#I have years worth of our email exchanges saved in the depths of my email!!!!!!

[butch--dean]

It is so weird to see art made by my best friend when I was in middle/high school go viral!! Particularly when that artwork is about long distance friendship!!!!

[mrstevenbushus]

How to Combine Renewable Energy Sources

A key goal for many self-builders is to create a comfortable home with minimal running costs – and critical to achieving that is getting the heating strategy right. There’s a host of renewable energy technologies to choose from, so how can you select an effective combination that will help to cut your energy bills and reduce your household’s environmental impact?

There are three main functions to consider when it comes to creating a comfortable living environment, namely water heating, space heating and cooling. In this article, I’ll look at the key principles of linking different renewable resources to effectively deliver these services.

Selecting the best system for your project will depend on your budget, eco priorities and how far you want to go in reducing running costs.

Combining renewable energy sources – the basics

The two key elements to bear in mind when combining renewables are seasonality and time of use. With the former, the trick is to find heat sources that will complement each other – so one is available when the other is not. A basic example would be to rely on sunshine in the summer months, and then set cosy log fires in winter (albeit an open fire isn’t exactly the most efficient use of fuel).

Time of use refers to the fact that renewables are at their most effective in terms of reducing carbon emissions when they preclude the need to draw energy from the national grid. So it makes sense to combine systems in such a way that power is used when it is being generated – eg when running heat sources off renewable electricity.

Latest Renewable Heat Incentive Tariff rates

Applications submitted beforeBiomass boilers & stoves (p/kWh)Air source heat pumps (p/kWh)Ground source heat pumps (p/kWh)Solar thermal (p/kWh)April 20186.54p10.18p19.86p20.06pJanuary 20184.28p7.63p19.64p20.06pJuly 20186.74p10.49p20.46p20.66pJune 20196.88p10.71p20.89p21.09pMarch 20196.74p10.49p20.46p20.66pOctober 20186.74p10.49p20.46p20.66pSeptember 20196.88p10.71p20.89p21.09p

Of course, it’s also possible to combine sustainable resources with fossil fuels or grid electricity – and in most homes both will still have a role to play. Furthermore, if you have natural gas available then you may well find this is among the cheapest routes to delivering space heating, and almost certainly the most affordable to install.

The Stovax View 8HB is a woodburning and multifuel boiler stove capable of outputting 4.9kW of heat to a room, and 8.2kW to water

Reducing your home’s environmental impact

In terms of carbon emissions in use, there’s little to choose between modern gas boilers and most heat pumps – but the latter have a much higher installation cost and embodied energy (that used to manufacture the appliance).

That said, if reducing your carbon footprint is a top priority, then you could consider a hybrid setup that combines a gas boiler and air source heat pump (ASHP). This type of system uses intelligent technology to select the best heat source given the conditions (and costs).

So typically, it would rely on the ASHP in the ‘shoulder months’ either side of winter, when air temperatures are reasonable, but switch to gas in the colder periods of the year when the heat pump would be less efficient.

Incidentally, ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) do not suffer so much from seasonality problems as their energy collecting loops are buried in the earth where temperatures are, in theory, more stable.

The best renewable energy setups

If you’re off the mains gas network or connection costs are prohibitive, then switching to a dedicated sustainable tech solution is likely to become a more attractive option. Here are the key combinations to consider:

Water heating only

The term domestic hot water (DHW) is used to describe that used throughout the house for washing and cleaning. There are a number of renewable options for supplying DHW, but if you’re aiming for a reduced carbon footprint then there’s one that stands out in particular – namely using solar thermal panels alongside a woodburning stove with an integral back boiler, as part of a stored hot water setup.

With this combination, the stove will be providing both hot water and an element of space heating in the colder months when there’s little or no solar resource; while in summer the thermal panels will provide most of your DHW.

There will be times in winter when the sun shines strongly and the solar collectors can operate, so a good controller is needed to make best use of this. Equally, there will be occasions in summer when the sun is shy and the woodburner is off, which means a backup source of energy is required.

This standby resource usually takes the form of an electric immersion heater. While this part of the setup may be fairly expensive to run, the demand on it should be very low. With this exception, the combination of solar thermal panels and a woodburning stove provides near carbon-neutral hot water – so it’s a great eco choice.

Biomass boilers running on pellet or chip-based fuels could do exactly the same job as the stove in this scenario, and are less effort to fire up for a short period in summer if you need to heat the cylinder.

Low-energy self-build home

Key technology: 11kW ground source heat pump and solar thermal panels, both from Worcester, Bosch Group

When  self-builders Ian and Joanna Stewart found a plot of land just outside Kelso in the Scottish Borders, they were determined to seize the opportunity to create their dream eco home.

“We had always been drawn to the location,” says Ian, who is a Worcester, Bosch Group accredited installer at James Stewart & Son. “The village is small and friendly – but the plot’s remote position brought the issue of being off the mains gas network.

During the planning stages of the project, the price of oil seemed to be rising on a daily basis, so we felt we had to look at the alternatives. We also strongly believed we should be looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and do our bit for the planet.”

The couple planned to make this their home for life, so identifying the right energy sources was critical. “I spoke to Worcester in depth about the merits of combining heat pumps and solar thermal for our self-build,” says Ian. “It was then a case of emailing over the CAD drawings of the house layout and overall scheme, along with my thoughts about what we wanted to achieve. Worcester designed the whole system for us, right down to the number of collector pipes that would be needed to supply the ground source heat pump (GSHP).”

Worcester recommended an 11kW Greenstore GSHP working in tandem with its Greenskies solar water heating system (as a guide, a 4m2 array would deliver around 4kW of heat input). Underfloor heating has also been fitted on both storeys to complement the GSHP. “The combination of these products satisfies all our heating and hot water requirements using free energy,” says Ian.

For a similar installation, expect to pay around £3,000-£5,000 for the solar thermal system and £13,000-£20,000 for the ground source heat pump. Worcester calculates that running costs for a project of this nature would be around £1,500 per year.

Space heating

Again, there are multiple renewables strategies to choose from here – but when it comes to combining them effectively, you’ll need to take a heat storage approach. Fundamentally, this means fitting an accumulator at the heart of your system.

This is essentially a large, very well insulated hot water tank that includes multiple tapping points and coils to allow for several inputs – such as from a biomass boiler or heat pump working alongside a solar thermal array. Installing this kind of setup won’t come cheap; you can expect to pay several times the cost of a gas combi boiler to fit a solar water heater, air source heat pump (ASHP) and an accumulator.

So if you already have access to mains gas, this route is only really worth considering if the extra investment will be outweighed by savings in the running costs (either financially or in terms of carbon emissions, depending on your motivations). The Renewable Heat Incentive may assist with this.

A wood pellet biomass boiler would do the same job as an ASHP at similar cost and lower emissions. In either case, you would use the same system to provide your DHW via a heat exchanger in the accumulator – so there’s no need for separate domestic hot water storage.

