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There is a quiet yet fierce battle being fought by technology heavyweights. They want to consolidate the exponentially increasing RPA (robotic process automation) market and the sizable investments users are making, which continue to grow. According to recent research, organizations on average spend $480,000 on RPA annually, with those in the highest tier spending well over $1 million on automation every year.
With a market of that size and all indications being that automation will only get bigger, it’s no wonder the likes of Microsoft have entered the fray to duke it out with perennial leaders Automation Anywhere, UiPath and Blue Prism, raising the question: Who will come out on top?
Optimizing Human-System Performance — Dr. Greg Lieberman, Ph.D., Neuroscientist / Lead, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, U.S. Army Futures Command
Dr. Greg Lieberman, Ph.D. (https://www.arl.army.mil/arl25/meet-arl.php?gregory_lieberman) is a Neuroscientist, and Lead, Optimizing Human-System Performance, at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL).
DEVCOM ARL, as an integral part of the Army Futures Command, is the Army’s foundational research laboratory focused on operationalizing science to ensure overmatch in any future conflict. DEVCOM ARL shapes future concepts with scientific research and knowledge and delivers technology for modernization solutions to win in the future operating environment.
With a Ph.D. from the University of Vermont in Neuroscience, a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cognitive Neuroscience from University of New Mexico, and a BA from University of Massachusetts Amherst in Psychology, Dr. Lieberman’s research and research leadership experience ranges from genetics to learning theory, animal behavior to artificial intelligence, and human variability to team dynamics; with additional expertise in S&T strategy and the opportunities afforded by the Future of Work.
Specific areas of Dr. Lieberman’s technical expertise include maximizing human potential, human-autonomy teaming; neuroanatomical organization and connectivity; brain structure-function coupling; learning-driven neuroplasticity; non-invasive neurostimulation and cognitive enhancement; neuroimaging; mind-body medicine and mindfulness meditation; and the mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease, neuropathology, and brain injury.
It could support non-combat activities such as humanitarian relief operations and medical missions.
Commercial space company Sierra Space, which is developing the shuttle-shaped Dream Chaser spacecraft for transportation solutions, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) transportation command for point-to-point global terrestrial delivery of military materiel and personnel.
Both organizations will develop solutions using the Dream Chaser spaceplanes, Shooting Star cargo modules, and on-orbit infrastructure that provides unique capabilities for precise, cost-effective, and timely global delivery of Department of Defense logistics and personnel through space.
A grim future awaits the United States if it loses the competition with China on developing key technologies like artificial intelligence in the near future, the authors of a special government-backed study told reporters on Monday.
If China wins the technological competition, it can use its advancements in artificial intelligence and biological technology to enhance its own country’s economy, military and society to the determent of others, said Bob Work, former deputy defense secretary and co-chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project, which examined international artificial intelligence and technological competition. Work is the chair of the U.S. Naval Institute Board of Directors.
Losing, in Work’s opinion, means that U.S. security will be threatened as China is able to establish global surveillance, companies will lose trillions of dollars and America will be reliant on China or other countries under Chinese influence for core technologies.
Microsoft’s augmented reality headset the HoloLens has been in the works for years now, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard any news. We were seeing demos of it way back in 2015 (opens in new tab), but Microsoft has been pretty quiet on the tech in recent years when it comes to a consumer release.
What we’ve heard tons about is Microsoft’s deal to supply the United States Army with HoloLens tech. We first got wind of the deal back in 2018 (opens in new tab) with talks of a $480 million contract to help “increase lethality” of combat missions. It wasn’t until 2021 that Microsoft officially signed a much pricier $22 billion dollar contract (opens in new tab) with the army for military grade HoloLens supply.
THE artificial intelligence revolution has only just begun, but there have already been numerous unsettling developments.
AI programs can be used to act on humans’ worst instincts or achieve humans’ more wicked goals, like creating weapons or terrifying its creators with a lack of morality.
Artificial intelligence is a catch-all phrase for a computer program designed to simulate, mimic or copy human thinking processes.
“The goal is to build a plane that can launch from ship flight decks and small austere land locations in adverse weather without launch and recovery equipment typically needed for these systems,” stated DARPA’s press release published on Friday.
Boron as rocket fuel has been a tough nut to crack.
Rocket scientists in China are working to develop a boron-powered supersonic missile that can fly like a commercial airliner and then swim in the water to act as a torpedo, South China Morning Post.
IStock/AlexLMX
Boron is a highly reactive light element that reacts equally well with water as it does with air to release vast amounts of heat. The U.S. Air Force experimented with boron in the 1950s to increase the power of its supersonic bombers. However, the project was shelved since ignited boron is hard to control and also forms a layer of debris that impacts rocket performance.
Iran’s recent seizure of unmanned US Navy boats shined a light on a pioneering Pentagon program to develop networks of air, surface and underwater drones for patrolling large regions, meshing their surveillance with artificial intelligence.
The year-old program operates numerous unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, in the waters around the Arabian peninsula, gathering data and images to be beamed back to collection centers in the Gulf.
The program operated without incident until Iranian forces tried to grab three seven-meter Saildrone Explorer USVs in two incidents, on August 29–30 and September 1.
The testing tube is roughly twice as large as comparable facilities in the West, with a diameter of 80cm (2.6 ft).
The most giant free-piston-powered shock tunnel in the world is already operational in southwest China. It enables low-cost, excellent wind tunnel tests for hypersonic research.
The facility can simulate severe flight conditions at speeds ranging from 2.5 to 11.5 kilometers per second (1.55−7.14 miles per second), or more than 33 times the speed of sound, according to a report published by South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Thursday.
