Lifeboat Foundation

A team of researchers working at Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology has developed a skeletal-muscle-based, biohybrid soft robot that can swim faster than other skeletal-muscle-based biobots. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes building and testing their soft robot.

As scientists continue to improve the abilities of soft robots, they have turned to natural materials such as animal tissue. To date, most efforts in this area have involved the use of skeletal or cardiac muscles—each have their strengths and weaknesses. Skeletal-muscle-based biobots have, for example, suffered from lack of mobility and strength. In this new effort, the researchers in Spain have developed a new design for a tinyskeletal-muscle-based soft robot that overcomes both issues and is therefore able to swim faster than others of its kind.

To make their biobot, the researchers used a simulation to create a spring-based spine for a swimming creature shaped like an eel. The simulation allowed the researchers to optimize its shape. They then 3D printed the skeleton (which was made of a polymer called PDMS) and used it as a scaffold for growing skeletal muscles. The finished robot was approximately 260 micrometers long—its shape allowed for propulsion in just one direction. The biobot moves when given electrical stimulation; the charge incites the muscle to contract, which compresses the skeletal spring inside. When the stimulation is removed, the energy in the spring is released, pushing the biobot forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EzVVSFRKrY

Are we gonna get paid just to live in an automated world?

We may need to pay people just to live in an automated world, says Elon Musk. He reckons the robot revolution is inevitable and it’s going to take all the jobs.

Continue reading “Musk: ‘We Need Universal Basic Income Because Robots Will Take All the Jobs’” »

“Cutting edge technology” reveals how scribes foiled modern scholars with one of the Biblical texts.

EPFL scientists have developed AI-powered nanosensors that let researchers track various kinds of biological molecules without disturbing them.

The tiny world of biomolecules is rich in fascinating interactions between a plethora of different agents such as intricate nanomachines (proteins), shape-shifting vessels (lipid complexes), chains of vital information (DNA) and energy fuel (carbohydrates). Yet the ways in which biomolecules meet and interact to define the symphony of life is exceedingly complex.

Scientists at the Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory in EPFL’s School of Engineering have now developed a new biosensor that can be used to observe all major biomolecule classes of the nanoworld without disturbing them. Their innovative technique uses nanotechnology, metasurfaces, infrared light and artificial intelligence. The team’s research has just been published in Advanced Materials.

From a serendipitous meeting of minds to laser-enabled precision, Cellino is leveraging AI and pluripotent stem cells for longevity.

The milestone, which the MOXIE instrument achieved by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, points the way to future human exploration of the Red Planet.

The growing list of “firsts” for Perseverance, NASA ’s newest six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface, includes converting some of the Red Planet’s thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen. A toaster-size, experimental instrument aboard Perseverance called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) accomplished the task. The test took place April 20, the 60th Martian day, or sol, since the mission landed on February 18.

While the technology demonstration is just getting started, it could pave the way for science fiction to become science fact – isolating and storing oxygen on Mars to help power rockets that could lift astronauts off the planet’s surface. Such devices also might one day provide breathable air for astronauts themselves. MOXIE is an exploration technology investigation – as is the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) weather station – and is sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

In this episode of “Intelligence Matters,” National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Chair and Former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt joins Michael Morell to discuss the importance of investing in artificial intelligence as a national security priority. Schmidt believes China is likely to catch up to the U.S. in a few years in its artificial intelligence capabilities. He outlines how intelligence and national defense can benefit from superiority in these technologies and the benefits of holding A.I. to American values.

HIGHLIGHTS

China is catching up to the U.S. in A.I. capabilities: “Where we are today with A.I. is that we judge America still ahead, but China investing very heavily and likely to catch up very soon. We don’t say what soon is, but my personal opinion, it is a few years, not five years.”

Reinforcement learning algorithms are only now starting to be applied in business settings — but could help companies solve complicated problems. Here’s how.

Most machine learning systems leverage historical data to make predictions. But learning through trial and error lead to more creative solutions.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are proposing a new approach to large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) by relying on the integration of photonic components with superconducting electronics.

Previous approaches to achieving general intelligence in artificial intelligence systems have focused on conventional silicon microelectronics paired with light. There are major barriers to this approach, however. There are many physical and practical limitations with the fabrication of silicon chips with electronic and photonic elements.

General intelligence is “the ability to assimilate knowledge across content categories and to use that information to form a coherent representation of the world.” It involves the integration of various sources of information, and it must result in a coherent and adaptive model of the world. The design and hardware construction for general intelligence requires the application of principles of neuroscience and very-large-scale integration.