Welcome to Avatar Technology Digest #7. As always we bring you the latest news on Technology, Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence from the most trusted sources. And here are the top stories of the last week.
1) After introducing HoloLens at its Windows 10 event in January, Microsoft has been showing off more ways it envisions people will use it. Disney, NASA, Autodesk and Sketchfab has already lined up to get their hands on this new technology.
In fact, its one of the most exciting break-troughs we have—just in ways that you may never actually see.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/30/8525417/microsoft-hololens-headset-up-close
2) While virtual reality has progressed leaps and bounds in the past few years, our ability to actually feel what we see in virtual worlds remains limited – especially in the consumer space.
But a team of engineering students at Rice University is trying to solve this problem with a haptic glove that lets you feel virtual objects and environments like they're actually there.
http://www.gizmag.com/hands-omni-haptic-glove-lets-gamers-feel-virtual-objects/37188/
3) Many commercial telepresence robots are merely screens or iPads on moving platforms. DORA (Dexterous Observational Roving Automaton), however, promises to make users feel like they've been transported to another location when it does become available.
The system was created by a team of University of Pennsylvania roboticists who want to provide people a more immersive telepresence experience without draining their bank accounts.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/upenn-dora-platform
4) A THIRD patient in France has been given an artificial heart transplant, as the first phase of tests into the pioneering technology nears its end. Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris confirmed that the surgery took place a fortnight ago. It comes a few weeks after the second patient to receive an artificial Carmat heart gave an interview saying he "feels alive again".
Doctors are quite "optimistic" that the patient would make a full recovery.
http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2015/04/27/nouveau-coup-de-greffe_1272232
TV Presenter: Olesya Yermakova
Video: Igor Kryzhanovsky
Editor: Alexander Sokolkov
Sources: www.theverge.com, www.wired.com, www.engadget.com, spectrum.ieee.org, www.gizmag.com, www.news.rice.edu, www.connexionfrance.com, www.liberation.fr, www.newscientist.com / Microsoft HoloLens, Rice University, CARMAT SA, TomoNews US, DORA, bdmlstanford, CNET