Technology Showcase:
Tuesday and Wednesday, November 3 - 4

An On-site Marketplace of New and Exciting Ideas
For the first time, the PDMA will be creating an on-site marketplace of new ideas and pre-commercialized emerging technologies that are experiential and have a huge "WOW" factor. The Showcase will be incorporated into the conference program so attendees can learn from and interact with the innovations that will be helping to shape our future. Our goal is to engage in a way that both amazes and provides useful insights into innovative solutions and opportunities that might apply to business today.

MS Surface
What do the Minority Report and CSI: Miami have in common with the 33rd PDMA International Conference? Both feature the revolutionary new natural user interface technology that is incorporated in Microsoft's Surface multi-touch device. The Surface, and other ground breaking technologies can be seen in the Technology Showcase that is part of the conference. Come, see and experience how natural gestures will be used to interface with the computers of the future.

Microsoft's Surface is a multi-touch device that allows multiple users to manipulate digital content by the use of natural gestures. It represents a radical shift from traditional computer interfaces, and promises to lead the way to a new paradigm in how we interact with many devices.

The display is projected onto a 30-inch reflective surface, and cameras built into the device record reflections of infrared light from objects and human fingertips on the surface of the device. The surface is capable of object recognition, object/finger orientation recognition and tracking. Users interact with the display by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as mobile phones or paintbrushes across the screen.

The device is capable of recognizing multiple simultaneous touches, and is optimized to respond to 52 touches at a time.

The appeal of a gestural devices is evident by how quickly the media has incorporated the Surface is its programming; MSNBC used the device for its 2008 Election coverage, and it has also been featured in CBS' CSI: Miami and EXTRA! Entertainment News.

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Siftables
Humans evolved in a physical world. As we grow up playing with blocks and other three-dimensional objects we become adept at using our hands to grasp, move, and organize these things. We skillfully manipulate collections of objects in our everyday lives - when we interact with game pieces and playing cards, stacks of photographs, toys such as marbles or toy cars, food bits when we are cooking, and more. During these activities we sift and sort effortlessly using our eyes to recognize items and both hands to move them, focusing on higher level goals rather than the items themselves.

Siftables were conceived at MIT's Media Lab as a way to enable people to interact with electronic media and information in physical, natural ways that approach the type of interactions with physical objects that we are used to performing each day. They offer a new point in the interaction design space between tangible and graphical user interfaces, combining elements of both paradigms - physically embodied manipulatives that can be grasped and moved by hand, and screens that can show dynamic visual information. As an interaction platform, Siftables can be used to implement a wide range of multi-object gesture languages and interactive applications.

Eco-neighbuzz Concept
Eco-neighbuzz is an apartment buzzer & intercom system with additional features. Today's existing intercom systems work only between outside door and flat. However, we can improve this system to support the existing community inside the building. Even though today we are living in tall concrete blocks built in big metropolises, we are not communicating with our neighbours as we did years ago. Sometimes we even don't know who is living in the building and what they are doing.

When thinking about green design, we need to design good services which help us to consume less and share more. This means car-sharing, free-cycling (giving unused items for free), recycling, etc. We should first start doing this with our closest community - our neighbours. Even when we have good relationships with our neighbours, we are still missing a good service platform to improve upon it. Eco-neighbuzz is a great platform to build a greener community with our neighbours. Essentially, it is a voice message to neighbours. Interaction with the device happens through a touch screen and handset, using speech-to-text functionality.

Visit  http://www.buyukdemirci.com/Eco-neighbuzz/Eco-neighbuzz.html and  http://gizmodo.com/5151234/eco+neighbuzz-apartment-buzzer-converts-your-building-into-a-local-facebook-directory for more information and photos.

CKbot

CKbot is a project created by the Modular Robotics Lab (ModLab), a subgroup of the GRASP Lab and the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department at the University of Pennsylvania. 

CKbot is a Self-reassembly After Explosion (SAE) project that involves a system putting itself back together after being exploded.

CKBot is a chain style modular robot. A modular robot is a versatile system consisting of many simple modules that can change their configuration to suit a given task. The creators have designed a one degree of freedom module actuated by a hobby servo. They currently have manufactured 100 of these modules which allows people to use these modules as building blocks to build bigger robots. CKBot is designed to be fast, allowing us to perform dynamic gaits.

Visit http://modlabupenn.org for more information.

