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Category: robotics/AI – Page 2305

Researchers from the University of Warsaw have employed liquid crystalline elastomers and soft robotics techniques to make a small robot caterpillar that moves according to light conditions.

Soft robotics is a field that not too many are familiar with, but it has led to the creation of some stunning robots. Far from the large and rigid clunkers that are the public face of robots (think: Atlas), soft robotics focuses on bots with a lighter touch, mimicking the graceful movements of natural organisms.

And mimic them they do.

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Harvard researchers were able to create the world’s first fully autonomous soft robot. Ultimately, it is controlled by a pneumatic system.

A group of Harvard engineers were able to create a completely autonomous robot using soft robotics. Notably, this is the first robot created that does not use any hard components. And if that’s not enough, it’s also the world’s first completely autonomous soft robot.

The team’s work was published in Nature, and you can see the robot in action in the video below.

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Experts may reassure us that artificial intelligence won’t take over the world anytime soon – but they just might invade the multiplex.

At least that’s the plot developing at IBM, where the Watson artificial-intelligence team programmed a computer to come up with a scary trailer for “Morgan,” a thriller about a genetically modified, AI-enhanced super-human.

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A nice story out on transhumanism:

An idea that has frequently been used by science fiction is now starting to gain widespread attention by futurists, scientists, philosophers, and even the general public; the idea that the human species needs to use either artificial augmentations or gene manipulation to usher in the next stage of evolution. That idea is transhumanism.

Transhumanist ArtBut why would humans want to willingly accelerate or initiate the next step in evolution? The positives of transhumanism are lofty goals that mankind has sought after for years, goals such as a world without diseases, ignorance, or even death. The only question, and an extremely important one, is how much is humanity willing to modify itself to attain those goals, and could the end result still be considered human? Some sources even suggest that in order to discuss individuals who are radically different from modern-day humans, the term “posthuman” must be used. Transhumanists who alter or augment themselves would theoretically at some point become a posthuman.

There are some examples that could be considered related to transhumanism. For example, vaccinations, laser eye surgery, and hearing aids are all technological innovations used to help improve the human body in some way. However, transhumanism suggests that humans in their current stage have not reached the end of their evolution, and that transhumanism itself, the modification of our bodies, would be the culmination of our evolution. However, transhumanism emphasizes that the next stage of evolution should be directed by humans rather than left to environmental or outside factors.

Continue reading “What is Transhumanism?” | >

http://deepspaceindustries.com/prospector-1/

Prospector-1, the world’s first commercial interplanetary mining mission, will fly to and rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid to determine its value as a source of space resources.

The destination asteroid will be chosen from a group of top candidates selected by the world renowned team of asteroid experts at Deep Space Industries. Once the spacecraft arrives at the asteroid, the autonomous spacecraft will map the surface and subsurface, taking visual and infrared imagery and mapping overall water content. With the initial science campaign complete, Prospector-1 will use its water thrusters to gently touch down on the asteroid, measuring the target’s geophysical characteristics.

Prospector-1 is a small spacecraft that strikes the ideal balance between cost and performance. In addition to radiation-tolerant payloads and avionics, all DSI spacecraft use the Comet line of water propulsion systems, which expel superheated water vapor to generate thrust. Water will be the first asteroid mining product, so using water as propellant will provide future DSI spacecraft with the ability to refuel in space.

Continue reading “Prospecting for Asteroid Resources — Deep Space Industries” | >

Researchers have discovered that voice recognition software Deep Speech 2 has improved to a point that it has become significantly faster and more accurate at producing text on a mobile device than humans are at typing on a keyboard.

Earlier this year, we watched a world-renowned Go mastermind get pummeled in a complex game by an artificial intelligence (AI). Now, humans are about to lose in yet another battle with the machines—and this time, it’s over typing.

There is a speech recognition software that has improved to the point that it is faster and more accurate at producing text than human typists. That’s according to researchers from Stanford University and the University of Washington, which ran a study on a new program developed by Chinese internet giant, Baidu.

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