Tag Archives: Robotics
Virtual robots that teach themselves kung fu could revolutionize video games
In the not-so-distant future, characters might practice kung-fu kicks in a digital dojo before bringing their moves into the latest video game.
AI researchers at UC Berkeley and the University of British Columbia have created virtual characters capable of imitating the way a person performs martial arts, parkour, and acrobatics, practicing moves relentlessly until they get them just right.
The work could transform the way video games and movies are made. Read More
Robot debates humans about the dangers of artificial intelligence
An artificial intelligence has debated with humans about the the dangers of AI – narrowly convincing audience members that AI will do more good than harm.
Project Debater, a robot developed by IBM, debated on both sides of the argument, with two human team mates for each side helping it out. Speaking in a female American voice to a crowd at the University of Cambridge Union on Thursday evening, the AI gave each side’s opening statements, using arguments drawn from more than 1100 human submissions ahead of time. Read More
NTSB Investigation Into Deadly Uber Self-Driving Car Crash Reveals Lax Attitude Toward Safety
The Uber car that hit and killed Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Ariz., in March 2018 could not recognize all pedestrians, and was being driven by an operator likely distracted by streaming video, according to documents released by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this week.
But while the technical failures and omissions in Uber’s self-driving car program are shocking, the NTSB investigation also highlights safety failures that include the vehicle operator’s lapses, lax corporate governance of the project, and limited public oversight. Read More
The Man & Machine Issue: Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Behavior
The world is currently discussing if artificial systems are good or bad, will help us or destroy us, and if they will ever function or not, and by doing that people make the mistake of actually trying to answer the wrong question. As of today, the biggest question about artificial intelligence is not the system itself, but the biggest challenge is the interface consequences between the human and the machine, or to be more precise the system existent out of two elements — a carbon and a silicon body. Read More
A will to survive might take AI to the next level
…In real life robots have no more feelings than a rock submerged in novocaine.
There might be a way, though, to give robots feelings, say neuroscientists Kingson Man and Antonio Damasio. Simply build the robot with the ability to sense peril to its own existence. It would then have to develop feelings to guide the behaviors needed to ensure its own survival. Read More
The US Army is creating robots that can follow orders
For robots to be useful teammates, they need to be able to understand what they’re told to do—and execute it with minimal supervision.
Military robots have always been pretty dumb. The PackBot the US Army uses for inspections and bomb disposal, for example, has practically no onboard intelligence and is piloted by remote control. What the Army has long wanted instead are intelligent robot teammates that can follow orders without constant supervision. Read More
MLB Umpires Missed 34,294 Ball-Strike Calls in 2018. Bring on Robo-umps?
After studying four million game pitches, BU researcher suggests how to fix a broken baseball system.
This article is based on 11 seasons of Major League Baseball data, over four million pitches culled and analyzed over two months by Boston University Master Lecturer Mark T. Williams and a team of graduate students at the Questrom School of Business experienced in data mining, analytics, and statistics. Read More
Why a robot that can ‘solve’ Rubik’s Cube one-handed has the AI community at war
OpenAI, a non-profit co-founded by Elon Musk, recently unveiled its newest trick: A robot hand that can ‘solve’ Rubik’s Cube. Whether this is a feat of science or mere prestidigitation is a matter of some debate in the AI community right now.
In case you missed it, OpenAI posted an article on its blog last week titled “Solving Rubik’s Cube With a Robot Hand.” Based on this title, you’d be forgiven if you thought the research discussed in said article was about solving Rubik’s Cube with a robot hand. It is not. Read More
First-ever humanoid robot powered by cloud artificial intelligence
Who needs to use that delicate tiny sewing staple, when there’s now a robot that can thread a needle for you? CloudMinds XR-1, 5G Humanoid Robots with vision-controlled grasping tech and intricate manual tasks, interacted with guests at the Sprint exhibit at the Mobile World Congress 2019 Los Angeles, (MWC19) in Los Angeles.
The XR-1 robot is powered by cloud artificial intelligence (AI)–one of the first of its kind–Sprint True Mobile 5G, and proprietary vision-controlled grasping tech, which means it not only can thread a needle, but can serve drinks and can be programmed to do other tasks, including manufacturing. Read More