Getting Closer to a Real Life Invisibility Cloak and Other Future Tech

It’s #FunFriday! And we’re back with the latest science and technology news for the day. A lot has been going on in the tech industry today, so let’s get started.

Getting Closer to a Real Life Invisibility Cloak

After successfully making a working prototype of an invisibility cloak using lenses (Rochester Cloak), researchers at the University of Rochester have improved their design by using cameras and flat display screens to increase the range of angles that can be cloaked from view.

"There’ve been many high tech approaches to cloaking and the basic idea behind these is to take light and have it pass around something as if it isn’t there, often using high-tech or exotic materials," the researchers said, "This is the first device that we know of that can do three-dimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking, which works for transmitting rays in the visible spectrum."

In the future, they hope to add real-time background display without the few minutes of processing time needed for this type of system.

Quantum Security System is Practically Impossible to Breach

University of Waterloo UG students have shortened the process of storing passwords in a quantum system from months to a matter of seconds using computer software. Called Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), the process allows two users to share random secret keys with each other, and then encrypt or decrypt them for the information.

"The act of measuring a quantum system disturbs the system. Thus, an eavesdropper trying to intercept a quantum exchange will inevitably leave detectable traces. The legitimate exchanging parties can decide either to discard the corrupted information, or reduce the information available to the eavesdropper to [zero] by distilling a shorter key," according to Cloud Security Alliance.

Robot to Evaluate Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Japan is all geared up for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics, and has even spent $8.1 million for an artificial meteor shower to add a little spice to the event. Partnering with the Japan Gymnastics Association, Fujitsu is in process of developing an advanced robotic judge equipped with 3D laser sensors to make measurements. It can record 76,800 points of motion at 30fps.

"The companies will consolidate their respective knowledge and work to validate technologies that support judges in their scoring. Fujitsu Laboratories will use its proprietary 3D laser sensor and 3D data processing technology to obtain gymnastics data from athletes registered with the Japan Gymnastics Association, which in turn provides expertise in gymnastics technique recognition and scoring knowledge, as well as a field-trial environment," Fujitsu said in a statement.

Researchers, like those from the University of Waterloo, are pioneers of a movement to develop secure software applications for the healthcare industry. Q3 Technologies is a large diversified technology company offering technology consulting and outsourced software product development services to the global IT industry.