Lifeboat Foundation

A technology that functions like a brain? In these times of artificial intelligence, this no longer seems so far-fetched — for example, when a mobile phone can recognise faces or languages. With more complex applications, however, computers still quickly come up against their own limitations.

One of the reasons for this is that a computer traditionally has separate memory and processor units — the consequence of which is that all data have to be sent back and forth between the two. In this respect, the human brain is way ahead of even the most modern computers because it processes and stores information in the same place — in the synapses, or connections between neurons, of which there are a million-billion in the brain.

The technology is proliferating amid concerns that it is prone to errors and allows the government to expand surveillance without much oversight.

Police are increasingly using facial recognition to solve low-level crimes and to quickly identify people they see as suspicious. Claire Merchlinsky / for NBC News.

The EU is funding the development of AI-powered drones that would autonomously patrol Europe’s borders. The project’s potential for military use can’t be ignored.

One of the most controversial narratives of our time will be discussion around identity and intention, that is who is it actually doing or thinking whatever it is you may be witnessing and why. This disruptive shift will be about discerning between human intelligence, artificial intelligence, hybrids-of-sorts and the types of parameters with which to best frame each category.

Get ready for one of the most controversial tech developments of our era.

Robotics ground controllers in NASA’s Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston successfully replaced a failed Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) on the International Space Station with a spare using robotic operations on Thursday, May 2. The operation to replace the failed unit was conducted using the station’s Canadarm2 and Dextre, both part of Canada’s contribution to the International Space Station.

Using complex robotic work to perform critical maintenance allows astronauts to spend more time working on scientific experiments and helps develop better technologies and procedures for future human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

“Developing new robotic systems is extremely important to get our astronauts back to the Moon by 2024,” Robotics Operations Systems Officer Mike Ferullo said. “The techniques and methods that we are developing with Dextre and Canadarm2 are directly applicable to future missions, and the construction and repair of any Moon-based mission will be done with robotics wherever possible. It’s an extremely exciting time to be involved in space robotics.

Continue reading “How MCC Used Robotics to Successfully Restore Full Power for Station” »

This box could make your car autonomous for just $1,000. (from 2016)

Comma.ai’s system will add Autopilot-like abilities to many standard vehicles.

Numbers figure pretty high up on the list of what a computer can do well. While humans often struggle to split a restaurant bill, a modern computer can make millions of calculations in a mere second. Humans, however, have an innate and intuitive number sense that helped us, among other things, to build computers in the first place.

Opinions on #ArtificialIntelligence are a dime a dozen, unless you’re hearing from one of the field’s pioneers. Join us at D60, DARPA’s 60th anniversary symposium, to learn from Ron Brachman about how #AI rose to prominence. https://d60.darpa.mil/index.html

Panel: “DARPA and AI: Visionary Pioneer and Advocate”

Artificial Intelligence has experienced waves of excitement before, but we have never seen the kind of worldwide enthusiasm that we see now, especially in the commercial sector, where AI has become the central mission of some of the world’s most powerful tech companies. DARPA is known for being the first supporter of AI research and panelists will highlight the impetus DARPA provided to the field’s most central technological areas, and give insights about where the field is going next.

Continue reading “Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — DARPA” »

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This robot can successfully mimic human hands.