In an age of social distancing, machines are being used for everything from cleaning to taking temperatures
Continue reading...Category Archives: Robots
Robots gear up to march to the fields and harvest cauliflowers
Prototype technology could help alleviate growing shortage of human crop pickers
The job of harvesting cauliflowers could one day be in the mechanical hands of robots thanks to a collaboration between scientists and the French canned vegetable producer Bonduelle.
Fieldwork Robotics, the team behind the world’s first raspberry-picking robot, is designing a machine in a three-year collaboration launched on Monday.
Continue reading...Robots deliver food in Milton Keynes under coronavirus lockdown
Starship Technologies’ small vehicles navigate pavements with no human driver required
A robotic delivery service in Milton Keynes could prove to be the future of locked-down Britain, as miniature autonomous vehicles bring food deliveries to almost 200,000 residents of the town.
Starship Technologies, an autonomous delivery startup created in 2014 by two Skype cofounders, has been testing its beer cooler-sized robots in public since 2015. The small, white, six-wheeled vehicles trundle along pavements to bring small deliveries to residents and workers of the neighbourhoods in which they operate, without the need for a human driver or delivery person.
Continue reading...Robots replace students at Japan graduation ceremony amid Covid-19 outbreak – video
A university in Japan has held a graduation ceremony for students using avatar robots remotely controlled by graduating students from their homes. The avatar robots, dubbed 'Newme,' by developer ANA Holdings, were dressed in graduation caps and gowns for the ceremony, complete with tablets projecting the graduates' faces. Business Breakthrough (BBT) University in Tokyo said it hoped the approach could be used as a model for other schools wishing to avoid large gatherings amid the pandemic. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency for the capital Tokyo and six other prefectures, for a period of about one month
Paralysed man walks using mind-controlled exoskeleton
French patient’s breakthrough could lead to brain-controlled wheelchairs, say experts
A French man paralysed in a nightclub accident has walked again thanks to a brain-controlled exoskeleton, providing hope to tetraplegics seeking to regain movement.
The patient trained for months, harnessing his brain signals to control a computer-simulated avatar to perform basic movements before using the robot device to walk. Scientists described the trial results as a breakthrough.
Continue reading...Ex-Google worker fears ‘killer robots’ could cause mass atrocities
Engineer who quit over military drone project warns AI might also accidentally start a war
A new generation of autonomous weapons or “killer robots” could accidentally start a war or cause mass atrocities, a former top Google software engineer has warned.
Laura Nolan, who resigned from Google last year in protest at being sent to work on a project to dramatically enhance US military drone technology, has called for all AI killing machines not operated by humans to be banned.
Continue reading...Japanese researchers build robotic tail – video
A team of researchers at Japan’s Keio university have built a robotic tail. Dubbed 'Arque', the grey one-metre device mimics tails such as those of cheetahs and monkeys, used to keep balance while running and climbing
Continue reading...Robocrop: world’s first raspberry-picking robot set to work
Autonomous machine expected to pick more than 25,000 raspberries a day, outpacing human workers
Quivering and hesitant, like a spoon-wielding toddler trying to eat soup without spilling it, the world’s first raspberry-picking robot is attempting to harvest one of the fruits.
After sizing it up for an age, the robot plucks the fruit with its gripping arm and gingerly deposits it into a waiting punnet. The whole process takes about a minute for a single berry.
Continue reading...The rise of the killer robots – and the two women fighting back
Jody Williams and Mary Wareham were leading lights in the campaign to ban landmines. Now they have autonomous weapons in their sights
It sounds like something from the outer reaches of science fiction: battlefield robots waging constant war, algorithms that determine who to kill, face-recognition fighting machines that can ID a target and take it out before you have time to say “Geneva conventions”.
This is no film script, however, but an ominous picture of future warfare that is moving ever closer. “Killer robots” is shorthand for a range of tech that has generals salivating and peace campaigners terrified at the ethical ramifications of warfare waged via digital proxies.
Continue reading...Andrew Yang: the 2020 candidate warning of the rise of robots
The entrepreneur says Trump won the 2016 election because the US automated away jobs – so he wants to become president to do something about it
Donald Trump won 2,584 counties in the 2016 presidential election; Hillary Clinton carried only 472. But the Democratic nominee’s accounted for nearly two-thirds of America’s economic output, according to a study by the Brookings Institution.
Related: Leftwing Democrats steal the 2020 spotlight but can centrists fight back?
Continue reading...Defense contractors race to build self-driving submarines that can clear sea mines
Over the past two decades unmanned aerial drones have transformed how the U.S. Air Force wages war, allowing it to surveil hostile territory and neutralize enemy targets without putting the lives of pilots at risk. Next, the Navy is hoping it can employ its own unmanned vehicles to clear mines, scout unfamiliar territory or wage anti-submarine warfare.
Louisville Welcomes First Froyo Robot Serving Up Frozen Treats at the …
Louisville, KY. Reis & Irvy's, a groundbreaking robotic frozen yogurt and ice cream vending franchise, has introduced its first robot in Louisville.
Friday’s Daily Pulse
Florida and Georgia have been arguing about the water that flows into the Apalachicola Bay for three decades. The result: the virtual collapse of the oyster industry there.
Elon Musk Doesn’t Work Alone. These Are Tesla’s Other Key Leaders
There was a rare moment at Tesla's annual shareholder meeting in early June when Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk shared the spotlight. First, he acknowledged one of his biggest mistakes: Production of the Model 3, Tesla's make-or-break sedan, had faltered by trying to automate "things that are super easy for a person to do, but super hard for a robot to do."
Trump takes aim at China’s tech sector. That could hurt U.S. innovation.
Visitors to the 21st China Beijing International High-tech Expo look at robots and a helicopter drone on display on May 17. The U.S.-China tech rivalry looks likely to intensify, despite ongoing efforts to avoid a tariff war . Among other targets, the Trump administration has taken aim at two aspects of China's presence in the United States: high-tech investment and students.
Pentagon preparing for a dystopian future that is filled with cyber attacks and drones
For almost 20 years, U.S. drone warfare was largely one-sided. Unlike Afghans and Yemenis, Iraqis and Somalis, Americans never had to worry about lethal robots hovering overhead and raining down missiles.
Global race to develop self-navigating ships leaves U.S. behind
The day in which unmanned "ghost ships" ply the seas laden with cargo is fast approaching. But don't expect the drone vessels to be flying a U.S. flag.
Twitter May Give Everyone A Blue Checkmark To Weed Out The Robots
Twitter is reportedly considering giving everyone a chance for official verification, but the users would first have to prove they're a real human. Denoted with a blue checkmark, a prized badge of ostensible honor for many, the verification signifies which accounts are authentic and of public importance and intrigue.
Three sectors being transformed by artificial intelligence
But exactly how that technology will influence the enterprise sector remains to be seen. Fiery public debates have swirled in the tech community around whether new advancements involve tactical adoptions for enterprise, like a personalized, improved retail experience, or whether these developments signal the coming of the robot apocalypse.
Disney trolled over its animatronic Donald Trump
Washington D.C., Dec 21 : Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Orlando took to Twitter to troll the animatronic version of United States President Donald Trump at the updated Hall of Presidents attraction, recently revealed by Walt Disney World. The less-than-flattering figure has been garnering criticism for its likeness of the president.