Shifting focus from a look back to lightyears ahead, the world’s only nightly science series kicks off 2017 with a bold look to the future with “Future Tech Week”, beginning Tuesday, January 3rd at 7pm through Friday, Jan. 9. Anchored by Ziya Tong from the 2017 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, and Dan Riskin in-studio from Toronto, Daily Planet takes viewers behind the scenes to the masterminds behind the future-forward gadgets that could shape the future.
Highlights include:
Furhat belongs to the world of the Jetsons – it’s a robot with character and personality. This computer is super lifelike – it smiles, frowns, and raises its eyebrows just like humans do during conversation, and it even has a sense of humour. Furhat understands humans – it knows when it’s being spoken to and when to join in on the conversation. Furhat is the next revolution in human-computer interaction – and it can change voice and appearance from male to female.
Tessie Hartjes is replacing bartenders with drones. Seriously! Hartjes is a Dutch student and the co-founder of Bluejay – the world’s first ever pop-up drone café designed to give visitors a glance at the future. Drones buzz about, servicing customers who communicate their orders with a special colour-coded menu. Selections are then communicated to other drones designed to pick up the drink and deliver it to the table. Hartjes wants to make the system even more high tech by implementing obstacle avoidance.
It looks like something straight out of a James Bond film: the Glider Yacht, which is truly a catamaran designed for 007. The craft glides along the water using two 18-metre twin hulls and is powered by four 270-horsepower engines. The price tag? $900,000.
The Google Lunar X Prize is a worldwide contest offering $20 Million U.S. to the first private space team to land a rover on the moon, traverse 500 metres, and send back HD imagery to Earth. Daily Planet is there as the Japanese team gets ready to give its brand new lunar rover its first lunar surface-like test.
