Howdy, y’all! It’s the Halloween edition of Henry’s High-Tech Highlights, and I am here to heap a hefty hoard of handy hyperlinks to heighten your happiness, hopefully. A hodgepodge, if you will.
Today’s highlight: A variety of emerging technologies of interest to libraries.
A Palm-size Robot Pet that Helps Teach STEM
Meet Petoi Bittle, an open source, build-your-own pet robot dog that fits in the palm of your hand and can be programmed to perform tricks. It’s great for STEM programming as it integrates with Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
New Virtual Escape Room That Teaches Misinformation
Be one of 10 public libraries nationwide that will host a special Zoom escape room that teaches patrons about misinformation.
“Is your public library looking for a fun way to teach community members about spotting misinformation in social media? Do you know people in your community who like to solve puzzles, play live-action adventure games, or who are craving some structured social activity? If so, your library can apply to be one of ten across the U.S. to host and evaluate an online escape room game, The Euphorigen Investigation. As part of a project led by the University of Washington Information School (UW iSchool), this game was developed in response to library staff who asked for ways to help patrons navigate misinformation beyond traditional information literacy programs. Euphorigen builds upon the success of other online games about misinformation, and has been designed for and tested by public libraries.”
“To indicate your library’s interest, please fill out this short form by November 10, 2021. The ten public libraries will be selected based on capacity and commitment to host the Euphorigen virtual escape room during January – March 2022, and to participate in data collection procedures. The project team seeks a group of libraries that represent a variety of library sizes, geographies, and communities. See below for more details and how to apply.”
AI Innovation Rundown
In case you didn’t know, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now:
- Infer whole floor plans from a short video
- Fill in the sound from a silent video
- Look at a single picture and generate a sound of what would happen if you tapped what is depicted with a drumstick (PDF)
- Analyze the sound of a key turning in a lock and 3D print a key to fit the lock
- Hide your emotions from other AI devices
- Assist Hollywood by analyzing scripts, bringing in historical data, suggesting cast members, determining which demographics will watch, and accurately predicting box office success
Augmented Reality (AR) Spectacles Can Guide in Mountain Climbing
These smart glasses in development include a way to make rock climbing more accessible for beginners. There’s even a dancing monster that appears to celebrate reaching the summit.
Turn Any Paper into a Tablet
Engineers at Purdue University developed a simple printing process that renders any paper or cardboard packaging into a keyboard, keypad or other easy-to-use human-machine interfaces.
“I envision this technology to facilitate the user interaction with food packaging, to verify if the food is safe to be consumed, or enabling users to sign the package that arrives at home by dragging their finger over the box to properly identify themselves as the owner of the package… Additionally, our group demonstrated that simple paper sheets from a notebook can be transformed into music player interfaces for users to choose songs, play them and change their volume.”ld mean your food packages.”
Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering and in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering in Purdue’s College of Engineering
Thanks for this fantastic list, Henry! I’m particularly excited to check out the program that infers floor plans from videos. That will make life much easier for the librarians working on a transformative redesign.