Autonomous agriculture is here.
Continue reading… “Meet the future of agriculture. Say Hello to DOT”
Boston Dynamics’ first consumer product might be a battle bot
Boston Dynamics’ faintly terrifying quadruped dog robot—SpotMini—was first announced in 2016 and is expected to go on sale later this year. The robot has a whole lot of whizzy sensors and cameras, spindly mechanical legs, a creepy grabber arm that opens doors, and mind-bogglingly impressive robotics technology. (It’s expected to carry a five-digit price tag—a fitting sum to bring the uncanny valley direct to your home.)
But it’s never been very clear what, exactly, the point of Spot is—especially as a consumer product.
Continue reading… “Boston Dynamics’ first consumer product might be a battle bot”
At these factories, robots are making jobs better for workers
A worker leads a large industrial robot at the BMW Group Plant Regensburg, Germany.
Any minute now, some speculate, workers around the world will be asked to make way for robots.
Their arrival may be welcome in some cases. Our latest research suggests that when robots—or automated manufacturing technology—take over jobs that are oriented around repetitive tasks, operators are able to move onto more exciting and productive work.
This was the case at 16 “lighthouses of manufacturing,” which were identified as part of a joint McKinsey and World Economic Forum project presented at Davos.
Continue reading… “At these factories, robots are making jobs better for workers”
Expert warns against forming emotional attachments with robots
Faking It
No matter how cute present-day robots are designed to look, no matter how smiley their virtual faces and chipper their beeps and boops, they will never love you back.
The stories of people mourning robots like Jibo, a smart home assistant that announced its own “death” when its servers were scheduled to get shut down last month, are heartwarming. But they also reveal a way, according to the Associated Press, that marketers could exploit the emotions of people — especially kids — by programming robots to seem more emotionally savvy than they really are.
Continue reading… “Expert warns against forming emotional attachments with robots”
Watch 10 Boston Dynamics’ robot dogs pull a truck in a slightly terrifying display of raw power
How many robot dogs does it take to pull a massive truck? Apparently 10. Boston Dynamics
- Boston Dynamics is back with another bizarre video starring its animal-like robots.
- The latest video features 10 of the dog-like “SpotMini” robots pulling a truck across the company’s parking lot.
- Unlike some of the sillier videos from Boston Dynamics, this one demonstrates the raw power of the company’s robots.
The doglike robots from Boston Dynamics are back with another video, but this time the video is less about virality and more focused on demonstrating the machines’ raw power.
The campaign to ban killer robots before they become a reality
Killer robots are closer to becoming a reality than you might think. Mary Wareham is part of the fight to stop them before it’s too late.
Via Newsy
Russia is planning a “ground force” of armed military robots
WAR MACHINE
BattleBots
The Russian military’s research division is working to develop ground-based, combat-ready robots to assist its infantry.
The heavily-armed robots, first displayed in a state-produced video last month, resemble miniature tanks that can be deployed alongside infantry or swarms of quadrotor drones — either of which, according to C4ISRNET, can send targeting information back to the killer robot.
Continue reading… “Russia is planning a “ground force” of armed military robots”
The Robots are coming: What Colorado’s Artificial Intelligence boom means for workers
Rob Carpenter, founder of Valyant A.I., stands next to his creation at a Good Times in South Denver.
For as long as there have been robots, there’s been the fear that they will take our jobs, or even worse — take over everything.
Well, reality is more nuanced than most Sci-Fi movies’ depiction of artificial intelligence. Industry officials say it’s less about replacing people in jobs, but more about giving them extra tools to make work and life easier.
This robot can park your car for you
French startup Stanley Robotics showed off its self-driving parking robot at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport today. While I couldn’t be there in person, the service is going live by the end of March 2019. And here’s what it looks like.
Continue reading… “This robot can park your car for you”
MIT’s speedy Mini Cheetah robot learns to backflip
MIT’s Cheetah team has built some incredibly impressive electric robots, capable of jumping hurdles and navigating blindly, but in some ways the new Mini Cheetah might be the most impressive to date.
Continue reading… “MIT’s speedy Mini Cheetah robot learns to backflip”
The big American robot push
In a challenge to the narrative of a declining American advantage in the global tech race, U.S. factories are installing record numbers of robots — and elite universities, endowed with huge new contributions, are adding vast centers to study artificial intelligence.
Why it matters: As we have reported previously, China has a massive global lead in the absolute number of new factory robots, and is pouring large sums into developing AI. But the twin U.S. trendlines — a surge in university research spending and the spike in robots — suggest a still-robust competition to dominate technologies of the future.
Continue reading… “The big American robot push”
