[mareko]

This article describes how nano metalenses work and what they can be used for.

Spoiler alert: they can't be used to replace your smartphone's camera lenses yet, but can be used for IR distance sensors used on drones and soon, polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart and even detect cracks in concrete.

[nomel]

> polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart

Video of Gavin Smith explaining polarization with a neat mechanical/visual demonstration: https://youtu.be/9SAzxlF57mc?feature=shared&t=128

Not sure if he ever made the camera.

[TeMPOraL]

One step closer to a tricorder.

[hbarka]

I wonder if this has applications for sensing in self-driving cars.

[codetrotter]

AI-equipped cars with a real sense of feeling in their tires. It’ll be like the sensation of touch for them. Everything they run over, they will feel. Make them learn that animals feel gross to touch. Make them feel remorse for running over a human. Boom! Self-driving safety solved!

[psd1]

This opens the door to kinky AI

[jerf]

Door already wide open: https://www.reuters.com/technology/ai-chatbot-company-replik...

[throwup238]

Yeah that’s exactly what we need.

An AI that calls us “daddy”

That can’t possibly go wrong. Nope.

[empyrrhicist]

> feeling in their tires.

Ignoring the rest...

I feel like this would be much easier to accomplish with acoustic sensors and wheel/suspension telemetry, given that an attentive human driver can sort of "feel" the road surface already.

[vivzkestrel]

can you make an optical camo with this?