Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Walmart Patents Surveillance Tool That Can Eavesdrop on Workers and Customers
July 12th, 2018Via: Engadget: The audio surveillance system Walmart designed is composed of several sensors that can collect all kinds of audio data, including beeps and the rustling of paper bags. Any data it gathers can be used to assess an employee’s performance — for instance, the sounds items make when they’re placed inside a bag can […]
AI Startups and the ‘Wizard of Oz Technique’
July 11th, 2018Via: Guardian: It’s hard to build a service powered by artificial intelligence. So hard, in fact, that some startups have worked out it’s cheaper and easier to get humans to behave like robots than it is to get machines to behave like humans. “Using a human to do the job lets you skip over a […]
Self-Driving Cars Are Headed Toward an AI Roadblock
July 4th, 2018Via: The Verge: If you believe the CEOs, a fully autonomous car could be only months away. In 2015, Elon Musk predicted a fully autonomous Tesla by 2018; so did Google. Delphi and MobileEye’s Level 4 system is currently slated for 2019, the same year Nutonomy plans to deploy thousands of driverless taxis on the […]
More States Opting to ‘Robo-Grade’ Student Essays by Computer
July 2nd, 2018Via: NPR: Department Of Education Deputy Commissioner Jeff Wulfson cited “huge advances in artificial intelligence in the last few years” and cracked, “I asked Alexa whether she thought we’d ever be able to use computers to reliably score tests, and she said absolutely.”
Mini Neanderthal Brains Will Be Connected To Robots
June 28th, 2018Via: Live Science: Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago, but thanks to cutting-edge science, there is now a lab in California that has petri dishes filled with pea-size versions of the cavemen’s brains. Why are researchers cultivating and studying these mini brains? The reason, they say, is that these small neural lumps may reveal […]
A Team of AI Algorithms Just Crushed Humans in a Complex Computer Game
June 25th, 2018Via: MIT Technology Review: Five different AI algorithms have teamed up to kick human butt in Dota 2, a popular strategy computer game. Researchers at OpenAI, a nonprofit based in California, developed the algorithmic A team, which they call the OpenAI Five. Each algorithm uses a neural network to learn not only how to play […]
Flying Dragon Robot Transforms Itself to Squeeze Through Gaps
June 23rd, 2018Via: IEEE: It’s a modular flying robot powered by ducted fans that can transform literally on the fly, from a square to a snake to anything in between, allowing it to stretch out to pass through small holes and then make whatever other shape you want once it’s on the other side.
The World’s First Robot-Made Burger Is About to Hit the Bay Area
June 21st, 2018Via: Bloomberg: On June 27, the world’s first robot-crafted burger will roll off a conveyor belt in San Francisco and into the hands of the public. You could call it the freshest burger on Earth. The product, from Bay Area-based Creator, a culinary robotics company, is assembled and cooked in a machine that contains 20 […]
We Are All Prisoners of the Surveillance State
June 20th, 2018Via: The Rutherford Institute: We now find ourselves in the unenviable position of being monitored, managed and controlled by our technology, which answers not to us but to our government and corporate rulers. Consider that on any given day, the average American going about his daily business will be monitored, surveilled, spied on and tracked […]
U.S. Army: Robots for Ground Combat by 2028
June 20th, 2018Via: FCW: Robotics is crucial to Army Secretary Mark Esper’s strategic vision, and he wants to have unmanned vehicles on the battlefield by 2028. Esper previewed the Army’s soon-to-be-released strategic vision calling for unmanned vehicles as an integral part of the force at a Brookings Institute event June 5. “I think robotics has the potential […]
