Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

Ford’s Argo Buys Laser System Firm as It Boosts Driverless Car Development

Posted by Dan Kummer in robotics/AI, transportation

Oct 28
2017

Argo AI LLC, a driverless-car developer controlled by Ford Motor Co., has purchased a 17-year-old company that makes laser systems needed to operate cars without human intervention, an important step for a conventional Detroit auto maker looking to boost its role in shaping the industry’s transformation.

Argo AI said Friday it is buying New Jersey-based Princeton Lightwave Inc. for an undisclosed price, a move that provides Ford with more immediate access to so-called lidar systems that use lasers to create a 3D view of the…

To Read the Full Story.

Toyota’s space-age concept car for 2030

Posted by Dan Kummer in transportation

Oct 28
2017

Is this what cars will look like in 2030?

The Way We Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever

Posted by Dan Kummer in energy

Oct 28
2017

Superior batteries are on the way, and they could disrupt power markets within the next decade—Sooner Than You Think.

Google Debuts Software to Open Up Quantum Computers for Chemists

Posted by Dan Kummer in computing, information science, quantum physics

Oct 28
2017

Google unveiled software aimed at making it easier for scientists to use the quantum computers in a move designed to give a boost to the nascent industry.

The software, which is open-source and free to use, could be used by chemists and material scientists to adapt algorithms and equations to run on quantum computers. It comes at a time when Google, IBM, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and D-Wave Systems Inc. are all pushing to create quantum computers that can be used for commercial applications.

Using robot companions to help pediatric patients recover

Posted by Dan Kummer in biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Oct 28
2017

Casper the Robot is making a difference at a hospital in Lisbon: http://cnnmon.ie/2y2YRSk

This ex-Googler is bringing self-driving excavators to construction sites

Posted by Dan Kummer in robotics/AI, transportation

Oct 28
2017

Built Robotics has raised $15 million in a round led by NEA to do for construction equipment what Waymo is doing for automobiles.

An alarming sentence about automation from Bank of America’s tech chief should put Wall Streeters on notice

Posted by Dan Kummer in robotics/AI

Oct 28
2017

Bank of America’s chief tech officer says that the technological shift is happening too fast for folks on Wall Street to adapt.

Job losses are on the way.

3D printer makes first wearable ‘battery’

Posted by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz in 3D printing, biotech/medical, mobile phones, sustainability, wearables

Oct 28
2017

Imagine printing off a wristband that charges your smartphone or electric car with cheap supplies from a local hardware store.

That’s the direction materials research is heading at Brunel University London where scientists have become the first to simply and affordably 3D print a flexible, wearable ‘battery’.

The technique opens the way for novel designs for super-efficient, wearable power for phones, electric cars, medical implants like pacemakers and more.