NeuralAngelo from NVIDIA via Neural Networks

Impressive, high detail transformation.   Could have used this in several past applications.  See videos at link. Architectural and other 3D vision apps.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQMNCXR-WF8

Digital Renaissance: Neuralangelo by NVIDIA Research Reconstructs 3D

60,044 views  Jun 1, 2023

Neuralangelo, a new AI model by NVIDIA Research for 3D reconstruction using neural networks, turns 2D video clips into detailed 3D structures — generating lifelike virtual replicas of buildings, sculptures and other real-world objects. 

Like Michelangelo sculpting stunning, life-like visions from blocks of marble, Neuralangelo generates 3D structures with intricate details and textures.

Neuralangelo’s ability to translate the textures of complex materials — including roof shingles, panes of glass and smooth marble — from 2D videos to 3D assets significantly surpasses prior methods. The high fidelity makes its 3D reconstructions easier for developers and creative professionals to rapidly create usable virtual objects for their projects using footage captured by smartphones. 

Neuralangelo is one of nearly 30 projects by NVIDIA Research to be presented at the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), taking place June 18-22 in Vancouver. The papers span topics including pose estimation, 3D reconstruction and video generation.

Read more: https://nvda.ws/3oF87HA

Learn more about NVIDIA Research at CVPR: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/events/c... 

NVIDIA Research: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/research/ 

Join the NVIDIA Developer Program: https://nvda.ws/3OhiXfl 

Read and subscribe to the NVIDIA Technical Blog: https://nvda.ws/3XHae9F

3D, Artificial Intelligence, AI, NVIDIA Research, Graphics, CVPR, CVPR2023, Neural Networks, Computer Vision  ... '

Creating 3D Objects with Sound

Creating 3D objects with sound

Creating 3D objects with sound:    From  MaxPlanck

FEBRUARY 09, 2023

Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research and the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials at Heidelberg University have created a new technology to assemble matter in 3D. Their concept uses multiple acoustic holograms to generate pressure fields with which solid particles, gel beads and even biological cells can be printed. These results pave the way for novel 3D cell culture techniques with applications in biomedical engineering. The results of the study were published in the journal Science Advances on February 08.

The use of sound waves to create a pressure field to print particles.

Kai Melde, MPI for Medical Research, Heidelberg University

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing enables the fabrication of complex parts from functional or biological materials. Conventional 3D printing can be a slow process, where objects are constructed one line or one layer at a time. Researchers in Heidelberg and Tübingen now demonstrate how to form a 3D object from smaller building blocks in just a single step.

“We were able to assemble microparticles into a three-dimensional object within a single shot using shaped ultrasound”, says Kai Melde, postdoc in the group and first author of the study. “This can be very useful for bioprinting. The cells used there are particularly sensitive to the environment during the process”, adds Peer Fischer, Professor at Heidelberg University.

Sound waves exert forces on matter – a fact that is known to any concert goer who experiences the pressure waves from a loudspeaker. Using high-frequency ultrasound, which is inaudible to the human ear, the wavelengths can be pushed below a millimeter into the microscopic realm, which is used by the researcher to manipulate very small building blocks, like biological cells.

In their previous studies Peer Fischer and colleagues showed how to form ultrasound using acoustic holograms – 3D-printed plates, which are made to encode a specific sound field. Those sound fields, they demonstrated, can be used to assemble materials into two-dimensional patterns. Based on this the scientists devised a fabrication concept.  ... '

https://www.mr.mpg.de/14580718/3dprintingwithsound

Sharper 3D Holograms

Better focus with projection.

Sharper 3D Holograms Come Into Focus New projection method is key to depth control and reducing image bleed-through  By SARAH WELLS  in IEEE Spectrum

Actual 3D holograms may be achievable in a projected medium that aren’t blurry or fuzzy but still appear to have real depth, according to a new study. The researchers, based in China and Singapore, exerted a new level of control over the hologram projection’s scattering medium.

