Alibaba’s keyless and cashless hotel is straight out of the future (6:36 video)
Alibaba, known for its e-commerce platforms, has branched out into retail, restaurants, and even hotels. It has opened a hotel near its headquarters in Hangzhuo where almost everything is automated. The hotel lobby has no counters or couches. A staff member will assist foreigners for check-in, but Chinese nationals can check-in via an app or using kiosks. Elevator and doors are accessed with face scans. Each room has a personal assistant speaker, similar to Amazon's Alexa, where guests can order room service, or control the lights and curtains in their room. A robot butler can deliver most items and is able to ride elevators solo. Guests can order food at the restaurant, to be delivered by a robot server, and a robot bartender can mix drinks for the guest at the bar. The hotel opened for guests at the end of 2018. Fly Zoo's aim isn't just to build a futuristic hotel, but to test technologies that can be sold to other existing hotels.
Envisioning and Designing the Floating Future (8 minute read)
Researchers are building floating buildings to test the viability of floating cities in the future. Floating structures could help make marine ecosystems healthier. They could protect coastlines from further erosion, especially in areas where densely-populated land may start sinking into the sea in the coming decades. Climate change is already affecting the world's oceans, causing habitat loss for marine species, ocean acidification, widespread coral bleaching, and even changes in ocean currents. Floating structures may be able to use their underwater surfaces to create new habitats for marine species to settle. A structure out in the sea before a coastline may be able to break up waves before they reach the shore, lessening the effects of erosion. While the work is still largely theoretical, the vision is to eventually build large modular structures that could link together to create communal, self-sustaining systems.