Tag Archives: computer

#430550 This Week’s Awesome Stories From ...

DRONES
MIT Is Building Autonomous Drones That Can Both Drive and FlyApril Glaser | Recode“The drones, which were built at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, also include route-planning software that can help calculate when the flying robot switches from air to ground in order to optimize its battery life.”
SPACE
SpaceX Is Making Commercial Space Launches Look Like Child’s PlayJamie Condliffe | MIT Technology Review“Late Friday, SpaceX launched a satellite into orbit from Florida using one of its refurbished Falcon 9 rockets. Then on Sunday, for good measure, it lofted 10 smaller satellites using a new version of the same rocket, which it launched from California. The feat is a sign that the private space company seems more likely than ever to turn its vision of competitively priced, rapid-turnaround rocket launches into reality.”
CYBERSECURITY
A New Ransomware Attack Is Infecting Airlines, Banks, and Utilities Across EuropeRussell Brandom | The Verge“The origins of the attack are still unclear, but the involvement of Ukraine’s electric utilities is likely to cast suspicion on Russia. Ukraine’s power grid was hit by a persistent and sophisticated attack in December 2015, which many attributed to Russia. The attack ultimately left 230,000 residents without power for as long as six hours.”
SILICON VALLEY NEWS
Mark Zuckerberg’s Probably Nonexistent 2020 Presidential Campaign, ExplainedTimothy B. Lee | VOX“After all, the kind of outreach Zuckerberg would do in a presidential campaign isn’t that different from the kind of outreach he’d do if he were simply trying to understand Facebook users better and build public goodwill for his massive social media site.”
AUTONOMOUS CARS
Riding in a Robocar That Sees Around CornersPhilip E. Ross | IEEE Spectrum“It takes 20 to 30 minutes to fit a car with the necessary hardware: a GPS sensor and a wireless transceiver. Here in the MCity compound, at least, the GPS system uses a repeater to enhance its accuracy down to centimeter level—good enough to locate a car precisely and to allow other cars to figure out its trajectory and measure its speed.”
Image Credit: SpaceX / Flickr Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#428432 This Intelligent 3D Printer Is Building ...

Imagine one day walking into a gorgeous structure—like LA's famous Walt Disney Concert Hall—only to discover it was designed by a computer system and constructed by automated robotic arms. Ai Build, a London-based startup, aims to pave the way to 3D printing on large scales. The company is equipping industrial-grade Kuka robotic arms with artificial intelligence and "3D printing guns" to 3D print large structures that focus on maximizing efficiency with labor and materials. Founder and CEO Daghan Cam dreamed up the… read more Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#428348 Google’s New AI Gets Smarter Thanks to ...

“The behavior of the computer at any moment is determined by the symbols which he is observing and his 'state of mind' at that moment.” – Alan Turing Artificial intelligence has a memory problem. Back in early 2015, Google’s mysterious DeepMind unveiled an algorithm that could teach itself to play Atari games. Based on deep neural nets, the AI impressively mastered nostalgic favorites such as Space Invaders and Pong without needing any explicit programming —… read more Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#428199 The AI Conversation Has Exploded This ...

Discussion of artificial intelligence has skyrocketed since the end of the last decade, according to a new analysis looking at public perception of the technology. The paper by Stanford computer science PhD Ethan Fast and Eric Horvitz, a distinguished scientist and deputy managing director at Microsoft Research, looked at more than three million articles published in the New York Times between January 1986 and May 2016. The study is under review to become a conference… read more Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#428181 Adding social touch to robotics

A squeeze in the arm, a pat on the shoulder, or a slap in the face – touch is an important part of the social interaction between people. Social touch, however, is a relatively unknown field when it comes to robots, even though robots operate with increasing frequency in society at large, rather than just in the controlled environment of a factory. Merel Jung is conducting research at the University of Twente CTIT research institute into social touch interaction with robots. Using a relatively simple system – a mannequin's arm with pressure sensors, connected to a computer – she has succeeded in getting it to recognize sixty percent of all touches. The research is being published today in the Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces scientific journal. Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots