Impact Lab – Page 354 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Artificial Intelligence, Science & Technology News

Researchers develop artificial intelligence that can detect sarcasm in social media

May 18, 2021

Computer science researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a sarcasm detector.

Social media has become a dominant form of communication for individuals, and for companies looking to market and sell their products and services. Properly understanding and responding to customer feedback on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms is critical for success, but it is incredibly labor intensive.

That’s where sentiment analysis comes in. The term refers to the automated process of identifying the emotion—either positive, negative or neutral—associated with text. While artificial intelligence refers to logical data analysis and response, sentiment analysis is akin to correctly identifying emotional communication. A UCF team developed a technique that accurately detects sarcasm in social media text.

The team’s findings were recently published in the journal Entropy.

drones, Science & Technology News

UK postal service tests autonomous drone deliveries to remote islands

May 18, 2021

The drones will be used to carry COVID testing kits and assorted mail.

By S. Shah

It’s not just online and big-box retailers that are exploring deliveries by drone. Following in the footsteps of the Swiss Post, the UK’s Royal Mail is the latest postal service to trial drone flights. The company has announced a landmark project to deliver packages — including personal protective equipment, COVID testing kits and assorted mail — to a UK island using an autonomous Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

As part of the government-backed project, a large drone will take off from the mainland and fly to the Scilly Isles (a remote archipelago off the Cornish coast in southwest England). The twin-engine UAV can carry up to 100kg of mail of all shapes and sizes, which the Royal Mail said is equivalent to a typical delivery round. Thereafter, a smaller vertical take-off and landing drone will be used to fly parcels between the islands to recipients.

drones, Science & Technology News

Kroger, Drone Express Begin New Drone Grocery Delivery Program

May 18, 2021

Posted By: Miriam McNabb

Drone Express and Kroger begin testing drone grocery delivery in a pilot program – part of the retailer’s goal of providing customers with “anything, anytime, anywhere,” says a company press release.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Drone Express, a division of TELEGRID Technologies, Inc., will offer package delivery near the Kroger Marketplace in Centerville, Ohio.

“Kroger’s new drone delivery pilot is part of the evolution of our rapidly growing and innovative e-commerce business – which includes pickup, delivery, and ship and reached more than $10 billion in sales in 2020,” said Kroger’s Jody Kalmbach, group vice president of product experience. “The pilot reinforces the importance of flexibility and immediacy to customers, powered by modern, cost-effective, and efficient last-mile solutions. We’re excited to test drone delivery and gain insights that will inform expansion plans as well as future customer solutions.”

Robots, Science & Technology News

Chinese unicorn’s robot waiters ready to serve the world

May 17, 2021

Workers assemble robots at a Keenon factory in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province.

By SHIN WATANABE, Nikkei staff writer

Keenon to have bases in 10 overseas markets this year.

SHANGHAI — As the pandemic propels restaurants and other businesses to keep their distance from customers, Shanghai-based Keenon Robotics looks to bring its automated helpers to markets across the globe.

At a Zui Hui Huang Chinese restaurant chain location here, Keenon’s robotic servers wait by the kitchen for meals to come out. Staffers load them up and tell them which tables to go to via touchscreen. Then they roll off, deftly avoiding obstacles in their way.

Built-in obstacle sensors are a major selling point of the robots. “They have an easier time carrying heavy things and can help ease labor shortages,” a representative of the restaurant chain said.

Keenon aims to have local units set up in at least 10 countries by the end of 2021. It opened a Japan arm in March with just under 10 staffers and is looking at South Korea and Singapore, as well as markets in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Production capacity was roughly doubled in 2020 to prepare for overseas expansion. “Our factories all have extra space, and we can increase capacity to up to 200,000 units,” said Chi Xiaomin, who heads Keenon’s public relations — about triple current levels.

Healthcare, Science & Technology News

Smart magnetic soft materials to develop artificial muscles and therapeutic robots

May 17, 2021

Interaction forces between magnetic particles translate into macroscopic transformations of the smart polymers

by Carlos III University of Madrid

Developing a new generation of artificial muscles and soft nanorobots for drug delivery are some of the long-term goals of 4D-BIOMAP, an ERC research project being undertaken by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).This project develops cross-cutting bio-magneto-mechanical methodologies to stimulate and control biological processes such as cell migration and proliferation, the organism’s electrophysiological response, and the origin and development of soft tissue pathologies.

“The overarching idea of this research project is to influence different biological processes at the cellular level (i.e., wound healing, brain synapses or nervous system responses) by developing timely engineering applications,” explains 4D-BIOMAP’s lead researcher, Daniel García González from the UC3M’s Department of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis.

