Innovation That Matters

In the early 1990s, Western Australia had the lowest number of road deaths per 1,000 people in the country – now, it has the highest. In order to find a solution to this problem, motor insurance company RAC has developed the Attention Powered Car, a vehicle that detects when drivers are becoming distracted and slows it to a stop.

Using an Emotiv EEG headset, the company set up trials that got drivers to complete a circuit of a racetrack while completing tasks such as checking their phone, switching radio stations and looking at objects on the side of the road. The signals from the EEG were monitored and when the driver showed signs of distraction, the acceleration of the car was disabled, causing it to slow down. Only when their attention was directed back to driving was the car able to speed up again. The idea is that drivers notice the car is slowing down and return their concentration to driving. The video below offers more details about the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLXMQCPiAic

Much like the Café Amazon Drive Awake app in Thailand – which uses facial recognition technology to detect when drivers close their eyes, directing them to the nearest coffee outlet when they begin to doze off – the Attention Powered Car could help to curb the number of road deaths and injuries that occur when tiredness kicks in. While automatically slowing down a vehicle may be useful in Western Australia, with its long, straight roads and low population, it could actually be dangerous on the highways and motorways of more built-up regions. Are there other alternatives to alert distracted drivers at the moment their concentration is lost?

Regular readers of Springwise may remember our recent coverage of Protos Eyewear, the California-based startup that tailors its glasses frame designs to each individual customer using 3D printing. Offering similar individual customization, Frameri has created one-size-fits-all glasses lenses that enable spectacle wearers to easily swap the frames that hold them.

The company offers a range of lens shapes and sizes that can be created to each customer’s prescription. Typically, opticians provide one set of frames for each set of lenses, but Frameri customers can then choose to buy multiple frame designs. The lenses can easily be pushed out of the frame and snapped into place in another frame, allowing wearers to change the look of their glasses without spending the cash on a whole new pair. Currently, Frameri offers 16 different frame designs to choose from. The video below offers more information about the startup:

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Frameri is currently crowdfunding its first batch of lenses and frames on Indiegogo, where the basic package of one lens and one frame is available for USD 100, with an extra USD 50 added for a second frame. Are there other products that could be broken down into their component parts to enable greater personalization for consumers?

The 3D printing revolution is set to open up a new generation of consumer-creators, but only if the average consumer can get access to the technology. In the past we’ve seen makexyz offer a platform for anyone to connect with local printers, but a new site called CowFab is seeing 3D printing facilities competing to work on designers’ projects by offering them the best deal.

Users can upload their designs to the site along with specifications for materials, size and other requirements. The growing list of businesses and individuals offering 3D printing can then browse requests and offer a quote to the designer. If multiple quotes are received, users can then choose the best deal and arrange for the printing project to go ahead. Designers can crowdsource the optimal printing facilities for their needs and receive competitive rates, 3D printers get introduced to new business and CowFab takes five percent of each sale.

Are there other ways to make 3D printing more accessible for the average consumer?

Spotted by: Murray Orange

The possibilities of EEG readers for interpreting brain data are already becoming apparent – we’ve already seen Chile’s ThinkerThing provide a way for users to design 3D-printed objects with their thoughts. Now former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart is using an EEG headset to create thought-controlled visuals and music for concert dates on his band’s Superorganism tour.

In order to read the electrical waves produces by his brain, the percussionist wears a hat embedded with electrodes placed against his head. Musical notes are assigned to the different signals, meaning that the musician’s brain activity is turned into audio output. At the same time, a visualization of Hart’s brain is also shown on a large screen, illuminating the parts of his brain being used in real time. This creates a feedback loop where Hart can create music with his brain while simultaneously reacting to the visuals on the screen. As well as being given a unique insight into the brain of the performer on stage, the system also provides a kind of light show for the spectator. The video below shows the musician explaining some of the ideas behind the project:

According to NPR, Hart was inspired to create the system after seeing the effect music had on his grandmother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Although the Superorganism tour is designed as an entertainment experiment, Hart believes the process has a stimulating effect on the brain and could play a part in musical therapy. As the technology improves, how else can EEG be used to manifest thoughts in different ways?

Spotted by: Murray Orange

Bike stations – buildings where cyclists can store, maintain or repair their two-wheelers for a subscription fee – have popped up in various locations across the world in the last few years. Now the state of Minnesota is trying something different, with its GPS Tune-up Bike – a roving service station that cyclists can find through their smartphone.

Developed by advertising agency Colle + McVoy for Pedal Minnesota – a state initiative designed to get more residents cycling – the service consists of a bike and trailer that is loaded with equipment that can help out cyclists who need to pump up their tyres, adjust their seat or fix their brakes. The station roamed the state’s popular cycling paths and trails offering free help throughout the summer. Those in need could use their smartphones to find out the exact location of the Tune-up Bike via GPS. The video below offers a demonstration of the service:

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The GPS Tune-up Bike offered cyclists help and advice when and where they needed it most. Are there other services that could be made more mobile to help customers in remote locations?