You’ll need to allow sufficient space to accommodate the heat pump or biomass boiler equipment and its fuel, as well as the accumulator (1,000L is a common size for domestic installations). Sometimes, heat pumps are combined with an intermittent source such as a woodburning stove (as opposed to a biomass boiler, which is always online).

Renewable technology eco renovation

Key tech: 13kW split air-to-water heat pump, 2.8kW solar thermal panels and 3.75kW solar PV array, all from Viessmann

When the Jenkinson family noticed others in their community were starting to benefit from energy savings and reduced bills by fitting renewable heating systems, they were keen to explore the options for their characterful country home in Devon. The house had been running on an old oil boiler, which was just 65% efficient, so there was huge scope to upgrade to a better-performing setup.

The Jenkinsons engaged Viessmann partner Lenwood Energies to investigate the options, and the company came up with a package that would be perfect for the young family’s needs. Hot water would be in use throughout the day, so specifying a 2.8kW Vitosol 200-T solar thermal array (which harvests energy during daylight hours) was a natural part of the solution.

This was installed alongside a 13kW Vitocal 242-S split air-to-water heat pump, which powers 10 newly-installed fan assisted radiators and features an integral 220L cylinder for solar heating. The Viessmann system is governed by the company’s Vitotronic 200 controls, which intelligently decide which energy source will deliver optimum performance at any given time. The project also features a 3.75kW Vitovolt solar PV array.

The heat pump has an average running time of 105 hours per week in the winter months, and the property is now entirely heated by renewable energy. “The household now saves nearly £1,500 per annum on its utility bills and the installation costs will be recovered in well under eight years,” says Chris Lenehan from Lenwood Energies.

Cooling

Every cooling system requires electricity to run, but most routes to generating this renewably are intermittent. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels only work effectively when there’s good daylighting, for example, while wind turbines rely on a decent breeze.

If you are lucky enough to have a spring-fed source of water power then the situation changes; but this is rare. Many locations are not suitable for wind power – but most properties can accommodate some form of PV.

As you’d imagine, overheating is typically only a problem when the sun is shining – so household cooling requirements are likely to coincide with the part of the year when solar photovoltaic (PV) panels can perform to their maximum. For this reason, PV is an ideal partner for cooling systems.

Many heat pumps can also provide cooling as the key component of an air conditioning system. As the time of use matches up well with the time of generation, combining PV and an ASHP for this purpose means you won’t be imposing an additional load on the grid – so it can deliver genuine carbon emission savings.

A word of warning, though – don’t assume that using a PV and ASHP together will help to achieve a reduced net impact in terms of your costs and carbon footprint for space heating. The sun won’t be shining so much during heating season, so the time of generation doesn’t correspond with when the energy is needed most.

Image (top): This self-built eco home features Nu-Heat underfloor heating powered by an air source heat pump – an ideal combination

The post How to Combine Renewable Energy Sources appeared first on Build It.

Article reference How to Combine Renewable Energy Sources

[andrewdburton]

Ask the readers: Which investing app is best?

On Tuesday’s article about how to invest, Beth wrote with an awesome question about getting started if you don’t have much money. If you don’t have a lot, traditional advisors aren’t interested in you. I sent her an email to get more info.

Basically, Beth wants to know: Which investing app is best?

This year, I’m getting things together financially. I’m paying off my consumer debt, contributing to my 401(k), and controlling spending. I thought I might hold off on investing until next year, but your article about how to invest made me realize that investing $50 per paycheck should be easy to do.

What do you think of investment apps like Stash, Acorns, etc? Past experience with bigger firms like Merrill has been they don’t respect the beginner with smaller amounts.

Beth’s dilemma is a common one. Traditional brokerages and investing firms really don’t care about beginning investors with small amounts to sock away. They want whales — the big fish with million-dollar net worths and lots of money in the market. (And if those whales like to buy and sell all of the time, so much the better!)

Nobody is interested in a recent college graduate with a net worth of $10,000 who just put her first thousand bucks in a Roth IRA.

Current Investing Apps

You might think that as a money writer, I’d be up-to-date on modern investing apps. You’d be wrong. Remember, I was “retired” for several years. I haven’t followed developments in the world of fintech. It’s time to change that.

As a first step, I spent several hours looking at a variety of investing apps. Here are seven of the best. (If I’m missing any that you like, please let me know.)

Acorns is a “micro investing” app. You connect the accounts and cards you use to make everyday purchases, then go about your daily life. When you make a payment, Acorn rounds the amount to the nearest dollar, investing the spare change into low-cost mutual funds based on parameters you set. Acorns charges 0.25% per year (or a minimum of $1 per month). This isn’t a lot, but it is an added cost. [Users give the Acorns app 4.7 stars in the iTunes store.]

Betterment is what’s called a robo-adviser. It’s like a traditional financial adviser, but automated and online. This means Betterment does more than just help you invest; Betterment also gives you recommendations for how to achieve your financial goals. Relatively speaking, the company has been around a long time and is well-respected in the financial blogging community. Like Acorns, Betterment’s annual fee is 0.25% of your balance. (Disclosure: I’ve visited the Betterment offices in NYC, where a friend of mine works. The CEO gave me some free t-shirts.) [Users give the Betterment app 3.8 stars in the iTunes store.]

Blooom — yes, there are three O’s — is a niche robo-adviser. Their single goal is to help users with 401(k)s make better decisions. Blooom will analyze your 401(k) plan, prioritize your investment choices, and help you crunch the numbers to help you decide how to pursue your financial goals. For basic services, Blooom costs nothing. For advanced services, it costs $10 per month. [It doesn’t appear that Blooom has an app in the iTunes store.]

Robinhood is a smartphone app that does only one thing: allow users to buy and sell stocks. You can’t do anything fancy — not even trade mutual funds. (Well, you have access to exchange-traded funds, which are mutual funds that can be bought and sold like stocks.) The upside? For most people, stock trades are free. If you want complex services, you pay. But if all you want to do is buy and sell stocks, you don’t pay a commission. That’s amazing! (My pal Jim from Wallet Hacks has an in-depth Robinhood review, if you want more info.) [Users give the Robinhood app 4.8 stars in the iTunes store.]

Stash is another smartphone app that helps people get started with investing. You can make purchases as small as $5 at a time. Plus, you can set up automated investments. The downside seems to be that you’re limited to a universe of 40 exchange-traded funds. (Honestly, this isn’t much of a downside. In fact, this is a perfect approach for novice investors.) [Users give the Stash app 4.7 stars in the iTunes store.]

Wealthfront wants to be a full-service financial adviser, providing clients with advice for all sorts of investment, saving, and borrowing decisions. Like most of these tools, their advice is based around investing with index funds (which is a good thing) and their fees are 0.25% of your portfolio balance (also a good thing). I can’t be certain — because their website is too wordy and doesn’t get to the point — but it seems as if this would be a great tool for many GRS readers. [Users give the Wealthfront app 4.9 stars in the iTunes store.]