3D Printer, Science & Technology News

Dutch Firm Builds First Commercial House Printed With 3D Technology

May 17, 2021

Shaped like a boulder, the house is surrounded by greenery and open space on each side

The three-room single-storey house is spread across 1,000 square feet and has a wooden roof.

HIGHLIGHTS

These houses are intended to be occupied for at least several decades
3D concrete printing allows builders to design fine concrete structures
The work on the project began during the 2016 Dutch Design Week

IBM, Science & Technology News

IBM Opens A New Frontier For Semiconductors, Unveils World’s First 2 Nanometer Chip Technology

May 16, 2021

IBM today unveiled the development of the world’s first chip announced with 2 nanometer (nm) nanosheet technology. According to reports, new 2 nm chip technology helps advance the state-of-the-art in the semiconductor industry, addressing the growing demand for increased chip performance and energy efficiency.

drones, Science & Technology News

Precision farming company raises $20M to deploy herbicide-spraying AI drone swarms

May 16, 2021

Canada-based agritech startup Precision AI has raised seed funding of $20 million to help the agriculture industry reduce its chemical footprint. Its solution? Deploying swarms of artificially intelligent drones to bring down the use of herbicides in agriculture dramatically.

Education, Science & Technology News

The digital divide has left millions of school kids behind

May 16, 2021

US schools are going back to in-person learning as COVID ebbs, but the so-called homework gap will persist.

By Marguerite Reardon

The coronavirus shined a light on the homework gap, or the disparity between the haves and have-nots when it comes to those students with laptops, tablets and high-speed internet and those without even basic online access. But the waning of the pandemic’s threat is a stark reminder that this aspect of the larger digital divide was a problem long before, and will remain one even as things return to normal.

But the seismic shift sparked by the coronavirus has some optimistic that more change is on the way.

3D Printer, Science & Technology News

Researchers use 3-D bioprinting to create custom-shaped cartilage for use in surgical procedures

May 15, 2021

A team of University of Alberta researchers has discovered a way to use 3-D bioprinting technology to create custom-shaped cartilage for use in surgical procedures. The work aims to make it easier for surgeons to safely restore the features of skin cancer patients living with nasal cartilage defects after surgery.

The researchers used a specially designed hydrogel–a material similar to Jell-O–that could be mixed with cells harvested from a patient and then printed in a specific shape captured through 3-D imaging. Over a matter of weeks, the material is cultured in a lab to become functional cartilage.

Science & Technology News, Space Flight

You can bid for a seat on Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight on July 20

May 15, 2021

Aria Alamalhodaei

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is offering up one seat on the inaugural flight of its suborbital rocket New Shepard, set to take place July 20 — but instead of a fixed-price ticket sale, the seat will go to the highest bidder.

It’ll work like this: From May 5-19, bidders will be able to bid any amount on an auction website. From May 19, the bids will be made “unsealed,” or made visible, and bidders must continually exceed the highest bid to remain in the running for the seat. Bidding will conclude June 12 with a live online auction.

From Blue Origin’s website, it looks like the overall flight will be relatively quick, with the craft reaching apogee, or its highest point, four minutes after takeoff. The capsule containing the astronauts (and the lucky bidder) will land 10 minutes after takeoff near its launch site in West Texas.

Blue Origin said the winning bid will be donated to its charitable foundation, Club for the Future.

Aviation, Science & Technology News

World’s Largest Airplane Successfully Conducts Second Flight; Edges Closer to Space Vehicle Usage

May 15, 2021

Stratolaunch, the world’s largest airplane.

By IANS

In 1941, the US government hired billionaire entrepreneur Howard Hughes to build a massive airplane to take some 700 American soldiers into combat. Hughes’ legendary “Spruce Goose” had a wingspan of 97.5 metres.

Last week, 80 years later, an even bigger aircraft, the “Stratolaunch,” took to the skies over southern California’s Mojave Desert, in a second successful test flight that awed onlookers marvelling at its wingspan of 117.3 metres and six Boeing engines that roared in synchronicity, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

The second successful test flight lasted 2.5 hours and the vehicle reached an altitude of 14,000-feet.

This massive aircraft, resembling two giant Boeing jets flying side-by-side, will not be transporting troops. Its use will be to launch rockets and space vehicles from high atmospheric locations, into the stars.

“Stratolaunch is advancing our nation’s ability to be a worldwide leader in the hypersonic market,” Stratolaunch Systems Chief Technology Officer Daniel R. Millman said in a statement.

“Our flight today gets us another step closer to our promise of delivering the world’s premier hypersonic flight test service.”