Positive Technology Journal

Via Gear Factor

Japanese researchers are developing a robot, RI-MAN, which will provide assistance to the elderly. RI-MAN is 5-foot-tall, and weights 220-pound. A layer of soft silicone allows it to lift patients into its arms. Moreover, built-in sensors detect a person's body position and weight, so the robot can figure out how best to lift them. At the moment, RI-MAN can only carry a 26-pound doll, but could be capable of lifting a 150-pound person within five years.

Via Mobile Community Design

"A European embedded computing specialist has announced a wrist-worn wearable computer that runs embedded Linux or Windows CE. Eurotech's WWPC ("wrist-worn PC") offers a wealth of standard PC interfaces, along with several innovative wearable-specific features, the company claims. It targets emergency rescue, security, healthcare, maintenance, logistics, and "many other" applications."

This type of device has the potential to offer more intimate, subtle and light-touch communications than mobile phones. The fact that it touches the skin, and is easier to carry means that it will be available to the user and an extended network of users more frequently. P2P applications could automatically swap data directly between watches when people are near each other.Text input is still a worry and it's a bit bulky, but this is a technology to watch.