Robotics/AI – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Mar 18
2020

AlphaGo: With more board configurations than there are atoms in the universe, the ancient Chinese game of Go has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence

On March 9, 2016, the worlds of Go and artificial intelligence collided in South Korea for an extraordinary best-of-five-game competition, coined The DeepMind Challenge Match. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as a legendary Go master took on an unproven AI challenger for the first time in history.

Directed by Greg Kohs with an original score by Academy Award nominee, Hauschka, AlphaGo chronicles a journey from the halls of Oxford, through the backstreets of Bordeaux, past the coding terminals of DeepMind in London, and ultimately, to the seven-day tournament in Seoul. As the drama unfolds, more questions emerge: What can artificial intelligence reveal about a 3000-year-old game? What can it teach us about humanity?

Mar 17
2020

Nvidia researchers use AI to teach robots how to hand objects to humans

Nvidia researchers propose human-robot handovers in which the robot meets the human halfway, classifies their grasp, and takes the object from their hand.

Mar 17
2020

Researchers Will Deploy AI to Better Understand Coronavirus

More than 2,000 papers have been published about the virus since December. It will take some smart algorithms to mine insights from them.

Mar 17
2020

Cleantech Includes UV Roombas To Kill The Coronavirus

Cleantech is usually focused on electric cars, batteries, clean electrical generation, and the like. But clean also has a more direct connotation for humans of being free from disease.

Danish company UVD Robotics makes germ-, virus-, and mold-killing ultraviolet robots for hospitals. The product has been in existence for a while, but now it’s signed contracts with Chinese hospitals and is shipping units to that country.

Mar 16
2020

Automated trucking, a technical milestone that could disrupt hundreds of thousands of jobs, hits the road

Companies are already testing driverless trucks on America’s roads. The technology will bring untold profits, but it may cost thousands of truckers their livelihoods.

Mar 15
2020

Toyota’s self-driving car mapping system could be a game changer

With commercial satellite technology, Toyota showed it can create HD maps more quickly and do it in a cost-effective manner.

Mar 15
2020

MIT’s deep learning found an antibiotic for a germ nothing else could kill

Scientists at MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute and MIT’s CSAIL built a deep learning network that can acquire a broad representation of molecular structure and thereby discover novel antibiotics. The resulting compound, halicin, can destroy a pathogen for which no cure has existed, and it could even help in the fight against coronavirus.

Mar 15
2020

Introducing The LF-30 Electrified Concept

With its futuristic design, in-wheel electric motors, autonomous driving technologies and Lexus Advanced Posture Control, the LF-30 Electrified concept redefines how a vehicle can move you.

Mar 15
2020

Battelle-Led Team Wins DARPA Award to Develop Injectable, Bi-Directional Brain Computer Interface

Here’s an exciting concept that was actually first discussed in 1959 by Richard Feynman in an article entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”.

I am most interested in this technology for mind uploading.

“Battelle’s N3 concept for a minimally invasive neural interface system, called BrainSTORMS (Brain System to Transmit Or Receive Magnetoelectric Signals), involves the development of a novel nanotransducer that could be temporarily introduced into the body via injection and then directed to a specific area of the brain to help complete a task through communication with a helmet-based transceiver.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Battelle has for years successfully demonstrated brain-computer interface (BCI) projects—just look at NeuroLife^®, which has enabled a quadriplegic man to move his hand again using his thoughts. Now, the government’s forward-thinking Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a contract to a Battelle-led team that pushes researchers into the realm of what was once considered science fiction.

“This is one of the most exciting and challenging projects I have worked on” Tweet this

Imagine this: A soldier puts on a helmet and uses his or her thoughts alone to control multiple unmanned vehicles or a bomb disposal robot. That’s the basis for this effort for DARPA’s Next-Generation Non-Surgical Neurotechnology (N³) program. The N³ program seeks development of high-performance, bi-directional brain-machine interfaces for able-bodied service members. Most of the current BCI research, including Battelle’s NeuroLife technology, focuses on helping people with disabilities who must undergo invasive implant procedures, including brain surgery, to enable a BCI that can restore lost function. For the next BCI leap, in which the technology can be used by healthy military service members, it’s imperative to find lower-risk and less-invasive options.

Continue reading “Battelle-Led Team Wins DARPA Award to Develop Injectable, Bi-Directional Brain Computer Interface” | >

Mar 15
2020

DARPA taps four companies for critical unmanned underwater vehicle tech

DARPA has announced the four companies it has selected to work under its Manta Ray Program. Three of the companies will be tasked with developing ‘an integrated solution’ for the program’s operational and technology areas, according to DARPA. The fourth company will instead focus on the topic of undersea energy harvesting options capable of working at the depths DARPA has planned.