fusion, Dense plasma focus, Muon-catalyzed fusion |
| Generation IV reactor | Research, experiments | Producing electricity, heat, transmutation of nuclear waste stockpiles from traditional reactors | |
| Gravity battery | Small-scale examples | ||
| Grid energy storage | Increasing use | ||
| Home fuel cell | Research, commercialisation | Off-the-grid, producing electricity | Autonomous building, Bloom Energy Server |
| Hypercapacitor | Research | ||
| Lithium-air battery | Research, experiments | Laptops, mobile phones, long-range electric cars; storing energy for electric grid | |
| Lithium iron phosphate battery | Commercialization | ||
| Lithium–sulfur battery | Research and development | ||
| Magnesium battery | Early commercialization | ||
| Magnonics | Research | Data storage | |
| Molten salt reactor | Research, experiments | Producing electricity, heat | |
| Nanowire battery | Experiments, prototypes | Laptops, mobile phones, long-range electric cars; storing energy for electric grid | |
| Nantenna | Research | Producing electricity | |
| Ocean thermal energy conversion | Prototype | ||
| Solid-state battery | Niche uses | Hybrid cars | |
| Smart grid | Research, diffusion | Smart meter, SuperSmart Grid | |
| Space-based solar power | Hypothetical | ||
| Thorium fuel cycle | Research started in the 1960s, still ongoing | Producing electricity, heat | |
| Vortex engine | Power generation. | ||
| Wireless energy transfer | Prototypes, diffusion, short range consumer products | Wirelessly powered equipment: laptop, cell phones, electric cars, etc. | WiTricity, resonant inductive coupling |
| Zero-energy building | Expansion | All homes | Passive house |
Entertainment
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer-generated imagery | Developing | Films, photos | Deepfake, StyleGAN, DeepDream |
| Immersive virtual reality | Hypothetical, limited commercialization | An artificial environment where the user feels just as immersed as they usually feel in consensus reality. | Virtusphere, 3rd Space Vest, haptic suit, immersive technology, simulated reality, holodeck (fictional) |
| Ultra-high-definition television | Commercialized |
IT and communications
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5G cellular communications | Diffusion | Mobile phones, Tablets | |
| 6G cellular communications | Conceptual | Mobile phones | |
| Ambient intelligence | Hypothetical | ||
| Artificial brain | Research | Treatment of neurological disease, artificial intelligence | Blue Brain Project, Human Brain Project |
| Artificial general intelligence | Hypothetical, experiments; | Creating intelligent devices and robots; AI can counsel (or even take charge) in scientific projects, government, army, corporate governance, film and books creation, inventions etc. | Progress in artificial intelligence, technological singularity, applications of artificial intelligence |
| Atomtronics | Hypothetical | ||
| Augmented reality | Diffusion | Google Glass, Windows Mixed Reality, Microsoft HoloLens, Mixed reality, Smartglasses, Pokémon Go | |
| Blockchain or distributed ledger technology | Diffusion | Eliminating or lowering transaction costs; distributed, open and transparent record keeping; non-hierarchical networked systems; cryptography | Bitcoin, Digital currency, Cryptocurrency, e-democracy |
| Carbon nanotube field-effect transistor | Research and development | Extending Moore’s law | |
| Civic technology | Research and development, projects | Smart cities, more responsive government | Civic technology, Smart city, e-democracy, open data, intelligent environment |
| Cryptocurrency | Diffusion | Money supply, World reserve currency | Bitcoin, Digital currency |
| DNA digital data storage | Experiments | Mass data storage | |
| Exascale computing | Projects | ||
| Gesture recognition | Diffusion | ||
| Internet of Things | Diffusion | ||
| Emerging memory technologies | In development | T-RAM, memristor, Z-RAM, TTRAM, CBRAM, SONOS, RRAM, Racetrack memory, NRAM, Phase-change memory, FJG RAM, Millipede memory, Skyrmion, Programmable metallization cell, 3D XPoint, Ferroelectric RAM, Magnetoresistive random-access memory, nvSRAM | |
| Emerging magnetic data storage technologies | In development (HAMR, BPM); diffusion (SMR) | Greatly improved storage density compared to current HDDs, can be combined | SMR, HAMR, BPM, MAMR, TDMR, CPP/GMR, PMR, Hard disk drive |
