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Category: robotics/AI – Page 1512

The University of Surrey has built an artificial intelligence (AI) model that identifies chemical compounds that promote healthy aging — paving the way towards pharmaceutical innovations that extend a person’s lifespan.

In a paper published by Nature Communication’s Scientific Reports, a team of chemists from Surrey built a machine learning model based on the information from the DrugAge database to predict whether a compound can extend the life of Caenorhabditis elegans — a translucent worm that shares a similar metabolism to humans. The worm’s shorter lifespan gave the researchers the opportunity to see the impact of the chemical compounds.

The AI singled out three compounds that have an 80 percent chance of increasing the lifespan of elegans:

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Amazing.

While Venice may be home to the first 3D-printed concrete footbridge to be constructed entirely sans reinforcement or mortar, the similarly canal laced city of Amsterdam, not to be outdone, has unveiled the world’s first 3D-printed steel pedestrian bridge. The long-awaited project, first announced in 2015, was dedicated on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal in the city’s Red Light District on July 15. The ceremony was attended by Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, Máxima, who was assisted by a ribbon-cutting robot during the festivities.

Spanning nearly 40 feet across the canal, the curving 6-ton stainless steel structure was constructed by Amsterdam-based 3D metal printing technology company MX3D using a wire arc additive manufacturing process that marries advanced robotics with welding. With the aid of four robots, the entire printing process took just six months. The completed bridge, designed by Joris Laarman Lab with Arup serving as lead engineer, was first unveiled in October 2018 during Dutch Design Week. Several load-testing rounds followed, the last of which was carried out in the fall of 2019 with plans to install the structure in early 2020. However, ongoing site prep work at the canal delayed the factory-produced bridge’s installation to just last week.

As reported by the Associated Press, the stainless steel structure, dubbed the MX3D Smart Bridge, will remain in place for at least two years while the footbridge that previously spanned the canal undergoes renovation.

Continue reading “World’s first 3D-printed steel bridge debuts in Amsterdam’s Red Light District” | >

Google’s parent Alphabet unveiled a new “moonshot” project to develop software for robotics which could be used in a wide range of industries.

The new unit, dubbed Intrinsic, will “become an independent Alphabet company,” and seek industrial partners to advance their work helping to make everything from to cars, the new unit’s chief, Wendy Tan-White, said in a blog post.

“Intrinsic is working to unlock the creative and economic potential of industrial robotics for millions more businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers,” she said.

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Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) today announced the “LQ”, a concept vehicle that leverages advanced technology to build an emotional bond between car and driver. The next generation of the Toyota “Concept-i”, a concept vehicle first exhibited at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, LQ is equipped with automated driving capabilities and “Yui,” a powerful artificial intelligence-powered interactive agent designed to learn from the driver and deliver a personalized mobility experience.

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Beijing’s Da Vinci Dynamics has launched its DC100, a high-performance electric streetbike with an impressive 250-mile (400 km) NEDC range, and some wacky “robotic” tricks, including the alleged ability to self-balance and follow you around.

We’ve got ourselves a bit of a kitchen sinker here; Da Vinci has thrown all sorts of features at this one. But even some of the basic specs are a tad elusive. For starters, while it makes a peak of 135 horsepower, putting it very much in the “fast electric” category, the company says it runs “a smart control system that seamlessly integrates multiple different motors.” Who the what now? Multiple motors? A separate press release then states it’s actually 137 horsepower, running through a hub motor.

Peak torque is listed at a ludicrous 850 Nm (627 lb-ft), but then hub motors often have wild torque specs; witness the outrageous Verge TS, with a hub motor that doesn’t even need a middle in it to break 1000 Nm (738 lb-ft). The DC100 will sprint from 0–100 km/h in somewhere between 3–4 seconds, so crazy torque or no crazy torque, a well-ridden gixxer will still see it off at the lights.

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An organic transistor that incorporates two bulk heterojunctions can exhibit active photoadaptation behaviour for light intensities that range over six orders of magnitude.

