Robots – Page 31 – Impact Lab

Automation, new technology, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Dog-like robots now on sale for $75,000, with conditions

June 29, 2020

FILE – In this May 24, 2018, file photo, a Boston Dynamics SpotMini robot walks through a conference room during a robotics summit in Boston. Boston Dynamics on Tuesday, June 16, 2020 started selling its four-legged Spot robots online for just under $75,000 each. The agile robots can walk, climb stairs and open doors. But people who buy them online must agree not to arm them or intentionally use them as weapons, among other conditions.

You can now buy one of those unnerving animal-like robots you might have seen on YouTube — so long as you don’t plan to use it to harm or intimidate anyone.

Boston Dynamics on Tuesday started selling its four-legged Spot robots online for just under $75,000 each.

The agile robots can walk, climb stairs and observe their surroundings with cameras and other sensors. But people who buy them online must agree not to arm them or intentionally use them as weapons, among other conditions.

“The key goal for us is to make sure people trust robots,” Michael Perry, the company’s vice president for business development, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Somebody wanted to use Spot for a haunted house and we said no to that. It frames the robot in a negative context.”

The terms and conditions state that “Spot is an amazing robot, but is not certified safe for in-home use or intended for use near children or others who may not appreciate the hazards associated with its operation.”

Continue reading… “Dog-like robots now on sale for $75,000, with conditions”

Automation, Employment, Food, Robots, Science & Technology News

The robots continue to invade the fast food sphere

June 29, 2020

A KFC in Moscow sends chicken along a conveyor belt to be delivered by a robotic arm.

The last dispatch from The Takeout’s robot beat was May 5. That’s six whole weeks during which the robots, unbothered by our human troubles, continued making advancements in their quest to replace the human race. As is so often the case, they have set their sights on a new way to optimize fast food, perhaps understanding that this is where they can exert the most influence over us.

Humans have generally understood for decades that the robots have been coming for our jobs, with a capacity for automation that renders many human workers obsolete—in theory, anyway. Recent estimates show that by 2030, a whopping 38% of American jobs will be eliminated in favor of automation. Now, with the entire world in the clutches of a pandemic, it’s possible that humans have begun to warm to the robots, which are not perceived to be as germ-covered as humans and can better facilitate social distancing measures (plus, you know, companies don’t have to pay them a living wage). With that in mind, KFC is currently testing “fast food of the future” in Moscow. Take a look:

Continue reading… “The robots continue to invade the fast food sphere”

Automation, Employment, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Robots will take 50 million jobs in the next decade. These are the skills you’ll need to stay employed

June 29, 2020

A new report finds that automation will take over a significant part of work activities in Europe by 2030.

In the next 10 years, robots will take over 50 million jobs.

More than 90 million workers across Europe (about 40% of the total workforce) will have to develop significant new skills within their current roles in the next ten years, as automation puts 51 million jobs at risk, warns a new report from analyst firm McKinsey.

And almost all of today’s European workers will face some degree of change as their jobs evolve because of technology. But although the statistics seemingly feed into a common fear of robots taking over our jobs, quick conclusions needn’t be drawn: the research also shows that employment growth in other sectors will largely compensate for overall job loss.

So much, in fact, that Europe might find itself short of up to six million workers by 2030. As new opportunities emerge in fields like technology, for example, McKinsey anticipates that finding sufficient workers with the required skills to fill the jobs that are being created on the continent will be challenging.

Continue reading… “Robots will take 50 million jobs in the next decade. These are the skills you’ll need to stay employed”

Automation, Coronavirus, Robots, Science & Technology News

Robot waiters serve drinks and take temperatures at this Dutch restaurant

June 25, 2020

View of a serving robot at restaurant Dadawan on May 28, 2020 in Maastricht, Netherlands. Robots will serve food and drinks to the customers as well as to measure body temperature before customers enter the restaurant. Restaurants and cafes will re-open in The Netherlands on June 1st. as part of the Coronavirus lockdown ease.