Wealthsimple, like Betterment and Wealthfront, is a robo-adviser that helps clients invest in index funds. The downside is that Wealthsimple costs twice as much: 0.5% of assets. (Wealthsimple is free until you have more than $5000 invested.) Some GRS readers may like that Wealthsimple offers options for socially-responsible investing. Finally, I should note that Wealthsimple has a terrific online magazine (which regular people might call a blog), which features solid money advice and interviews with celebrities about their financial backgrounds. [Users give the Wealthsimple app 4.6 stars in the iTunes store.]

Mini-rant: All of the websites for these apps — except Acorns and Wealthsimple — are deeply flawed in a fundamental way. It’s not obvious to a new user what the apps actually do. Acorns does a stellar job. In big, bold letters on the front page it says: “Invest your spare change.” That’s exactly what the app does. Wealthsimple says: “Investing on autopilot”. Also clear and to the point.

I think any of these would be a great place for Beth to get started with investing. Based on our short email conversation, I’d probably suggest that she try Acorns and/or Betterment.

DIY Investing

Having said that, I want to point out to Beth (and other readers in her shoes) that you don’t actually need an investing app or a broker or an investment advisor. You can do this all yourself. Yes, it involves a couple of hours to get started, but it’s totally non-difficult to set up accounts with companies like Vanguard or Fidelity so that you can invest without a third party in the middle.

My girlfriend is not a money nerd like I am. Kim has always used companies like Charles Schwab to manage her money. But during our RV trip around the U.S., she finally decided she wanted to manage her money herself. At a campground near Shipshewana, Indiana, she filled out the paperwork to open a Vanguard account, then transferred all of her money to Vanguard index funds. If she can do it while on the road, I’m certain that Beth can do it at home.

There’s another option that finds a middle ground between using an app and paying a traditional adviser. My friend Shannon owns The Financial Gym in New York City. She works with all sorts of clients to help them meet their financial goals. I think it’s an awesome service, which is why I’m part owner of the business. (And by “part owner”, I mean that I own 0.86% of The Financial Gym.)

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Do you use a smartphone app to sock away money? Have you tried one or more of these apps? What did you think? What would you recommend for somebody like Beth, who is just getting started? What about for somebody like me, who has more experience? Which investing app is best?

The post Ask the readers: Which investing app is best? appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

from Finance http://www.getrichslowly.org/2018/02/02/investing-apps/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[foursproutwealth-blog]

Ask the readers: Which investing app is best?

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/wealth/ask-the-readers-which-investing-app-is-best/

Ask the readers: Which investing app is best?

On Tuesday’s article about how to invest, Beth wrote with an awesome question about getting started if you don’t have much money. If you don’t have a lot, traditional advisors aren’t interested in you. I sent her an email to get more info.

Basically, Beth wants to know: Which investing app is best?

This year, I’m getting things together financially. I’m paying off my consumer debt, contributing to my 401(k), and controlling spending. I thought I might hold off on investing until next year, but your article about how to invest made me realize that investing $50 per paycheck should be easy to do.

What do you think of investment apps like Stash, Acorns, etc? Past experience with bigger firms like Merrill has been they don’t respect the beginner with smaller amounts.

Beth’s dilemma is a common one. Traditional brokerages and investing firms really don’t care about beginning investors with small amounts to sock away. They want whales — the big fish with million-dollar net worths and lots of money in the market. (And if those whales like to buy and sell all of the time, so much the better!)

Nobody is interested in a recent college graduate with a net worth of $10,000 who just put her first thousand bucks in a Roth IRA.

Current Investing Apps

You might think that as a money writer, I’d be up-to-date on modern investing apps. You’d be wrong. Remember, I was “retired” for several years. I haven’t followed developments in the world of fintech. It’s time to change that.

As a first step, I spent several hours looking at a variety of investing apps. Here are seven of the best. (If I’m missing any that you like, please let me know.)

Acorns is a “micro investing” app. You connect the accounts and cards you use to make everyday purchases, then go about your daily life. When you make a payment, Acorn rounds the amount to the nearest dollar, investing the spare change into low-cost mutual funds based on parameters you set. Acorns charges 0.25% per year (or a minimum of $1 per month). This isn’t a lot, but it is an added cost. [Users give the Acorns app 4.7 stars in the iTunes store.]

Betterment is what’s called a robo-adviser. It’s like a traditional financial adviser, but automated and online. This means Betterment does more than just help you invest; Betterment also gives you recommendations for how to achieve your financial goals. Relatively speaking, the company has been around a long time and is well-respected in the financial blogging community. Like Acorns, Betterment’s annual fee is 0.25% of your balance. (Disclosure: I’ve visited the Betterment offices in NYC, where a friend of mine works. The CEO gave me some free t-shirts.) [Users give the Betterment app 3.8 stars in the iTunes store.]

Blooom — yes, there are three O’s — is a niche robo-adviser. Their single goal is to help users with 401(k)s make better decisions. Blooom will analyze your 401(k) plan, prioritize your investment choices, and help you crunch the numbers to help you decide how to pursue your financial goals. For basic services, Blooom costs nothing. For advanced services, it costs $10 per month. [It doesn’t appear that Blooom has an app in the iTunes store.]

Robinhood is a smartphone app that does only one thing: allow users to buy and sell stocks. You can’t do anything fancy — not even trade mutual funds. (Well, you have access to exchange-traded funds, which are mutual funds that can be bought and sold like stocks.) The upside? For most people, stock trades are free. If you want complex services, you pay. But if all you want to do is buy and sell stocks, you don’t pay a commission. That’s amazing! (My pal Jim from Wallet Hacks has an in-depth Robinhood review, if you want more info.) [Users give the Robinhood app 4.8 stars in the iTunes store.]

Stash is another smartphone app that helps people get started with investing. You can make purchases as small as $5 at a time. Plus, you can set up automated investments. The downside seems to be that you’re limited to a universe of 40 exchange-traded funds. (Honestly, this isn’t much of a downside. In fact, this is a perfect approach for novice investors.) [Users give the Stash app 4.7 stars in the iTunes store.]

Wealthfront wants to be a full-service financial adviser, providing clients with advice for all sorts of investment, saving, and borrowing decisions. Like most of these tools, their advice is based around investing with index funds (which is a good thing) and their fees are 0.25% of your portfolio balance (also a good thing). I can’t be certain — because their website is too wordy and doesn’t get to the point — but it seems as if this would be a great tool for many GRS readers. [Users give the Wealthfront app 4.9 stars in the iTunes store.]

Wealthsimple, like Betterment and Wealthfront, is a robo-adviser that helps clients invest in index funds. The downside is that Wealthsimple costs twice as much: 0.5% of assets. (Wealthsimple is free until you have more than $5000 invested.) Some GRS readers may like that Wealthsimple offers options for socially-responsible investing. Finally, I should note that Wealthsimple has a terrific online magazine (which regular people might call a blog), which features solid money advice and interviews with celebrities about their financial backgrounds. [Users give the Wealthsimple app 4.6 stars in the iTunes store.]