Spotted by: Murray Orange

We’ve already seen a television ad for mymuesli created entirely with the iPhone, but your average consumer still struggles to achieve professional-looking video on their handset. A new app called Cinch aims to change that, offering complex video editing capabilities and tips on how to get the perfect shot.

Rather than put up with single-shot, shaky videos of important moments in their life, Cinch aims to help anyone create more dynamic, quality films. Where many video editing apps focus on post-processing, Cinch guides users as they shoot. Tips appear on the screen as they film, letting them know how to frame the shot. Users can film multiple shots and then cut them to the right length and drag and drop into an order that best tells the story. Once the video has been fully edited, the final cut can be saved and then shared onto social networks. The video below shows the app in action:

Cinch is designed to help those who want to capture life events, but also those who want to create professional-looking film without having to invest in expensive camera equipment. The app is currently available on the App Store for free as a special offer for a limited time. Could this lead to the first fully-fledged film to be created solely on a smartphone?

A maxim that is commonly heard when weight-loss products are involved is the need for a balanced diet. However, aside from analyzing the labels that come on the back of every supermarket purchase, it’s difficult for consumers to know exactly what nutrition they’re getting. The Prep Pad is a weighing scale that can determine the exact nutritional content of the meal being prepared, as well as tracking users’ eating habits.

Cooks can use the scale to do its traditional job – accurately weigh ingredients before they go into a meal – but it has been designed to provide much more rich data. It comes with a Low Energy BlueTooth connection and an accompanying iOS app called Countertop, which displays all of this data in an easy-to-understand and visual way. Users simply place any food on the scales, indicate what it is, and the app delivers nutritional information supplied by the United States Department of Agriculture. The app can show the nutritional data for a group of different foods by adding them one after the other, enabling users to see how many calories, proteins and fat are in their meal and make decisions about what to put in or leave out in real time. The app also tracks the foods each user has been eating – useful for both those wanting to improve their health and others with specific dietary requirements.

After completing a successful Kickstarter campaign in May, the Prep Pad is available to pre-order for USD 149.95 and will be delivered in November. Are there other kitchen products that could tell consumers more about what’s in the food they eat?

Spotted by: Murray Orange

Cars are complicated pieces of machinery and these days come with a dizzying number of controls on the dash, and there’s always one which drivers aren’t sure what it’s for. Auto firm Audi is hoping to solve this problem with its eKurzinfo app, which enables A1 and A3 owners to identify up to 300 different parts of their car, as well as receive augmented reality instructions on how to operate them.

Users simply load the free iOs app and point their smartphone’s camera at the element they need to identify in order to receive information about its purpose, as well as directions for use. The instructions are overlaid onto the car part using augmented reality. Developed by German company Metaio, the app pulls in all of its data from the cloud, meaning that the information is always up-to-date with Audi’s latest specifications. The video below shows how the app works:

The app is currently available for Audi A1 and A3 owners only, but the company hopes to expand its use for other models and it’s easy to see how the implementation of AR instruction manuals could benefit consumers of any complex equipment.

Spotted by: Murtaza Patel

Taking a trip to a country that speaks a foreign tongue can be tricky for tourists – but also for business owners dealing with customers who don’t understand the language. The Paris Regional Tourism Council has now launched a new program called Do You Speak Touriste, which aims to tackle this problem by offering advice on how to communicate with visitors of different world countries.

Designed for restaurateurs, hoteliers, taxi drivers and other commercial business owners in the city, the online guide identifies some of the common terms in each industry and offers translations in ten different languages, ranging from English to Japanese. However, the service also identifies some of the common traits of each nationality to give users a better idea of what they expect from their business. Using government data, the site provides cheat sheets that show how each country’s tourists like to spend their money, what their personality is like and how to be polite around them. The following video explains – in French – a little bit more about the scheme:

Given that tourism is an important source of income for Parisian businesses, the scheme aims to help proprietors make the most of each guest by learning how to better cater for their needs. Are there other ways to ensure companies can escape making a cultural faux-pas when doing business?

The web is largely a visual experience, which can mean that those with blindness or sight impairments can’t make the most of it. To tackle this problem, researchers in Japan have created the Hands On Search, a machine that allows users to search by voice and receive a result in 3D-printed form.

Developed by online media company Yahoo! Japan, the device was created to provide a physical version of its popular web search tool. The large machine has been initially installed at the Special Needs Education School for the Visually Impaired, which is part of the University of Tsukuba, where elementary-aged children with sight problems could search for objects. By pressing a button on the front of the machine, the kids could say what they wanted to search for. The computer than retrieves a matching from result from its database of 3D files and begins to print the model. Still in its early stages, the database currently holds 110 different models. If the search doesn’t return a relevant result, the machine automatically posts ads across the web asking designers to donate a relevant model for the school. The video below shows the Hands On Search in action:

Hands On Search could be an essential tool to help children with sight problems engage more with the web through tactile learning, but also offers a glimpse into how 3D printing could help make a more seamless connection between the online and physical worlds. Is there an end to the innovative uses for 3D printing?