Much like flying cars or warp-speed travel, holograms are a kind of technology that was overpromised by science fiction but underdelivered in reality. Today this technology is advanced enough to resurrect pop stars, like Whitney Houston, for convincing stage shows, but the depth of these projections mean that the hologram experience lacks convincing three-dimensionality. Low axial resolution—which is equivalent to the distance from the nearest image plane in focus to the farthest field in focus, also called depth of field—and high levels of crosstalk interference between projection planes have long prevented 3D holograms from achieving finer depth control.

One of the innovations the team developed is a modulating medium for projecting images—similar to what LCD display screens use.

Now, a research team from the University of Science and Technology of China and the National University of Singapore have reported a new technique to solve both of these problems at once to create ultrahigh-density 3D holograms.

“Our work presents a new paradigm towards realistic 3D holograms that can deliver an exceptional representation of the 3D world around us,” says senior author on the paper, Lei Gong, an associate professor of optical engineering at the University of Science and Technology of China. Gong and colleagues call this method 3D scattering-assisted dynamic holography.  .... ' 

Affordable 3D Bioprinter

Nieey done

Scientists Build Affordable 3D Bioprinter Using Lego  in ExtremeTech

They're hoping other labs will use their blueprint to construct identical bioprinting systems.

By Adrianna Nine April 27, 2023

Lego isn’t just for building spaceship replicas and memorable scenes from your favorite franchise. Scientists in Wales have used the beloved plastic bricks to piece together a machine that grows human tissue to cut down on 3D bioprinting costs.

3D bioprinting is a newer technique in which researchers construct tissue using “bio-ink,” a substrate that contains living cells. This method is primarily said to be beneficial for the medical field, which has done everything from 3D printing a human ear to growing lung replicas over just the last couple of years. Researchers hope 3D bioprinting will supplement the scant supply of human transplant organs and perform traditionally invasive surgeries in a less-invasive way.

But one significant barrier to 3D bioprinting is its price. The bioprinters are expensive, and the stuff they use to print is, too. The cells in bio-ink have to come from somewhere, and while some are derived from donated organs, there are ethical implications to taking cells from tissue removed during surgery. This means samples are scarce, making 3D bioprinting costly—and sometimes impossible—to perform. 

A group of pharmaceutical researchers at Cardiff University teamed up to shrink this obstacle by building a low-cost 3D bioprinter that grows human tissue samples. They started by obtaining three materials: standard Lego bricks, Lego Mindstorms bricks (explicitly made for robotics until late last year), and an everyday lab pump. The group partnered with Cardiff engineers and biologists to design, build, and program the machine, eventually producing a 3D bioprinter that cost only £500 ($623).... ' 

Uses of Digital Twins in the Warehouse

Thoughtful look  at Twin based modeling.  5 Cases.

Uses of Digital Twins in the Warehouse   in SupplyChainBrain

The digital twin of a warehouse — a real-time, 3D virtual representation of an actual facility down to the space, people, equipment and inventory — lets operators monitor activity, respond instantly to disruption and model future scenarios to improve performance. Here are five top use cases for a digital twin.

1  Manage volatility and complexity with a static workforce.

Chronic shortages in warehouse labor continue, leaving operators to navigate more complex order flow and heightened customer expectations for service reliability with the same or fewer workers, all as wages and operating costs rise.

The latest U.S. Department of Labor numbers for October 2022 tell the story: 482,000 job openings in transportation and warehousing, with 322,000 hires minus 294,000 quits, layoffs and discharges. Industrywide churn hovers around 50% annually. Worker-retention efforts focus on flexible hours, more varied work, less travel time and less repetitive physical stress, as much as on pay.

Automation is key to filling workforce gaps — not just robotics but also process automation to optimize workflow as companies begin many days uncertain about who will show up to do which jobs. Prioritizing, allocating and dynamically adjusting work to match demand requires control tower visibility across the entire facility.

“If I’m a warehouse VP, director or manager, I want to know what’s going on in my warehouse,” explains Bill Denbigh, vice president, product marketing for cloud-based supply chain software provider Tecsys Inc. “How busy am I? How full am I? Where are the most common pick locations? Where am I running out of space?”

A digital twin provides that baseline operating visualization. Underlying artificial intelligence and machine learning monitor operations in real time, map high-activity areas, flag disruptions and orchestrate movement of people and assets against defined objectives like order priority, throughput, travel time or cost per move. As a virtual copy, it can model “what-if” scenarios without disrupting workflow.

