2022 – Page 3 – Impact Lab

AI

‘World’s first robot lawyer’: DoNotPay wants to build an AI to help people fight traffic tickets

December 22, 2022

DoNotPay is also taking on parking tickets and corporations.

A company is working towards making history and saving drivers money in the process. Whether it works is anyone’s guess, but DoNotPay claims it is building artificial intelligence designed to represent people in traffic court.

The company’s chief executive officer tweeted about their ambitious plan on Monday.

“We want to build a @donotpay bot that listens to the court hearing via your AirPods and whispers what to say with GPT-3 and LLMs,” Joshua Browder wrote. “We just want to experiment and will pay the ticket, even if you lose!” He asked anyone with an upcoming hearing on a speeding ticket to send him a direct message.

(Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, or GPT-3, is an autoregressive language model that uses deep learning to emulate text written by humans in response to a prompt; LLMs is an acronym for large language models, an algorithm that also uses deep learning to understand written language.)

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to whisper in people’s ears during a court hearing is a novel idea, but it could also run afoul of laws prohibiting practicing law without a license and other court rules. People wasted no time pointing these issues out.

“Sounds like practicing law without a license…?” wrote a Twitter user who describes themself as an attorney.

drones

Mobile, Autonomous 3D-printed Drone Manufacturing

December 22, 2022

ABOUT THE 2022 OODA LOOP SERIES: AUTONOMOUS EVERYTHING

By Daniel Pereira

In a series of posts entitled Autonomous Everything, we explore automation in all its technological forms, including legacy working assumptions about the term itself. Autonomous Everything includes a broad autonomous future in areas such as Security Automation, Automation and the Workforce, Automation – or Augmentation – of the workforce, and Automation of AI/Machine Learning Training Models and Industry Standardization. Recently, we checked in with Junaid Islam, a well-known cybersecurity expert, to discuss security automation tools, the increased cyber risks enterprises face, and the emerging AI-based Zero Trust cybersecurity for Smart Energy, Transportation, and Manufacturing systems.

We now explore Orbital Composites’ work with United States Air Force to create mobile, autonomous 3D-printed drone manufacturing capabilities.

Medicine

New Israeli tech could use light to control drugs

December 22, 2022

‘This technology opens opportunities for biomedical and biotechnological applications’

Researchers from Israel’s Tel Aviv University developed a new technology that could lead to better control over the release of drugs in the human body – by using ultraviolet light.

The technology is inspired by the “viral factories” made by the measles virus when infecting a cell. True to their name, these compartments are made within the host cell, containing the necessary material for making more viral particles. Recent studies have also shown that these viral factories are actually liquid-like structures.

Driverless vehicles

Hyundai Motor Robots Begin Pilot Programs to Advance Last-mile Delivery

December 22, 2022

Hyundai Motor Group has started two pilot delivery service programs using autonomous robots based on its Plug & Drive (PnD) modular platform at a hotel and a residential-commercial complex located on the outskirts of Seoul.

The delivery robot consists of a storage unit integrated on top of a PnD driving unit. Alongside the loading box used to deliver items, a connected screen displays information for customers.

First shown at CES 2022, the Group’s PnD modular platform is an all-in-one single-wheel unit that combines intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive and suspension hardware, including a steering actuator for 360-degree, holonomic rotation.

It moves autonomously with the aid of LiDAR and camera sensors. An integrated storage unit allows the robot to transport products to customers.

Space

Wild Research Project Reveals How Future Cities on Asteroids Could Work

December 22, 2022

In what they deem a “wildly theoretical” paper, University of Rochester researchers imagine covering an asteroid in a flexible, mesh bag made of ultralight and high-strength carbon nanofibers as the key to creating human cities in space.

University of Rochester scientists show how asteroids could be future viable space habitats using physics and engineering principles.

During this past year, Jeff Bezos launched himself into space, while Elon Musk funded a space flight for a non-astronaut crew. Space collaborations between government and private entities, including Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’s Blue Origin, are becoming more common. However, with the recent emergence of the so-called “New Space” movement, aerospace companies are working to develop low-cost access to space for everyone, not only billionaires.

But for a future beyond Earth, humans will require places to accommodate homes, buildings, and other structures for millions of people to live and work.

Thus far, space cities only exist in science fiction. But are space cities feasible in reality? And, if so, how?

According to new research from University of Rochester scientists, our future may lie in asteroids.

In what they deem a “wildly theoretical” paper, the researchers outline a plan for creating large cities on asteroids. Published in the journal Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, the scientists include Adam Frank, the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Peter Miklavčič, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering and the paper’s first author.