Mini-rant: All of the websites for these apps — except Acorns and Wealthsimple — are deeply flawed in a fundamental way. It’s not obvious to a new user what the apps actually do. Acorns does a stellar job. In big, bold letters on the front page it says: “Invest your spare change.” That’s exactly what the app does. Wealthsimple says: “Investing on autopilot”. Also clear and to the point.

I think any of these would be a great place for Beth to get started with investing. Based on our short email conversation, I’d probably suggest that she try Acorns and/or Betterment.

DIY Investing

Having said that, I want to point out to Beth (and other readers in her shoes) that you don’t actually need an investing app or a broker or an investment advisor. You can do this all yourself. Yes, it involves a couple of hours to get started, but it’s totally non-difficult to set up accounts with companies like Vanguard or Fidelity so that you can invest without a third party in the middle.

My girlfriend is not a money nerd like I am. Kim has always used companies like Charles Schwab to manage her money. But during our RV trip around the U.S., she finally decided she wanted to manage her money herself. At a campground near Shipshewana, Indiana, she filled out the paperwork to open a Vanguard account, then transferred all of her money to Vanguard index funds. If she can do it while on the road, I’m certain that Beth can do it at home.

There’s another option that finds a middle ground between using an app and paying a traditional adviser. My friend Shannon owns The Financial Gym in New York City. She works with all sorts of clients to help them meet their financial goals. I think it’s an awesome service, which is why I’m part owner of the business. (And by “part owner”, I mean that I own 0.86% of The Financial Gym.)

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Do you use a smartphone app to sock away money? Have you tried one or more of these apps? What did you think? What would you recommend for somebody like Beth, who is just getting started? What about for somebody like me, who has more experience? Which investing app is best?

The post Ask the readers: Which investing app is best? appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

[foursprout-blog]

Ask the readers: Which investing app is best?

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/wealth/ask-the-readers-which-investing-app-is-best/

Ask the readers: Which investing app is best?

On Tuesday’s article about how to invest, Beth wrote with an awesome question about getting started if you don’t have much money. If you don’t have a lot, traditional advisors aren’t interested in you. I sent her an email to get more info.

Basically, Beth wants to know: Which investing app is best?

This year, I’m getting things together financially. I’m paying off my consumer debt, contributing to my 401(k), and controlling spending. I thought I might hold off on investing until next year, but your article about how to invest made me realize that investing $50 per paycheck should be easy to do.

What do you think of investment apps like Stash, Acorns, etc? Past experience with bigger firms like Merrill has been they don’t respect the beginner with smaller amounts.

Beth’s dilemma is a common one. Traditional brokerages and investing firms really don’t care about beginning investors with small amounts to sock away. They want whales — the big fish with million-dollar net worths and lots of money in the market. (And if those whales like to buy and sell all of the time, so much the better!)

Nobody is interested in a recent college graduate with a net worth of $10,000 who just put her first thousand bucks in a Roth IRA.

Current Investing Apps

You might think that as a money writer, I’d be up-to-date on modern investing apps. You’d be wrong. Remember, I was “retired” for several years. I haven’t followed developments in the world of fintech. It’s time to change that.

As a first step, I spent several hours looking at a variety of investing apps. Here are seven of the best. (If I’m missing any that you like, please let me know.)

Acorns is a “micro investing” app. You connect the accounts and cards you use to make everyday purchases, then go about your daily life. When you make a payment, Acorn rounds the amount to the nearest dollar, investing the spare change into low-cost mutual funds based on parameters you set. Acorns charges 0.25% per year (or a minimum of $1 per month). This isn’t a lot, but it is an added cost. [Users give the Acorns app 4.7 stars in the iTunes store.]

Betterment is what’s called a robo-adviser. It’s like a traditional financial adviser, but automated and online. This means Betterment does more than just help you invest; Betterment also gives you recommendations for how to achieve your financial goals. Relatively speaking, the company has been around a long time and is well-respected in the financial blogging community. Like Acorns, Betterment’s annual fee is 0.25% of your balance. (Disclosure: I’ve visited the Betterment offices in NYC, where a friend of mine works. The CEO gave me some free t-shirts.) [Users give the Betterment app 3.8 stars in the iTunes store.]

Blooom — yes, there are three O’s — is a niche robo-adviser. Their single goal is to help users with 401(k)s make better decisions. Blooom will analyze your 401(k) plan, prioritize your investment choices, and help you crunch the numbers to help you decide how to pursue your financial goals. For basic services, Blooom costs nothing. For advanced services, it costs $10 per month. [It doesn’t appear that Blooom has an app in the iTunes store.]

Robinhood is a smartphone app that does only one thing: allow users to buy and sell stocks. You can’t do anything fancy — not even trade mutual funds. (Well, you have access to exchange-traded funds, which are mutual funds that can be bought and sold like stocks.) The upside? For most people, stock trades are free. If you want complex services, you pay. But if all you want to do is buy and sell stocks, you don’t pay a commission. That’s amazing! (My pal Jim from Wallet Hacks has an in-depth Robinhood review, if you want more info.) [Users give the Robinhood app 4.8 stars in the iTunes store.]

Stash is another smartphone app that helps people get started with investing. You can make purchases as small as $5 at a time. Plus, you can set up automated investments. The downside seems to be that you’re limited to a universe of 40 exchange-traded funds. (Honestly, this isn’t much of a downside. In fact, this is a perfect approach for novice investors.) [Users give the Stash app 4.7 stars in the iTunes store.]

Wealthfront wants to be a full-service financial adviser, providing clients with advice for all sorts of investment, saving, and borrowing decisions. Like most of these tools, their advice is based around investing with index funds (which is a good thing) and their fees are 0.25% of your portfolio balance (also a good thing). I can’t be certain — because their website is too wordy and doesn’t get to the point — but it seems as if this would be a great tool for many GRS readers. [Users give the Wealthfront app 4.9 stars in the iTunes store.]

Wealthsimple, like Betterment and Wealthfront, is a robo-adviser that helps clients invest in index funds. The downside is that Wealthsimple costs twice as much: 0.5% of assets. (Wealthsimple is free until you have more than $5000 invested.) Some GRS readers may like that Wealthsimple offers options for socially-responsible investing. Finally, I should note that Wealthsimple has a terrific online magazine (which regular people might call a blog), which features solid money advice and interviews with celebrities about their financial backgrounds. [Users give the Wealthsimple app 4.6 stars in the iTunes store.]

Mini-rant: All of the websites for these apps — except Acorns and Wealthsimple — are deeply flawed in a fundamental way. It’s not obvious to a new user what the apps actually do. Acorns does a stellar job. In big, bold letters on the front page it says: “Invest your spare change.” That’s exactly what the app does. Wealthsimple says: “Investing on autopilot”. Also clear and to the point.

I think any of these would be a great place for Beth to get started with investing. Based on our short email conversation, I’d probably suggest that she try Acorns and/or Betterment.

DIY Investing

Having said that, I want to point out to Beth (and other readers in her shoes) that you don’t actually need an investing app or a broker or an investment advisor. You can do this all yourself. Yes, it involves a couple of hours to get started, but it’s totally non-difficult to set up accounts with companies like Vanguard or Fidelity so that you can invest without a third party in the middle.