Sandia National Labs:

Sandia is a national security organization, 8700 strong and committed to providing exceptional service in the national interest. It is a point of honor that America has placed its trust in Sandia as a critical instrument of national security for the past 60 years. World class science and engineering underpin and enable the technology for Sandia's missions. We integrate results to support engineering with a systems approach focusing on these areas: computational and informational sciences, engineering sciences, materials and process sciences, microelectronics and photonics, pulsed power, and biosciences and technology. Because the best science, technology and engineering cannot be developed in seclusion, Sandia collaborates and partners with a variety of industry, government, and academic institutions. Sandia's innovative partnership program offers industry and academia access to exceptional technical talent and world-class facilities.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000, SAND 2009-5651 P

MicroHound™

Sandia National Laboratories has developed the MicroHound^TM, a fast, handheld system for the trace detection of explosives. This lightweight (about 12 pounds) system can detect both explosives vapor and particulate, a unique feature of this system. The development of the MicroHound was a quest to combine, in a single platform, a miniaturized sampling and preconcentration system with multiple, highly sensitive chemical microsensors that can detect nanogram amounts of explosives. In addition, the MicroHound's development reduced the size, weight, and cost of a portable trace explosives detection system with an incorporated high-volume sampling preconcentrator. Sandia has incorporated other patented advances in the MicroHound that improve capabilities for other chemical signatures. The sampling and preconcentration technology used in the MicroHound was originally developed and patented by Sandia for a personnel explosives detection portal. Ultimately, commercial versions of the MicroHound could be produced for a comparatively low cost.

Vortex Field Mixing & Artificial Convection

Sandia has developed two new capabilities for stimulating fluid flow without making physical contact with the fluid, and without employing moving parts, pumps, seals etc. Both capabilities depend on adding magnetic nanoparticles to the fluids and subjecting them to time-varying magnetic fields; making them easy to use, since the required magnetic fields are small enough that they can be generated with inexpensive, lightweight, copper coils. The capability we call vortex field mixing, gives rise to vigorous fluid mixing that occurs uniformly throughout the sample volume, eliminating the stagnation regions that plague standard methods. This method is ideally suited for microfluidics applications, but can be used for mixing at any scale. The second capability, artificial convection, can efficiently transfer heat and mass along any desired direction and has the full functionality of natural convection, but because the effect does not depend on gravity or the existence of a thermal gradient, it can be used to stimulate flow where natural convection fails.

H2Scan

H2scan is the leading provider of high performance hydrogen specific sensor systems that provide accurate monitoring and control functions for a wide range of applications, including control systems, safety monitoring and alarm systems. H2scan also provides portable, handheld configurations for easy leak detection and monitoring.
The HY-ALERTA^TM 500 Portable Hydrogen Leak Detector is the industries most reliable and technologically advanced leak detector able to respond to the widest range of hydrogen gas concentrations without the need of any peripheral equipment. The sensor probe has a unique visual LED array that will effectively help navigate to the source of a hydrogen leak where hydrogen gas is produced, stored or transported. With two sensing elements on the same semiconductor die, the HY-ALERTA^TM 500 can detect hydrogen leaks as low as 15 ppm and will not saturate or be destroyed when detecting high concentrations of hydrogen up to 100% by volume. The flexible cable allows the sensor probe access to virtually all potential leak sources.
 
The HY-ALERTA^TM Fixed Area Hydrogen Monitor line provides hydrogen specific leak detection and measurement for hydrogen concentrations from ppm levels up to 5% hydrogen by volume, a range representing 10% to 125% of hydrogen's LFL. The monitor is designed for either ceiling or wall mount and has an RS422 capability that extends the interface from the sensor to the controller to several hundred feet. It is also equipped with in-plant, plug and play on-site calibration capability as standard equipment.

TouchSound

Now for the first time TouchSound enables you to experience music and other sounds through not only your ears, but also through your sense of touch! In fact, it's a total mind/body experience guaranteed to take your music listening and movie watching experiences to an entirely new level.

Remember the evolution from vinyl records to digital, high definition CDs and DVDs? TouchSound is the next generation of sound enjoyment from CDs and DVDs to an experience that actually allows you to feel the sound in a dramatic way. It's as if you were truly present in the moment and actually playing the instrument, riding the motorcycle or dueling with Star Wars Light Sabers.

TouchSound works by placing your hands on specially designed pods that translate sounds into physical vibrations. The system uses very low frequency speakers with special adaptations to transmit the sound directly to your hands and body. These vibrations are generated by the exact sounds you are hearing through your ears.