The development of artificial visual systems that mimic biological systems requires devices that can autonomously adapt their response to varying stimuli. However, emulating biological feedforward visual adaptation is challenging and requires complementary photoexcitation and inhibition, ideally in a single device. Here we show that an organic transistor that incorporates two bulk heterojunctions is capable of light intensity-dependent active photoadaptation. The approach couples the photovoltaic effect in bulk heterojunctions with electron trapping in the dielectric layer, allowing adaptive modulation of the carrier concentration of the transistor. Our device exhibits active photoadaptation behaviour for light intensities ranging over six orders of magnitude (1 to 106 cd m−2).

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Bioprinting in seconds.

Biofabrication technologies, including stereolithography and extrusion-based printing, are revolutionizing the creation of complex engineered tissues. The current paradigm in bioprinting relies on the additive layer-by-layer deposition and assembly of repetitive building blocks, typically cell-laden hydrogel fibers or voxels, single cells, or cellular aggregates. The scalability of these additive manufacturing technologies is limited by their printing velocity, as lengthy biofabrication processes impair cell functionality. Overcoming such limitations, the volumetric bioprinting of clinically relevant sized, anatomically shaped constructs, in a time frame ranging from seconds to tens of seconds is described. An optical-tomography-inspired printing approach, based on visible light projection, is developed to generate cell-laden tissue constructs with high viability (85%) from gelatin-based photoresponsive hydrogels. Free-form architectures, difficult to reproduce with conventional printing, are obtained, including anatomically correct trabecular bone models with embedded angiogenic sprouts and meniscal grafts. The latter undergoes maturation in vitro as the bioprinted chondroprogenitor cells synthesize neo-fibrocartilage matrix. Moreover, free-floating structures are generated, as demonstrated by printing functional hydrogel-based ball-and-cage fluidic valves. Volumetric bioprinting permits the creation of geometrically complex, centimeter-scale constructs at an unprecedented printing velocity, opening new avenues for upscaling the production of hydrogel-based constructs and for their application in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and soft robotics.

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DeepMind is using its AI prowess to accelerate scientific work.

AI research lab DeepMind has created the most comprehensive map of human proteins to date using artificial intelligence. The company, a subsidiary of Google-parent Alphabet, is releasing the data for free, with some scientists comparing the potential impact of the work to that of the Human Genome Project, an international effort to map every human gene.

Proteins are long, complex molecules that perform numerous tasks in the body, from building tissue to fighting disease. Their purpose is dictated by their structure, which folds like origami into complex and irregular shapes. Understanding how a protein folds helps explain its function, which in turn helps scientists with a range of tasks — from pursuing fundamental research on how the body works, to designing new medicines and treatments.

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Neuroscientists removed fear from rats by inactivating amygdala — brain region mediating fear.

#Neuroscience #Brain #YuriNeuro #Neurobiology #Amygdala.

Timecodes:
0:00-Introduction.
0:17-Amygdala role in fear regulation.
0:45-Difficulties in exploring prey-predator interaction.
1:02-Lego robot to simulate a predator. Robogator (LEGO Mindstorms robot)
1:53-Fear response before the amygdala inactivation.
2:33-Fear response aftert the amygdala inactivation.
3:59-Amygdala is one of the key regions of the fear regulation.
4:50 — Human-based experiments on the electrical stimulation of amygdala.
6:01-Future prospects. Optogenetics.
6:34-Share your ideas and emotions in the comments.

In this video I review a scientific neuroscience publication :“Amygdala regulates risk of predation in rats foraging in a dynamic fear environment” from University of Washington and Korea University, Seoul. The scientific paper addresses the mechanism of fear regulation in rats. Neuroscientists inactivated neurons of the brain region regulating fear — amygdala. In order to inactivate amygdala neurons neurobiologists applied GABAA receptor agonist muscimol. In this way neuroscientists made the rat fearless. Neurobiologists simulated fear enviroment by using lego robot — Robogator (LEGO Mindstorms robot) programmed to surge toward the animal as it emerges from the nesting area in search of food.

Continue reading “Scientists made this rat fearless” | >