It’s a modern, stylish purse or handbag where your cards, money, beauty and other stuff can be stored simple and you can find anything back by it’s screen on top that shows you in 3d where a specific card is located. While everything needs to be equipped with RFID tags, the purse itself can be located via an app or by simply whistling, than it returns a sound, so you can locate it.
Category: Nanotechnology
Diagnostic Pills & app.
Sensor pills that you can swallow and where you can follow all diagnostics in a full report app on your smartphone. It doesn’t stay in the body and it goes in through the mouth and you just shit it out. Everything that has to do with the way it passes (digestion system for instance) should be possible to diagnose. (Inspiration HT for this idea: Scanadu)
Glass lenses: Extend your brain with video archives.
What if the world you see would be filmed 24/7? What if you could recheck any situation for your own use? That would be totally awesome!
How many times do I want to recheck something. Whether it’s a professional meeting, deal closing, an argument or beautiful personal memory moment.
iGLove: Your second skin smartglove.
We are used to operate almost all things with our hands. That’s why I believe an iGlove would be a great addition to the smart gadgets collection (smart watch, smartphone, google glass, …). It would work gesture based to control all the functions and apps you associate with ‘smart’ gadgets. Even more should be possible. You can type without a laptop in front of you. You can work with any visualisation in a 3D environment via your google glass. You can use it like a pebble. You can display an itinerary on it and have them using color codes when in the right/wrong direction. The next step would to integrate it in a second skin. The bionic hand is not far off anymore. I call it iGLove!
Enhancing the Oculus Rift experience.
The Oculus company recently got acquired by Facebook, after it was one of the first giant Kickstarter crowdfunding successes. It a genius piece of hardware which opens the world to a whole new reality as a platform. But its main product, the Oculus Rift, is just to trick your eyes. What it lacks is an environment experience for the body. Therefor I hereby invent the Oculus moving mat, a round rubber mat in the form of a disk that works like a tank track but in a 360 degrees kinda way. This moving floor area anticipates your movement in space to enable you to physically participate in a dreamworld, sports game or action drama. At first, it comes with a suit filled with sensors that calculates your distance from the walls so the moving mat knows where you’re heading (or where you should be heading) at what speed, but over time you can equip your dedicated room with camera’s so the suit becomes obsolete.
I can imagine people reserving part of their homes for their escaping ventures in Oculus realities.
(Google) Talking Thoughts
Dunno whether Google is the right organisation for this idea but they’re certainly crazy enough to create it and put it in some kind of alpha experiment.
Talking Thoughts is an idea in which everything you say out loud gets recorded so you can make plans, resumés, to do lists, meeting minutes, appointments,… anytime, anywhere, on the go and on purpose, via voice commands (start now, last ten minutes,…). It can be build as an extension of current technologies such as google glass or the smartwatch, or it can be launched as a stand-alone connected device (pin, badge) that seamlessly works with a web service accessible via mobile and desktop.
The goal of Talking Thoughts is to facilitate thoughts into concrete actions by simply expressing them.
Programmable paint.
My ‘Glow in the dark’ paint blogpost is one of the most popular on this blog. If you believe in WordPress statistics… But this blogpost will prove to be even better. 😉
Programmable paint is paint that puts a network of sensors on any surface so you can program its color. By adding it wall per wall, you can identify and create collections of programmable wall paint. But it can also be used on furniture. Turning a white rack to funky red and back to black, the possibilities are endless. If you like interior changes, try changing colors. You can use programmable paint pretty passively; program it once and leave if for years. But you can also use one of standard programs that changes the color during the day/night or to its place in the collection. A bit like the works of Pieter Vermeersch who creates emotion and sentiments by coloring rooms, such as I saw at ‘Happy Birthday, Galerie Perrotin’ at Museum Tripostal in Lille some time ago.
So whether you want it a piece of furniture in some bright or just sober color, a wall that behave to your quickly changing interior moods, programmable paint is the way forward.
This programmable paint can also be connected to a mindreader – a device that is connected to your head and transforms brain signals into wall or table colors that can be linked to the emotions you feel. Could be interesting in therapy to faster discover the sentiment of people or when applied in interrogations with suspects.
Sensorkeys.
With nanosensortechnology, the possibilities are endless. I was pondering whether it could be used in a home or office context and I see an opportunity in creating programmable keys with this technology. If they communicate with doorlocks, you should never use it anymore. Doors would automatically open when you’re near them. In addition to it, you could also have an app for your smartphone in which a control panel displays where your keys are at any moment and what locks are closed and open. In an office context, it could be connected to a time tracking tool and agenda. Any room could be fitted with extra sensors so the keys can also take into account time spend for lunch, toilet visits, smoking breaks, meeting times, etc.
The business model is both in providing the products and creating services around it. The marketing story could be built around convenience and safety.