| Fourth-generation optical discs (3D optical data storage, Holographic data storage) | Research, prototyping | Storing and archiving data previously erased for economic reasons | Blu-ray Disc, Optical storage |
| General-purpose computing on graphics processing units | Diffusion of non standardized methods | Order of magnitude faster processing of parallelizable algorithms | |
| Exocortex | Diffusion of primitive amplifications; working prototypes of more; Hypothetical, experiments on more substantial amplification | ||
| Li-Fi | Demos, requires standardization | ||
| Machine translation | Diffusion | Easier and cheaper cross-cultural communication | |
| Machine vision | Research, prototyping, commercialization | Biometrics, controlling processes (e.g., in driverless car, automated guided vehicle), detecting events (e.g., in visual surveillance), interaction (e.g., in human-computer interaction), robot vision | Computer vision, pattern recognition, digital image processing |
| Mobile collaboration and e-learning | Development, commercialization | Extends the capabilities of video conferencing for use on hand-held mobile devices in real-time over secure networks. For use in diverse industries such as manufacturing, energy, healthcare. Telework | |
| Multimodal contactless biometric face/iris systems | Deployed at various airports and federal security checkpoints | Unimodal facial recognition scanners | |
| Nanoradio | Research & Development, diffusion | ||
| Navigation Doppler lidar | Under development | ||
| Neuromorphic engineering | Research & development | ||
| Optical computing | Hypothetical, experiments; some components of integrated circuits have been developed | Smaller, faster, lower power consuming computing | |
| Quantum computing | Hypothetical, experiments, commercialization | Much faster computing, for some kinds of problems, chemical modeling, new materials with programmed properties, Hypothetical of high-temperature superconductivity and superfluidity | |
| Quantum cryptography | Commercialization | Secure communications | |
| Quantum radar | Prototypes | ||
| Radio-frequency identification | Diffusion of high cost | Smartstores – RFID based self checkout (keeping track of all incoming and outgoing products), food packaging, smart shelves, smart carts. See: potential uses | |
| Semantic Web or answer machine | Research, limited use | Making the web machine-readable by annotating data on the web based on its meaning | Corporate Semantic Web, Semantic Web Services, Semantic Web Stack, Web 3.0 |
| Smart speaker | Commercialization | Home automation, communication with people and machines | Amazon Echo, Google Home, HomePod |
| Software-defined radio | Development, commercialization | Cognitive radio, Mesh networks, Software defined antenna | GNU Radio, List of software-defined radios, Universal Software Radio Peripheral |
| Speech recognition | Research, development, commercialization | ||
| Subvocal recognition | Research, development, commercialization | ||
| Virtual Reality | Diffusion | Entertainment, education | Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR |
| X-ray communication | Demonstrations | ||
| Hybrid forensics | Research, commercialization | digital forensics, electronic discovery, malware detection, IT compliance |
Medical
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial uterus | Hypothetical, research | space travel, extracorporeal pregnancy, Reprogenetics, same-sex procreation | |
| Body implants, prosthesis | Trials, from animal (e.g., brain implants) to human clinical (e.g., insulin pump implant), to commercial production (e.g. pacemaker, joint replacement, cochlear implant) | Brain implant, retinal implant | Prosthetics, prosthetics in fiction, cyborg |
| Cryonics | Hypothetical, research, commercialization (e.g. Cryonics Institute) | Life extension | |
| De-extinction | Research, development, trials | Animal husbandry, pets, zoos | Recreating the woolly mammoth species |
| Human DNA vaccination | Clinical trials | ||
| Enzybiotics | Successful first trials | ||
| Genetic engineering of organisms and viruses | Research, development, commercialization | Creating and modifying species (mainly improving their physical and mental capabilities), bio-machines, eliminating genetic disorders (gene therapy), new materials production, healthier and cheaper food, creating drugs and vaccines, research in natural sciences, bioremediation, detecting arsenic, CO2 reducing superplant | Biopunk, Genetically modified food, superhuman, human enhancement, transhumanism, gene doping, designer baby, genetic pollution |