2  Help machines run smarter. 

As DCs become more capital-intensive with adoption of mechanization, automation and robotics, they become more like factories, with a growing share of ROI reliant on maintaining, orchestrating and fully utilizing capital assets.

A digital twin can manage both equipment and processes. It optimizes equipment performance and interaction — say, robotic arms loading a conveyor belt — but also monitors systems for predictive maintenance to minimize downtime. Twins also manage process flow, the movement of people, machines and product in the warehouse space. Near real-time simulation is a key differentiator for the technology. “Say you’re running a digital simulation using AGVs and realize you need to adjust dynamically to the reality of what’s happening on the floor to make them more efficient,” says Joe Vernon, principal business consultant with enterprise software and consulting firm EPAM Systems. “You can now do that over and over again, in very fast cycles.”

The result is shorter simulation times for “smarter” equipment that can be pivoted quickly to adapt to changing conditions, in both simulations and actual operations. Systems can also generate real-time feedback from the floor on performance, constraints from narrow aisles or tight corners, or speed adjustments needed to align with human activity.     ... '

Google Maps Getting More Immersive and Stable

As mentioned in todays event ... 

New ways Maps is getting more immersive and sustainable

Feb 08, 2020 Chris Phillips, VP & General Manager, Geo

Last year, we shared our vision for the future of Google Maps — an immersive, intuitive map that reimagines how you explore and navigate, while helping you make more sustainable choices. Today we’re demonstrating how AI is bringing this vision to life, with updates for immersive view and Live View, along with new features for electric vehicle (EV) drivers and people who walk, bike or ride public transit.

Immersive view: rolling out now 🎉

Immersive view is an entirely new way to explore a place — letting you feel like you’re right there, even before you visit. Using advances in AI and computer vision, immersive view fuses billions of Street View and aerial images to create a rich, digital model of the world. And it layers helpful information on top like the weather, traffic, and how busy a place is.

Say you’re planning a visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. You can virtually soar over the building and see where things like the entrances are. With the time slider, you can see what the area looks like at different times of day and what the weather will be like. You can also spot where it tends to be most crowded so you can have all the information you need to decide where and when to go. If you’re hungry, glide down to the street level to explore nearby restaurants — and even take a look inside to quickly understand the vibe of a spot before you book your reservation.

To create these true-to-life scenes, we use neural radiance fields (NeRF), an advanced AI technique, transforms ordinary pictures into 3D representations. With NeRF, we can accurately recreate the full context of a place including its lighting, the texture of materials and what’s in the background. All of this allows you to see if a bar’s moody lighting is the right vibe for a date night or if the views at a cafe make it the ideal spot for lunch with friends.

Immersive view starts rolling out today in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. And in the coming months, it’ll launch in even more cities, including in Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice. ... ' 

Metaverse for Mobility and Sales

The Metaverse: Driving vValue in the Mobility sector and Sales

Mckinsey  January 4, 2023 | Article

This article is a collaborative effort by Kersten Heineke, Hamza Khan, Timo Möller, Dennis Schwedhelm, Shivam Srivastava, and Felix Ziegler, representing views from McKinsey’s Automotive & Assembly Practice.

Although a fully immersive, interconnected metaverse remains years away, mobility stakeholders can already capture real business value from the technologies designed to enable it.

Riding in a car is a very physical experience, from gripping the steering wheel to pressing down the gas pedal to feeling a jolt if the vehicle suddenly stops. One day, people may experience these same sensations by taking a virtual ride in the metaverse—the next iteration of the internet in which people can immerse themselves in a digital world that closely mimics reality.

The full-fledged metaverse will likely require at least five to ten years to materialize, but stakeholders in the mobility sector can already capture real business value from the “proto-metaverse.” This early incarnation relies on spatial computing and extended reality (XR), which is an umbrella term that includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). The proto-metaverse has already enhanced both sales and operations within the mobility sector, and many leading OEMs and other stakeholders are launching metaverse initiatives to explore their benefits to the core business.

