Lifeboat Foundation

One of the largest drawbacks in robotics is the rigid parts and movements of the robots. Well, soon that maybe changing due to non-Newtonian fluids.

(Inside Science) — By using fluids similar to Silly Putty that can behave as both liquids and solids, researchers say they have created fluid robots that might one day perform tasks that conventional machines cannot.

Conventional robots are made of rigid parts that are vulnerable to bumps, scrapes, twists and falls. In contrast, researchers worldwide are increasingly developing robots made from soft, elastic plastic and rubber that are inspired by worms, starfish and octopuses. These soft robots can resist many of the kinds of damage, and can squirm past many of the obstacles, that can impede hard robots.

Continue reading “Silly Putty-like substance is helping researchers make shape-shifting robots” »

This maybe true in the UK. However, I am in the US. In the US, if I have a robot representing me and I lose my case; can I claim improper representation? I believe that I can. Also, which states and counties/ cities recognize a robot as an attorney? What federal/ state/ county/ and city ordinances and laws will need to be changed for robots to be recognized as attorney in the US? Just having a robot that interprets laws is not enough in the US.

http://mic.com/articles/135693/this-robot-lawyer-can-get-you…t-for-free

It has already saved people millions of dollars.

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Seeking to “push the limits of what humans can do,” researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a wearable robotic limb that transforms drummers into three-armed cyborgs.

The remarkable thing about this wearable arm, developed at GT’s Center for Music Technology, is that it’s doing a lot more than just mirroring the movements of the drummer. It’s a “smart arm” that’s actually responding to the music, and performing in a way that compliments what the human player is doing.

The two-foot long arm monitors the music in the room, so it can improvise based on the beat and rhythm. If the drummer is playing slowly, for example, the arm will mirror the tempo.

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Fujitsu Laboratories today announced that it has developed deep learning technology that can analyze time-series data with a high degree of accuracy. Demonstrating promise for Internet-of-Things applications, time-series data can also be subject to severe volatility, making it difficult for people to discern patterns in the data. Deep learning technology, which is attracting attention as a breakthrough in the advance of artificial intelligence, has achieved extremely high recognition accuracy with images and speech, but the types of data to which it can be applied is still limited. In particular, it has been difficult to accurately and automatically classify volatile time-series data–such as that taken from IoT devices–of which people have difficulty discerning patterns.

Now Fujitsu Laboratories has developed an approach to deep learning that uses advanced mathematical techniques to extract geometric features from time-series data, enabling highly accurate classification of volatile time-series. In benchmark tests held at UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository that classified time-series data captured from gyroscopes in wearable devices, the new technology was found to achieve roughly 85% accuracy, about a 25% improvement over existing technology. This technology will be used in Fujitsu’s Human Centric AI Zinrai artificial intelligence technology. Details of this technology will be presented at the Fujitsu North America Technology Forum (NAFT 2016), which will be held on Tuesday, February 16, in Santa Clara, California.

Background

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=KV3hHGUGXIU

A complete cognitive architecture to implement systems that are self-aware and capable of intentional mutations. Now available at mecasapiens.com.

HALIFAX, CANADA, February 16, 2016 (Newswire.com) — Monterège Design Inc. is pleased to announce the publication of a cognitive architecture to implement synthetic consciousness. The systems based on this architecture will be fully autonomous, self-aware and capable of intentional mutations. The architecture, published under the title The Meca Sapiens Blueprint, is complete and ready for design and implementation. It can be purchased on line at mecasapiens.com.

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How robotics is making live music a more enriching experience.

Scientists have developed a ‘smart’ wearable robotic limb that responds to human gestures and the music it hears, allowing drummers to play with three arms.

The two-foot long robotic arm can be attached to a musician’s shoulder, and knows what to play by listening to the music in the room. It improvises based on the beat and rhythm. For instance, if the musician plays slowly, the arm slows the tempo. If the drummer speeds up, it plays faster.

Continue reading “Robot limb lets drummers play with three arms” »

Actors and Actresses will never have to worry about reading through pages of scripts to decide whether or not the role is worth their time; AI will do the work for you.

A version of this story first appeared in the Feb. 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

During his 12 years in UTA’s story department, Scott Foster estimates he read about 5,500 screenplays. “Even if it was the worst script ever, I had to read it cover to cover,” he says. So when Foster left the agency in 2013, he teamed with Portland, Ore.-based techie Brian Austin to create ScriptHop, an artificial intelligence system that manages the volume of screenplays that every agency and studio houses. “When I took over [at UTA], we were managing hundreds of thousands of scripts on a Word document,” says Foster, who also worked at Endeavor and Handprint before UTA. “The program began to eat itself and become corrupt because there was too much information to handle.” ScriptHop can read a script and do a complete character breakdown in four seconds, versus the roughly four man hours required of a reader. The tool, which launches Feb. 16 is free, and is a sample of the overall platform coming later in 2016 that will recommend screenplays as well as store and manage a company’s library for a subscription fee of $29.99 a month per user.

Continue reading “This New Artificial Intelligence Script-Reading Program Could Find Your Next Oscar Role (Exclusive)” »

Big Blue is cool again according to investors.

NEW YORK: Here’s a vexing question for artificial mega-brain Watson: Why is IBM stock surging? Big Blue’s market value rose about $6 billion after the computer giant agreed on Thursday to buy Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion. Giving IBM’s artificial-intelligence platform more data to chew on is useful, but investors’ glee over an opaque addition to an enigmatic business effort is confusing.

Big Blue’s top line has been shrinking steadily for nearly four years. In the fourth quarter of 2015, all major divisions had declining sales, with overall revenue falling 8.5 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. Clients need less of IBM’s hardware, and its software and consulting businesses are faltering in competition with rivals’ cloud-based versions.

Continue reading “Why is IBM surging?” »

This is so true and even more importantly in the space of technology as we introduce more products and services in the AI space. Reason is because we are seeing the consumer’s buying patterns changing especially as consumers have more options around devices, services, and AI available to them.

As a result of more choices and AI sophistication; consumers are now & more so in the future will chose to buy things that “fit” more with their own style and personality today. And, this places pressures on companies to change/ expand their thinking on product innovation to include emotional thinking as well. Gone are the days of technology just being a machine/ devices designed to only process information and provide information insights only. Tech consumers today and in the future want technology that marries with their own sense of style and personalities. Therefore, corporate culture as a whole will need to change their thinking at all levels.

I once wrote an article about how people with outstanding academic achievement or technical brilliance can easily get hired, but brilliance will get them nowhere if they lack emotional intelligence and the ability to build strong working relationships. This is especially true in today’s highly competitive world where organisations rely heavily on interdependence to stay ahead of the game.

Continue reading “We need leaders with emotional intelligence” »