Robots have been hired to greet customers, take their temperatures and serve them drinks at a restaurant in the Netherlands.

Dadawan, an Asian-fusion restaurant in Maastricht, reopened on 1 June as part of measures to ease lockdown restrictions in the Netherlands. And to help with social distancing, the restaurant has hired three robots named Amy, Aker and James. The humanoid robots have mechanical arms, torsos and LED-lit faces and take on some of the customer-facing tasks to reduce person-to-person contact.

Continue reading… “Robot waiters serve drinks and take temperatures at this Dutch restaurant”

Business, Coronavirus, Health & Fitness, Robots, Science & Technology News

The most intimate areas of your vacation will be deep-cleaned by a freaky robot

June 22, 2020

Hotels, planes, and restaurants want your dollars back. Here are some of their plans to make it safe.

It’s something we look forward to all year: summer vacation. This time-honored tradition is an opportunity to get away from the stress of our daily lives and see new places, dip our toes in cool waters, or simply tune out the rest of the world for a few days. But this year, the continuing threat of Covid-19 has thrown that grand tradition for a loop, threatening to cancel it like a pool with bad pH levels.

And it’s not just wannabe-tourists who are suffering the loss of their vacations. As a result of Covid-19, 4 million people in the hospitality industry have lost their jobs. More than $21 billion in revenue has also been lost.

The question of “Is it safe to travel this summer?” is on the minds of many, and while there isn’t a clear answer yet, freaky googly-eyed robots are here to help us whenever we arrive.

Continue reading… “The most intimate areas of your vacation will be deep-cleaned by a freaky robot”

Augmented Reality, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, Robots, Science & Technology News

Disrupting death: Could we really live forever in digital form?

June 12, 2020

Virtual reality, robots, chatbots and holograms could allow us to exist perpetually. Whether we should choose the option is a different story.

In 2016, Jang Ji-sung’s young daughter Nayeon passed away from a blood-related disease. But in February, the South Korean mother was reunited with her daughter in virtual reality. Experts constructed a version of her child using motion capture technology for a documentary. Wearing a VR headset and haptic gloves, Jang was able to walk, talk and play with this digital version of her daughter.

“Maybe it’s a real paradise,” Jang said of the moment the two met in VR. “I met Nayeon, who called me with a smile, for a very short time, but it’s a very happy time. I think I’ve had the dream I’ve always wanted.”

Once largely the concern of science fiction, more people are now interested in immortality — whether that’s keeping your body or mind alive forever (as explored in the new Amazon Prime comedy Upload), or in creating some kind of living memorial, like an AI-based robot or chatbot version of yourself, or of your loved one. The question is — should we do that? And if we do, what should it look like?

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2020 Predictions, Automation, Coronavirus, Robots, Science & Technology News

How coronavirus set the stage for a techno-future with robots and AI

May 27, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has fast-forwarded the functions and roles of robots and artificial intelligence

Not so long ago, the concept of a fully automated store seemed something of a curiosity. Now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of relying on computers and robotics, and checking out groceries by simply picking them off the shelf doesn’t seem so peculiar after all.

Part of my research involves looking at how we deal with complex artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can learn and make decisions without any human involvement, and how these types of AI technologies challenge our current understanding of law and its application.

How should we govern these systems that are sometimes called disruptive, and at other times labelled transformative? I am particularly interested in whether — and how — AI technologies amplify the social injustice that exists in society. For example, unregulated facial recognition in the United States affects almost 120 million adults, with no independent testing for biased error rates; this effectively creates a virtual, perpetual line-up for law enforcement.

Continue reading… “How coronavirus set the stage for a techno-future with robots and AI”

Automation, Coronavirus, Healthcare, Robots, Science & Technology News

San Antonio robotics firm becomes first to prove its robots kill coronavirus

May 19, 2020

Xenex’s patented LightStrike robots have been deployed in more than 500 healthcare facilities worldwide to destroy pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 that can cause deadly infections.