Solvable chewing gum.
No matter where you look, you see gum. If you walk the sidewalk, cross a market place or just stand in line at a bus stop, chewing gum is sticking to the ground everywhere. It makes the environment look less nice. The white, over gray to black spots on the pavement… It’s a real garbage problem and tt doesn’t go away in a couple weeks, gum only resolves after at least 25 years.
My idea would be to invest research time in finding a way to automatically solve chewing gum when consumed. There must be a way to find a substance that increase the resolve time of chewing gum drastically. A molecule that is activated by saliva perhaps? Or by air?
The way to earn money is simple, get the ip on it and convince governments to force chewing gum manufacturers to use it.
WeddiMeddi-ring; your health file(d) on your corpse.
Wearable stuff is what it’s all about right? The WeddiMeddi is a ring with your medical data filed on. It can be read hospitals, medics, nurses, etc. Whenever something goes wrong, the healthcare personel sector does not always have the right information about patients. In case of life and death situations, it’s not wrong to have a device in which the most pertinent information can be read out instantly.
The choice for a ring? Just like a wedding ring, it’s the only thing one will always wear. For better and for worse. 🙂
Nano pills.
I went to a #bryo4ever event tonight and I had really nice talks with a various audience. I didn’t really brainstorm a lot but with one. The idea? Intelligent pills that tell the nurses whether a patient has taken his/her pills.
How does it work? Well, a nano sensor is added to the form of a pill. That nano sensor has two main characteristics. The first is that is programmable to be identified (you can add a pill name and dosage to it but also tell who it’s for). The second characteristic is that when the substance around is resolved and taken up by the body, the sensor sends out a signal that it has been consumed. Follow up on patients is really easy. In case you were wondering… The sensor just comes out with the next toilet visit.
Intelligent glass (anti-theft & solar energy). #oipd
Intelligent glass is the glass for windows of the future. It’s recognises wind, rain, snow, etc but also notifies the owner when it breaks or it is cut (typically when someone tries to break in). Furthermore it has great isolation values in terms of energy, noise and sun. Light is captured and can be used as solar energy. Glass connected domotica & apps have tremendous potential to connect the outside world with the inside of a home.
Wallscreens: ‘Big is the new small’-projectors. #oipd
The idea is simple. Tablet and phone projectors in mobile devices and laptops so you can give presentations, see movies or just work large screen whenever a wall is near. Even tiny rooms, such as toilets, become screens. While we wait for more intelligent nanotechnology materials, we could combine these projectors with gestures based handling capacities to make use of programs we project. Just like this great tool; The Maptor, but integrated in a mobile device. Pretty awesome!
Apple, Google, Samsung, Sony, what are you waiting for?!
Bikers Shock: a custom backpack with shock absorbing characteristics and more. #oipd
The idea is to create hardtop cases, in the same material as motor helmets but with the possibility to put together a custom protective lay-out for your digital and other equipment for within the rucksack. It is to be compared to the shock absorbing materials used right now like the one below (for protecting lenses)
On the website of bikers shock, one can drag and drop his own items, whether it is a macbook 11″ and a sketchbook or an ipad and a pen or a full video camera set, onto the size of his/her rucksack of preference.
“Bikers shock rucksack” could be a business innovation for helmet builders and designers or packaging manufacturers in a B2C market but also in the flight case (B2B) business, I see opportunities for something like this.
SunPro: Special sunscreen protection. #oipd
Sun blocker creme is always a pain in the *** except if you’re a young couple and are looking for ways to touch each other… For couples with young kids, sun blocker is something that has to be done on holidays. Much against their will, these children are forced to be put sunscreen on all over. Also these adults, they need to give the right example. Believe me, it’s not always, and certainly not mine, favorite holiday passtime.
The SunPro sun blocker is one you put on your skin but that changes genetically the molecules of your topskin temporarily so you don’t need to cream yourself in for a while. As it changes the surface skin only, it gets comes off automatically.
You will have them in factor 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100. Over time this will also be available as a skin injection that equally distributes it over all your topspin.
Parking made social: Rent out your own(ed) parking spot. #oipd
Whenever you walk through a city or even in small towns, you see these sign on driveways, garage doors and sometimes even on windows: DO NOT PARK HERE! Often they are accompanied by a car license plate that makes it clear there is one exception…
Most of the time, this potential parking spot is unused and takes up a lot of the potentially available parking space. I want to make this space available again with a simple piece of hardware. Everyone can order this piece of connected hardware and secure it on their wall or garage door. This ‘take my parking’ display type of thing displays a code people can interact with through an designated app (or sms). They can retrieve information until when the parking spot is available. where the nearest available parking spot is, etc.
This way people give away or sell parking time to other people.
In the marketing of the product and service I would go the social route (that medical practicians, social service workers (police, fire brigade, etc) can use available parking spots for free) and the money-making potential a unused parking spot.
