JAKARTA – The waste from discarded electronic gadgets and electrical appliances has reached severe levels in East Asia, posing a growing threat to health and the environment unless safe disposal becomes the norm. China was the biggest culprit with its electronic waste more than doubling, according to a new study by the United Nations University. But nearly every country in the region had massive increases between 2010 and 2015, including those least equipped to deal with the growing mountain of discarded smartphones, computers, TVs, air conditioners and other goods. On average, electronic waste in the 12 countries in the study had increased by nearly two thirds in the five years, totaling 12.3 million tons in 2015 alone. Rising incomes in Asia, burgeoning populations of young adults, rapid obsolescence of products due to technological innovation and changes in fashion, on top of illegal global trade in waste, are among factors driving the increases.

Volkswagen's new I.D. Buzz concept is a self-driving, battery-powered minivan with a style that hearkens back to the Type 2 "Microbus" of the 1950s and 1960s. The very green machine can go 270 miles on a full charge and also sprint to 60 mph in 5 seconds, thanks to the combined 369 horsepower of its front and rear electric motors. When its autonomous I.D. Pilot mode is engaged, a rectangular, spokeless steering wheel tucks away into the dashboard as small disc-shaped laser scanners rise up from the four corners of the roof. This LIDAR system works along with cameras, ultrasonic sensors and cloud-connected navigation to take full control of the vehicle. The three-row interior allows for both front captain's chairs to be turned toward the rear of the vehicle when it's doing the driving to create a lounge space, complete with a central table.

It was actually about when technology goes wrong: In many ways, 2016 was the year of the exploding batteries. A little over a year ago, hoverboards topped many holiday wish lists. By December 2015, they were being recalled by the thousands. According to Popular Science, "…cheaply made hoverboards have exploded and caught fire, forcing Amazon to stop selling specific models and Overstock to discontinue all sales." Rolling into 2016, major computer companies recalled batteries for fire hazards, baby monitors were pulled from shelves and major airlines diverted flights for emergency landings when tablets caught fire onboard.

Last year, Hoverboard Technologies' Robert Bigler came by Mashable HQ in New York to show me the Hoverboard, a skateboard deck with a disc-shaped wheel at its center. As futuristic as the Hoverboard was, it was just too expensive at $4,000 for the fully-loaded model. With the product's failed Kickstarter under his belt, Bigler returned to CES 2017 to show a cheaper version called the GeoBlade. SEE ALSO: This ridiculous laptop is the portable Batman command center you've always dreamed of It still looks like a personal transporter straight out of a sci-fi movie, it's still tricked out with LED lights and has built-in Bluetooth speakers to blast your tunes. The overall design has been cleaned up to look sleeker, too.

Following earlier production tests, Tesla's Gigafactory is now pumping out Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy storage products at full speed, with Model 3 cell production set to follow next quarter. By 2018, it'll produce 35 GWh of lithium-ion cells per year, "nearly as much as the rest of the entire world's battery production combined," the company wrote. The Gigafactory, a joint venture between Tesla and Panasonic, is still less than 30 percent of its eventual 4.9 million square foot size. However, the company needs lots of batteries and needs them fast, considering that it received 400,000 pre-orders for the $35,000 Model 3. So, it's using a phased approach by starting now and expanding later, which "also allows us to learn and continuously improve our construction and operational techniques," Tesla wrote. The company said battery cell costs will decline as much as 30 percent by 2020 as economies of scale and increased automation kicks in. At full tilt, it will produce enough for 1.5 million cars a year, about half of Ford's annual production.

Apart from the flowers, the most exciting attraction at the 1959 Chelsea Flower Show in London was probably Queen Elizabeth II. The most exciting attraction for Queen Elizabeth herself may well have been H.C. Webb & Co.'s radio-controlled electric lawn mower. The machine made its debut there as part of The Times' Garden of Tomorrow, and was on display at the Miracle Garden Exhibition in Paris [above] the following year. Video footage shows the queen and Prince Philip watching the lawn mower with the same sort of bemusement exhibited by people watching robot demonstrations today. The September 1960 issue of Radio Control Models and Electronics called the machine a "lazy gardener's dream of heaven" [PDF].

One of the biggest games in recent history is now even more widely available. Minecraft was just released on Apple TV (see review here on TechConnect), and no, you don't have to control it with that little silver remote. Take full control of the game with this Bluetooth gaming remote from SteelSeries, currently discounted 17% from $60 to $50 on Amazon. The SteelSeries Nimbus remote has all the control sticks, buttons and triggers you or your kids will need to control Minecraft right on your TV. A rechargeable Lithium ion battery provides up to 40 hours of gaming on a charge.

Apart from the flowers, the most exciting attraction at the 1959 Chelsea Flower Show in London was probably Queen Elizabeth II. The most exciting attraction for Queen Elizabeth herself may well have been H.C. Webb & Co.'s radio-controlled electric lawn mower. The machine made its debut there as part of The Times' Garden of Tomorrow, and was on display at the Miracle Garden Exhibition in Paris [above] the following year. Video footage shows the queen and Prince Philip watching the lawn mower with the same sort of bemusement exhibited by people watching robot demonstrations today. The September 1960 issue of Radio Control Models and Electronics called the machine a "lazy gardener's dream of heaven" [PDF].

Back in April, Stanford University professor Oussama Khatib led a team of researchers on an underwater archaeological expedition, 30 kilometers off the southern coast of France, to La Lune, King Louis XIV's sunken 17th-century flagship. Rather than dive to the site of the wreck 100 meters below the surface, which is a very bad idea for almost everyone, Khatib's team brought along a custom-made humanoid submarine robot called Ocean One. In this month's issue of IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, the Stanford researchers describe in detail how they designed and built the robot, a hybrid between a humanoid and an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV), and also how they managed to send it down to the resting place of La Lune, where it used its three-fingered hands to retrieve a vase. Most ocean-ready ROVs are boxy little submarines that might have an arm on them if you're lucky, but they're not really designed for the kind of fine manipulation that underwater archaeology demands. You could send down a human diver instead, but once you get past about 40 meters, things start to get both complicated and dangerous.

Antarctica may look like a forbidding white expanse, but life below the sea ice is full of colour. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division sent a robot down to take a look, capturing a small forest of underwater organisms in bright purples, yellows and pinks. The Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) was submerged at O'Brien Bay in east Antarctica. According to biologist Glenn Johnstone, the organisms survive in water that is -1.5 degrees Celsius (29.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and covered in thick sea ice for most of the year. "This footage reveals a habitat that is productive, colourful, dynamic and full of a wide variety of biodiversity, including sponges, sea spiders, urchins, sea cucumbers and sea stars," he said in a statement.