Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: robotics/AI – Page 2,664

Using machine learning to rationally design future electronics materials

Even if we don’t create a true AI for a thousand years, these algorithms, pared with our exponentially increasing computing power, could have much of the same effect on our civilization as the more traditional, AI-centric type Singularity. Very, very soon.

A schematic diagram of machine learning for materials discovery (credit: Chiho Kim, Ramprasad Lab, UConn)

Replacing inefficient experimentation, UConn researchers have used machine learning to systematically scan millions of theoretical compounds for qualities that would make better materials for solar cells, fibers, and computer chips.

Led by UConn materials scientist Ramamurthy ‘Rampi’ Ramprasad, the researchers set out to determine which polymer atomic configurations make a given polymer a good electrical conductor or insulator, for example.

A polymer is a large molecule made of many repeating building blocks. The most familiar example is plastics. What controls a polymer’s properties is mainly how the atoms in the polymer connect to each other. Polymers can also have diverse electronic properties. For example, they can be very good insulators or good conductors. And what controls all these properties is mainly how the atoms in the polymer connect to each other.

AI is not as remarkable as it sounds

Let’s step back and consider the broader digital technology landscape for one moment. We have built our past, current, and new technology off of a digital foundation with machine language of standard not very complex algorithms that processes 0s & 1s which has been around since the 50’s. So, not too shock by this article; in fact we may not see a major leap in Humanoid Robots possibly until Quantum hits the mainstream. Quantum holds a lot of promise; however, it’s still too early to know for sure.

Artificial intelligence may be coming to your IT department sooner than you think, but not the way you might imagine.

DOE’s ARPA-E TERRA projects seek to accelerate sustainable energy crop development

ARPA-E creating sustainable energy crops for the production of renewable transportation fuels from biomass.

In Washington, the DOE’s ARPA-E TERRA projects seek to accelerate the development of sustainable energy crops for the production of renewable transportation fuels from biomass. To accomplish this, the projects uniquely integrate agriculture, information technology, and engineering communities to design and apply new tools for the development of improved varieties of energy sorghum. The TERRA project teams will create novel platforms to enhance methods for crop phenotyping (identifying and measuring the physical characteristics of plants) which are currently time-intensive and imprecise.

The new approaches will include automated methods for observing and recording characteristics of plants and advanced algorithms for analyzing data and predicting plant growth potential. The projects will also produce a large public database of sorghum genotypes, enabling the greater community of plant physiologists,

Bioinformaticians and geneticists to generate breakthroughs beyond TERRA. These innovations will accelerate the annual yield gains of traditional plant breeding and support the discovery of new crop traits that improve water productivity and nutrient use efficiency needed to improve the sustainability of bioenergy crops.

The revolutionary chipmaker behind Google’s project Tango is now powering DJI’s autonomous drone

A few weeks ago DJI unveiled its newest drone, the Phantom 4, the first craft to offer robust obstacle avoidance at a price the average consumer can afford. It relied on computer vision to power its autonomous flight, and since DJI had shown off this kind of tech before, we assumed that all the hardware on the Phantom 4 was homegrown, or backed by a giant like Intel. But today the chipmaker Movidius announced that its latest offer, the Myriad 2, was at the center of the onboard processor powering the Phantom 4’s incredible new abilities.

As it turns out this isn’t the first time Movidius has partnered with a big name to develop cutting edge technology. Back in 2014 its first chip, the Myriad 1, was revealed as the brains inside of Google’s first generation of Project Tango tablets. After a decade toiling in relative obscurity, the small 125 person company is suddenly poised to emerge as a leader at the intersection of several major markets — from drones to phones to virtual reality — which are looking for ways to enable cheap, power-efficient computer vision.

“The company was founded in late 2005, so we’ve had a long gestation,” says CEO Remi El-Ouazzane with a laugh. In its early years it found some business converting old movies into 3D, helping to shore up content offerings for the 3D TV market that never took off. In 2010 its chips were put to use as an engine for 3D rendering, but it was competing with plenty of established chip makers in that market. It wasn’t until 2013, and its partnership with Tango, that the company realized how widespread the application of computer vision could be, and focused in on optimizing for what it believed would be the next wave of devices.

We Are Coming for You, Tesla, And You, Too, Google, Says Hacker Hotz

The legendary hacker George Hotz, known by his nom de guerre “geohot,” who first came to public attention by hacking Apple’s (AAPL) first iPhone, spoke this morning at the South by Southwest conference about taking on Tesla’s (TSLA) self-driving car initiatives with his own garage efforts, a talk titled “I built a better self-driving car than Tesla.”

By the end of the talk, it was clear he had numerous targets, including Alphabet’s (GOOGL) self-driving car efforts, despite mighty respect for the search giant.

Hotz’s achievement, rigging up home made parts to an Acura ILX to make it self-driving, first came to prominence with an article in mid-December by Bloomberg’s Ashlee Vance.

Software Robots Pioneer Blue Prism Debuts on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market

LONDON & MIAMI–()–Blue Prism, the pioneering developer of enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software, today announced its debut on AIM of the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The first developer of software robots to trade on the public markets, Blue Prism, working closely with its global network of partners, grew 35% last year and has deployments with more than 74 customers, including a number of the world’s largest banks, insurers, utilities, healthcare, telecommunications, service providers and other regulated industries. The initial public offering (IPO) will allow Blue Prism to support its global growth plans and enhance its profile within the RPA marketplace.

“Today’s milestone follows a successful year for the company, and marks a shift in acceptance for software robots as a mainstream choice for the enterprise digital workforce,” said Alastair Bathgate, co-founder and CEO of Blue Prism. “Software robots have been deployed successfully and strategically by large, blue chip organizations that have derived tremendous value from this new solution to the labor market, it’s not science fiction.”

Piecing the puzzle together, RPAs provide crucial combat air patrol capabilities

CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) -
Remotely piloted aircraft don’t fly themselves as autonomous super machines. They also don’t require only a single pilot and sensor operator to function.

The RPA enterprise of MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers is maintained or operated by Airmen from more than 30 Air Force career fields, each one playing a key role in supporting every combat air patrol. The patrols enable combatant commanders access to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities at all times.

A combat air patrol is essentially having an aircraft in the air, providing joint combatant commanders with dominant ISR and real-time munitions capability. Today, the RPA enterprise flies a total of 60 CAPs in a 24-hour period requiring thousands of Airmen from pilots and sensor operators to maintainers, intelligence personnel and weather forecasters.

Turns Out Robots Don’t Offer Conflict-Free Advice Either

Automated online advice platforms, the so-called robo advisors, have long implied the use of algorithms eliminates conflicts of interest. It’s a premise that’s gained traction with both consumers and regulators. But a new report by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority casts doubt on their ability to do just that.

With robo advisors like Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, Betterment and Wealthfront now managing billions of dollars worth of client assets, FINRA investigated these online advice providers. The regulator released a report Tuesday that evaluated several key service areas including governance and supervision, the suitability of recommendations, conflicts of interest, customer risk profiles and portfolio rebalancing.

FINRA found that while digital advice will likely play an increasingly important role in wealth management, investors should be aware that conflicts of interest can exist even in providers powered by algorithms. Specifically, the advice consumers receive depends largely on the digital advice provider’s investment approach and the underlying assumptions used.

/* */