The Tech You Need to Level Up Your Humanity
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Sure, everyone wants to be Iron Man. Who wouldn't love to always have all the best gear for every kind of challenge? Problem is, not everyone is Tony Stark—enabled by brains and money to make anything they might ever dream up. Still, recent advancements in robotics and technology are allowing real-world companies to get pretty close the wares of Stark Industries. Here are some of the best superhuman gadgets you can get right now.
- PHOTOGRAPH: APPTRONIK
Mr. Roboto
Apptronik ApolloStanding 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, the Apollo is the first commercial humanoid robot from the Texas company Apptronik. The team behind it previously developed NASA’s space-ranging Valkyrie robot, but with Apollo the aim is to produce a more personable and practical helper for Earthbound humans. Designed to operate safely alongside workers in warehouses and manufacturing plants, it can lift boxes, pick and place items, and assemble components. In the future, it may even be capable of home delivery and elder care. It has 30 mechanical muscle groups and can carry 55 pounds—but unlike its flesh-and-bone colleagues, it has a battery that can be swapped out for continuous operation. Find out more about Apollo's availability at Apptronik.com.
- Photograph: Goldmund
Sound Design
Goldmund GaiaSwiss audio pioneer Goldmund has been shunning traditional acoustic thinking in favor of advanced engineering and unique technologies since the 1970s. The company’s flagship is Gaia, a 6-foot, 10-inch, 926-pound, aluminum-cased active wireless speaker. Goldmund has used its own advanced modeling software to design every aspect of the eight-driver, eight-channel beast. Combined with a proprietary phase distortion correction algorithm known as “Leonardo,” the speakers’ digital signal processing can be tweaked to perfectly suit each towers’ surroundings. The result is 2,500 watts per channel of flawless power and clarity, not to mention bass that’ll make your pants flap, all wrapped in an exterior that brings “techno-sentinel” vibes to even the most prosaic interior. Find out more about Gaia's availability at Goldmund.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: KERNEL
Brain Waves
Kernel Flow2What’s going on inside that noggin? Slip on this high-tech helmet to find out. The Flow2 is a noninvasive neuroimaging system that uses time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) to measure changes in oxygenation levels around the brain. It combines that data with electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring to measure electrical brain waves. The company says the resulting MRI-style scan can offer researchers and clinicians a comprehensive view of the subject’s brain activity that allows them to delve deeper into the intricate workings of the mind. Find out more about Flow2's availability at Kernel.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: FLITE
Get a Grip
Flitedeck Smart HandlebarsWe can’t think of a good reason nobody has thought to do this sooner: The Flitedeck is a handlebar with a fully integrated bike computer. Designed for serious road cyclists by a former Porsche engineer, the aerodynamic carbon-fiber bar replaces your clamped-on iPhone with a 7-inch waterproof touchscreen built into the top. It can handle GPS navigation while syncing wirelessly to your cadence-sensing, powertrain, torque, and fitness-monitoring gadgets, as well as offering crash detection and training modes. It has both Wi-Fi and e-Sim connectivity for hassle-free downloads, plus enough battery life to make it through a long weekend of back-road adventures. Find out more about Flitedeck's availability at Flite.bike.