“Our paper lives on the edge of science and science fiction,” Frank says. “We’re taking a science fiction idea that has been very popular recently—in TV shows like Amazon’s The Expanse—and offering a new path for using an asteroid to build a city in space.”

Driverless vehicles

Autonomous Trucks Equipped with Deep Learning-Driven Robotic Arms

December 22, 2022

TrailerConnect uses proprietary software algorithms, hardware and sensors integrated onto Yaskawa-supplied arms to locate, identify, connect to and disconnect from semi-trailers without modifications or adapters.

By Marina Mayer

Outrider released TrailerConnect, a patented technology that robotically attaches the needed brake and electric lines from yard trucks to any trailers and chassis.

“Outrider is reinventing the modern distribution yard to be more efficient, safer and sustainable, and we are delivering the breakthrough technology like TrailerConnect to do it,” says Andrew Smith, CEO and founder of Outrider. “TrailerConnect automates a dangerous task traditionally performed over 6 billion times annually worldwide. Four years of development and close partnerships with our priority customers has resulted in a technology integral to autonomously moving freight.”

Driverless vehicles

Hyundai Motor Group robots get rolling with pilot programs to advance last-mile delivery

December 20, 2022

New pilot programs demonstrate Hyundai Motor Group’s new Plug & Drive (PnD)-based robots with integrated autonomous driving technology and Group insights

Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) has started two pilot delivery service programs using autonomous robots based on its Plug & Drive (PnD) modular platform at a hotel and a residential-commercial complex located in the outskirts of Seoul.

The delivery robot consists of a storage unit integrated on top of a PnD driving unit. Alongside the loading box used to deliver items, a connected screen displays information for customers.

First shown at CES 2022, the Group’s PnD modular platform is an all-in-one single wheel unit that combines intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive and suspension hardware, including a steering actuator for 360-degree, holonomic rotation. It moves autonomously with the aid of LiDAR and camera sensors. An integrated storage unit allows the robot to transport products to customers.

By adding the autonomous driving capability, the PnD-based robot can find the optimal route within the area to deliver packages to recipients. It can recognize and avoid fixed and moving objects and drive smoothly, providing a fast delivery time.

“PnD-based delivery robots allow quicker delivery times with improved safety through the use of autonomous driving technology, including fast obstacle avoidance capabilities,” said Dong Jin Hyun, Head of Robotics LAB of Hyundai Motor Group. “We plan to keep upgrading mobility services, convenience, safety and affordability for customers through our pilot programs.”

Automobiles

H-POWERED – NEW PININFARINA WITH SWAPPABLE HYDROGEN BOTTLES WHICH THREATEN TESLA’S ELECTRIC VEHICLES ARE SET FOR PRODUCTION

December 20, 2022

By Cody Carlson

CAR manufacturing startup Namx has revealed a prototype version of their debut hydrogen-powered vehicle – and it will be able to get nearly 500 miles out of just one charge.

The vehicle, known as the HUV, is the first model to be partially powered by a patented removable tank system created to make hydrogen fuel widely available.

AI

Here’s how AI and AR could transform real estate marketing

December 20, 2022

Augmented reality and artificial intelligence are making their mark in tech, but they could also change the face of real estate marketing.

By April Bingham

I hate seeing bland houses as the default.

I don’t mean that I swan about pooh-poohing all over other peoples’ tastes…publically…often. Genuinely, if you LIKE cream and gold ‘Live Laugh Love’ prints and framed jerseys, you should HAVE them. We can’t all live in homes that look like a Screamin Jay Hawkins meets Howl Jenkins fever dream.

Not least because it presents a severe tripping hazard….

My problem is more institutional. Best practices say you can’t sell a house even to ‘fun’ people without taking the time to strip all the personality out of it, and that’s disappointing. I promise I understand that certain colors in certain rooms straight up make more money. Just…at what cost? It’s definitely the bitter renter and serial anthropomorphizer in me, but it makes me a little sad seeing whole houses stripped down and painted up before anyone else will love them.

However, AI could change all that for the better!

I’m as surprised as you are, but it finally happened – I found a use for AI-generated images that I actually like. Go figure, it’s for customization-based marketing.

With image generators like Dall-E and MidJourney, Realtors who aren’t also picture-perfect digital artists can change the color and furniture and lighting of a room to suit their client’s desires in a context that doesn’t pass off artificially amalgamated work as their own creation OR come saddled with the reasonable expectation that a talented full-time designer should be paid for doing that work.

I love the idea of walking into a virtual pre-tour of homes tailored to inspire me specifically before I actually schlep myself around the physical locations. Imagine clients walking in, taking a quick look at their aesthetics, and hitting settings like ‘Art Goth’ or ‘Bro-core’ to make it even easier for them to fall in love with a location!