San Antonio robotics company Xenex Disinfection Services has become the first to scientifically prove its robot can sterilize a room of the SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and it can do so in less than two minutes.

The testing began in February after Xenex sought out a partnership with the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, which had acquired the SARS-CoV-2 contagion to begin research toward developing a vaccine. Xenex wanted to prove that its LightStrike germ-zapping robot could deactivate the virus using pulsating xenon lamps to generate bursts of high-intensity germicidal light, which kills viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores.

“Xenex is an evidence-based company; we’re focused on our claims being backed by scientific research,” Xenex spokeswoman Melinda Hart said.

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Coronavirus, Food, Future, Robots, Science & Technology News

Five ways that coronavirus will change the way we eat

April 23, 2020

A self-driving food delivery robot might appear in a post-pandemic world in which consumers want to avoid human contact.

These are unprecedented times. One thing is for sure— with the widespread acceptance that coronavirus originated in an exotic meat market in China, there has been a massive consumer rethink around food.

This shift is impacting the type of food that is consumed, where it is obtained, how and where it is prepared and how it is produced and stored.

The overarching theme? Fear of contagion and oftentimes human contact.

Here are some predictions of how coronavirus will change the way we eat, based on recent surveys and forecasting.

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Coronavirus, Higher Education, Robots, Science & Technology News

University holds graduation using robot ‘avatars’ for students: ‘They took it a step further’

April 18, 2020

A college in Japan has found a high-tech way to ensure its students can still walk across the stage at graduation — sort of.

The students at the Business BreakThrough University (BBT), like many graduates around the world, risked having their ceremony canceled due to the current global health crisis.

However, BBT found a solution. The college, which held its graduation on March 28, arranged to have several students receive their diplomas as digital “avatars” of themselves — complete with screens for faces and caps and gowns on robot “bodies.”

Basically, the students were able to navigate the ceremony from the comfort and safety of their homes while their avatars wheeled up to the school’s president, who handed them certificates.

Continue reading… “University holds graduation using robot ‘avatars’ for students: ‘They took it a step further’”

New Inventions, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Stanford makes giant soft robot from inflatable tubes

April 1, 2020

As much as we love soft robots (and we really love soft robots), the vast majority of them operate pneumatically (or hydraulically) at larger scales, especially when they need to exert significant amounts of force. This causes complications, because pneumatics and hydraulics generally require a pump somewhere to move fluid around, so you often see soft robots tethered to external and decidedly non-soft power sources. There’s nothing wrong with this, really, because there are plenty of challenges that you can still tackle that way, and there are some up-and-coming technologies that might result in soft pumps or gas generators.

Researchers at Stanford have developed a new kind of (mostly) soft robot based around a series of compliant, air-filled tubes. It’s human scale, moves around, doesn’t require a pump or tether, is more or less as safe as large robots get, and even manages to play a little bit of basketball.

Continue reading… “Stanford makes giant soft robot from inflatable tubes”

Automation, Coronavirus, Healthcare, Robots, Science & Technology News

Coronavirus: Robots use light beams to zap hospital viruses

March 31, 2020

The UVD robot takes about 20 minutes to treat a room

“Please leave the room, close the door and start a disinfection,” says a voice from the robot.

“It says it in Chinese as well now,” Simon Ellison, vice president of UVD Robots, tells me as he demonstrates the machine.

Through a glass window we watch as the self-driving machine navigates a mock-hospital room, where it kills microbes with a zap of ultraviolet light.

“We had been growing the business at quite a high pace – but the coronavirus has kind of rocketed the demand,” says chief executive, Per Juul Nielsen.

He says “truckloads” of robots have been shipped to China, in particular Wuhan. Sales elsewhere in Asia, and Europe are also up.

Continue reading… “Coronavirus: Robots use light beams to zap hospital viruses”