Mobility moves toward the metaverse

This article examines how selected technologies, available today or in the near future, can help expand and diversify revenue streams in the mobility sector, enhance brand loyalty, improve customer experience, and optimize production. (For a more comprehensive look at current and future technologies, see sidebar “Mobility moves toward the metaverse.”) Going forward, could OEMs increase brand awareness with applications that let potential car buyers participate in highly realistic virtual races at Le Mans? Or could technicians walk customers through easy repairs at home using virtual twins of engines? Such experiences could be possible if the metaverse continues to advance. But even before the advent of such immersive experiences, OEMs still have much to gain from metaverse tools and concepts.

Kicking virtual tires: Customers in the metaverse

In a recent McKinsey consumer survey, 59 percent of respondents say that they prefer to conduct at least one daily activity, such as socializing, shopping, fitness, or education, in the virtual world rather than in person.1 Another survey also indicates that excitement about the future metaverse is consistently high across demographic groups, regardless of region, age, or gender.2

These findings bode well for greater use of metaverse-related experiences and technologies over the next few years, as do other recent developments. For instance, the market value of XR devices is expected to increase nearly tenfold, from $28 billion in 2021 to more than $250 billion in 2028.3

The metaverse showroom: Just a click away

Many potential car buyers now research vehicles online before buying, which partly explains why US consumers in 2017 visited only two dealerships before making a purchase, down from five in 2007.4 The pandemic has reduced the odds that potential buyers will find their vehicle of choice on the lot, however, because of supply chain disruptions. OEMs may partly compensate for the lack of inventory by using immersive virtual experiences to help potential buyers envision and configure their desired vehicles.

These new technologies go far beyond websites that allow users to click on different vehicle features to get information or cycle through custom options. RelayCars, for example, offers a mobile application with AR and 3-D visuals that allow users to explore thousands of cars. But even with more sophisticated online tools, the average car buyer will still want to see an actual car before making a purchase, since even the best online images may not provide the clarity and detail that a car buyer needs. ... ' 

Rapidly Generate 3D Assets for Virtual Words

 Seems odd, but can make sense, especially if you have to do many variants.  And, of course they can be just starting points for editing in more complex details.  Note mention of 'Digital Twins'.

Rapidly Generate 3D Assets for Virtual Worlds with Generative AI  By Gavriel State in NVIDIA

Tags: Digital Twin & Metaverse, News, Omniverse, synthetic data

To accelerate the development of 3D worlds and the metaverse, NVIDIA has launched numerous AI research projects to help creators across industries unlock new possibilities with generative AI.

Generative AI will touch every aspect of the metaverse and it is already being leveraged for use cases like bringing AI avatars to life with Omniverse ACE. Many of these projects, like Audio2Face and Audio2Gesture, which generate animations from audio, have turned into widely loved tools in the Omniverse community.

At CES, NVIDIA unveiled new generative AI technologies coming to Omniverse to help create virtual worlds faster and easier than ever. These models are available as both third-party Connectors from NVIDIA partners and internal AI projects published by the NVIDIA research team as extensions in AI ToyBox.

All generative AI research projects and Connectors available in NVIDIA Omniverse use legally licensed and purchased datasets.

Accelerating 3D content creation with generative AI Connectors and extensions

NVIDIA Omniverse is bringing in the latest and greatest generative AI technologies with Connectors and extensions for third-party technologies.

Move.ai generates animations from body movements. Move.ai enables you to capture human motion anywhere and export directly into Omniverse.

Video 1. An example of an individual boxing in NVIDIA Omniverse, with Move.ai motion data powering the character.

Lumirithmic generates 3D mesh for heads from facial scans. The connector enables you to easily create movie-grade avatars from facial scans and enables 3D scanning at scale for any industry. “We’re excited to be working with NVIDIA to bring our 3D facial scanning products through Omniverse to creators, gamers, and developers, democratizing access to the highest quality 3D faces for gaming, adtech, metaverse, and other applications,” said Gaurav Chawla, co-founder and CEO of Lumirithmic.

Software Tools Aim to Aid 3D Content Creation for Metaverse

Seems useful, if needed. Makes sense out of Adobe. Note apparel example.

