Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Foxconn Unit to Cut Over 10,000 Jobs as Robotics Take Over
February 10th, 2018Via: Nikkei: Foxconn’s panel arm Innolux is planning to slash more than 10,000 jobs this year as part of the company’s aggressive efforts to increase the use of automation in manufacturing, said Honorary Chairman Tuan Hsing-Chien on Tuesday. “We will reduce our total workforce to less than 50,000 people by the end of this year, […]
U.S. Army Now Holding Drills With Ground Robots That Shoot
February 9th, 2018Via: DefenseOne: In a historic first, the Army conducted a live fire exercise with a remote-controlled ground combat vehicle armed with a .50-caliber machine gun. It plans to conduct more exercises with more heavily armed ground robots within the next couple of years. The demonstration was part of the annual Northern Strike exercise, which took […]
Airbus Tests Self-Flying Taxi
February 2nd, 2018Via: AFP: Airbus said Friday that it had successfully held the first test flights of the Vahana, an electric, pilotless flying vehicle that it hopes will be able to ferry people around cities. The Wednesday flight at a test range in the US state of Oregon lasted just under one minute, with the aircraft lifting […]
Artificial Intelligence Is Going to Supercharge Surveillance
January 29th, 2018Via: The Verge: Artificial intelligence is giving surveillance cameras digital brains to match their eyes, letting them analyze live video with no humans necessary. This could be good news for public safety, helping police and first responders more easily spot crimes and accidents and have a range of scientific and industrial applications. But it also […]
With Teen Mental Health Deteriorating Over Five Years, There’s a Likely Culprit
January 28th, 2018“All signs point to the screen.” Via: The Conversation: Around 2012, something started going wrong in the lives of teens. In just the five years between 2010 and 2015, the number of U.S. teens who felt useless and joyless – classic symptoms of depression – surged 33 percent in large national surveys. Teen suicide attempts […]
Tesla Gigafactory Production Problems Worse than Previously Disclosed
January 26th, 2018The Hacker News comments on this are interesting. Via: CNBC: Tesla’s problems with battery production at the company’s Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, are worse than the company has acknowledged and could cause further delays and quality issues for the new Model 3, according to a number of current and former Tesla employees. These problems include […]
Amazon’s Automated Grocery Store of the Future Opens Monday
January 21st, 2018haha Via: Reuters: But there have been challenges, according to a person familiar with the matter. These included correctly identifying shoppers with similar body types, the person said. When children were brought into the store during the trial, they caused havoc by moving items to incorrect places, the person added.
GM Drops the Steering Wheel and Gives Robot Driver Control
January 12th, 2018Via: Bloomberg: Next year, General Motors Co. will no longer need an engineer in the front seat babysitting the robot brain that controls its self-driving Chevrolet Bolt. The steering wheel and pedals will be gone, giving total control to the machine. When GM starts testing its autonomous electric sedan in San Francisco ride-sharing fleets, it’ll […]
New York Times Bullshit Crosses Into Comedy Gold: A.I. and Big Data Could Power a New War on Poverty
January 2nd, 2018Here’s one for your Not-The-Onion file folder. At the link, there’s a picture of a robot shaking hands with a human. Here’s an idea for a New York Times OpEd: “How to Get a Suntan from a Nuclear Bomb Blast.” For my story idea, they could show a nice mushroom cloud going up into the […]
Animal Shelter Tried to Use Security Robot to Scare Off Homeless People
December 14th, 2017Via: The Verge: An animal shelter in San Francisco has been criticized for using a robot security guard to scare off homeless people. The San Francisco branch of the SPCA (the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) hired a K5 robot built by Knightscope to patrol the sidewalks outside its facilities. According to […]
