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Dec 7, 2021

Kamikaze drones: A new weapon brings power and peril to the U.S. military

Posted by in categories: drones, military, robotics/AI, terrorism

Americans have become accustomed to images of Hellfire missiles raining down from Predator and Reaper drones to hit terrorist targets in Pakistan or Yemen. But that was yesterday’s drone war.

A revolution in unmanned aerial vehicles is unfolding, and the U.S. has lost its monopoly on the technology.

Some experts believe the spread of the semi-autonomous weapons will change ground warfare as profoundly as the machine gun did.

Dec 7, 2021

Atom Touch — Join the Preview Program for the first ever Bionic Prosthetic Arm

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, robotics/AI, transhumanism

Probably some of the best robotic hands developed to date. definitely worth a look, for robotics people.

Learn More


Get on the waitlist for the Atom Touch.

Dec 7, 2021

Unlock the Data that Matters Most

Posted by in category: futurism

How do you collect meaningful data in industrial facilities and generate actionable insights? The Spot API makes it easy to create end-to-end applications that … See more.


Spot’s robust, flexible API and advanced mobility make it a powerful platform to unlock the operational data you really need.

Dec 7, 2021

SEIHAI: The hierarchical AI that won the NeurIPS-2020 MineRL competition

Posted by in categories: entertainment, information science, robotics/AI

In recent years, computational tools based on reinforcement learning have achieved remarkable results in numerous tasks, including image classification and robotic object manipulation. Meanwhile, computer scientists have also been training reinforcement learning models to play specific human games and videogames.

To challenge research teams working on reinforcement learning techniques, the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) annual conference introduced the MineRL competition, a contest in which different algorithms are tested on the same in Minecraft, the renowned computer game developed by Mojang Studios. More specifically, contestants are asked to create algorithms that will need to obtain a diamond from raw pixels in the Minecraft game.

The algorithms can only be trained for four days and on 8,000,000 samples created by the MineRL simulator, using a single GPU machine. In addition to the training dataset, participants are also provided with a large collection of human demonstrations (i.e., video frames in which the task is solved by human players).

Dec 7, 2021

Quantum systems break the linearity of time

Posted by in categories: evolution, quantum physics

A new study suggests that systems governed by quantum mechanics do not show an exclusively linear evolution in time: in this way, they are sometimes able to unfold into the past and into the future simultaneously.

An international group of physicists concludes in a recent research published in the journal Communications Physics that quantum systems that evolve in one direction or another in time can also be found evolving in unison along both directions. This property shown by quantum systems in certain contexts breaks with the classical temporal conception, in which it is only possible to move forward or backward in time.

The work, carried out by scientists from the universities of Bristol (United Kingdom), Vienna (Austria), the Balearic Islands (Spain) and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI-Vienna), shows that the limit between the time that going back and forth can be blurred in quantum mechanics. According to a press release from the University of Bristol, the new study forces us to rethink how the flow of time manifests itself in contexts in which quantum laws play a fundamental role.

Dec 7, 2021

New Harvard institute to study natural, artificial intelligence

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience, robotics/AI

Harvard University on Tuesday launched the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, a new University-wide initiative standing at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, seeking fundamental principles that underlie both human and machine intelligence. The fruits of discoveries will flow in both directions, enhancing understanding of how humans think, perceive the world around them, make decisions, and learn, thereby advancing the rapidly evolving field of AI.

The institute will be funded by a $500 million gift from Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, which was announced Tuesday by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The gift will support 10 new faculty appointments, significant new computing infrastructure, and resources to allow students to flow between labs in pursuit of ideas and knowledge. The institute’s name honors Zuckerberg’s mother, Karen Kempner Zuckerberg, and her parents — Zuckerberg’s grandparents — Sidney and Gertrude Kempner. Chan and Zuckerberg have given generously to Harvard in the past, supporting students, faculty, and researchers in a range of areas, including around public service, literacy, and cures.

“The Kempner Institute at Harvard represents a remarkable opportunity to bring together approaches and expertise in biological and cognitive science with machine learning, statistics, and computer science to make real progress in understanding how the human brain works to improve how we address disease, create new therapies, and advance our understanding of the human body and the world more broadly,” said President Larry Bacow.

Dec 7, 2021

Elon Musk says Neuralink will start implanting chips in humans in 2022

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, neuroscience

Elon Musk says Neuralink is just waiting on FDA approval for its first human trials, which will be conducted among those with severe spinal injuries. Musk said he is sure the chip will help them walk.

Dec 7, 2021

Endgame: Ethereum 2.0 by Vitalik

Posted by in category: cryptocurrencies

Special thanks to a whole bunch of people from Optimism and Flashbots for discussion and thought that went into this piece, and Karl Floersch, Phil Daian, Hasu and Alex Obadia for feedback and review.

Dec 7, 2021

‘Concerning’ asteroid will break into Earth’s orbit in a week: NASA

Posted by in category: space

NASA has warned that a giant asteroid bigger than the Eiffel Tower will break into Earth’s orbit in just over a week.

The 1,082-foot space rock is heading our way and should skim past us on December 11.

NASA has its eye on Asteroid 4,660 Nereus because it’s well over 492 feet long and will come within 4.6 million miles of Earth.

Dec 7, 2021

DeVayu’s Raspberry Pi Pico LED Matrix Controller Drives 2,048 LEDs at 28 Frames Per Second via Wi-Fi

Posted by in category: internet

Designed as a network-addressable display, this 2,048-pixel LED matrix runs at nearly 30 FPS thanks to some clever compression.