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Category: robotics/AI – Page 258

Fiber image transmission technology for minimally invasive endoscope developed

Optical fibers are fundamental components in modern science and technology due to their inherent advantages, providing an efficient and secure medium for applications such as internet communication and big data transmission. Compared with single-mode fibers (SMFs), multimode fibers (MMFs) can support a much larger number of guided modes (~103 to ~104), offering the attractive advantage of high-capacity information and image transportation within the diameter of a hair. This capability has positioned MMFs as a critical tool in fields such as quantum information and micro-endoscopy.

However, MMFs pose a significant challenge: their highly scattering nature introduces severe modal dispersion during transmission, which significantly degrades the quality of transmitted information. Existing technologies, such as (ANNs) and spatial light modulators (SLMs), have achieved limited success in reconstructing distorted images after MMF transmission. Despite these advancements, the direct optical transmission of undistorted images through MMFs using micron-scale integrated has remained an elusive goal in optical research.

Addressing the longstanding challenges of multi-mode fiber (MMF) transmission, the research team led by Prof. Qiming Zhang and Associate Prof. Haoyi Yu from the School of Artificial Intelligence Science and Technology (SAIST) at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) has introduced a groundbreaking solution. The study is published in the journal Nature Photonics.

Biocomputers made from human brain cells could run the AI systems of the future

Today’s computers use vast amounts of energy to do tasks that a living brain can achieve much more efficiently. So scientists are trying to create organic computers that can function at low energy levels.

A start-up on the shores of Lake Geneva is building computer networks using human brain cells, which could transform Artificial Intelligence systems.

It’s the latest foray into the field of ‘bio-computing’, also known as wetware.

RAZOR’s Amelia Hemphill visits the FinalSpark lab in Switzerland to find out more about how the brain organoids are grown and trained.

Each organoid is made up of about 10,000 neurons, or brain nerve cells grown from stem cells. These small spheres, approximately 0.5mm in diameter, are kept alive in incubators at near body temperature. They are then connected to tiny electrodes allowing for communication and training.

None of us will have a job

That statement, now signed by twice as many concerned citizens, warned about the risk of human extinction from AI, which was perhaps a bit of an overreach, because … well, extinction? Come on! That’s just a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

What they should have warned about was jobs — the redundancy and destitution of most of humanity, unless there’s some kind of universal income funded by taxes on robots.

What no-one talks about, as the AI revolution unfolds in stock market hype and scientific gung-ho, is what they’re all really trying to do.

A New Optical Memory Platform for Super Fast Calculations

For decades there has been near constant progress in reducing the size, and increasing the performance, of the circuits that power computers and smartphones. But Moore’s Law is ending as physical limitations – such as the number of transistors that can fit on a chip and the heat that results from packing them ever more densely – are slowing the rate of performance increases. Computing capacity is gradually plateauing, even as artificial intelligence, machine learning and other data-intensive applications demand ever greater computational power.

Novel technologies are needed to address this challenge. A potential solution comes from photonics, which offers lower energy consumption and reduced latency than electronics.

One of the most promising approaches is in-memory computing, which requires the use of photonic memories. Passing light signals through these memories makes it possible to perform operations nearly instantaneously. But solutions proposed for creating such memories have faced challenges such as low switching speeds and limited programmability.

Yael Elish — CEO & Founder, StuffThatWorks — Crowdsourcing Treatments That Work

Crowdsourcing treatments that work — yael elish — CEO & founder, stuffthatworks.

Yael Elish is CEO and Founder of StuffThatWorks (https://www.stuffthatworks.health/), a company that offers an online platform where people suffering from chronic diseases can share information to learn which treatments work best for their specific condition, based on the experience of their peers combined with a smart, AI-based crowdsourcing system.

A passionate entrepreneur with expertise in crowdsourcing and consumer-facing products, Yael was on the Waze founding team, where she drove the overall product strategy that led the company from User One to one of the world’s most notable crowdsourcing endeavours. She also co-founded eSnips and NetSnippet, and was part of the senior management team that took Commtouch to its successful NASDAQ IPO in 2000.

Prior to Commtouch, Yael led the sales and marketing efforts for various start-ups in Israel.

Yael holds a first degree in Foreign Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Continue reading “Yael Elish — CEO & Founder, StuffThatWorks — Crowdsourcing Treatments That Work” | >

Psychology-based tasks assess multi-modal LLM visual cognition limits

Electric sparks are used for welding, powering electronics, killing germs or for igniting the fuel in some car engines. Despite their usefulness, they are hard to control in open space—they split into chaotic branches that tend to go toward the closest metallic objects.

A recent study published in Science Advances uncovers a way of transporting electricity through air by . The level of control of the electric sparks allows guidance of the spark around obstacles, or guiding it to hit specific spots, even in non-conductive materials.

“We observed this phenomenon more than one year ago, then it took us months to control it, and even longer to find an explanation,” says Dr. Asier Marzo from the Public University of Navarre, lead researcher of the work.

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