Module 1 – Application
definite conclusions), and self-correction.
Development and Emerging
Technologies
Introduction
Application development is the process of
designing, building, and implementing
software applications. It can be done by
massive organizations with large teams
working on projects, or by a single freelance
developer. Application development defines
the process of how the application is made,
and generally follows a standard
methodology.
Emerging technology is a term generally
used to describe a new technology, but it may
also refer to the continuing development of
an existing technology; it can have slightly
different meaning when used in different
areas, such as media, business, science, or
education. The term commonly refers to
technologies that are currently developing, or
that are expected to be available within the
next five to ten years, and is usually reserved
for technologies that are creating, or are
expected to create, significant social or
economic effects.
9 Emerging Technologies That You Need
To Know About
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence is the simulation of human
intelligence processes by machines, especially
computer systems. These processes include
learning (the acquisition of information and
rules for using the information), reasoning
(using the rules to reach approximate or
What it means for application development:
Though Hollywood seems to villainize AI as the
eventual end of human existence, its
capabilities are far more helpful than
destructive. AI advances in the last couple of
years have opened the door to new business
software capabilities.
Types of Artificial Intelligence (AI):
Weak AI – also called Narrow AI or Artificial
Narrow Intelligence (ANI)
it enables some powerful applications, such as
Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, IBM Watson, and
autonomous vehicles.
Strong AI is made up of Artificial General
Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Super
Intelligence (ASI)
AGI – machines would have an intelligence like
human
ASI – superintelligence
- would surpass the intelligence and ability of
the human brain
2. Automation
Automation is a method to control or operate a
process, system, or device without continuous
human involvement.
What it means for application development:
Automation can be used to mimic previously
human-exclusive tasks like writing, speech, and
driving. Common applications include
standardized graphic design work, agriculture,
journalism, and marketing.
Types of Automation:
1. Basic Automation - digitizing work by
using tools to streamline and centralize
routine tasks, such as using a shared
messaging system instead of having
information in disconnected silos.
Business process management (BPM)
and robotic process automation (RPA)
are types of basic automation.
2. Process Automation - manages
business processes for uniformity and
transparency. Using process
automation can increase productivity
and efficiency with your business.
Process mining and workflow
automation are types of process
automation.
3. Integration Automation - machines can
mimic human task and repeat the
actions once humans define the
machine rules.
Digital Worker – in recent year, people
have defined digital workers as
software robots that are trained to
work with humans to perform specific
task.
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation -
the most complex of automation. The
addition of AI means that machine can
“learn” and make decisions based on
past situations they have encountered
and analyze.
in customer service, virtual assistants
powered can reduce costs while
empowering both customers and
human agents, creating an optimal
customer service experience.
3 Robotization
Robotization is automating tasks using a
machine that can perform complex and/or
repetitive tasks automatically or one that is
controlled by software programs.
What it means for application development:
Robotics applications are making a huge impact
in a wide variety of industries. In the agriculture
industry farmers have paired with developers to
program robots to
eliminate weeds without having to use harmful
herbicides on the crops. They can also be used
to fertilize and even harvest crops.
4 3-D Printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is a
process of making three-dimensional solid
objects from a digital file built in a CAD model.
What it means for application development: 3-D
printing has been on the scene for a while, but
its applications are still in the infancy stage.
Retail businesses are starting to look into the
possibility of using 3-D printers to make tailored
attire for consumers.
5 Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which
encryption techniques are used to regulate the
generation of units of currency and verify the
transfer of funds, operating independently of a
central bank. A major example is Bitcoin, the
world’s first decentralized ledger currency.
What it means for application development:
With popularity in cryptocurrencies growing
