Monday, September 03, 2012

Chinese in Science, the Golden Dragon Battery

The 'Golden Dragon Battery' has a very specific meaning in Chinese Sci-Fi literature, but that's the other story for another day. For now, Chinese should celebrate a breakthrough in battery technology progress from Georgia Tech for very good reason: all developers are Chinese. As a matter of fact, the first author Dr. Xinyu Xue is a visiting scholar from Northeast University in Shenyang, Liaoning Province.

Unlike all batteries ever known to man, this battery can convert mechanical energy directly to chemical energy, utilizing nano technology. By skipping indeterminate electricity stage, the battery promised higher efficiency and versatile applications - an achievement indeed something we Chinese should be proud of.

What else is a better way to use the Golden Dragon Battery than in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)? Unlike US drones which are controlled by buttons, switches and joysticks, a quadcopter drone developed by Zhejiang University is driven by the pilot's brain.

Although the show is more like a remix of prior arts, such as a $199 mind reading band on sale from the SkyMall and a $200 RC toy, the packaged demonstration is still an impressive show which deserves a standing ovation.

HCI has come a long way since three button mice. However, as everything else in the computer industry, it just exploded in 2005. From Wii to Kenect, it only takes a few years to reach the stage of mind-controlled games. Many early demonstrations, including mind controlled helicopters started emerging in 2011.

No comments: