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Our artificial intelligence systems are continuing to get smarter, with scientists demonstrating that a system called DeepCoder is now clever enough to borrow bits of code from other programs to solve basic problems.

But the team behind the tool don’t want to put human programmers out of a job – they want to make it easier for people to build programs without any coding knowledge.

DeepCoder is a project run by Microsoft and the University of Cambridge, using deep learning techniques to mimic the neural network of a brain, where vast amounts of data are processed and evaluated to make decisions.

Continue reading “This Smart AI Can Now Steal Code to Write Its Own Programs” »

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New research describes a novel 3D printing technique for the production of smart materials that may find use in soft-robotics and advanced medicine.

In a recent academic paper the, “striking phenomena” that “can be produced by embedding magnetic particles into polymer with designed patterns,” are described in detail. These phenomena include smart materials with, “tunable elastic properties, giant deformational effects, high elasticity, anisotropic elastic and swelling properties, and quick response to magnetic fields.”

As previously reported by 3D Printing Industry, investigations into smart and meta materials are increasingly using 3D printing techniques.

Continue reading “Novel 3D printing technique uses magnets to create smart materials for soft robotics and medicine” »

Super-smart robots with artificial intelligence is pretty much a foregone conclusion: technology is moving in that direction with lightning speed. But what if those robots gain consciousness? Will they deserve the same rights as humans? The ethics of this are tricky. Explore them in the video below.

Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4 feet vertically. It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex. Wheels are efficient on flat surfaces while legs can go almost anywhere: by combining wheels and legs Handle can have the best of both worlds.

Scientists have figured out how to inject a conducting solution into a rose cutting, and have it spontaneously form wires throughout its stem, leaves, and petals to create fully functioning supercapacitors for energy storage.

The so-called e-Plant was able to be charged hundreds of times without any loss on the performance, and the team behind the invention says it could allow us to one day create fuel cells or autonomous energy systems inside living plants.

“A few years ago, we demonstrated that it is possible to create electronic plants, ‘power plants’, but we have now shown that the research has practical applications,” says one of the team, Magnus Berggren from Linköping University in Sweden.

Continue reading “This ‘Cyborg Rose’ Grows Functioning Electronic Circulatory Inside Its Stem and Leaves” »

Wiring our brains up to computers could have a host of exciting applications – from controlling robotic prosthetics with our minds to restoring sight by feeding camera feeds directly into the vision center of our brains.

Most brain-computer interface research to date has been conducted using electroencephalography (EEG) where electrodes are placed on the scalp to monitor the brain’s electrical activity. Achieving very high quality signals, however, requires a more invasive approach.

Integrating electronics with living tissue is complicated, though. Probes that are directly inserted into the gray matter have been around for decades, but while they are capable of highly accurate recording, the signals tend to degrade rapidly due to the buildup of scar tissue. Electrocorticography (ECoG), which uses electrodes placed beneath the skull but on top of the gray matter, has emerged as a popular compromise, as it achieves higher-accuracy recordings with a lower risk of scar formation.

Continue reading “This Neural Probe Is So Thin, The Brain Doesn’t Know It’s There” »

Robot racing series Roborace finally pulled the wraps off its first real self-driving racecar. The British company behind the series showed off the “Robocar” for the first time ever in public during a press conference at Mobile World Congress today.

The cars of Roborace — the early design of which was revealed one year ago — were designed by Daniel Simon, the man behind the light cycles in Tron: Legacy. “I’ve worked on a lot of cool stuff — Tron, Bugatti, Star Wars — but this takes the cake,” Simon said on stage.

Anyone who’s seen Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son give a keynote speech will know he rarely sticks to the standard industry conference playbook.

And his turn on the stage at Mobile World Congress this morning was no different, with Son making like Eldon Tyrell and telling delegates about his personal belief in a looming computing Singularity that he’s convinced will see superintelligent robots arriving en masse within the next 30 years, surpassing the human population in number and brainpower.

“I totally believe this concept,” he said, of the Singularity. “In next 30 years this will become a reality.”

Continue reading “Superintelligent AI explains Softbank’s push to raise a $100BN Vision Fund” »