Software Tools Aim to Aid 3D Content Creation for Metaverse

By Reuters, October 27, 2022

A set of software tools rolled out by Adobe Inc. aims to facilitate the development three-dimensional (3D) digital objects for marketing campaigns, video games, and the metaverse.

With the 3D Capture tool, photos of real-world objects taken with virtually any camera can be combined to create a 3D digital object.

Adobe's François Cottin gave an example of a shoe seller using the tool to allow users to try on sneakers via augmented reality technology.

Another tool will allow artists editing 3D objects to jump between their desktop computers and manipulating the object using their hands and a virtual reality headset, with a feeling like sculpting clay.

From Reuters

View Full Article   

Learn from One Look

From the Google AI Blog,  Fascinating, Requiring less data for recognition.  intro is useful intro.   Link to talk,  ultimately technical.

LOLNeRF: Learn from One Look

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Posted by Daniel Rebain, Student Researcher, and Mark Matthews, Senior Software Engineer, Google Research, Perception Team

An important aspect of human vision is our ability to comprehend 3D shape from the 2D images we observe. Achieving this kind of understanding with computer vision systems has been a fundamental challenge in the field. Many successful approaches rely on multi-view data, where two or more images of the same scene are available from different perspectives, which makes it much easier to infer the 3D shape of objects in the images.

There are, however, many situations where it would be useful to know 3D structure from a single image, but this problem is generally difficult or impossible to solve. For example, it isn’t necessarily possible to tell the difference between an image of an actual beach and an image of a flat poster of the same beach. However it is possible to estimate 3D structure based on what kind of 3D objects occur commonly and what similar structures look like from different perspectives.

In “LOLNeRF: Learn from One Look”   , presented at CVPR 2022, we propose a framework that learns to model 3D structure and appearance from collections of single-view images. LOLNeRF learns the typical 3D structure of a class of objects, such as cars, human faces or cats, but only from single views of any one object, never the same object twice. We build our approach by combining Generative Latent Optimization (GLO) and neural radiance fields (NeRF) to achieve state-of-the-art results for novel view synthesis and competitive results for depth estimation. .... ' (much detail) 

Visualizing Nanoscale Structures in Real Time

 Visualizing Nanoscale Structures in Real Time

University of Michigan News

James Lynch, August 18, 2022

A beta version of open-source three-dimensional (3D) data visualization software developed by University of Michigan (U-M)-led researchers can render nanoscale visuals of structures in minutes. The enhanced tomviz tool also allows researchers to view and manipulate 3D visualizations in real time, which could dramatically accelerate materials research. U-M's Robert Hovden said the software pulls data directly from an electron microscope as it is generated, and displays results immediately. Previously, researchers had to capture hundreds of two-dimensional projection images of nanomaterial from various angles and feed them to tomviz, which would take hours to produce 3D visualizations from them. Hovden said thanks to the augmented software, "You can start interpreting and doing science before you're even done with an experiment."  ... '

Reshaping into 3D?

Saw this kind of thing proposed for packaging, with an Origami template,  could it work?

 Your Next Wooden Chair Could Arrive Flat, Then Dry into a 3D Shape

American Chemical Society

August 23, 2022

Researchers at Israel's Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a process in which flat wooden shapes produced by three-dimensional (3D) printers can be programmed to transform into complex 3D shapes. The researchers used a water-based “ink” comprised of wood-waste microparticles and plant-based binders in the printers; they found the pathway of the ink, print speed, and stacking of printed layers determined the final shape of the printed piece as its moisture content evaporates, and that these factors can be controlled to produce different shapes. Said Eran Sharon, one of the project’s principal investigators, “We hope to show that under some conditions we can make these elements responsive—to humidity, for example—when we want to change the shape of an object again.”  .... '

Animation Tool for Posing for Videogames

 Animation and Videogames

Videogames: Posing in 3D

University of Montreal

Salle De Presse, July 27, 2022

An animation tool developed by researchers from Canada's Université de Montréal uses bitmap sketches to control the 3D poses of videogame characters. Mikhail Bessmeltsev and Kirill Brodt said their approach predicts three drawing elements required to disambiguate the sketched poses: 2D bone targets, self-contacts, and bone foreshortening. An optimization program looks for a 3D pose containing all three elements, and the researchers validate the technique by showing that the final 3D character's pose is the sketched pose. "With a single, natural bitmap sketch of a character, our algorithm allows the animator to automatically, with no additional input, apply the drawn 3D pose to a custom 'rigged' and 'skinned' 3D character," the researchers note.

