W/ Dr. Saket Kumar.
Speakers: Cecile Tamura, Saket Kumar
Arxiv_id: arXiv:2407.
Category: robotics/AI – Page 493
AI Is Actually a Form of ‘Alien Intelligence,’ Harvard Professor Claims—And It Will Surpass Humans
This phenomenon did not surprise Harvard University professor and virtuoso theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, Ph.D., who is convinced AI will soon surpass anything the human brain’s flesh-and-blood machinery is capable of.
“We’re just in the infancy of this era,” Loeb says. “It will be essential for us as a species to maintain superiority, but it will illustrate to us that we are not the pinnacle of creation.”
In a blog post, Loeb ponders how advanced the artificial intelligence of hypothetical alien civilizations could have possibly grown—especially civilizations that might have already been around for billions of years before anything vaguely humanoid appeared in the cosmos. What would the AI’s capabilities look like? What would be its limits? Are there even any limits left?
Engineers develop hybrid robot that balances strength and flexibility—and can screw in a lightbulb
How many robots does it take to screw in a lightbulb? The answer is more complicated than you might think. New research from Northeastern University upends the riddle by making a robot that is both flexible and sensitive enough to handle the lightbulb, and strong enough to apply the necessary torque.
“What we found is that by thinking about the bodies of robots and how we can make new materials for them, we can actually make a robot that has the benefits of both rigid and soft robots,” says Jeffrey Lipton, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern.
“It’s flexible, extendable and compliant like an elephant trunk or octopus tentacle, but can also apply torques like a traditional industrial robot,” he adds.
Bill Gates signs deal with Indian province to boost agri, health
The provincial government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) in India has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gates Foundation to advance the use of technology in various sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, and education. The agreement was discussed in a meeting between AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Bill Gates, the Foundation’s chair. Naidu reiterated his administration’s dedication to utilizing innovative technology to propel the state’s development.
The MoU focuses on applying technology in ways that will benefit the public, emphasizing affordable and scalable solutions across essential sectors such as healthcare, medical technology, education, and agriculture. According to Naidu, the collaboration will harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance predictive health analytics and automate diagnostic processes. In the agricultural sector, AI-based platforms for expert guidance and satellite technology will be employed to optimize farming practices and resource management through precision agriculture techniques.
“This MoU formalises a strategic collaboration in which the Gates Foundation will provide support to implementation partners, co-identified with the AP government, for targeted interventions within state-driven programmes,” Naidu said.
U.S. tech giants are betting big on humanoid robots — but China’s already ahead, analysts say
American tech giants are increasingly focusing on the humanoid robotics space, but analysts say they’re at risk of falling behind China.
Advancing semiconductor devices for AI: Single transistor acts like neuron and synapse
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have demonstrated that a single, standard silicon transistor, the fundamental building block of microchips used in computers, smartphones and almost every electronic system, can function like a biological neuron and synapse when operated in a specific, unconventional way.
Led by Associate Professor Mario Lanza from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering, NUS, the research team’s work presents a highly scalable and energy-efficient solution for hardware-based artificial neural networks (ANNs).
This brings neuromorphic computing —where chips could process information more efficiently, much like the human brain —closer to reality. Their study was published in the journal Nature.
New miniature laboratories are ensuring that AI doesn’t make mistakes
Anyone who develops an AI solution sometimes goes on a journey into the unknown. At least at the beginning, researchers and designers do not always know whether their algorithms and AI models will work as expected or whether the AI will ultimately make mistakes.
Sometimes, AI applications that work well in theory perform poorly under real-life conditions. In order to gain the trust of users, however, an AI should work reliably and correctly. This applies just as much to popular chatbots as it does to AI tools in research.
Any new AI tool has to be tested thoroughly before it is deployed in the real world. However, testing in the real world can be an expensive, or even risky endeavor. For this reason, researchers often test their algorithms in computer simulations of reality. However, since simulations are approximations of reality, testing AI solutions in this way can lead researchers to overestimate an AI’s performance.
AI model transforms material design by predicting and explaining synthesizability
A research team has successfully developed a technology that utilizes Large Language Models (LLMs) to predict the synthesizability of novel materials and interpret the basis for such predictions. The team was led by Seoul National University’s Professor Yousung Jung and conducted in collaboration with Fordham University in the United States.
The findings of this research are expected to contribute to the novel material design process by filtering out material candidates with low synthesizability in advance or optimizing previously challenging-to-synthesize materials into more feasible forms.
The study, with Postdoctoral Researcher Seongmin Kim as the first author, was published in two chemistry journals: the Journal of the American Chemical Society on July 11, 2024, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition on February 13, 2025.
Wheel-less helical ring-based soft robot can move reliably in all directions
Over the past decades, roboticists have introduced a wide range of systems that can move in various complex environments, including different terrains, on the ground, in the air, and even in water. To safely navigate real-world dynamic environments without colliding with humans or nearby objects, most robots rely on sensors and cameras.
Researchers at Tsinghua University have recently developed WHERE-Bot, a new wheel-less, everting soft robot (i.e., a flexible robot that moves by turning its body structure inside out) that safely moves in unstructured environments without using sensors to detect obstacles. This robot, introduced in a paper published on the arXiv preprint server and set to be presented at the 8th IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) in April, leverages its unique helical ring-based structure to move in all directions.
“One day, while playing with a Slinky toy during a lab meeting,” Shuguang Li, senior author of the paper, told Tech Xplore. “Suddenly, a new idea struck us: what if we connected the head and tail of the spring toy? By joining its two ends, the spring could be endlessly turned inside-out—a motion we now call ‘everting’—presenting a fascinating color flow. This sparked our curiosity about how such a helical ring—perhaps with some structure modifications—would behave in various environments: on the ground, along a pipe, underwater, on sand, and even in the air.”