Lifeboat Foundation

Powered by developments in exponential technologies, the cost of housing, transportation, food, health care, entertainment, clothing, education and so on will fall, eventually approaching, believe it or not, zero.

People are concerned about how AI and robotics are taking jobs, destroying livelihoods, reducing our earning capacity, and subsequently destroying the economy.

In anticipation, countries like Canada, India and Finland are running experiments to pilot the idea of “universal basic income” — the unconditional provision of a regular sum of money from the government to support livelihood independent of employment.

Continue reading “Why the Cost of Living Is Poised to Plummet in the Next 20 Years” »

Mercedes-Benz’s CityPilot autonomous bus technology just got a real-world, long-range test drive on the streets and highways of the Netherlands. One of the company’s Future Bus vehicles successfully followed a 20km Bus Rapid Transit route between Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and the nearby town of Haarlem, navigating through tight turns, intersections and pedestrian areas all without the need for human input.

The CityPilot platform is based on a version of Daimler’s Highway Pilot autonomous trucking technology adapted to handle the specific needs of a city bus. With GPS, radar and a dozen cameras built into the vehicle itself, the bus can recognize traffic signals, pedestrians and other obstacles. The bus has a top speed of 70km/h (or about 43 mph) and all that data taken together allows the bus to position itself within inches of bus stops or raised accessibility platforms.

Although regulations still require a human operator sit behind the wheel in case of an emergency, the vehicle’s intelligent systems make for a much smoother ride for everyone. Unlike other autonomous vehicles, the bus is actually connected to the city network so it can communicate directly with traffic lights and other city infrastructure. The camera systems can even scan the road for potholes, so buses can avoid rough patches on their next run or share that data back to the city.

Continue reading “Mercedes’ autonomous bus makes a landmark trip on public roads” »

The defense community has already begun a healthy dialogue about the ethics of AI in combat systems.

If there’s one thing the world’s most valuable companies agree on, it’s that their future success hinges on artificial intelligence.

Google is continuing to invest heavily in deep learning at a time its head of machine learning, John Giannandrea, is calling the artificial intelligence spring (as opposed to the AI winter of earlier times). The company’s Founders’ letter this year mentions machine learning up to five times, leaving no doubt that it believes its advantages in this area will give it the edge in the coming years. In short, CEO Sundar Pichai wants to put artificial intelligence everywhere, and Google is marshaling its army of programmers into the task of remaking itself as a machine learning company from top to bottom.

[gallery2012].

Continue reading “Right Now, Artificial Intelligence Is The Only Thing That Matters: Look Around You” »

About 5 years ago a friend of mine at Microsoft (Mitch S.) had a vision of making a new security model around drone swarms and a form of BMI technology. Glad to see the vision come true.

Scientists have discovered how to control multiple robotic drones using the human brain, an advance that can help develop swarms of search and rescue drones that are controlled just by thought.

Continue reading “Researcher builds technology to control drone swarms with his mind” »

Better tactile capabilities, not just vision, will let robots grasp any object.

Perfect; I actually was thinking about robots as personal trainers and sparring partners for boxers. I love boxing as a workout and had thought about having a robot as a sparring partner as well as my weight/ strength training.

BTW — another concept is to build into the weight training machines AI technology to assist users. Think about if the machine sensors that the users’ muscle is about to strain that the machine takes the weight off or lightens the weight on the user of the equipment. And, if the machine senses that the person is about to have an heart attack, etc. that the equipment contacts 911, etc.

Trials of a prototype robot for sports therapy have just begun in Singapore, to create a high quality and repeatable treatment routine to improve sports recovery, reducing reliance on trained therapists.

Continue reading “Robot therapist hits the spot with athletes” »

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have combined tissues from a sea slug with flexible 3D printed components to build “biohybrid” robots that crawl like sea turtles on the beach.

A muscle from the slug’s mouth provides the movement, which is currently controlled by an external electrical field. However, future iterations of the device will include ganglia, bundles of neurons and nerves that normally conduct signals to the muscle as the slug feeds, as an organic controller.

The researchers also manipulated collagen from the slug’s skin to build an organic scaffold to be tested in new versions of the robot.

Continue reading “Crawling robot built from sea slug parts and a 3D printed body” »

DARPA’s newest Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) can travel on the high seas at speeds up to 27 knots for months on end without a single crew member.

The 39.62m ACTUV can be remote-controlled, but its primary use is as an autonomous vessel that can operate safely near manned ships and accommodate all weather conditions. No crew means greater safety for potentially dangerous missions like countermining and submarine tracking.

Continue reading “DARPA’s New Robot Is Ready To Go Submarine Hunting” »