Five hot new technologies of the future

Archont e-bike

Cyclists wanting to give their morning commute that extra spark might want to look into an Archont electro from Serbian e-bike maker Ono Bikes. This stylish stainless steel ride was inspired by Harley Davidson motorbikes. Under the hood sits a 7-kW electric motor that will push it just shy of 50mph with a range of 60 miles on one charge.The Archont electro will set you back €9,999 (£7,026) when it goes on sale, though pre-orders have a 33 per cent discount for a limited time, or a non-electric version costs €1,999 (£1,405), when available in April.

XO-Infinity hybrid tablet/laptop

Education nonprofit OLPC has spent the last decade working to give kids all over the world access to technology with projects like the XO laptop. Now its Australian branch One Education is seeking $50,000 (£33,100) on Indiegogo to fund the XO-Infinity — a durable tablet/laptop hybrid they think will be perfect for schools trying to get kids engaged with gadgets. The Infinity is built to last, with everything from the 1.4 GHz quad-core CPU to the 7,000 mAh battery built into removable modules that can be upgraded or replaced on a whim, all wrapped in a resilient silicone cover. Donating $249 (£164.84) plus shipping will get you started with an Infinity hub and core modules when it ships in September.

Gest controller

The guys at Gest say goodbye to the mouse. The Gest controller (now on Kickstarter) houses an array of gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers all working to precisely determine hand movements, hooking up to your gadgets via Bluetooth to trigger functions when you make a gesture. A pair of controllers will even let you type simply by tapping on your desk. Unlike similar motion-controllers, Gest is geared towards interpreting specific movements rather than tracking your hands in space. Having raised almost twice its $100,000 (£66,100) Kickstarter funding goal, Gest is due to ship in November with pricing to be announced.

Alan

Though Alan would be at home on the cover of a sci-fi novel, Will Huff and the team at Robomodix hope their modular robotics kit will shape the way we perceive intelligent machines.

Huff, a makeup effects artist whose film credits include Spielberg’s AI Artificial Intelligence, designed Alan to explore how a robot’s look affects how people interact with it. The hardware kits for bringing Alan to life vary depending on how much you want to get your hands dirty, but the pricier packages promise to come with an EZB processor that will help you teach him tricks such as object recognition and speech synthesis with no coding required. But Robomodix still needs to raise $125,000 (£82,625) on Kickstarter before Alan can be brought to life.

Doodlepad

Inspiration strikes when you least expect it, which is why there are so many stories of history’s greatest ideas being sketched out on the back of a napkin. Now DoodleWeDo wants to build a community around such spontaneous creativity. The Doodlepad is a book of simple line art designed to spark the imagination and free your inner scribbler. Each page features a QR code that you scan with the app, to upload a photo of your masterpiece to share with fellow doodlers. Backers who donate $20 (£13.22) will receive a Doodlepad in March if Innovation Collective, the folk behind the project, can raise the $100,000 (£66,100) Kickstarter goal by early January.