Feel the Music

We’ve all heard of smart phones, but how about smart clothing?The CuteCircuit company has stepped up the technology beat and invented the SoundShirt, which was designed specifically for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.How does this incredible shirt work?

First, let’s talk about a little science.People who have either all or some hearing loss don’t actually listen to music the way that hearing people do, but they can feel it.Sound is made up of vibrations, called sound waves, which hearing people can hear through their ears with the help of the brain.What’s really cool is that deaf people sense vibrations in the part of the brain that others use for hearing!

So how is this remarkable technology able to function? First, CuteCircuit had to figure out a way to send signals to the body, kind of like how you can feel when your phone vibrates in silent mode.Those connections the body can feel are called haptics, a use of technology that simulates the senses of touch and motion.The SoundShirt has tiny sensors woven into the shirt to pick up sound and transfer signals to the brain and body.

To test this music-to-shirt-to-wearer’s brain connection, CuteCircuit set microphones around the stage of a symphony orchestra.The shirt’s computer system digitally received the sounds coming from the instruments.Then the sensors, working like little motors, changed the signals into vibrations and the shirt wearer’s brain did the rest.

The SoundShirt lets people who are deaf or hard of hearing enjoy music in a unique way.The very deep musical sound, or pitch, of instruments like drums and basses vibrates in the lower part of the shirt.Higher pitched sounds from instruments like the flute or violin vibrate higher, around the neck and arms.As the music plays, the sensations combine while the brain gets to work putting together all the different vibrations, allowing the wearer to “hear” the concert.

You might think this innovation(创新)would look like something out of a science fiction movie, but in fact, these shirts are wireless! And the decorative laser-lined design on the shirt looks like an image of sound waves.

Technology’s purpose is to help people and make life better.Think of all the amazing things designers, engineers, and producers of wearable tech will be able to do for humankind.

A big fair ended in Beijing. The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS,中国国际服务贸易交易会) took place from Sept. 4 to 9, 2020. It is a major service trade event. Visitors saw how new technologies are used in different areas. One highlight (亮点) this year was service robots. Let’s look at three of them.

Garbage sorting (垃圾分类) is new to many people. Swiss company ABB has designed (设计) a robot to help us do it. It uses two arms to pick garbage that comes down a conveyor belt (传送带). It then throws the garbage into the right bin. A screen can show how many pieces of garbage it has sorted.

Unitree, a company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, has made a robot dog. With an AI-powered smart camera, it can record everything it sees in real time. It can move up to 3.3 meters per second. It can also carry objects weighing up to 5 kg, about as heavy as 10 bottles of water. The robot dog can give people a hand in many ways. For example, it can move goods or search for people who go missing during disasters.

Can you hit back a ball that is served by a robot? Find out by playing against a ping-pong serving robot made by Chinese company Siasun. The robot can serve balls one by one automatically (自动地). It can change the speed, angle, and landing area of the balls as well. It can record your performance with a camera so you can review it later. It will help ping-pong players train and improve.

Microsoft is investing $10 billion in OpenAI, whose artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT has lit up the Internet since its introduction in November, accumulating more than 1 million users within days and touching off a fresh debate over the role of AI in the workplace.

Its ability to provide in-depth answers to user questions has even drawn the attention of distinguished technology companies. The intelligent robot understands what the user says or types and then responds in a way that makes sense. Its vast body of knowledge has been gathered from the Internet and archived(归档)books. This makes ChatGPT a useful tool for researching almost any topic.

“We have a lot of information on the Internet, but you normally have to Google it, then read it and then do something with it,” says Ricardo, chief science officer and co-founder of AI company Erudit. “Now you’ll have this resource that can process the whole Internet and all of the information it contains for you to answer your question.”

ChatGPT cannot think on its own. It depends on the information that it has been trained on. As a result, the AI tool works well for things that have accurate data available. However, when unsure, ChatGPT can get creative and flow out incorrect responses. OpenAI cautions users to check the information no matter how logical it sounds. Also, ChatGPT has only been trained with information till 2021. Hence, it cannot be relied on for anything that happened after that.

Experts believe ChatGPT has limitless potential to solve real-world problems. It can translate long texts into different languages, create content on almost any topic, and even summarize books.

However, ChatGPT has received mixed reactions from educators. Some believe it could serve as a valuable tool to help build literacy skills in the classroom. It could also be used to teach students difficult science or math concepts. But other educators think ChatGPT will encourage students to cheat. They fear this will prevent them from building critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As a result, many districts are starting to ban its use in schools.