| Hibernation or suspended animation | Research, development, animal trials | Organ transplantation, space travel, prolonged surgery, emergency care | |
| Life extension, Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence | Research, experiments, animal testing | Increased life spans | Immortality, biological immortality |
| Nanomedicine | Research, experiments, limited use | ||
| Nanosensors | Research and development | ||
| Omni Processor | Research and development; some prototypes | ||
| Oncolytic virus | Human trials (Talimogene laherparepvec, reolysin, JX-594), commercialisation (H101) | Cancer therapy, imaging | Oncolytic virus |
| Personalized medicine, full genome sequencing | Research, experiments | Personalized medical procedures, genome sequencing during drug trials | Personal genomics |
| Phage therapy | First trial uses | ||
| Plantibody | clinical trials | ||
| Regenerative medicine | Some laboratory trials | Life extension | |
| Robotic surgery | Research, diffusion | ||
| Senolytic | Under investigation | ||
| Stem cell treatments | Research, experiments, phase I human trial spinal cord injury treatment (GERON), cultured cornea transplants | Treatment for a wide range of diseases and injuries | Stem cell, stem cell treatments, Skin cell gun |
| Synthetic biology, synthetic genomics | Research, development, first synthetic bacteria created May 2010 | Creating infinitely scalable production processes based on programmable species of bacteria and other life forms | BioBrick, iGEM, synthetic genomics |
| Tissue engineering | Research, diffusion | Organ printing, Tooth regeneration | |
| Tricorder | Research and development | Diagnosing medical conditions | Medical tricorder |
| Virotherapy | Research, human trials | Gene therapy, cancer therapy | Virotherapy, Oncolytic Virus |
| Vitrification or cryoprotectant | Hypothetical, some experiments | Organ transplantation, cryonics |
Neuroscience
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain-computer interface | Research and commercialization | Faster communication and learning and “more real” entertainment (generation of feelings and information in brain on-demand). Control emotions in the mentally ill | Experience machine, Neuralink, Stent-electrode recording array |
| Brain-reading, Neuroinformatics | Research | ||
| Electroencephalography | Research, diffusion | Controlling electronic devices via brain waves | BrainGate |
| Head transplant | Success in animal experiments, including 2-headed result; human surgery as early as 2019 | Treat debilitating disease or horrible disfigurement | Brain transplant, hand transplantation, organ transplantation |
| Neuroprosthetics | Visual prosthesis, brain implant, exocortex, retinal implant, neurograin | ||
| Sonogenetics | Research; experimentation |
Military
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caseless ammunition | Field tests and some niche markets | Warfare | Lightweight Small Arms Technologies |
| Cloaking device | Successful experiments cloaking small objects under some conditions | Cloaking microscope tips at optical frequencies | Metamaterial cloaking |
| Directed energy weapon | Research, development, some prototypes | Warfare | Laser Weapon System |
| Electrolaser | Research and development | ||
| Electromagnetic weapons | Research and development | Warfare | Coilgun, Railgun |
| Electrothermal-chemical technology | Research and development | Tank, artillery, and close-in weapon systems | |
| Force field | Hypothetical, experiments | Military and law enforcement, space travel | Plasma window |
| Green bullet | Development | Environment-friendly ammunition | |
| Hypersonic cruise missile | In development | Glide vehicles and cruise missiles that can go 5 times the speed of sound or more. | Avangard, Kinzhal, Zircon, BrahMos-II, Prompt Global Strike, DARPA Falcon Project, DF-ZF, Boeing X-51 Waverider |
| Laser weapon | Research and development, trials | Tracking and destruction of rockets, bombs, drones etc. | Advanced Tactical Laser, High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System |
| MAHEM | Research, In development | An alternative formed penetrator that could replace self-forging explosives with molten metal to penetrate enemy armor. | Explosively pumped flux compression generator |
