Toggle light / dark theme

Nanotech scientists create world’s smallest origami bird

If you want to build a fully functional nanosized robot, you need to incorporate a host of capabilities, from complicated electronic circuits and photovoltaics to sensors and antennas.

But just as importantly, if you want your robot to move, you need it to be able to bend.

Cornell researchers have created micron-sized shape memory actuators that enable atomically thin two-dimensional materials to fold themselves into 3D configurations. All they require is a quick jolt of voltage. And once the material is bent, it holds its shape—even after the voltage is removed.

AI Can Now Debate with Humans and Sometimes Convince Them, Too

Today on the Science Talk podcast, Noam Slonim speaks to Scientific American about an impressive feat of computer engineering: an AI-powered autonomous system that can engage in complex debate with humans over issues ranging from subsidizing preschool and the merit of space exploration to the pros and cons of genetic engineering.

In a new Nature paper, Slonim and colleagues show that across 80 debate topics, Project Debater’s computational argument technology has performed very decently—with a human audience being the judge of that. “However, it is still somewhat inferior on average to the results obtained by expert human debaters,” says Slonim.

In a 2019 San Francisco showcase, its first public debut, the system went head to head with expert debater Harish Natarajan.

Pillars of the Space Industry

Topic: Current Space Industry Engagement.

Do Subscribe the video.

Welcome!


The debut of “Space Matters-Pillars of the Space Industry” is scheduled to take place this coming Saturday, March 20th at 10:00AM PST.

Greetings Space Lovers! I wanted to personally invite each of you to join us in supporting the world premiere of the awesome new television show “Space Matters”, hosted by Rhonda Stevenson, of Tau Zero Foundation! The show airs this coming Saturday, March 20th @ 10am PST! Please download the e360tv app to view on Roku, IOS, Android, and other live streaming platforms.

Russian Aerospace-Robotics Farm is hiring

A unique — details are a bit sketch 😉 looks amazing tho!

Requirements:

Human; all nationalities accepted.
Be willing to relocate to Mars.
Previous SMS experience working around black holes.
Hands-on experience repairing or replacing broken parts on machinary and/or colleagues.
A Can Do Attitude.
The ability to work alone and part of an android team with minimal supervision and zero compliance to logic.
Available for travel to different planets on a regular basis.
Dangerous Goods or Hazardous Materials Recognition Training preferred but not necessary. OTJ will be provided. Please ensure your tetanus vaccine is up-to-date!


A unique Russian Aerospace-Robotics Farm is hiring — details are a bit sketch 😉 looks amazing tho!

Baidu A.I. chip unit valued at $2 billion after funding and may become standalone business

GUANGZHOU, China — Baidu has raised money for its artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor business at a valuation of $2 billion, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.

It comes as the Chinese search giant looks to diversify its revenue streams.

The funding round was led by CPE, a Chinese asset management and private equity firm, the person said. Venture capital companies IDG and Legend Capital were also involved. A fund under Chinese investment company Oriza Holdings also participated in the round.

Microscopic Robots, Remotely Driven by Magnetic Fields, Coax Particles Into Position Using Capillary Forces

At microscopic scales, picking, placing, collecting, and arranging objects is a persistent challenge. Advances in nanotechnology mean that there are ever more complex things we’d like to build at those sizes, but tools for moving their component parts are lacking.

Now, new research from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science shows how simple, microscopic robots, remotely driven by magnetic fields, can use capillary forces to manipulate objects floating at an oil-water interface.

This system was demonstrated in a study published in the journal Applied Physics Letters on January 28, 2020.

Artificial intelligence leads NATO’s new strategy for emerging and disruptive tech

STUTTGART, Germany — NATO and its member nations have formally agreed upon how the alliance should target and coordinate investments in emerging and disruptive technology, or EDT, with plans to release artificial intelligence and data strategies by the summer of 2021.

In recent years the alliance has publicly declared its need to focus on so-called EDTs, and identified seven science and technology areas that are of direct interest. Now, the NATO enterprise and representatives of its 30 member states have endorsed a strategy that shows how the alliance can both foster these technologies — through stronger relationships with innovation hubs and specific funding mechanisms — and protect EDT investments from outside influence and export issues.

NATO will eventually develop individual strategies for each of the seven science and technology areas — artificial intelligence, data and computing, autonomy, quantum-enabled technologies, biotechnology, hypersonic technology, and space. But for the near future, the priority is AI and data, said David van Weel, NATO’s assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges.

This Chip for AI Works Using Light, Not Electrons

The idea of using light for computation is far from new, dating back to the 1950s. But electronic computing proved more practical to develop and commercialize. In the 1980s, Bell Labs tried to create a general purpose light-based chip, but it failed due to the difficulty of building a working optical transistor.

Lightmatter says its chips can be dropped into an existing data center and work with most major AI software. Later this year the company plans to launch a new technology for connecting chips, including those made by other companies, using its photonic technology. Light is widely used to shuttle information between computers, using fiber-optic cables.

Harris argues that AI will hit a wall in the next few years because of rising costs and energy use, and because of engineering constraints on the horizon. As engineers try to cram more transistors into a chip to speed up performance, chips may get too hot to manage.