Lifeboat Foundation

Nvidia has announced what the company called its “largest-ever platform expansion for Edge AI and Robotics,” and rightfully so. In typical Nvidia fashion, the company is bringing together years of work on several different software platforms to meet the needs of a very specific application – robotics. Nvidia has been developing solutions for robotics, or what should more appropriately be called autonomous machines, for more than a decade. In conjunction with the company’s investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles, Nvidia was one of the first tech companies to see the potential in future robotics platforms leveraging AI and technology developed for other segments,… More.

He announcement includes adapting generative AI (GenAI) models to the Jetson Orin platform, the availability of Metropolis APIs and microservices for vision applications, the release of the latest Isaac ROS (Robot Operating System) framework and Isaac AMR (autonomous mobile robot) platform, and the release of the JetPack 6 software development kit (SDK). According to Nvidia, these releases include more value than all the other releases over the past 10 years combined. All the areas highlighted in green in the figure below are new or updated in this platform release.

One of the most significant enhancements is support for GenAI. As we at Tirias Research have indicated in previous articles, GenAI will be transformative for not just people, but also machines. Nvidia is working to enable zero-shot learning, which will enable devices to learn and predict results based on classes of data rather than being trained on specific samples. This will allow for shorter training cycles and more flexible interactions with and use of the resulting models. Nvidia is also predicting a new innovation cycle for autonomous machines as much of the learning shifts from text-based solutions to video or multi-modal (text, audio & video) training. Nvidia also included its new transformer PeopleNet model to increase the accuracy of people identification. But most important is the capability of the Orin platform to execute large language models (LLMs).

Continue reading “Nvidia Gives Robotics A Major Upgrade” »

The company has engineered an all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet, designed to offer leading capacity, low noise, and high performance with zero operating emissions, to the note of ten million dollars.

A German electric aviation company, Lilium, is preparing to make a bold entry into the United States market with its Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The company announced its partnership with Texas-based full-service air brokerage and management company, EMCJET, to tap into the private jet market, in a statement.

Lilium.

Continue reading “Want to fly sustainably to your private jet? Lilium has you covered” »

Congress is currently debating the FAA’s long-term reauthorization, which might have an impact on the ongoing use of leaded aviation fuel at smaller airports.

Serjio74/iStock.

Since 1980, the US has had a stunning 99 percent reduction in airborne lead levels as a result of EPA regulations. However, Leaded gas is still used in the aviation industry, according to a report published by EPA on Wednesday.

Continue reading “Health crisis: 220,000 planes still use lead fuel, warns US agency” »

Amazon is always on the frontier of technological advancements, and in a recent move, the e-commerce giant announced its plans to deepen its collaboration with Agility Robotics. As part of their ongoing partnership, Amazon will commence tests using the bipedal robot, Digit, in its operations. This exciting development comes after Amazon’s strategic investment in Agility Robotics through the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund.

For those unfamiliar with Digit, it’s a marvel of modern robotic engineering. Developed by Agility Robotics, Digit stands out with its unique bipedal design. It isn’t just any robot; it’s designed with two legs, allowing it to move and operate in human-like ways, making it exceptionally fit for environments crafted for humans. Equipped with advanced sensors like LIDAR, it perceives its surroundings and avoids obstacles with ease. Its arms are adept at maintaining balance, carrying objects, and interacting with various elements of its environment.

Continue reading “Amazon Field-Testing Awe-Inspiring Digit Bipedal Robot” »

The lightless deep sea is swirling with life.

New footage captured in the “twilight zone” — areas of the ocean starting at around 100 meters (330 feet) deep where sunlight can’t reach — reveals a world teeming with often otherworldly organisms: long chains of creatures, tentacled life, defensive ink blasted into the water, and beyond.

These creatures were filmed around the Geologist Seamounts just south of the Hawaiian islands. The expedition, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ocean exploration division, allowed scientists to drop a sleek deep sea exploration vehicle, called Mesobot, into these dark waters. These remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, can be intrusive to deep ocean life, but Mesobot, with a slim design and slow-moving propellers, is designed to avoid frightening wildlife away.

This also means faster robotics and self-driving cars.

Foxconn, the largest producer of iPhones, is joining hands with the biggest chipmaker in the world, NVIDIA, to develop artificial intelligence factories that will power a range of applications like self-driving cars, more generative AI tools, and robotic systems, said a press release.

Dubbed AI factories, they are data centers that will power a wide range of applications, including the digitalization of manufacturing and inspection workflows, the development of AI-powered electric vehicle and robotics platforms, and language-based generative AI services.

Tesla has shared a video of a hands-free drive demonstration of its Full Self-Driving suite in Austin. The FSD suite is not available to customers in a hands-free nature, but Tesla disabled the requirement for a new video it shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Tesla shared the video to demonstrate the capabilities of Software Version 11.4.7, which is the current version of the FSD Beta program.

The automaker describes in the Tweet in put up how the Full Self-Driving suite improves through data-driven techniques that refine the capabilities through analysis of other drivers’ behavior and normal navigation habits.

A solar-powered car said to be the first in the world capable of driving off-road over long distances without recharging has completed a 620-mile (1,000km) test drive across Morocco and the Sahara.

The two-seat Stella Terra, designed by students at the Eindhoven University of Technology, completed the journey across a variety of challenging landscapes as part of a final test of its lightweight frame and aerodynamic profile.

Tesla has launched an official Application Programming Interface (API) for its vehicles, indicating that the company could be looking at debuting its own app store soon.

Without sharing all the system details, Tesla has launched an initial tier of its own API that’s expected to evolve into next year and will eventually cost money, according to a report from Not a Tesla App earlier this week. The new API tier is called the “Discovery Tier,” and while it’s currently free, that’s expected to change moving into 2024 — though Tesla has yet to detail price points or plans for additional tiers.

Eventually, Tesla is likely to debut its own App Store, generating money from developers who want to develop and host their own services and apps on the automaker’s in-car platform. The current Tesla API is primarily geared toward fleet management, as seen in the Not a Tesla App image below or on the company’s website here.