| Particle-beam weapon | Hypothetical | Strategic Defense Initiative | |
| Plasma weapon | Hypothetical | ||
| Precision-guided firearm | Research and development | Warfare | EXACTO, Smart bullet |
| Pure fusion weapon | Hypothetical | ||
| Sonic weapon | Research, Development, Commercialization | A weapon that can be used to either disorient, incapacitate, or kill an adversary through sound, infrasound, or ultrasound. | Long Range Acoustic Device |
| Stealth technology | Research and development | Electronic countermeasures | Plasma stealth, Stealth aircraft, Radar-absorbent material |
| Telescoped ammunition | Research and development | A type of ammunition that envelopes a bullet with powder charge and encases it in a cartridge. | |
| Lightweight Small Arms Technologies Program | Research and development | Warfare | lethal autonomous weapon |
Space
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial gravity | Research and development | Space Travel | |
| Asteroid mining | Hypothetical, NASA has announced plans to capture and redirect an asteroid. | Commerce, resource supply | |
| Hypertelescope | Hypothetical | Astronomy | |
| Starshot | Research | Uncrewed interstellar probes | |
| Stasis Chamber | Experimental, Research and development | Interplanetary space travel, interstellar space travel, medical | |
| Solar gravitational lens | Hypothetical | Deep space observation | FOCAL |
| Inflatable space habitat | Developed, prototypes built and tested | Space habitats | Bigelow Aerospace |
| Miniaturized satellite | Development, early commercialization, diffusion | Inexpensive satellites, constellations for low data rate communications, using formations to gather data from multiple points, in-orbit inspection of larger satellites. | |
| Reusable rocket technology for orbital rockets | Several companies, including Blue Origin and SpaceX, are developing the technologies. | Expendable launch vehicles may become cost prohibitive except for national government or military missions. | New Glenn, SpaceX Starship |
Robotics
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android, gynoid | Research, development, prototypes, diffusion, commercializing | Disabled, infant and older people care, housekeeping, sex-worker, flight-attendant, model, hostess, waiter, security guard | |
| Gastrobot | Some prototypes | ||
| Molecular nanotechnology, nanorobotics | Hypothetical, experiments | Machines (desktop, industrial) that can make anything given the materials (e.g. Rotimatic), cheap planetary terraforming | |
| Powered exoskeleton | Research, development, prototypes, diffusion, commercializing | Heavy lifting, paralysis, muscle related diseases, warfare, construction, firefighting, care for the elderly and disabled. | LOPES (exoskeleton), ReWalk, Human Universal Load Carrier, fictional armor Iron Man’s armor, Future Force Warrior |
| Self-reconfiguring modular robot | Hypothetical, experiments, early prototypes | As a universal physical machine, SRCMR may change the way we make many physical structures and machines | Robot, swarm robotics, autonomous research robot |
| Swarm robotics | Hypothetical, experiments | Autonomous construction, space construction | Swarm intelligence, autonomous robotics, nanorobotics, particle swarm optimization, multi-agent systems, behavior-based robotics |
| Unmanned vehicle | Research and development, diffusion, commercial | Transport of goods (e.g. food), mass surveillance, eavesdropping, oceanography, commercial aerial livestock monitoring, wildfire mapping, pipeline security, home security, road patrol and anti-piracy, patrol the nation’s borders, scout property, and hunt down fugitives, oil, gas and mineral exploration and production, geophysical surveys, geomagnetic surveys, scientific research in areas too dangerous for pilots like a hurricane tornado hunter, firefighting, military operations and peacekeeping operations, search and rescue, explosives and bomb disposal, gatekeeper and checkpoint operations, urban street presence, police raids in urban settings. | Unmanned aerial vehicle, AeroVironment, AeroVironment Global Observer, AeroVironment Nano Hummingbird, Unmanned combat air vehicle, ground vehicle, space vehicle, surface vehicle, underwater vehicle, Autonomous underwater vehicle |
Transport
| Emerging technology | Status | Potential applications | Related articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airless tire | Research, development, early prototypes | Safer tires | Tweel |
