84 TIME November 30/December 7, 2020
BEST INVENTIONS 2020
AR & VR
HELPING FRONTLINE WORKERS
Virti
Certain situations are
almost impossible
to train for. What do
you do, say, when you
nick an artery during
surgery? Or spot a leak
on an oil rig? In 2018,
trauma surgeon Dr. Alex
Young launched Virti, a
training platform that
drops workers into high-
stress augmented and
virtual reality scenarios,
where they can practice
responding and receive
feedback. This year,
the company found animportant new use case:
the pandemic. Virti’s
COVID-19 modules teach
frontline workers around
the world skills like the
right way to wear personal
protective equipment,
administer treatment
or ventilate a patient.
A company study found
that Virti’s AR- and
VR-based approach
boosted knowledge
retention by 230%
compared with
typical training.
—JAMIE DUCHARMEEXPERIMENTAL
HYDROGEN POWER FOR AIRPLANES
ZeroAvia
In 2019, passenger airlines emitted a record
915 million tons of CO² into the atmosphere.
But bluer skies may be ahead. Case in point:
ZeroAvia’s zero-emission hydrogen-electric
power train, which substitutes hydrogen fuel
cells and electric motors for conventional
fossil-fuel- powered engines. The tech was
recently tested on a fl ight north of London, inwhich a small Piper M-Class six-seater took
to the air. Founder and CEO Val Miftakhov,
a pilot and a veteran in the sustainable-
transportation industry, predicts that the tech
will be able to power a 20-seat aircraft with
a range of 500 miles within three years and a
100-passenger jet within 10.
—JESSE WILLENTERTAINMENT
A MUCH NEEDED ESCAPE
Nintendo Animal Crossing: New Horizons
When COVID-19 hijacked our lives earlier this year, many
of us turned to video games for comfort. Few were more
soothing than Animal Crossing: New Horizons ($59.99),
which was released at the end of March, just as the
pandemic took hold in the U.S., generating record
profi ts for its publisher, Nintendo. Its secret weapon:
simplicity. More than 26 million players cultivated
small islands, tilling the land, designing houses and
managing a community. In the game, friends can also
drop by for a visit—a rare, if virtual, comfort in these
days of social distancing. Animal Crossing doesn’t just
offer escapism, though: during the 2020 presidential
race, Joe Biden’s campaign offered yard signs for
people’s personal islands, and the President-elect even
had a virtual campaign offi ce that players could tour.
—MATTHEW GAULT
CONNECTIVITY
SUPERIOR
STREAMING
Roland GO:LIVECAST
The pandemic
has hastened the
livestreaming era, turning
our phones into bona fi de
broadcast stations. One
problem: a lot of streams
seem exceedingly
amateurish. Enter the
Roland GO:LIVECAST,
which makes it easy
to ensure that live
broadcasts look polished.
The control room in
miniature ($250) features
mic and instrument
inputs, controls to switch
between smartphone
cameras and more. Once
connected, the device
can send your footage
to Facebook, YouTube or
wherever your viewers
are. —JESSE WILLEDUCATION
FUN WITH
PHONICS
Duolingo ABC
Duolingo transformed our
phones into language-
learning devices. Now,
with Duolingo ABC, the
company is tackling
a fresh challenge:
childhood literacy.
The new app is
like an interactive
Sesame Street segment
that teaches kids the
basics of reading with
fun and simple lessons.
“By taking everything
we know about how
people learn—and
especially what we
know about how to keep
learners motivated with
gamifi cation—we believe
we can help make a
dent in global illiteracy
rates,” says Laura Shih,
the company’s senior
product manager.
—MATTHEW GAULT