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Blog – Page 11976

“We will find new things everywhere we look.” –Hunter S. Thompson

At the rate of 21st century technological innovation, each year brings new breakthroughs across industries. Advances in quantum computers, human genome sequencing for under $1,000, lab-grown meat, harnessing our body’s microbes as drugs, and bionic eye implants that give vision to the blind —the list is long.

As new technologies push the boundaries of their respective industries, fields are now maturing, growing, and colliding with one another. This cross-pollination of ideas across industries and countries has changed the world—and will continue to—and it’s one of the reasons Singularity University exists.

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The Milky Way and hundreds of galaxies surrounding it are being drawn toward a mysterious force scientists call the “Great Attractor”.

And it took the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO) Parkes telescope to see them.

The force was first revealed back in the 1970s, when it was discovered that the Milky Way was one of hundreds of galaxies deviating from the “universe is expanding” model.

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“There’s a reason the only robot a person is likely to have in their home today is a cleaning robot,” founder Shlomo Schwarz tells me during a recent call. “It gives added value to the person. You buy a cleaning robot because it cleans your house. You’re not buying a friend.” — when we say value; how do we know for sure. I know many consumers who bought the iRobot vacuums and don’t use them because for many of the women in my own family found it was limited in its usage.

An Israeli startup is modeling its Linux-based, Raspberry Pi-powered robot on the smartphone developer ecosystem.

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Yesterday, I highlighted one key a reason why robots will not be able to completely eliminate roles like doctors, etc. and that is lack of empathy.

Also, another key barrier that will remain the lack of a diverse set of innovators & development engineers in the space. AI designed today is strictly designed with a subset of the population; therefore, the larger consumer space will continue to see limitations with their own AI experiences. No matter how much you try, you can never replace female thinking & interpretation with male thinking & interpretation and vice versa. Therefore, there will always be something missing in AI for a larger part of the population.

The Future of the Professions, a book by father and son duo Richard and Daniel Susskind predicts radical change about the automated future of professions.

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Machine operating as machine yes; machine trying to operate like a human not even close.

Meanwhile, Ocado is continuing to carve out some cutting edge inventions that are set to transform the logistics and communications sectors. Ocado’s director of technology Paul Clarke gave us an inside look into the tech side of the business and hinted at what’s in store for the future.

Paul Clarke1
OcadoOcado’s director of technology, Paul Clarke.

Business Insider: Ocado recently launched the wireless technology that fits into the wider Ocado Smart Platform [OSP: Ocado’s e-commerce fulfillment and logistics cloud platform.] It seems like a rather simple and efficient idea but how long does it take to bring a concept like this into reality?

Continue reading “Ocado’s tech chief gave us an inside look into how it plans to revolutionise the world with automation and robots” | >

Self-driving cars may represent an important achievement in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, but one car manufacturer is hoping to develop new technologies that could help these autonomous machines drive less like robots and more like, well, humans.

British automotive company Jaguar Land Rover is taking part in a new research project, dubbed MOVE-UK, to foster the development of safer and more effective autonomous cars. The initiative aims to study how human drivers behave in real-life situations, such as when roads are congested, when weather is bad or when routes are diverted because of construction.

“Customers are much more likely to accept highly automated and fully autonomous vehicles if the car reacts in the same way as the driver,” Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology for Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement. “By understanding and measuring positive driving behaviors, we can ensure that an autonomous Jaguar of Land Rover of the future will not simply perform a robotic function.” [Photos: The Robotic Evolution of Self-Driving Cars].

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