| Alternative fuel vehicle | Commercialization, diffusion | Reducing air pollution, decreasing oil consumption thereby ensuring a high focus in renewable energy | Electric vehicle, Hydrogen vehicle, Compressed air vehicle |
| Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit | Commercialization, diffusion | Reducing air pollution, decreasing oil consumption | Electric vehicle |
| Beam-powered propulsion | Hypothetical | Laser propulsion | |
| Driverless car | Emerging, testing | Reducing concerns of tiredness while driving and also looking outside in the car. Helpful in countries where employment of personal drivers is expensive. | Waymo |
| Electro hydrodynamic propulsion | Research, development, prototypes | Better flying transportation, efficient propulsion in air | Electrohydrodynamics |
| Flexible wings (X-53 Active Aeroelastic Wing, Adaptive Compliant Wing), fluidic flight controls | Experiments, prototypes | Controlling aircraft, ships | Aircraft flight control system, BAE Systems Demon, fluidics |
| Flying car | Early commercialization, prototypes | More effective transportation | Terrafugia Transition, Moller M400 Skycar, Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk, AeroMobil |
| Fusion rocket | Research, development | Fast interplanetary travel, with limited Interstellar applications | |
| Hoverbike | Working prototypes, early commercialization | Package delivery, search and rescue | |
| Hovertrain, Ground effect train | Research, development | Trains with higher speed | Aérotrain, Duke Hospital PRT, Hovercraft |
| High Altitude Platforms | Experimentation | Communications | |
| Jet pack or backpack helicopter | Early commercialization, prototypes | More effective transportation | |
| Maglev train, Vactrain | Research, early commercialization | Trains with higher speed | Transrapid, Shanghai Maglev Train, Linimo |
| Magnetic levitation | Research, development, Commercialization (Maglev Train) | High temperature superconductivity, cryogenics, low temperature refrigerators, superconducting magnet design and construction, fiber reinforced plastics for vehicles and structural concretes, communication and high power solid-state controls, vehicle design (aerodynamics and noise mitigation), precision manufacturing, construction and fabrication of concrete structures, maglev car, maglev based spacecraft launch | Vactrain, Levicar |
| Mass driver | Prototypes | ||
| Nuclear photonic rocket | Hypothetical | Interplanetary travel | |
| Personal rapid transit | Early commercialization, diffusion | More effective transportation | Morgantown PRT, ULTra |
| Photon rocket | Hypothetical | Local interstellar travel | |
| Photonic laser thruster | Prototypes | ||
| Physical Internet | Research | ||
| Scooter-sharing system | Commercialization | Increased density | Bird (company) |
| Vactrain | Research, development | Faster way to get somewhere | ET3 Global Alliance, Hyperloop |
| Propellant depot | Research, development | enabling deep-space missions with more massive payloads, satellite life extension, ultimately lowering the cost per kg launched to space | |
| Pulse detonation engine | Testbed demos | Fast interplanetary travel, with some possible interstellar travel applications | |
| Reusable launch system | Research, early commercialization | Surface-to-orbit transport | Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, SpaceX Starship, New Glenn |
| Self-driving car | Research,development, early commercialization | Computer-driven vehicles,more effective transportation | |
| Space elevator | Research, development | Non-rocket spacelaunch, Orbital ring, Sky hook, Space fountain | |
| Spaceplane | Research, development | Hypersonic transport | A2, Skylon |
| Supersonic transport | Commercialization, diffusion | Airliner with higher speed | Concorde, Tupolev Tu-144 |
| Vehicular communication systems | Research and development, some diffusion | Vehicle safety obstacle inform others warnings on entering intersections, traffic management, accommodating ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars to a specific situation such as hot pursuits and bad weather, driver assistance systems, automated highways. | Artificial Passenger, Dedicated short-range communications, Intelligent transportation system |
Source: PinterPandai, Wikipedia
Photo credit: Pixabay