Science & Technology News – Page 308

Crazy Stuff, Home Technology, Human Behavior, Robots, Science & Technology News

Japan’s latest home robot isn’t useful — it’s designed to be loved

December 24, 2018

A pair of Lovot robots at their unveiling this week. Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

It’s not been a great year for home robots, with two high-profile projects — Jibo and Kuri — shuttering operations. But a new competitor from Japan is entering the market with a different approach. Lovot, created by Kaname Hayashi, a former developer of the humanoid robot Pepper, is a furry, foot-and-a-half-high creation that’s designed only to be loved.

“This robot won’t do any of your work. In fact, it might just get in the way,” Hayashi told Bloomberg. “Everything about this robot is designed to create attachment.”

Lovot looks a lot like an upgraded Furby. It has minimal motor function (it can’t fetch you a beer or hoover your kitchen) but interacts with users with a pair of lively eyes and wordless chirping noises. It has a trio of wheels for scooting around your home, and a pair of flippers that it can use to show surprise, affection, or even beg to be picked up.

Continue reading… “Japan’s latest home robot isn’t useful — it’s designed to be loved”

Agriculture, China, Farming, Food, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Chinese PhDs and MBAs give up city life for farming, driven by desire to improve agriculture and livelihoods

December 22, 2018

Millions of educated Chinese have left cities to become farmers, inspired to change agriculture or disenchanted with the pressures of urban life
They practise organic farming and water conservation, hoping to set an example for fellow farmers, and revive traditional technique

Continue reading… “Chinese PhDs and MBAs give up city life for farming, driven by desire to improve agriculture and livelihoods”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Science & Technology News, Technological Unemployment, women

AI and the automation of jobs disproportionately affect women, World Economic Forum Warns

December 22, 2018

Women are disproportionately affected by the automation of jobs and development of artificial intelligence, which could widen the gender gap if more women are not encouraged to enter the fields of science, technology and engineering, the World Economic Forum warned on Monday.

Despite statistics showing that the economic opportunity gap between men and women narrowed slightly in 2018, the report from the World Economic Forum finds there are proportionally fewer women than men joining the workforce, largely due to the growth of automation and artificial intelligence.

Continue reading… “AI and the automation of jobs disproportionately affect women, World Economic Forum Warns”

2019 Predictions, 3D Printer, Artificial Intelligence, Future, Science & Technology News

Deloitte’s 9 tech predictions for 2019

December 20, 2018

Everybody makes a list of 2019 predictions, but the folks at Deloitte have numbers behind theirs. As one of the world’s biggest accounting and financial services firms, Deloitte is able to confidently predict that, for example, the smart speaker market will generate $7 billion in revenues in 2019.

Below is Deloitte’s 18th annual list of predictions for your enjoyment.

Continue reading… “Deloitte’s 9 tech predictions for 2019”

Environment, Global Warming, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News, Sealife

Earth’s mysterious ‘deep biosphere’ may harbor millions of undiscovered species

December 23, 2018

Scientists say the underground ecosystems are a “subterranean Galapagos” just waiting to be studied.

This unidentified nematode from the Kopanang gold mine in South Africa lives 1.4 kilometers below the surface.Gaetan Borgonie / Extreme Life Isyensya, Belgium

Life on Earth takes billions of shapes, but to see most of them you’ll have to dig deep below the planet’s surface.

Continue reading… “Earth’s mysterious ‘deep biosphere’ may harbor millions of undiscovered species”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Latest Trend, Machine Learning, new technology, Science & Technology News

The AI boom is happening all over the world, and it’s accelerating quickly

December 20, 2018

The second annual AI Index report pulls together data and expert findings on the field’s progress and acceleration.

The rate of progress in the field of artificial intelligence is one of the most hotly contested aspects of the ongoing boom in teaching computers and robots how to see the world, make sense of it, and eventually perform complex tasks both in the physical realm and the virtual one. And just how fast the industry is moving, and to what end, is typically measured not just by actual product advancements and research milestones, but also by the prognostications and voiced concerns of AI leaders, futurists, academics, economists, and policymakers. AI is going to change the world — but how and when are still open questions.

Continue reading… “The AI boom is happening all over the world, and it’s accelerating quickly”

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

These walking robots could help humans get back on their feet again

December 20, 2018

Bipedal robots could explore Mars one day. But first they’re teaching scientists at Caltech’s Amber Lab important lessons about helping humans here on Earth.

Watching a robot trip and fall makes my heart sink. The worst part about it? I’m the one responsible.

