Here are several emerging technology trends which seem to have synergies.
Neuromorphic chips
Robotic cars and vehicles
Robots
Trillions of sensors
Claytronics
1. By the end of 2012, there will likely be integrated one square neuromorphic chips with about ~10 billion synapses and ~1 million neurons. In 2015, the neuromorphic chips are targeted to have 100 times more capability. The military is developing neuromorphic chips for autonomous, unmanned, robotic systems and natural human-machine interfaces and diverse sensory and information integration applications in the defense and civilian sector
If neuromorphic chips become mainstream in the 2020s,they could be a $50 to 200 billion segment.
2. Self driving robotic cars and “temporary auto pilot” functions in cars could become mainstream in the 2016-2025 timeframe. They would be a big market for more advanced sensors and neuromorphic chips.
3. Far more capable robots like the AVA robot will be coming next year and robots with precision arms will be coming from Willow Garage and Heartland robotics.
4. HP has the vision of trillions of inexpensive sensors.
There has been recent success with tiny lens free pinhead cameras.
A working prototype camera is a 100th of a millimeter thick and one-half millimeter on each side. The camera resolves images about 20 pixels across — not portrait studio quality, but enough to shed light on previously hard-to-see things.
The neuromorphic systems could play a significant part in filtering the deluge of data from trillions of sensors.
5. Micron scale Claytronics is coming from Intel and Carnegie Mellon
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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