My girlfriend is not a money nerd like I am. Kim has always used companies like Charles Schwab to manage her money. But during our RV trip around the U.S., she finally decided she wanted to manage her money herself. At a campground near Shipshewana, Indiana, she filled out the paperwork to open a Vanguard account, then transferred all of her money to Vanguard index funds. If she can do it while on the road, I’m certain that Beth can do it at home.

There’s another option that finds a middle ground between using an app and paying a traditional adviser. My friend Shannon owns The Financial Gym in New York City. She works with all sorts of clients to help them meet their financial goals. I think it’s an awesome service, which is why I’m part owner of the business. (And by “part owner”, I mean that I own 0.86% of The Financial Gym.)

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Do you use a smartphone app to sock away money? Have you tried one or more of these apps? What did you think? What would you recommend for somebody like Beth, who is just getting started? What about for somebody like me, who has more experience? Which investing app is best?

The post Ask the readers: Which investing app is best? appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

[technato]

CES 2018: Suitable Tech Introduces BeamPro 2 Telepresence Platform

It’s one of the shiniest, fanciest, and most technologically advanced telepresence robots we’ve ever seen

Today, Suitable Technologies (the Willow Garage spinout that originally commercialized the Texai telepresence robots) is announcing a new ultra high-end telepresence robot, the BeamPro 2. The BP2, as it is now known to lazy typists like myself, is a significant upgrade to the BeamPro, with a substantive redesign and a bunch of new features to arguably make it the most capable telepresence robot you can buy.

Here’s all the new stuff, straight from the press release:

Suitable Technologies Inc., creator of the industry-leading Beam family of telepresence systems, today announced the addition of the BeamPro 2. This next-generation device offers advanced features that revolutionize communication within organizations.

The BeamPro 2 can easily and safely maneuver in crowded spaces with the latest in navigation technology. Optional extra sensors combined with the ability to spin in place allows users to drive a BeamPro 2 through tight spaces that can be found in hospitals, specialty-care facilities, manufacturing floors, museums and classrooms. 

With the largest, multi-touch HD video screen on the market and physical capability for vertical screen height adjustment, the user can interact face-to-face with a much more human quality. High-quality super-wide angle cameras provide clear views of remote surroundings and enable an easier user experience that simplifies tasks such as viewing documentation on a table, inspecting components on a manufacturing line, or monitoring patient readings in any care setting. Advanced speakers and microphone array provide full, rich audio for interacting and communicating with on-site colleagues.

Key features include:

Low-glare, Gorilla Glass 24-inch LCD display

Multi-touch capability

Dynamic vertical height adjustment of 10 inches

Ambient light sensors to adjust display to surrounding light

Two super-wide 12MP cameras streaming in full HD with 12x digital zoom

Multiple 3D depth cameras

Three speakers to provide a wider frequency range for lifelike sound

Fully digital microphone array featuring echo cancellation

Additional sensors for obstacle detection

Six wheels allowing stable movement and rotation in place

“BeamPro 2 has a modular mobile platform design, so it can be used as a reliable communication device for Beam telepresence meetings, as well as a platform for add-on accessories, which can enhance concepts such as virtual training, or remote patient care,” said Bo Preising, Chief Innovation Officer of Suitable Technologies. “This is our newest product designed with the best audio, video, and mobility technology available. BeamPro 2 is the most advanced telepresence device on the market and it provides richer human interaction.”

For more details, Bo Preising answered a few questions for us over email.

IEEE Spectrum: What kind of feedback did you get from BeamPro customers that influenced the design of the BeamPro 2?

Bo Preising: Multiple large customers have asked for the ability to raise and lower the display for better eye-eye contact. We’ve also added safety sensors for situations where there are delicate things in the environment (museums, healthcare, etc.) due to requests from customers. Some large customers have also asked for better camera technology— the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom, and some large customers have asked for laser pointer pan/tilt capability. As such, we’ve designed BeamPro 2 as a modular product with the capability to add or exchange new technologies without further engineering.

Can you describe what you mean by “modular mobile platform?” What are some examples of accessories that can be added to the BeamPro 2?

The original Beam products were designed to just be super reliable as robotic telepresence. The new BP2 device is designed to be a modular mobile platform that can provide telepresence as well as other technologies to the user. For example, depth cameras have been added for 3D viewing and safety along with the option to add LIDAR, pan/tilt/zoom cameras, pan/tilt laser pointers, or many other sensors to this device. We have thought through many ideas on how to add on accessories and have the connections, power, and platform to do so. This will allow us to explore areas outside normal telepresence.

How are the multiple 3D depth cameras used? What kinds of autonomy (or assistive autonomy) does BeamPro 2 have?

There are two 3D cameras, one in the front and one in the back, that allow for calibration of the system so the Beam knows where it is in its space. The front camera also has 120-degree total vertical tilt for obstacle avoidance. When backing up, the back camera helps with obstacle avoidance as well. The BP2 is still meant to be tele-operated. We find that having the user move the device around helps keep them engaged in the remote environment and thus allows the device to be perceived as the user more readily by the “locals,” or people who interact with the device.

What’s still weird to me is how little autonomy BP2 has considering the sensors that it comes with. I understand Bo’s point about keeping people engaged, but in my experience, something like automatic person following would be very useful to allow more of a focus on the conversation rather than the driving (although automatic obstacle avoidance may help with that significantly). Perhaps the sensors are there also to help enable some of those “modular mobile platform” use cases in “areas outside normal telepresence.” We’ll see.

We’ve been told that “pricing information will be available in the next few months,” but for context, the (now old and busted I guess) BeamPro costs $15k, and that’s without the optional lidar and camera upgrades. Our guess is that the BeamPro2 will be significantly more expensive, but still within a range that lets Suitable make a case that it will save companies money by making executive travel unnecessary. I say executive, because shuttling around those of us who fly in steerage is cheap enough that it’s just not worth it to use a robot like either of the pro-class Beams—especially since it’s less effective than being there in person.

And that brings up my last concern about BP2, and telepresence in general: At some point (and BP2 may already have passed that point), improvements to hardware give you diminishing returns on the telepresence experience. Is BP2, with its big screen, fancy cameras, and audio, going to help users (on both ends) communicate with each other more effectively? Sure it is. But how much more effectively, relative to the cost? And what’s the next step for two-way telepresence?

I have no doubt that Suitable is thinking about all of this stuff, and I’m idly wondering if they’re starting to position themselves as more of a remote mobile platform, sort of like iRobot’s AVA 500, which incidentally is now part of a spinoff called Ava Robotics. We should find out over the next year or so, as BeamPro 2 goes on sale this summer.

[ Suitable Technologies ]

CES 2018: Suitable Tech Introduces BeamPro 2 Telepresence Platform syndicated from http://ift.tt/2Bq2FuP

[mrstevenbushus]

How to Combine Renewable Energy Sources

A key goal for many self-builders is to create a comfortable home with minimal running costs – and critical to achieving that is getting the heating strategy right. There’s a host of renewable energy technologies to choose from, so how can you select an effective combination that will help to cut your energy bills and reduce your household’s environmental impact?

