From cars running on air to orgasm machines - it's a hi-tech world. And this year is likely to be one of technological breakthroughs. Over the coming months, scientists and inventors will release products or announce new developments that will eventually change our lives.
Volvo is developing a car that will drive itself in traffic by using a radar device to control the distance to the car in front. Effectively it will be run on autopilot.
The Swedish manufacturer, which has always prided itself on safety, will show off its latest ideas within a few weeks. Its long-term aim is to produce the world's first accident-proof car - an ambition that still seems a long way away.
"This technology helps us take an important step towards our long-term vision of designing cars that should not crash," said Thomas Broberg, the company's safety specialist.
The Volvo S60, expected to go on the market within two years, will include automatic braking.
The car will stop itself when it believes a collision is imminent with either a car or a pedestrian, even when travelling at low speeds.
The system works with the aid of a radar unit fitted in the car's grille, which not only detects what is in front of the vehicle, but also how fast it is moving.
Sex chips with everything
Scientists are developing an electronic "sex chip" that can be implanted into the brain to stimulate pleasure.
The invention conjures up images of lusty Jane Fonda in the erotic sci-fi classic Barbarella, where she enters a sex machine known as the Excessive Machine, as well as Woody Allen's sci-fi caper Sleeper, where revellers at a party pleasured themselves in a similar device, called an Orgasmatron.
The real-life sex chip works by sending tiny shocks from implanted electrodes in the brain. So, in effect, partners will literally be able to turn each other on... and off.
The technology has been used in the United States to treat Parkinson's disease. But in recent months, scientists have focused on the area of the brain just behind the eyes known as the orbitofrontal cortex.
This is associated with feelings of pleasure derived from eating and sex. A survey conducted by Morten Kringelbach, senior fellow at Oxford University, found the orbitofrontal cortex could be a "new stimulation target" to help people suffering from anhedonia, an inability to experience pleasure from such activities.
His findings are reported in the Nature Reviews Neuroscience journal.
Relax, the robot will clean up
The tedious task of deciding who should load the dishwasher could become a thing of the past after the creation of a robot specifically designed to do the job.
A new household robot created in Japan is capable of rinsing the dishes in the sink before neatly lining them up in the dishwasher and pressing the start button for the washing cycle. The multi-jointed robot arm, created by scientists at the University of Tokyo with the electronics company Panasonic, is one of a series of prototype devices designed to perform household chores.
Fitted with 18 delicate sensors, the kitchen assistant robot (Kar) is able to grasp delicate china and cutlery in a palm-like device without dropping or breaking them.
Scientists have also set a target of creating a smaller and lighter robot that will be able to load the dirty plates and cooking utensils of a family of four into the dishwasher in just five minutes.
Scientists also promise robots to tackle other household chores, including laundry. But so far there is no machine that will put the rubbish bins out.
George Clooney in your living room
If you thought HD was the latest thing in TV technology, think again. Sky is already testing out 3D television that will let viewers have their favourite stars in their living rooms and might force them to duck when Ruan Pienaar or Ronan O'Gara take a penalty.
Viewers will need to use a pair of polarising glasses and a 3D-capable television set to watch the broadcasts, which could be piped to the company's existing high-definition Sky HD set-top boxes.
To film the 3D footage, two separate cameras are placed close together, mimicking the alignment of human eyes.
When the images are broadcast, the 3D television shows the two versions side by side. The viewers' glasses fool the brain into constructing a picture with greater depth, giving the impression of 3D images.
Cars that run on air
It is the ultimate eco-car. A Luxembourg-based company, MDI, is developing cars that run on air.
Compressed air is stored in a tank and released to drive the pistons of the car's engine. One tank will take a car 100km.
The car creates no pollution, but the downside is that it has a maximum speed of 56km/h.
Air cars, known as "Airpods'', will be used to ferry passengers around France's Charles De Gaulle airport later this year.
Do adjust your glasses
A Briton has designed glasses that can be adjusted without the need for an optician.
Prof Joshua Silver hopes his design will enable a billion people in the developing world to receive spectacles.
The physics professor's adaptive glasses are designed to be "tuned" by the wearers to suit their eyes without the need for a prescription and can help short-sighted and long-sighted people.
Silver's spectacles can be adjusted by injecting tiny quantities of fluid.
The tough plastic glasses have thin sacs of liquid in the centre of each lens.
They come with small syringes attached to each arm with a dial for the wearer to add or remove fluid from the lens. - Irish Independent
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