among today’s consumer, there is a growing
demand for businesses to have the technology
to accept them as a form of payment.
6 IoT (Internet of Things)
The Internet of Things, or IoT, is revolutionizing
day-to-day business decision making and
information gathering. Businesses can stream
incoming data from connected devices,
buildings, vehicles, wearables, and other
devices that have sensors to optimize systems,
help predict failures, improve efficiency, and
create better outcomes.
What it means for application development:
Utilizing the data gathered through IoT,
software applications can be used to automate
specific operations, improve the efficiency of
processes, and find new insights once the data
has been analyzed. Recently, companies have
developed IoT devices that record, analyze, and
interpret data to personalize functions to
complement your day to day processes, manage
health conditions, streamline the purchasing
process, and deliver better customer service.
7 Voice Recognition
Sometimes known as “speech recognition,”
voice recognition is the ability of a machine or
program to receive and interpret dictation or to
understand and carry out spoken commands.
What it means for application development:
With firms like Google, Apple, Amazon, and
Microsoft embracing voice recognition
technology, the market for its usability in all
types of software continues to grow.
Incorporating the capabilities of voice
recognition in your internal and external
applications can help create a more fluid and
frictionless user experience and open up doors
to new markets as the general population
becomes accustomed to these technologies.
Alexa and Siri already need no introduction to a
vast number of people.
8 Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous Vehicles are robotic vehicles that
are designed to travel between destinations
without a human operator. For a vehicle to
qualify as fully autonomous, it must be able to
navigate without human intervention to a
predetermined destination over roads that have
not been adapted for its use.
What it means for application development:
With companies like Tesla, Google, and Uber
breaking the surface of autonomous vehicle
development, it creates a whole new market for
software applications.
9 Drones
A drone, in a technological context, is an
unmanned aircraft. The aircraft may be
remotely controlled or can fly autonomously
through software-controlled flight plans in their
embedded systems working in conjunction with
onboard sensors and GPS. Companies like
Amazon recently revealed their plans to use
them in same day delivery operations.
What it means for application development:
The use of drones is impacting major industries,
and they are also helping software
development teams reach their goals.
Wearable & Implantable
Technologies
Wearable and implantable technologies sense
parameters of various diseases and can either
transfer data to a remote center, direct the
patient to take a specific action, or
automatically perform a function based on what
the sensors are reading.
Heart Monitoring
Cardiac outpatients experiencing
arrhythmias who need their heart monitored
for an extended period of time have
traditionally worn a Holter monitor for 24
hours, an event recorder used intermittently
over 24 to 48 hours or a continuous loop
recorder that captures and transmits a few
minutes’ worth of recordings. But none of
these solutions is ideal and clinically
significant arrhythmias can be missed.
CardioNet’s Mobile Cardiac Outpatient
Telemetry™ (MCOT™) unit is worn
continuously for up to 21 days. Based on
physician-selected events to be monitored
and the chosen reporting speed, the device
automatically transmits detected events to
the CardioNet Center, which then relays
reports to a patient’s physician.
For patients suffering from infrequent and
unexplained fainting episodes, longer-term
monitoring is required. Medtronic’s
Insertable Cardiac Monitor is implanted just
under the skin for long-term use, eliminating
the wires and recording pads of shorter-term
solutions. This loop recorder is constantly
monitoring signals from the heart, keeping
only a few minutes of the recording at a time.
When a spell occurs, the patient or a family
member uses a hand-held activator to trigger
the device to capture the period before,
during and after the spell
Monitoring Parkinson’s
The severity of symptoms in patients with
Parkinson’s disease can vary greatly between
doses and throughout the day. A
neurologist typically spends just a few
minutes with a patient and, to physically get
to their appointment, the patient has to
medicate appropriately. So, it can be a
challenge to render an accurate assessment
of a patient’s status and their need for
medication adjustment. Further confounding
medication decision-making, patients often
confuse the tremor of Parkinson’s with drug-
induced dyskinesias, making self-reports
unreliable.
Backed by the Michael J Fox Foundation and
the NIH, researchers at Harvard are
exploring ways to monitor motion patterns of
