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Category: robotics/AI – Page 118

Signal-folding design helps neuromorphic chip slash AI energy use

Artificial intelligence systems, such as large language models (LLMs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs), can analyze large amounts of data and rapidly generate desired content or identify meaningful patterns. However, when running on existing hardware, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets, these systems typically consume a large amount of energy.

Over the past decade or so, electronics engineers have been increasingly working on alternative hardware systems that could run AI models more energy efficiently. Many of these systems are neuromorphic, meaning that they are inspired by the structure and functioning of the human brain.

Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and the Chinese University of Hong Kong recently introduced a new approach for designing neuromorphic computing hardware based on two-dimensional materials. Their proposed strategy, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, was used to develop a chip based on the 2D semiconductor molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) that can reliably run AI algorithms while consuming less power.

Researchers use AI to break the rules of nature and create a living organism that lacks a fundamental building block of life — the first synthetic 19-amino acid life form is here

Scientists just made the first ever observed organism with fewer than 20 amino acids in its make-up, and it was made possible by AI.

These computer voices sound human enough to mislead, but one layer of speech still breaks the illusion

We are surrounded by computer-generated voices these days, from navigation systems and voice assistants to automated announcements. But how human do these voices actually sound? A recent study by the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, published in the journal Speech Communication, shows that our perception is affected by three things: how something is said, what is being said, and whether we understand the language.

In two consecutive experiments, the researchers investigated how people perceive the difference between real and synthetic voices. They created 16 short German sentences, such as: “The boy gave his father a hat.” The team then manipulated the sentences in three different ways by changing the word order, replacing words with similar-sounding pseudowords, and combining both changes. This resulted in four versions of each sentence. All versions were recorded by eight human speakers and eight computer-generated text-to-speech (TTS) voices.

In the first experiment, 40 German-speaking participants rated how human the voices sounded. Overall, the computer-generated voices were perceived as less human than the human voices. An analysis of the voices’ acoustic characteristics revealed objectively measurable differences in sound between human and TTS-generated voices.

Helix-02 humanoid robot handles full 8-hour factory work shifts

Figure AI says its humanoid robots can now run full eight-hour shifts autonomously using its Helix-02 AI system, marking one of the company’s strongest claims yet around human-scale robotic labor in real-world environments.

In a post on X, the California-based robotics startup wrote: “Watch a team of humanoid robots running a full 8-hr shift at human performance levels. This is fully autonomous running Helix-02.”

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