FullArticle:    

Automotive 3D Printed Parts

Remarkable capability  being used by GM 

GM 3D Prints 60,000 Parts to Keep Tahoe Deliveries on Time  By Tim Stevens in CNET

What's happening : GM turned to industrial 3D printers to avoid a crucial parts shortage.

Why it matters  :  This is the first time we've seen additive manufacturing on such an automotive scale.

What's next:  This points to 3D printing moving beyond the prototyping phase and into proper manufacturing.

Current chip shortages may be the buzzkill quashing your most urgent capitalistic desires during the pandemic, but production supply issues aren't limited to the silicon variety. When faced with an inability to produce a component needed for delivery of the 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe, General Motors engineers turned to a novel solution: 3D printing.

3D printing, more formally known as additive manufacturing, is the process of rapidly crafting fully formed parts from digital models. GM made a major investment in the tech in 2020, dedicating 15,000 square feet of space to facility dubbed the Additive Industralization Center, then filling it with HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers, among others. These printers are a lot more sophisticated than your Prusa or Anycubic at home, but operate on the same basic principle of creating components layer by layer. .... '

Market Overview of Stereoscopic Software Solutions

Currently looking at how Lidar is being used for geology oriented analyses.    Discovered this overview survey regarding stereo Mapping and analyses.  

MARKET OVERVIEW OF STEREOSCOPIC SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

May 21, 2022 

Vendor-neutral and hardware-independent open-source compendium: Schneider Digital regularly publishes a global market overview of 3D-capable software solutions. Over 300 applications have already been tested for their 3D stereo functionality and certified for operation with 3D monitors or power walls.

Many users from the high-tech sectors of biochemistry / molecular research, geo-information (GIS, photogrammetry & LiDAR), medicine (CT, MRI & ultrasound) or construction (CAD, CAM & 3D printing) – often do not know which of the many software applications offered on the market are capable of stereoscopic visualization with spatial 3D-stereo and therefore true depth-perception, in contrast to the standard, flat and perspective, monoscopic representation.

After two years of intensive research and in cooperation with leading software manufacturers, the company Schneider Digital, recognized for its professional 4K/8K and VR/AR hardware solutions, has now published for the first time a global market overview of all 3D-stereo software solutions. More than 300 applications are currently listed and linked together with their creators in a monthly updated community-based database. Schneider Digital first checks the individual applications for their basic 3D-stereo functionality in order to then certify them individually for plug & play operation with its 3D monitors or the smart VR wall. The overview provides an open platform for users and software manufacturers, on which they can quickly and easily find stereoscopic software solutions tailored to their requirements: https://www.3d-pluraview.com/en/application-field  ....   '

True Holograms in Person to Person Communications

Is it relevant?  Of course you could have asked this of multi person visual conference calling a few decades ago and got a negative. Our needs are driven by possibilities too.

When Your Boss Becomes a Hologram  

Bloomberg Businessweek, K Oanh Ha.March 3, 2022

Technology companies are developing holographic communications for businesses, which appeal to corporations forced by the pandemic to reconsider work protocols. Los Angeles-based firm Portl sells a booth that displays a life-sized three-dimensional (3D) hologram for remote interaction, using a camera, light, microphone, and backdrop. Meanwhile, Google is testing a booth with cameras and a glass screen where users can talk face-to-face with 3D images of each other; Microsoft produces holograms seen through virtual reality headsets. Some critics say Portl and its competitors provide two-dimensional holographic projections rather than true holograms. ARHT Media's Larry O'Reilly in Canada says full-size holograms demand more data than modern networks typically can relay. ... '