I’m standing in a Pasadena, California, lab filled with bipedal (or two legged) robots. A researcher challenges me to try and trip a 5-foot, semihumanoid robot called Amber that’s walking on a treadmill. It’s attached with a rope to a railing above as it walks in place, so it’s only going to fall forward or backward if I’m too heavy-handed.

Continue reading… “These walking robots could help humans get back on their feet again”

DaVinci Institute, Employment, Future, Futurist, Science & Technology News, Tom Frey

Reskilling future workers: who’s responsible?

December 19, 2018

Rapid technological change, with its impact on jobs, requires a constantly renewed workforce through retraining.

From switchboard operator to film projectionist, three industrial revolutions down and we’ve already seen many jobs wiped from the face of the Earth. Emerging technology is rapidly dispensing P45s, pink slips or termination letters to the next round of workers. More than half the global labour force will need to start reskilling and reinventing how they earn a living in the next five years, according to the World Economic Forum. Millions of roles will be lost, equally many more will be created.

Continue reading… “Reskilling future workers: who’s responsible?”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Big Problems, Future, Science & Technology News

Get ready. 2019 predictions about Artificial Intelligence that will make your head spin

December 16, 2018

Instead of breaking systems with ransomware, adversaries will leverage new tools to conduct harmful assaults on targeted subjects and organizations.

A staff member stands near a computer as it participates in the CHAIN Cup at the China National Convention Center in Beijing. A computer running artificial intelligence software defeated two teams of human doctors in accurately recognizing maladies in magnetic resonance images on Saturday, in a contest that was billed as the world’s first competition in neuroimaging between AI and human experts. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)ASSOCIATED PRESS

While the hip, ubiquitous business buzzwords are cryptocurrency and blockchain, the truly formidable factor of what is being called the fourth industrial revolution is Artificial Intelligence. Whether praised as a panacea for greater business efficiency or the feared as the demise of humanity, Artificial Intelligence is upon us and will impact business and society at large in ways that we can only begin to imagine. Fasten your seatbelts. Here’s what a few influencers in the arena say is on tap for 2019.

Continue reading… “Get ready. 2019 predictions about Artificial Intelligence that will make your head spin”

3D Printer, Engineering, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News

MIT team develops 3D printer that’s 10x faster than comparable 3D printers

December 16, 2018

Professors Jamison Go and John Hart of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Mechanosynthesis Group have developed new hardware that enables what they call FastFFF (fast fused filament fabrication). And it’s fast, see for yourself.

Desktop 3D printers are fantastic at creating high-quality and complex parts on demand, but their greatest weakness has always been speed. They can only print one object at a time, one thin layer at a time. And there are several speed-limiting factors to FDM/FFF 3D printers, with the main four being: the amount of force that can be applied to the filament as it’s pushed through the nozzle, how quickly heat can be transferred to the filament to melt it, how fast the printhead can move around the build area, and the rate that the material solidifies after it’s extruded because it needs to support the next layer.

Continue reading… “MIT team develops 3D printer that’s 10x faster than comparable 3D printers”

Automobiles, Electric Vehicles, Entertainment, Science & Technology News

Future of Formula 1 is on fumes claims report

December 16, 2018

An interesting opinion on where Formula 1 is heading into the future by George Woods Baker, writing for Paddock Magazine, painting a bleak picture as the world moves towards electric cars rendering the pinnacle of the sport as we know it redundant in years to come.

Baker wrote: “When Alejandro Agag launched Formula E in 2014 as the first electric-powered championship, he did so as an alternative to what he saw as a wounded buck. He was dismissed by the Formula 1 paddock. He won’t last, they crowed. The cars were slow and required a lengthy pitstop halfway through the race to change cars!

Continue reading… “Future of Formula 1 is on fumes claims report”

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, cutting edge, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Video

AI can generate interactive virtual worlds based on simple videos

December 13, 2018

Nvidia’s new AI represents a major leap forward in graphics generation based on neural networks.

Crafting an interactive virtual world of the kind found in many modern video games is a labor-intensive process that can require years of work, hundreds of people, and millions of dollars. Soon, some of that work may be done by machines.

Computer hardware company Nvidia, which specializes in graphics cards, announced on Monday that it developed a new AI model that can take video of the real world and use it to generate a realistic and interactive virtual world. According to Nvidia, its new AI could be used to drastically lower the cost of generating virtual environments, which will be particularly useful in the video game and film industries.

Continue reading… “AI can generate interactive virtual worlds based on simple videos”