- PHOTOGRAPH: WITHINGS
Fluid Dynamics
Withings U-Scan and BeamOU-Scan is a (mercifully) hands-free home urine lab that fits inside your toilet bowl and provides immediate health measurements through a companion mobile app. It’s launching with two cartridge options: Cycle Sync will be the first hormonal-based menstruation cycle guide, while U-Scan Nutrio will measure pH and hydration, ketones, and vitamin C to help assess your metabolic health. Each cartridge lasts about three months (or around 100 tests), and replacements are $99. Also from Withings, the BeamO uses data from its digital thermometer, stethoscope, fingertip electrocardiogram, and blood-oxygen meter to give you a broader understanding of your health. Find out more about the availability of U-Scan and BeamO at Withings.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: UPNANO GMBH
Tissue Paper
UpNano NanoOne Bio PrinterMost 3D printers are used for making trinkets to sell on Etsy, but the NanoOne can rustle up things that mimic biological tissues, cells, and other complex live structures. Using bio-inks—special polymers that can be mixed with living cells and biomaterials—researchers are able to create 3D models of human tissues for drug testing, disease modeling, and other biological research. As well as creating skin grafts and biological scaffolding for injury repairs, machines like this have also printed skin models to test the effects of chemicals or pharmaceuticals, cutting out the need for animal testing. Find out more about NanoOne's availability at UpNano.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: CHILLBLAST LIMITED
Cool Running
Chillblast Icon F1 Water Cooled Gaming PCWater-cooled PCs dissipate heat better than air-cooled computers, allowing them to be vastly more powerful while staying whisper-quiet. The Icon F1, aside from its futuristic drag-race-engine aesthetic, has a frosty nine-radiator CryoFuel coolant-filled system that effortlessly dumps the significant warmth generated by its brawny components: an AMD Ryzen 9 7950 X3D 16-core, 32-thread CPU; and 24-GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card. Top this off with 64 GB of DDR5 RAM, dual 2 -TB NVMe SSDs, and a 1,200-watt power supply, and even Alien: Rogue Incursion in 4K at 120 frames per second won’t raise a sweat.
- PHOTOGRAPH: LOOMOS
Smart Specs
Loomos AI GlassesMeta may have sold scads of its Ray-Ban smart glasses, but Loomos is the first to come out with a face computer packing a 16-megapixel camera that can shoot 4K photos and 1080P videos. The Loomos glasses, a bold sidestep by quirky peripherals brand Sharge, also have speakers built into the temples and three-array directional microphones for interacting with ChatGPT-4o. With voice-control access to OpenAI’s powerful chatbot, Loomos claims you will be able to capture and transcribe conversations, recognize objects visually in real time, and translate foreign text. And with its Unisoc 4-core 2.0-GHz AI processor on board, you shouldn’t need to keep your phone nearby as long as there’s a solid Wi-Fi connection available. Find out more about the glasses' availability at Loomos.ai.
- PHOTOGRAPH: LENOVO
Roll Deep
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable AI PCThe Osborne 1 from 1981 was the first portable PC to achieve real success—though it weighed 24.5 pounds and required a wall socket. In the era of the MacBook Air, portability is no longer an issue, but nearly every laptop still has the same basic screen-to-keyboard ratio. With its new ThinkBook Plus, Lenovo has rewritten those rules. It has an extendable 120-Hz OLED display that rolls seamlessly from beneath the keyboard to increase the display size from 13 to 17 inches. It’s an infinitely more elegant way of dual-screening, and ideal for viewing documents, PDFs, and web pages. Remarkably, it measures just 0.78 inch thick and weighs just 3.7 pounds. Find out more about the availability of the new ThinkBook Plus at Lenovo.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: SHENZHEN SPINQ TECHNOLOGY CO
Quantum Leap
SpinQ Triangulum Quantum ComputerWhile it’s a little undercooked compared to Atom Computing’s 1,180-qubit computer, this cute three-qubit desktop design offers a more approachable entry into the world of quantum algorithms and atom flipping. Ingeniously, it operates at room temperature using nuclear magnetic resonance technology, which eliminates the need for expensive cooling systems. By manipulating electron spins in dimethyl phosphite—a tetrahedral molecule consisting of one phosphorus atom, a hydrogen atom, an oxygen atom, and two CH3O groups that’s a clear liquid at room temperature—it is able to demonstrate quantum computing principles for K-12 and college-level education. At more than $50,000, however, the PTA will need to seriously upgrade its bake sale game. Find out more about the availability of the SpinQ Triangulum Quantum Computer at SpinQuanta.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: ANGEL ROBOTICS