Parkinson’s patients at home and infer the
severity of Parkinsonian symptoms. Early
proof-of-concept studies using
accelerometers on the upper and lower
limbs were able to detect the severity of both
tremors and dyskinesias to the same level of
accuracy as the assessments of neurologists.
Smart Tattoos
Continuous monitoring can occur via
wireless monitors, wireless patches and
articles of clothing. But cost is, of course, an
issue—as is patient compliance.
Researchers at the University of Illinois—
working with colleagues in Singapore—have
figured out how to embed flat, flexible,
stretchable electronic sensors into
temporary tattoos that can withstand
wrinkling, bending and twisting of the skin.
These micro-electronics, which are thinner
than a human hair and applied with water,
could be used to provide irritation-free
monitoring of electric signals produced by
the heart, brain and muscles.
The applications are wide-ranging. The
tattoos could be used to monitor heart
arrhythmias, sleep disorders and the heart
activity of premature babies; stimulate
muscles; and serve as a human-computer
interface when applied to the throat by using
vibrations from the vocal chords to control a
computer. Additional detectors, transmitters
and receivers can also be included on the
tattoo.
Currently powered via solar cells and a
wireless transmitter, the developers are
hoping to include a tiny battery. They also
hope to someday be able to interpret
chemical information from the skin.
Dermally-Implanted Sensors
Blood chemistry is the focus of researchers at
Texas A&M University. They are working on
micro-particles that can be injected into the
highly-vascular dermis layer of the skin and
change color to reflect changes in blood
chemistry. These “active” inks are
luminescent; imperceptible to the naked eye
and visible only by using a special light.
The microparticle sensor concept:
implantation, interrogation, and readout.
Patients can be monitored using a range of
techniques, from wearable devices that
require patients to actively participate and be
compliant, to unobtrusive environmental
monitoring and temporary or implantable
devices.
Wearable and implantable technologies have
the potential to provide significant savings—
in both costs and lives. For any device to be
successful, however, it has to be designed in
such a way that it is inexpensive for the
payer, unintimidating for the user and both
accurate and reliable for everyone.
Real-Time Language Translators
So, what is real-time translation?
(RTT) Real-time translation technology is what it
sounds like. It is basically a tech-driven solution
that directly translates content from one
language to another language. Anyone is able to
use RTT for getting a "gist" of translation—
making quick fact checks and cobble together
communication with someone who talks in a
different language.
How real-time translation works?
The process of real-time translation has
witnessed remarkable changes over the years.
Where the previous versions of this efficient
and mind-blowing technology first used to
change speech into text and then translate that
text into a chosen language, this process has
shown a shift entirely, thanks to AI technology.
Today, translation tools hear the words being
spoken by examining the waveforms of the
sound, classifying those portions of the speech
that are linked with its translations. The tool
then proceeds to translate the speech into what Mandarin Chinese, U.S. English, French, Italian,
it finds common in the target language. Spanish, and German.

The system of real-time translation works on

the principles of Artificial Intelligence and
different kinds of machine learning, by using
advanced pattern- matching software that is
able to recognize sounds. Neural networks and
deep learning programs are used for correctly
analyzing what is being said and being
understood regarding the context of words and
sentences. All the information is then processed
with the help of encoders. Other than that, the
AI translation tool also has an access to a huge
database containing common information,
words, and meanings that have previously been
taken from millions of other documents.

Encounter of the giants:

Alexa, Cortana, Siri, and other software in
smartphone devices have learned already to
understand what a person is saying and
applying commands in a single language. Today,
they are learning to translate those words into
other languages.

Below is the list of existing hardware adjacent

to real-time translation:

1: Google’s Pixel Bud earbuds work with

Android devices which translate between up to
40 languages (Google also offers Google
Translate and Word Lens, which translates
words in photographs)

2: Waverley Lab’s pilot system consists of two

earpieces shared between two people who
don’t speak the same language. Similar devices,
including Translate One2One, have also been
announced

3: iTranslate and Bragi already proposed Dash

Pro, which translates in over 40 languages 4:
Apple’s Siri will soon translate between