Unlike what you might experience from loud music at a rock concert where you "feel" the beat of the music, this sound is transmitted directly to your body. Every single note and nuance of the sound is experienced as never before. For example, when listening to an acoustic guitar with TouchSound the listener actually feels like the guitar is in their own hands and they can truly feel the vibration of the strings and the instrument.

Salt Check

To help manage your high blood pressure your doctor wants you to check your sodium level regularly. But the only test now available requires you to collect urine over a 24 hour period and send it to a lab for evaluation. It is too frustrating and messy, so why bother? In fact, most people don't ever go through the test. Why can't someone develop a shorter test, one that is accurate, easy and quick to do?

New SaltCheck does just that. The first and only test that determines your level of sodium in one easy and quick sample taken in your home or the doctor's office, and returns accurate results immediately. It is so easy and fast, virtually every patient does it. That's because SaltCheck's one of a kind, patented technology uses new test strips to quickly and easily analyze sodium level in a single urine sample. And it is clinically proven at Cornell University Medical School to provide accurate results -- so you can stay healthy.

Remco's commercial patented LED Street Light is the only LED street light that uses half as much electricity, lasts longer (50,000 hours), and eliminates maintenance cost for a total savings of $4,300 per LED street light.
 
In additional to saving you money, Remco's LED Street Light provides a superior quality of light with no mercury compared to conventional sodium street lights.

Remco has verified and demonstrated that its patented technologies can directly replace street lighting to provide the equivalent lighting required by IES lighting standards with 50% energy savings.   Other companies attempting to enter this market do not have a patented technology and are pushing products that cannot deliver the equivalent street lighting required with energy savings, so they are offering less light to provide some energy savings. Less lighting is not acceptable on highways and roadways.

Radiant Halo 7 Fuel Saving and Emission Reduction Device

The Radiant Halo 7 fuel saving, pollution control unit is the only air intake device that will save $15,000 per year, every year, for the average "over the road" tractor trailer.  Tests run by a large trucking fleet and independent truckers shows fuel saving of at least 30% while increasing horse power by 8%. Exhaust pollution is reduced by up to 45%. 

When tested at Olson-Ecologic Engine Testing Laboratories, the results showed a reduction of exhaust pollution of an average of 25% with peaks of up to 45%.  Older engines, which tend to have more emissions, will be able to stay on the road longer by meeting state emission regulations.  Independent owners and trucking fleets will not need to replace older engines as often due to these regulations.

This seven-pound unit is contained within the factory air intake, virtually taking up no space.  The device requires no cleaning or maintenance, no fuel use for regeneration, no clogging and no minimum exhaust temperature requirements.  By installing this $8,000 unit, tractor trailer owners will save $120,000, in fuel costs alone, over an average 8 years of operation.

One of the latest trends in health care products is that consumers are increasingly demanding products that provide real efficacy from 100% natural ingredients.

Omnibalm® Daily Foot Therapy is a non-greasy cream for general and diabetic foot care that softens and helps repair dry, cracked skin and keeps feet healthy and fresh. Omnibalm penetrates deeply into rough, thick skin providing fast, long-lasting moisturization and comfort. Its proprietary formula combines effective moisturizers with 13% of the highest quality tea tree oil. Tea tree oil, a naturally powerful essential oil with antiseptic and antifungal properties, helps keep feet healthy and fresh. Tea tree oil from Australia has been used for centuries for its remarkable healing properties and is now recognized as a safe, effective natural skin care ingredient. Omnibalm has more than 2 times the concentration of tea tree oil than other tea tree oil creams.

THE SNOWBALL'S CHANCE FROZEN SHIPPING SYSTEM
 
This patented packaging system keeps shipments frozen for up to 60 hours and cold materials even longer without refrigeration. This advanced system by Western Research Institute (WRI) employs proprietary phase change materials to achieve the ideal temperatures for particular shipping applications. The packaging insulation is optimized to maintain the sub-ambient temperature longer than currently possible using conventional means.
 
By expanding holding times and reliability, the system introduces new options for shipping virtually anything frozen or chilled, from the Alaskan sport fisherman's halibut or salmon to life saving blood, plasma and pharmaceuticals.
 
WRI's cold temperature shipping system was developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Protection Research Program under the National Energy Technology Laboratory. It was initially developed for shipping frozen soil samples at EPA-approved temperatures (-12 ± 7 °C) (-2 - 23 °F) from the field to the laboratory for extended holding times prior to analysis without losing volatile organic compounds. With almost unlimited medical, consumer, and industrial applications, it might also offer a solution for shipping snowballs to the most thermally demanding destinations.