There are three main functions to consider when it comes to creating a comfortable living environment, namely water heating, space heating and cooling. In this article, I’ll look at the key principles of linking different renewable resources to effectively deliver these services.

Selecting the best system for your project will depend on your budget, eco priorities and how far you want to go in reducing running costs.

Combining renewable energy sources – the basics

The two key elements to bear in mind when combining renewables are seasonality and time of use. With the former, the trick is to find heat sources that will complement each other – so one is available when the other is not. A basic example would be to rely on sunshine in the summer months, and then set cosy log fires in winter (albeit an open fire isn’t exactly the most efficient use of fuel).

Time of use refers to the fact that renewables are at their most effective in terms of reducing carbon emissions when they preclude the need to draw energy from the national grid. So it makes sense to combine systems in such a way that power is used when it is being generated – eg when running heat sources off renewable electricity.

Latest Renewable Heat Incentive Tariff rates

Applications submitted beforeBiomass boilers & stoves (p/kWh)Air source heat pumps (p/kWh)Ground source heat pumps (p/kWh)Solar thermal (p/kWh)July 20174.28p7.63p19.64p20.06pOctober 20174.28p7.63p19.64p20.06pJanuary 20184.28p7.63p19.64p20.06pApril 20186.54p10.18p19.86p20.06pJuly 20186.74p10.49p20.46p20.66pOctober 20186.74p10.49p20.46p20.66p

Of course, it’s also possible to combine sustainable resources with fossil fuels or grid electricity – and in most homes both will still have a role to play. Furthermore, if you have natural gas available then you may well find this is among the cheapest routes to delivering space heating, and almost certainly the most affordable to install.

The Stovax View 8HB is a woodburning and multifuel boiler stove capable of outputting 4.9kW of heat to a room, and 8.2kW to water

Reducing your home’s environmental impact

In terms of carbon emissions in use, there’s little to choose between modern gas boilers and most heat pumps – but the latter have a much higher installation cost and embodied energy (that used to manufacture the appliance).

That said, if reducing your carbon footprint is a top priority, then you could consider a hybrid setup that combines a gas boiler and air source heat pump (ASHP). This type of system uses intelligent technology to select the best heat source given the conditions (and costs).

So typically, it would rely on the ASHP in the ‘shoulder months’ either side of winter, when air temperatures are reasonable, but switch to gas in the colder periods of the year when the heat pump would be less efficient.

Incidentally, ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) do not suffer so much from seasonality problems as their energy collecting loops are buried in the earth where temperatures are, in theory, more stable.

The best renewable energy setups

If you’re off the mains gas network or connection costs are prohibitive, then switching to a dedicated sustainable tech solution is likely to become a more attractive option. Here are the key combinations to consider:

Water heating only

The term domestic hot water (DHW) is used to describe that used throughout the house for washing and cleaning. There are a number of renewable options for supplying DHW, but if you’re aiming for a reduced carbon footprint then there’s one that stands out in particular – namely using solar thermal panels alongside a woodburning stove with an integral back boiler, as part of a stored hot water setup.

With this combination, the stove will be providing both hot water and an element of space heating in the colder months when there’s little or no solar resource; while in summer the thermal panels will provide most of your DHW.

There will be times in winter when the sun shines strongly and the solar collectors can operate, so a good controller is needed to make best use of this. Equally, there will be occasions in summer when the sun is shy and the woodburner is off, which means a backup source of energy is required.

This standby resource usually takes the form of an electric immersion heater. While this part of the setup may be fairly expensive to run, the demand on it should be very low. With this exception, the combination of solar thermal panels and a woodburning stove provides near carbon-neutral hot water – so it’s a great eco choice.

Biomass boilers running on pellet or chip-based fuels could do exactly the same job as the stove in this scenario, and are less effort to fire up for a short period in summer if you need to heat the cylinder.

Low-energy self-build home

Key technology: 11kW ground source heat pump and solar thermal panels, both from Worcester, Bosch Group

When  self-builders Ian and Joanna Stewart found a plot of land just outside Kelso in the Scottish Borders, they were determined to seize the opportunity to create their dream eco home.

“We had always been drawn to the location,” says Ian, who is a Worcester, Bosch Group accredited installer at James Stewart & Son. “The village is small and friendly – but the plot’s remote position brought the issue of being off the mains gas network.

During the planning stages of the project, the price of oil seemed to be rising on a daily basis, so we felt we had to look at the alternatives. We also strongly believed we should be looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and do our bit for the planet.”

The couple planned to make this their home for life, so identifying the right energy sources was critical. “I spoke to Worcester in depth about the merits of combining heat pumps and solar thermal for our self-build,” says Ian. “It was then a case of emailing over the CAD drawings of the house layout and overall scheme, along with my thoughts about what we wanted to achieve. Worcester designed the whole system for us, right down to the number of collector pipes that would be needed to supply the ground source heat pump (GSHP).”

Worcester recommended an 11kW Greenstore GSHP working in tandem with its Greenskies solar water heating system (as a guide, a 4m2 array would deliver around 4kW of heat input). Underfloor heating has also been fitted on both storeys to complement the GSHP. “The combination of these products satisfies all our heating and hot water requirements using free energy,” says Ian.

For a similar installation, expect to pay around £3,000-£5,000 for the solar thermal system and £13,000-£20,000 for the ground source heat pump. Worcester calculates that running costs for a project of this nature would be around £1,500 per year.

Space heating

Again, there are multiple renewables strategies to choose from here – but when it comes to combining them effectively, you’ll need to take a heat storage approach. Fundamentally, this means fitting an accumulator at the heart of your system.

This is essentially a large, very well insulated hot water tank that includes multiple tapping points and coils to allow for several inputs – such as from a biomass boiler or heat pump working alongside a solar thermal array. Installing this kind of setup won’t come cheap; you can expect to pay several times the cost of a gas combi boiler to fit a solar water heater, air source heat pump (ASHP) and an accumulator.

So if you already have access to mains gas, this route is only really worth considering if the extra investment will be outweighed by savings in the running costs (either financially or in terms of carbon emissions, depending on your motivations). The Renewable Heat Incentive may assist with this.

A wood pellet biomass boiler would do the same job as an ASHP at similar cost and lower emissions. In either case, you would use the same system to provide your DHW via a heat exchanger in the accumulator – so there’s no need for separate domestic hot water storage.

You’ll need to allow sufficient space to accommodate the heat pump or biomass boiler equipment and its fuel, as well as the accumulator (1,000L is a common size for domestic installations). Sometimes, heat pumps are combined with an intermittent source such as a woodburning stove (as opposed to a biomass boiler, which is always online).

Renewable technology eco renovation

Key tech: 13kW split air-to-water heat pump, 2.8kW solar thermal panels and 3.75kW solar PV array, all from Viessmann

When the Jenkinson family noticed others in their community were starting to benefit from energy savings and reduced bills by fitting renewable heating systems, they were keen to explore the options for their characterful country home in Devon. The house had been running on an old oil boiler, which was just 65% efficient, so there was huge scope to upgrade to a better-performing setup.

