TIME names the top 100 inventions of 2020

TIME magazine publishes its annual list of the top 100 inventions. Besides smartphones, next-generation consoles, TVs, and much more, the 2020 list includes several industrial inventions. Let’s have a look at them.

Virtual reality glasses for staff training

Virti has launched an employee training platform. The training platform allows employees to engage in stressful workplace situations through augmented or virtual reality, practicing emergency response without actually putting their lives in danger. The company’s research showed that the use of AR and VR technologies increased the retention of knowledge by 230 % compared to conventional staff training.

Aircraft running on hydrogen fuel

ZeroAvia has developed a hydrogen-electric transmission with zero CO2 emissions. A plane was equipped with electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The transmission was successfully tested north of London in a small six-seater Piper M-Class.

Exoskeleton

Salt Lake City-based Sarcos Robotics has released Guardian XO — one of the first commercially available robotic exoskeletons (rent per month costing $8,500). The robot consists of several sections driven by electric motors. The exoskeleton allows its user to lift a load weighing 90 kilograms, while feeling the load of about 4.5 kilograms. The built-in battery powers the exoskeleton for about 2–6 hours, but the hot-swappable design allows to quickly replace it.

Smart helmet

Guardhat has developed a smart helmet named Guardhat HC1 Communicator to better protect factory workers. The helmet features real-time tracking of the user location, hands-free video and audio calls, a function of detecting the user’s proximity to hazardous materials and temperatures, and moving equipment. The high-tech helmet is part of an IIoT system for personnel protection and management.

4G cellular network in hard-to-reach places

Alphabet Loon provided Internet access in hard-to-serve regions through a network of giant stratospheric balloons. These balloons, each the size of a tennis court, soar at an altitude of 20 km — higher than planes fly. A frame is attached to the balloon, on which solar panels, an altitude control system, a parachute, and communication equipment for communication with users and other balloons are installed. The balloon system was previously tested over Puerto Rico after hurricanes Irma and Maria and over Peru after the 2019 earthquake. But this summer, the project went commercial. In partnership with local provider Telkom Kenya, the Loon network consisting of dozens of balloons provides Internet and 4G communications over an area of over 30,000 square meters in central and western Kenya.

Energy from the sun instead of environmentally friendly fuel

Heliogen has proposed replacing fossil fuels with solar energy. Industry requires a lot of heat and electricity, for example, to produce steel or concrete. Heliogen proposes to build the solar tower-type power plant HelioHeat. The technology works like a giant magnifying glass. A field of 100,000 computer-controlled motorized mirrors will concentrate sunlight towards a 40 m tower. Temperatures in the tower reach 1,500 °C. This heat can be used to melt steel, make cement, generate electricity, or produce green hydrogen.

Solar water purification

Solar Water Solutions plans to use solar energy for water purification to make it drinkable. The company has developed a reverse osmosis water purification system that runs on renewable energy from the sun. Any water body — a river or even a salty sea — can be used as a source. Depending on the modification, one unit provides 150 to 3,500 liters of water per hour. The system is already operational and provides clean water to 10,000 people in autonomous communities in Kenya, Namibia, Indonesia, and other countries.

A space tool for environmental analytics

Climate TRACE offers a combination of machine learning, infrared satellite imagery and advanced computer simulations to track pollution sources all over the world in real-time. In 2021, the company plans to publish data on its online portal so that the public and environmental organizations can check if businesses are meeting their greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments.