Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
‘Pilots Are Losing Their Basic Flying Skills’
May 25th, 2019Via: USA Today: Automation has made planes safer and more efficient, but the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max jets is leading some to wonder if there is a dangerous flip side. While advanced autopilots and computers are now considered an integral part of any modern jetliner, many pilots worry that the systems are detracting […]
Robots Conduct Daily Health Inspections of Schoolchildren in China
May 23rd, 2019Wow! Via: New Scientist: Please stand in front of Walklake for your examination. This health checking robot takes just 3 seconds to diagnose a variety of ailments in children, including conjunctivitis, and hand, foot and mouth disease. Over 2000 preschools in China, with children aged between 2 and 6, are using Walklake every morning to […]
Amazon Is Working on a Device That Can Read Human Emotions
May 23rd, 2019This strikes an interesting balance. It’s right on the line between cringe inducing and hilarious. Via: Bloomberg: Amazon.com Inc. is developing a voice-activated wearable device that can recognize human emotions. The wrist-worn gadget is described as a health and wellness product in internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg. It’s a collaboration between Lab126, the hardware development […]
Ford’s Vision for Package Delivery Is a Robot that Folds Up Into the Back a Self-Driving Car
May 23rd, 2019Ford conveniently doesn’t show you the robot retrieving the package from the vehicle. As a former FedEx driver who worked with delivery trucks piled top to bottom with packages for years, I chortle deeply and satisfyingly at this one. Assume that the self driving issue is somehow sorted out, which isn’t going to happen anytime […]
U.S. Postal Service Testing Self-Driving Trucks for Hauling Mail Between Hubs
May 21st, 2019In yesterday’s post, I mentioned how intercity freight is the low hanging fruit of the self driving world. Here we go… Via: Reuters: The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday started a two-week test transporting mail across three Southwestern states using self-driving trucks, a step forward in the effort to commercialize autonomous vehicle technology for hauling […]
Automakers Are Rethinking the Timetable for Fully Autonomous Cars
May 20th, 2019A friend of mine is an AI researcher. I know that “AI researcher” is a nebulous term, but let it suffice to say that he is highly qualified in this area. Back in April, I asked him what he thought about Tesla’s big self driving dog and pony show. In short, I asked him: Is […]
Robots Take the Wheel as Autonomous Farm Machines Hit Fields
May 16th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: Robots are taking over farms faster than anyone saw coming. The first fully autonomous farm equipment is becoming commercially available, which means machines will be able to completely take over a multitude of tasks. Tractors will drive with no farmer in the cab, and specialized equipment will be able to spray, plant, plow […]
RealTalk: This Speech Synthesis Model Our Engineers Built Recreates a Human Voice Perfectly
May 16th, 2019Via: Medium: Today we’re excited to announce that our Machine Learning Engineers Hashiam Kadhim, Joe Palermo and Rayhane Mama have produced the most realistic AI simulation of a voice we’ve heard to date. It’s the voice of someone you’ve probably heard of before?—?Joe Rogan. (For those who haven’t: Joe Rogan is the creator and host […]
Driverless Electric Truck Starts Deliveries on Swedish Public Road
May 16th, 2019Via: Reuters: Resembling the helmet of a Star Wars stormtrooper, a driverless electric truck began daily freight deliveries on a public road in Sweden on Wednesday, in what developer Einride and logistics customer DB Schenker described as a world first. Robert Falck, the CEO of Swedish start-up Einride, said the company was in partnership talks […]
Amazon Rolls Out Machines That Pack Orders and Eliminate Jobs
May 13th, 2019Via: Reuters: Amazon.com Inc is rolling out machines to automate a job held by thousands of its workers: boxing up customer orders. The company started adding technology to a handful of warehouses in recent years, which scans goods coming down a conveyor belt and envelopes them seconds later in boxes custom-built for each item, two […]