The Jenkinsons engaged Viessmann partner Lenwood Energies to investigate the options, and the company came up with a package that would be perfect for the young family’s needs. Hot water would be in use throughout the day, so specifying a 2.8kW Vitosol 200-T solar thermal array (which harvests energy during daylight hours) was a natural part of the solution.

This was installed alongside a 13kW Vitocal 242-S split air-to-water heat pump, which powers 10 newly-installed fan assisted radiators and features an integral 220L cylinder for solar heating. The Viessmann system is governed by the company’s Vitotronic 200 controls, which intelligently decide which energy source will deliver optimum performance at any given time. The project also features a 3.75kW Vitovolt solar PV array.

The heat pump has an average running time of 105 hours per week in the winter months, and the property is now entirely heated by renewable energy. “The household now saves nearly £1,500 per annum on its utility bills and the installation costs will be recovered in well under eight years,” says Chris Lenehan from Lenwood Energies.

Cooling

Every cooling system requires electricity to run, but most routes to generating this renewably are intermittent. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels only work effectively when there’s good daylighting, for example, while wind turbines rely on a decent breeze.

If you are lucky enough to have a spring-fed source of water power then the situation changes; but this is rare. Many locations are not suitable for wind power – but most properties can accommodate some form of PV.

As you’d imagine, overheating is typically only a problem when the sun is shining – so household cooling requirements are likely to coincide with the part of the year when solar photovoltaic (PV) panels can perform to their maximum. For this reason, PV is an ideal partner for cooling systems.

Many heat pumps can also provide cooling as the key component of an air conditioning system. As the time of use matches up well with the time of generation, combining PV and an ASHP for this purpose means you won’t be imposing an additional load on the grid – so it can deliver genuine carbon emission savings.

A word of warning, though – don’t assume that using a PV and ASHP together will help to achieve a reduced net impact in terms of your costs and carbon footprint for space heating. The sun won’t be shining so much during heating season, so the time of generation doesn’t correspond with when the energy is needed most.

Image (top): This self-built eco home features Nu-Heat underfloor heating powered by an air source heat pump – an ideal combination

The post How to Combine Renewable Energy Sources appeared first on Build It.

Article reference How to Combine Renewable Energy Sources

[technato]

CES 2018: Suitable Tech Introduces BeamPro 2 Telepresence Platform

It’s one of the shiniest, fanciest, and most technologically advanced telepresence robots we’ve ever seen

Today, Suitable Technologies (the Willow Garage spinout that originally commercialized the Texai telepresence robots) is announcing a new ultra high-end telepresence robot, the BeamPro 2. The BP2, as it is now known to lazy typists like myself, is a significant upgrade to the BeamPro, with a substantive redesign and a bunch of new features to arguably make it the most capable telepresence robot you can buy.

Here’s all the new stuff, straight from the press release:

Suitable Technologies Inc., creator of the industry-leading Beam family of telepresence systems, today announced the addition of the BeamPro 2. This next-generation device offers advanced features that revolutionize communication within organizations.

The BeamPro 2 can easily and safely maneuver in crowded spaces with the latest in navigation technology. Optional extra sensors combined with the ability to spin in place allows users to drive a BeamPro 2 through tight spaces that can be found in hospitals, specialty-care facilities, manufacturing floors, museums and classrooms. 

With the largest, multi-touch HD video screen on the market and physical capability for vertical screen height adjustment, the user can interact face-to-face with a much more human quality. High-quality super-wide angle cameras provide clear views of remote surroundings and enable an easier user experience that simplifies tasks such as viewing documentation on a table, inspecting components on a manufacturing line, or monitoring patient readings in any care setting. Advanced speakers and microphone array provide full, rich audio for interacting and communicating with on-site colleagues.

Key features include:

Low-glare, Gorilla Glass 24-inch LCD display

Multi-touch capability

Dynamic vertical height adjustment of 10 inches

Ambient light sensors to adjust display to surrounding light

Two super-wide 12MP cameras streaming in full HD with 12x digital zoom

Multiple 3D depth cameras

Three speakers to provide a wider frequency range for lifelike sound

Fully digital microphone array featuring echo cancellation

Additional sensors for obstacle detection

Six wheels allowing stable movement and rotation in place

“BeamPro 2 has a modular mobile platform design, so it can be used as a reliable communication device for Beam telepresence meetings, as well as a platform for add-on accessories, which can enhance concepts such as virtual training, or remote patient care,” said Bo Preising, Chief Innovation Officer of Suitable Technologies. “This is our newest product designed with the best audio, video, and mobility technology available. BeamPro 2 is the most advanced telepresence device on the market and it provides richer human interaction.”

For more details, Bo Preising answered a few questions for us over email.

IEEE Spectrum: What kind of feedback did you get from BeamPro customers that influenced the design of the BeamPro 2?

Bo Preising: Multiple large customers have asked for the ability to raise and lower the display for better eye-eye contact. We’ve also added safety sensors for situations where there are delicate things in the environment (museums, healthcare, etc.) due to requests from customers. Some large customers have also asked for better camera technology— the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom, and some large customers have asked for laser pointer pan/tilt capability. As such, we’ve designed BeamPro 2 as a modular product with the capability to add or exchange new technologies without further engineering.

Can you describe what you mean by “modular mobile platform?” What are some examples of accessories that can be added to the BeamPro 2?

The original Beam products were designed to just be super reliable as robotic telepresence. The new BP2 device is designed to be a modular mobile platform that can provide telepresence as well as other technologies to the user. For example, depth cameras have been added for 3D viewing and safety along with the option to add LIDAR, pan/tilt/zoom cameras, pan/tilt laser pointers, or many other sensors to this device. We have thought through many ideas on how to add on accessories and have the connections, power, and platform to do so. This will allow us to explore areas outside normal telepresence.

How are the multiple 3D depth cameras used? What kinds of autonomy (or assistive autonomy) does BeamPro 2 have?

There are two 3D cameras, one in the front and one in the back, that allow for calibration of the system so the Beam knows where it is in its space. The front camera also has 120-degree total vertical tilt for obstacle avoidance. When backing up, the back camera helps with obstacle avoidance as well. The BP2 is still meant to be tele-operated. We find that having the user move the device around helps keep them engaged in the remote environment and thus allows the device to be perceived as the user more readily by the “locals,” or people who interact with the device.

What’s still weird to me is how little autonomy BP2 has considering the sensors that it comes with. I understand Bo’s point about keeping people engaged, but in my experience, something like automatic person following would be very useful to allow more of a focus on the conversation rather than the driving (although automatic obstacle avoidance may help with that significantly). Perhaps the sensors are there also to help enable some of those “modular mobile platform” use cases in “areas outside normal telepresence.” We’ll see.