Robots

THIS ROBOT IS ON A MISSION TO ELIMINATE SHORT CAR TRIPS

December 19, 2022

The Gitamini ”follow” robot has a cargo hold that allows its users to walk further without having to carry heavy items.

By Kyle Stock

The Gita “follow” robot aims to replace driving for Americans’ quickest daily errands. But progress has been slow.

When my six-year-old son first “woke up” the Gitamini robot, I was surprised he didn’t flinch — robots these days tend to be ominous. But as November leaves swirled around the sidewalk meet-cute, the squat personal droid gave a friendly “chirp” and popped up on its two large wheels, ready to follow a new friend.

The three of us were walking to a bookstore across Princeton University’s campus, and I charged my son with loading up the robot. Pokemon cards, snacks and non-negotiable stuffed animals were crammed into the Gitamini’s hollow center cavity. As we set off, with the cream-colored droid following about six feet behind, my son glanced back to monitor Gitamini’s loyalty, occasionally prodding it with a “C’mon.” An hour later, the snacks and stuffed animals had company: a handful of new books and a pile of leaves deemed too beautiful to leave behind.

Service robots are now an $11 billion industry, according to the International Federation of Robotics, with nearly 200 new fleets launched during the pandemic. Most of those bots are in hospitals — assisting in surgery, for example — and many can be found trundling around warehouses and factories. But Gitamini wasn’t designed to pack boxes, pick oranges or strip minerals from treacherous mines. It has a more straightforward mission: to forestall short car trips. Americans make nearly four such trips per day on average, according to government statistics, and 35% of them are less than two miles.

Gita — Italian for “trip” — hopes to be a 28-pound solution to a 5,000-pound problem. “These trips are totally walkable, but nobody’s walking two miles with a bag of dog food,” says Greg Lynn, chief executive officer of Gitamini-maker Piaggio Fast Forward. “We definitely want to be part of the ecosystem where you don’t have to take a two-ton thing to carry two bags of stuff.”

Children

Exclusive: Concept Unveiled for the World’s First Artificial Womb Facility

December 19, 2022

BY MARCIA WENDORF

In late 2021, Elon Musk tweeted his fears about the end of humanity. “We should be much more worried about population collapse….If there aren’t enough people for Earth, then there definitely won’t be enough for Mars,” he opined. Musk’s statements brought the world’s falling birthrate to the forefront of social consciousness.

For nearly a century, fertility rates have been decreasing globally. The result is what scientists are describing as a “worldwide infertility crisis.” But there’s a solution looming on the horizon — artificial wombs.

In 2017, scientists created a “BioBag” that functioned as an artificial womb, and they used it to grow a baby lamb. Now, a new concept has been unveiled exclusively to Science and Stuff showing how the same could be done for humans. In recently released footage, Hashem Al-Ghaili shows what childbirth might look like tomorrow. Specifically, he created an artificial womb facility named EctoLife.

Its purpose? In an exclusive interview with Science and Stuff, Al-Ghaili says he thinks the EctoLife concept could one day supplant traditional birth. In so doing, he said society would finally be able to meet the needs of parents who are “tired of waiting for a response from an adoption agency” and those who are “worried about pregnancy complications.” But most importantly, he says EctoLife could allow us to confront the infertility crisis head-on.

SpaceX

SpaceX launches internet satellites for London-based rival company OneWeb

December 18, 2022

SPACEX LAUNCHED INTERNET SATELLITES FOR A COMPETITOR THURSDAY, STEPPING IN TO HELP AFTER THE LONDON-BASED ONEWEB COMPANY HALTED ITS FLIGHTS WITH RUSSIA OVER THE INVASION OF UKRAINE

SpaceX launched internet satellites for a competitor Thursday, stepping in to help after the London-based OneWeb company halted its flights with Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

The Falcon rocket blasted off at sunset with 40 mini satellites bound for polar orbit. They will expand OneWeb’s constellation to just over 500, nearly 80% of the planned total of about 630 satellites.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has more than 3,200 Starlink satellites in orbit, providing high-speed, broadband internet to remote corners of the world. Amazon plans to launch the first of its internet satellites early next year from Cape Canaveral.

With the market for global internet service growing exponentially, there’s room for everyone, said Massimiliano Ladovaz, OneWeb’s chief technology officer.

SpaceX agreed to launch satellites for OneWeb after the British company broke ties with Russia in March. Russian Soyuz rockets already had launched 13 batches of OneWeb satellites, beginning in 2019.