Lifeboat Foundation

A clearer understanding of how a type of brain cell known as astrocytes function and can be emulated in the physics of hardware devices, may result in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning that autonomously self-repairs and consumes much less energy than the technologies currently do, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

Astrocytes are named for their star shape and are a type of glial cell, which are support cells for neurons in the brain. They play a crucial role in brain functions such as memory, learning, self-repair and synchronization.

“This project stemmed from recent observations in computational neuroscience, as there has been a lot of effort and understanding of how the brain works and people are trying to revise the model of simplistic neuron-synapse connections,” said Abhronil Sengupta, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. “It turns out there is a third component in the brain, the astrocytes, which constitutes a significant section of the cells in the brain, but its role in machine learning and neuroscience has kind of been overlooked.”

Until real windows are eventually all replaced with ultra-high-resolution screens (mark my words, it’s gonna happen) Skyline Robotics hopes to solve the window washer dilemma with robots: specifically, what appears to be KUKA Robotics arms outfitted with a large cleaning brush and a system that automatically pumps clean water through it.

Officially named Ozmo, the robot can be mounted to the same lift mechanisms that carry multiple window washers up and down the side of a building through the use of a motorized crane system on the roof. Unlike humans, however, Ozmo has a much longer reach, allowing one or two of the robotic arms to potentially clean a much larger region on every pass. As with other robotic workers, Ozmo doesn’t take breaks, need lunch, or ever have to go to the bathroom. And since it’s permanently bolted to the lift it’s riding, there are no harnesses to check and re-check before a shift, and should something go wrong, there’s less risk to human life.

Continue reading “Skyscraper Window Washing Robots Are Here to Take Over One of Our Most Terrifying Jobs” »

VR can soon become perceptually indistinguishable from the physical reality, even superior in many practical ways, and any artificially created “imaginary” world with a logically consistent ruleset of physics would be ultrarealistic. Advanced immersive technologies incorporating quantum computing, AI, cybernetics, optogenetics and nanotech would make this a new “livable” reality within the next few decades. Can this new immersive tech help us decipher the nature of our own “b… See more.

✅ Fast ✅ Free ✅ Easy. Create amazing artworks using artificial intelligence.

Deep Evolutionary Reinforcement Learning creates virtual agents that can evolve both in their physical structure and learning capacities.

Harnessing The Potential Of Star Gazers And Space Enthusiasts For Scientific Solutions To Existing Earth Crises — Ms. Bayan Mohammed Abusalameh — Inventor, Pal… See more.

Ms. Bayan Abusalameh is a 2020/2021 Chevening Scholar in Advanced Mechanical Engineering, at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), who just finished off her Master’s Dissertation entitled “An Innovative Structural Design For a 1U CubeSat” (The Palestine-1)

Continue reading “Bayan Abusalameh — Chevening Scholar, Advanced Mechanical Engineering, Queen Mary University London” »

As the world turns increasingly more digital and data-driven, there is an increasing desire for greater visibility and transparency of data. Governments around the world have turned to digital means to submit and pay taxes as well as collect a variety of revenue from different sources. Likewise, governments are making deeper use of data and systems for their expenditures and analyzing the patterns of that spending.

One of the lesser-known agencies in the US federal government is the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS). As a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the BSF manages the federal government’s accounting, central payment systems, and public debt. In essence, the BFS is the bookkeeper for the US federal government. A huge role given the trillions of dollars that flow through US coffers on an annual basis. Since the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA) was signed into law on September 26 2006, the BFS has embarked on a number of wide ranging data-centric efforts to provide visibility into government spending including USASpending.gov, FiscalData.Treasury.gov, and DataLab.USASpending.gov.

Not surprisingly, the BFS has also invested heavily in the use of AI, the main topic of an upcoming AI in Government presentation on November 18 2021 with Justin Marsico, Chief Data Officer of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. In that presentation, Justin shares how deeply the bureau is investing in the use of AI and some of the ways in which it is providing insights into government spending and revenues.

During the mid-twentieth century, managing the household was transformed by the mainstreaming of technological innovations such as washing machines, dishwashers, and vacuum cleaners.

Perhaps in three decades from now, technology will have evolved to a level to allow humanoid robots, such as Andrew played by the late Robin Williams in the 1999 movie Bicentennial Man, to take over the household chores entirely.

Whether or not this represents a flight of fancy, what we know is that technological advancement rarely happens in great leaps but rather, through incremental steps.

Like many other companies, Adobe is leveraging deep learning to improve its applications and solidify its position in the video and image editing market. In turn, the use of AI is shaping Adobe’s product strategy.

AI-powered image and video editing

Sensei, Adobe’s AI platform, is now integrated into all the products of its Creative Cloud suite. Among the features revealed in this year’s conference is an auto-masking tool in Photoshop, which enables you to select an object simply by hovering your mouse over it. A similar feature automatically creates mask layers for all the objects it detects in a scene.