N E W S VIRTUAL REALITY NEXT GENERATION Leading the way in next-generation virtual reality and motion capture technology, the Human-Interface Technology Lab (HIT Lab NZ) at the University of Canterbury (UC) has been named a founding site for the Crytek VR First initiative. Student developers and artists will have access to the Cryengine platform to roll out their next-generation immersive experiences. The HIT Lab NZ will provide space for the work to be done and foster a creative vibe among the participants, says Professor Rob Lindeman, research leader, HIT Lab NZ. NORTHPOWER AND SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC JOIN TO CREATE DATA CENTRE Northpower’s engineering and technology collaboration with Schneider Electric to design and construct the first pre-fabricated portable data centre of its kind in the Asia Pacific region has resulted in a the completion of a 20-foot data centre. It was officially unveiled at Northpower’s Whangarei headquarters in late April and was designed to significantly increase availability and redundancy of internal IT systems. NEW INVENTION TO HELP THE DEAF A new prototype device unveiled at an international engineering design competition held in Auckland in May not only helps deaf people in emergency situations but also in their everyday life. A team of Sri Lankan university students and engineers won the I Mech E Asia Pacific Design Competition for people who are deaf or hard of hearing with their ‘i-belt’ invention; a lightweight wearable waist belt consisting of mini vibrators and microphones. The competition, run by The Institute of Mechanical Engineers (I Mech E) and held at Callaghan Innovation, aims to address real-world problems through engineering design projects with the challenge this year to develop a solution for deaf people 6 June 2016 LEAP FROG VIDEO Cutting-edge photon tech with proven commercial use The University of Auckland’s Photon Factory has attained significant successes, particularly in its targeted research for the commercial sector. Chief among them is the University’s spin-off company Engender Technologies, funded by Auckland UniServices, NZVIF, Pacific Channel and other private investors. The company has used cutting-edge photonics and microfluidics technology to develop a consumable chip-based technology to sort sperm by sex, initially for the dairy industry. Engender’s approach is expected to be low cost, have minimal impact on sperm cells and achieve increased sperm count retention compared to the only existing technology. Being able to produce a significantly higher percentage of heifer calves by inseminating cows with the sorted sperm will add significant value for dairy farmers. It is projected that Engender’s success will raise New Zealand’s GDP by 0.2%. The technology also has the potential for application with other animals, including humans. “Our technology will improve both the efficiency of sorting and the performance of sex-sorted sperm by avoiding electric fields and reducing shear stress on the sperm membrane during processing,” says Photon Factory founder and director Dr Cather Simpson, who holds co-appointments in the School of Chemical Sciences and the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland. “Our work with sperm sorting came about following a discussion with Dr Robert Feldman, then at Pacific Channel, a life science and clean-tech venture company. Over a coffee, he challenged me with the five biggest issues then facing the dairy industry. I decided a focus on sperm sorting was where we might make a difference. Engender was the result.” With seed funding from Auckland UniServices and Pacific Channel, Dr Simpson and her team then successfully developed a lab prototype. The core technology is proprietary. Now, in 2016, Engender has successfully completed a multi-million dollar fund-raising, and the project is in the last stage of laboratory optimisation prior to commencement of in vitro fertilisation and then field trials. Engender has received investment and commitments from two of the world’s largest, most successful AI (Artificial insemination) companies. In addition to financial resources, these deals provide Engender with crucial expertise in sperm morphology, viability and handling and in vitro validation and fertilisation testing of sperm sorted by Engender’s technology. The Photon Factory, a state-of-the-art pulsed laser Leapfrog supports continuous 3D modelling Aranz Geo Limited, developer of 3D geological modelling software Leapfrog, has released model management platform Leapfrog Central to support continuous 3D modelling. Developed in collaboration with the world’s most respected mining and exploration companies, Leapfrog Central allows companies to control, manage and track the evolution of models from a central point of truth to improve decision making. During the 11 years Leapfrog has been in the market, it has challenged the way models are built and updated. Leapfrog delivers the time and opportunity to consider multiple hypothesis and build multiple models. Models are dynamic and readily updated with new information, sometimes daily. Aranz Geo product director Tim Schurr says, “We call this process continuous modelling. There is no longer one single static model. Models need to have the very latest data included for decision making. Of course this continuous modelling approach creates a lot of models. We created Leapfrog Central to ensure everyone from geologists, to managers and engineers have access to a central point of truth, the most up-to-date and relevant model.” Leapfrog Central shows the evolution of models over time in 3D. Documents, images, annotations and geotags can be attached to models to help build a complete picture. Discussions such as suggestions and comments are also documented. This gives managers WEBSITE
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