NewTarmac. #oipd
It’s perhaps silly idea but there must be a better solution that asphalt. A material that could transfer electromagnetic pulses and is permeable. Both nature and our transport culture would fare well by this.
A characteristic should be that it’s structure is adaptable and can easily repair holes in it?
Anyway – just to say that I have really no genuine idea today 🙂
Maintenance & Repair Service for connected, mechanical goods. #oipd
Every machine needs maintenance and spare parts from time to time. If your machine would be connected and spare parts are automatically send to you with instructions when a part is well-worn and should be replaced, how easy would that be?
The idea sprout today when I went for my car’s maintenance. With cars it’s easy. They know exactly how long you can drive before you need to replace your oil, timing belt, wheels and even lights or cables. The people in the garage workshop just link a computer to your car and that tells them everything what needs to happen.
For example; A lightbulb at the end of its lifetime? Replace it before it breaks. Not only this would make a great service. The perceived brand value is much higher as the machine seems unbreakable.
It’s applicable on all mechanical goods. The business model would includes sending out technicians who do precautions maintenance with express service when a (part of a) machine unexpectedly breaks down.
Nanotechnology: the smart environment.
I’ve had a pretty busy week at work but the last two days were abfab! Thanks to a youth friend of my wife, I got invited by NanoSoc to participate in a workshop about Nanotechnology. It was the first workshop in a row of four they organized and it was about the smart environment. The organizers; University of Antwerp, Leuven & the independent research center for micro-electronics and nanotechnology, IMEC invited us to ‘La Foresta’, an original Franciscan monastery.
Due to an agenda problem, I missed the introduction but I was just on time to join the group for the exercises. First, the citizens group was split in two. My group got a story about a ‘Nano adolescent’ in 2025. The objective was to read it and to understand what the adolescent thought and felt about his environment. He was implanted with an identification chip when he was 4 days old and later he got an UPAD (Universal Personal Agent Device). This UPAD organized his life and contained an personalized educational program, GPS, health program, … His privacy and autonomy was only guaranteed if the parents allowed this.
An actress played the kid and the reunited group was again split in two. A couple of us were directors, the others were spectators. The actress played the kid until she didn’t know what to do. Then she asked the directors “And now?”. The play gave us insights in his life. The whole exercise got a little out of hand but got the group in a lively discussion. How did he experience his life while being controlled by technology? What values were important to him? What were the values in 2025?
As the time was very limited to really imagine oneself, the composition of the group enforced our negative thinking. Innovation is not something we are asking for. Why can’t life just be like it is. Although we thought there were a lot of rational advantages, our emotions run away with it. The conclusion after this first exercise was rather negative, mostly because I think people are afraid of the unknown. They fear the future while not having guarantees it will be better.
At the bar, I talked with Bart Van Poucke, a nano expert of IMEC, to hear what I missed of his introduction. His statement: “I work on a basis that the whole thing just works” was really inspiring, certainly after the red wine… 😉
The road to a smart environment in 4 steps (by Bart):
– 2010: Everything always & everywhere (multi mode communication systems)
– 2012: Adaptive anticipating personalized systems
– 2015: Technology disappears in the environment
– 2020: Artificial intelligence augment through interaction with the environment (User Interface with Artificial Intelligence)
I don’t agree fully with Bart. I agree on the fact that these things will happen but not so slowly. Most of the technologies are already available, but are still very expensive. The way technology is created, and if used in the right way, people will always benefit from it. But the great risk remains likewise all innovations; if used for wrong purposes; people could get oppressed & manipulated. As one of my group members outlined: “People were driving around in circles on earth until someone thought; why not go to another planet?” Perhaps it wasn’t possible but someone thought of it and people made it happen in collaboration with technology. “It will not be better or worse but the interpretation will be different.” The experience will be different. I don’t think technology will change our values. They will evolve like they always did. People as such do not change but the tasks they perform change by their drive of pushing boundaries.
New exercises, based on acting & improvisation, gave us new insights:
We thought that these technological innovations are inevitable coming and that they will be developed to ease our lives. Automatic registration & fulfillment in a personalized way to educate ourselves, keep our health level high, consume, etc. Connected domotica systems will enable us to manage our time in a more efficient way. The time that we win will be filled again with, or quality time, or more work… These technological innovations will be indispensible. But we should always be careful with it. It’s not only about content and economics, but also about emotional skills & creativity. What we think, feel & do.
I’d like to thank to whole team that supported this workshop and hope that the results are satisfying. Good luck with the next workshops. I think it was a success in every way. I’ve got new insights, get to know very interesting people and technology that I never imagined.
The results will be presented in the Flemish parliament on November 10th. If you can, check it out and subscribe to the NanoSoc newsletter.
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