Suit Up
Angel Robotics WalkON SuitFrom The Matrix and Aliens, to Starship Troopers and Iron Man, sci-fi exoskeletons generally bring nothing but death and destruction. Back in the real world, designs such as the WalkON Suit have a more noble goal: enabling a paraplegic to walk again. Weighing 66 pounds, this comparatively lightweight suit can accommodate users up to 220 pounds and help them walk at speeds around 2 mph. It’s all controlled using a screen built into the crutch handle. And far from this being just a pair of robotic legs, the advanced software learns on the job; after 20 sessions, it will adjust its motion to best support the wearer’s optimal walking pattern. Find out more about the availability of the WalkON Suit at Angel-Robotics.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: TASKA PROSTHETICS
Hands On
Taska CX Prosthetic HandWhen Mat Jury crashed his mountain bike and broke both of his arms, the engineer quickly learned what sorts of everyday challenges amputees typically face. What he then started as a garage project has now grown into a company called Taska which makes the CX, a prosthetic hand it claims is the most advanced on the market. Robustly built and easy to use, the multi-articulating myoelectric CX evolves the brand’s existing design into something smaller, lighter, and more anatomically correct. Capable of numerous hold styles, the CX can even pick up objects from a flat surface with no assistance from the opposing side. Capacitive touch fingers let the user interact with touchscreens, and waterproofing lets them not worry about getting wet. Finally, rather than relying on a prosthetist to make adjustments, a companion app lets users pick grips and what triggers them, allowing them to adjust on the fly with biofeedback data displayed on their phone. Each hand can be further personalized with decorative snap-on cover plates. Find out more about the availability of the CX at TaskaProsthetics.com.
- PHOTOGRAPH: AUGMENTAL
Tongue Represser
Augmental MouthPad^The company Augmental—a spinoff from the MIT Media Lab—has developed a highly sensitive, 3D-printed dental retainer that works just like a Bluetooth trackpad for your tongue. By taking advantage of the fingerlike features of the muscular organ, the sensor tracks the position of the tongue and the movements of the user’s head, allowing the wearer to essentially gain an 11th finger. The potential is huge, not least for those living with limb paralysis, such as motor neuron disease sufferers; a device like this is significantly less invasive than a brain implant. Weighing a mere 0.26 ounce, all it requires is a preliminary 3D mouth scan. The resulting device is compatible with nearly every mobile and laptop OS. Find out more about the availability of the MouthPad^ at Augmental.tech.
- PHOTOGRAPH: LOVENSE
Hands Free
Lovense SolaceWhen the robots finally take over and we’re left in a Wall-E world of human obsolescence, future historians may well look back on the invention of the app-controlled automatic thrusting male masturbator as a pivotal moment. But for now, those seeking a hands-free way to get their rocks off can sit back and enjoy up to 280 robotic strokes per minute from the Solace. This desk-mountable pleasure provider is an intimidating 11.6 inches long and 4.07 inches wide and weighs 2.1 pounds. What’s more, it can be remotely controlled via a third party from anywhere in the world, or plugged into your PC using the USB adapter for multiplayer virtual sex-game marathons.
- PHOTOGRAPH: SONY CORPORATION
Motion Tracker
Sony MocopiMotion capture technology tracks movements in the physical world and transfers them into the digital one. You typically need an expensive suit and dozens of sensors to do it, but with Mocopi, a surprise Sony incubator innovation, you can save your dough. Consisting of six pucks, a head band, waist clip, two wrist bands, and a pair of ankle bands, the 1.2-inch, quarter-ounce sensors clip onto your extremities and provide full 3D body tracking that’s ideal for all your avatar-style content creation. There’s Steam-compatible VR and PC software, plus apps for iOS and Android.
- PHOTOGRAPH: YUKAI ENGINEERING INC
Sipping Kitty
Yukai Nékojita FuFuShunsuke Aoki, CEO of Japanese design studio Yukai, believes robots can act as an “interface that can warm our hearts and inspire us into action.” And how does this dream manifest? Well obviously it takes the form of an adorable mug-mounted kitty cat robot that will blow on your hot drink to bring it down to the perfect quaffable temperature. The FuFu—an onomatopoeic name derived from the sound of breathing—has an internal fan, and a range of “breathing” modes that are randomized to make it seem more lifelike. It might not have the 1,742-petaflop computational power of El Capitan, but at least it can stop your brew burning your lips. Find out more about the FuFu at Nekojitafufu.ux-xu.com.
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