We’ve been told that “pricing information will be available in the next few months,” but for context, the (now old and busted I guess) BeamPro costs $15k, and that’s without the optional lidar and camera upgrades. Our guess is that the BeamPro2 will be significantly more expensive, but still within a range that lets Suitable make a case that it will save companies money by making executive travel unnecessary. I say executive, because shuttling around those of us who fly in steerage is cheap enough that it’s just not worth it to use a robot like either of the pro-class Beams—especially since it’s less effective than being there in person.

And that brings up my last concern about BP2, and telepresence in general: At some point (and BP2 may already have passed that point), improvements to hardware give you diminishing returns on the telepresence experience. Is BP2, with its big screen, fancy cameras, and audio, going to help users (on both ends) communicate with each other more effectively? Sure it is. But how much more effectively, relative to the cost? And what’s the next step for two-way telepresence?

I have no doubt that Suitable is thinking about all of this stuff, and I’m idly wondering if they’re starting to position themselves as more of a remote mobile platform, sort of like iRobot’s AVA 500, which incidentally is now part of a spinoff called Ava Robotics. We should find out over the next year or so, as BeamPro 2 goes on sale this summer.

[ Suitable Technologies ]

CES 2018: Suitable Tech Introduces BeamPro 2 Telepresence Platform syndicated from http://ift.tt/2Bq2FuP

[technato]

CES 2018: Suitable Tech Introduces BeamPro 2 Telepresence Platform

It’s one of the shiniest, fanciest, and most technologically advanced telepresence robots we’ve ever seen

Today, Suitable Technologies (the Willow Garage spinout that originally commercialized the Texai telepresence robots) is announcing a new ultra high-end telepresence robot, the BeamPro 2. The BP2, as it is now known to lazy typists like myself, is a significant upgrade to the BeamPro, with a substantive redesign and a bunch of new features to arguably make it the most capable telepresence robot you can buy.

Here’s all the new stuff, straight from the press release:

Suitable Technologies Inc., creator of the industry-leading Beam family of telepresence systems, today announced the addition of the BeamPro 2. This next-generation device offers advanced features that revolutionize communication within organizations.

The BeamPro 2 can easily and safely maneuver in crowded spaces with the latest in navigation technology. Optional extra sensors combined with the ability to spin in place allows users to drive a BeamPro 2 through tight spaces that can be found in hospitals, specialty-care facilities, manufacturing floors, museums and classrooms. 

With the largest, multi-touch HD video screen on the market and physical capability for vertical screen height adjustment, the user can interact face-to-face with a much more human quality. High-quality super-wide angle cameras provide clear views of remote surroundings and enable an easier user experience that simplifies tasks such as viewing documentation on a table, inspecting components on a manufacturing line, or monitoring patient readings in any care setting. Advanced speakers and microphone array provide full, rich audio for interacting and communicating with on-site colleagues.

Key features include:

Low-glare, Gorilla Glass 24-inch LCD display

Multi-touch capability

Dynamic vertical height adjustment of 10 inches

Ambient light sensors to adjust display to surrounding light

Two super-wide 12MP cameras streaming in full HD with 12x digital zoom

Multiple 3D depth cameras

Three speakers to provide a wider frequency range for lifelike sound

Fully digital microphone array featuring echo cancellation

Additional sensors for obstacle detection

Six wheels allowing stable movement and rotation in place

“BeamPro 2 has a modular mobile platform design, so it can be used as a reliable communication device for Beam telepresence meetings, as well as a platform for add-on accessories, which can enhance concepts such as virtual training, or remote patient care,” said Bo Preising, Chief Innovation Officer of Suitable Technologies. “This is our newest product designed with the best audio, video, and mobility technology available. BeamPro 2 is the most advanced telepresence device on the market and it provides richer human interaction.”

For more details, Bo Preising answered a few questions for us over email.

IEEE Spectrum: What kind of feedback did you get from BeamPro customers that influenced the design of the BeamPro 2?

Bo Preising: Multiple large customers have asked for the ability to raise and lower the display for better eye-eye contact. We’ve also added safety sensors for situations where there are delicate things in the environment (museums, healthcare, etc.) due to requests from customers. Some large customers have also asked for better camera technology— the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom, and some large customers have asked for laser pointer pan/tilt capability. As such, we’ve designed BeamPro 2 as a modular product with the capability to add or exchange new technologies without further engineering.

Can you describe what you mean by “modular mobile platform?” What are some examples of accessories that can be added to the BeamPro 2?

The original Beam products were designed to just be super reliable as robotic telepresence. The new BP2 device is designed to be a modular mobile platform that can provide telepresence as well as other technologies to the user. For example, depth cameras have been added for 3D viewing and safety along with the option to add LIDAR, pan/tilt/zoom cameras, pan/tilt laser pointers, or many other sensors to this device. We have thought through many ideas on how to add on accessories and have the connections, power, and platform to do so. This will allow us to explore areas outside normal telepresence.

How are the multiple 3D depth cameras used? What kinds of autonomy (or assistive autonomy) does BeamPro 2 have?

There are two 3D cameras, one in the front and one in the back, that allow for calibration of the system so the Beam knows where it is in its space. The front camera also has 120-degree total vertical tilt for obstacle avoidance. When backing up, the back camera helps with obstacle avoidance as well. The BP2 is still meant to be tele-operated. We find that having the user move the device around helps keep them engaged in the remote environment and thus allows the device to be perceived as the user more readily by the “locals,” or people who interact with the device.

What’s still weird to me is how little autonomy BP2 has considering the sensors that it comes with. I understand Bo’s point about keeping people engaged, but in my experience, something like automatic person following would be very useful to allow more of a focus on the conversation rather than the driving (although automatic obstacle avoidance may help with that significantly). Perhaps the sensors are there also to help enable some of those “modular mobile platform” use cases in “areas outside normal telepresence.” We’ll see.

We’ve been told that “pricing information will be available in the next few months,” but for context, the (now old and busted I guess) BeamPro costs $15k, and that’s without the optional lidar and camera upgrades. Our guess is that the BeamPro2 will be significantly more expensive, but still within a range that lets Suitable make a case that it will save companies money by making executive travel unnecessary. I say executive, because shuttling around those of us who fly in steerage is cheap enough that it’s just not worth it to use a robot like either of the pro-class Beams—especially since it’s less effective than being there in person.

And that brings up my last concern about BP2, and telepresence in general: At some point (and BP2 may already have passed that point), improvements to hardware give you diminishing returns on the telepresence experience. Is BP2, with its big screen, fancy cameras, and audio, going to help users (on both ends) communicate with each other more effectively? Sure it is. But how much more effectively, relative to the cost? And what’s the next step for two-way telepresence?

I have no doubt that Suitable is thinking about all of this stuff, and I’m idly wondering if they’re starting to position themselves as more of a remote mobile platform, sort of like iRobot’s AVA 500, which incidentally is now part of a spinoff called Ava Robotics. We should find out over the next year or so, as BeamPro 2 goes on sale this summer.

[ Suitable Technologies ]

CES 2018: Suitable Tech Introduces BeamPro 2 Telepresence Platform syndicated from http://ift.tt/2Bq2FuP