Mobile phones that read your mind? Video games that can cure cancer? Wearable robots that give you the strength of Ironman? Host David Pogue predicts which technologies will transform daily life for you–and your grandkids in the new DVD NOVA scienceNOW: What Will the Future Be Like? (PBS Distribution).
This episode of NOVA scienceNOW features the four intriguing stories detailed below.
HUMANOID ROBOTS
When you think of the future, you think of robots. But before robots can be on hand to rush into burning buildings or even do our laundry, roboticists have to solve a major engineering problem: how do you make a machine walk on two legs without falling over?
MIND-READING MACHINES
Imagine a video game with no joystick, no camera, no keypad–just you, your thoughts, and a device that reads those thoughts and translates them onto the screen. Such mind-reading devices already exist and are on the market. How do they work? And how far can this go?
AUGMENTED REALITY
Augmented reality has gone beyond smart phones and goggles and video games. Today, engineers are developing devices that can project three-dimensional virtual images of objects and even people into the real world. What electronic innovations remain before the Star Trek “Holodeck” becomes a reality? And what will our further immersion in a digital universe mean for us as people?
Profile: ADRIEN TREUILLE
Is it possible that in the future, the combined efforts of half a million video gamers could help cure a disease? That’s the idea behind computer scientist Treuille’s groundbreaking games, including FoldIt.
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