3D Map of Universe

 Durham University Fiber-Optics Help Largest 3D Map of Universe

BBC News, January 13, 2022

Researchers at the U.K.'s Durham University built a component that helped an international team of scientists produce the largest-ever three-dimensional (3D) map of the universe. The component uses 5,000 optical fibers to widen the field of view of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument at the Nicholas U. Mayall telescope of Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory. The system splits light from galaxies, stars, and quasars into narrow bands of color, measuring their chemical composition, distance from Earth, and their rate of travel. The final 3D map will enhance understanding of dark energy, which constitutes 70% of the universe and fuels its expansion. Said Durham's Victoria Fawcett, "We're finding quite a lot of exotic systems including large samples of rare objects that we just haven't been able to study in detail before."

Cheap Sensors for Smarter Farmers

More details of operational information for agriculture. 

Cheap Sensors for Smarter Farmers  Two IoT sensors from this year's ARPA-E Summit can help farmers make better decisions By KAREN KWON 

Demonstrating that we are truly living in an era of "smart agriculture," many of the technologies showcased in this year's ARPA-E Summit were in the farming sector—most notably, sensors for crops and farmlands. Just like the smart devices that enable us to monitor our health every minute of the day, these agricultural sensors allow farmers to monitor plant and soil conditions close to real-time. Here are two that caught this writer's eyes.

First up is a 3D-printed, biodegradable soil sensor that checks moisture and nitrogen levels. One of the benefits of using print electronics is being able to mass-produce at a low cost, says Gregory Whiting at the University of Colorado, Boulder, one of the principal investigators of the team working on the sensors. "Agriculture is a pretty cost constrained industry," Whiting says, and 3D-printed sensors allow farmers to place many sensors throughout their large farmlands—often hundreds of acres—without spending a ton of money.

And this enables the farmers to monitor soil conditions in greater detail, Whiting says. Depending on factors such as how the sun hits the ground, the amount of water or the fertilizer needed could vary patch by patch. Traditional sensors were too expensive for the farmers to buy in large quantities, and, as a result, the special resolution wasn't high enough to reflect this variability. With the new, cheap sensors, farmers will be able to collect data on their farms without worrying about the variability.  ... ' 

3D Printing Gas Sensors

New sensor capability. Small, cheap, monitoring for the smart home and elsewhere.

Scientists 3D-Print Microscopic Gas Sensors

Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), September 15, 2021

Scientists at Ireland’s Trinity College Dublin, the AMBER (Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research) Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Center for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research, and GE Research in New York have three-dimensionally (3D)-printed microscopic gas sensors that can be monitored in real time. Trinity's Colm Delaney said the team produced the color-changing sensor materials via direct laser-writing, by focusing a laser to produce tiny 3D structures from laboratory-developed soft polymers. Trinity's Larisa Florea said, "The ability to print such an optically responsive material has profound potential for their incorporation into connected, low-cost sensing devices for homes, or into wearable devices for monitoring analytes."

3D Printed Microsoft can Spot Coronavirus in Blood

Impressive if it works well.

Inexpensive 3D-Printed Microscope Can Spot Coronavirus in Blood 

The digital holographic machine, faster than a PCR test, relies on deep learning         

In IEEE  KATHY PRETZ 17 AUG 2021

A digital microscope that uses holography and deep-learning technology could detect COVID-19 in a drop of blood. A diagnosis could be made on the spot in a matter of minutes instead of the hours or sometimes days it can take for PCR test results to come back.

The system, which uses digital holographic microscopy, could be used in areas that lack health care facilities, as well as in hospitals whose labs are backlogged with tests.

That's according to one of the machine's developers, IEEE Fellow Bahram Javidi. He is the director of the Multidimensional Optical Sensing and Imaging Systems Lab at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. His collaborators were Dr. Bruce T. Liang, Timothy O'Connor and Dr. Jian-Bing Shen. Liang is dean of the university's school of medicine, O'Connor is a biomedical engineering grad student, and Shen is a physician at the university's medical center. The researchers' article on their preliminary findings, "Digital Holographic Deep Learning of Red Blood Cells for Field-Portable, Rapid COVID-19 Screening," was published in the 15 May issue of the Optical Society's Optics Letters.  ...