Lifeboat Foundation

Qualcomm AI Research explores fundamental research to combine causality with AI.

Kitchen robots are making more than just sliders and pizzas. Chipotle is testing Chippy, a version of Miso Robotics’ arm-based automaton (already in use at White Castle) customized to make tortilla chips. The bot not only knows how to replicate Chipotle’s recipe, but is smart enough to add “subtle variations” to keep things interesting — you might get a little more lime or salt.

The test is currently limited a Chipotle “innovation hub” in Irvine, California. However, the Mexican-themed restaurant chain also plans to use Chippy in a southern California restaurant later this year. Feedback from customers and workers will help shape any potential national rollout.

People will still be involved in making most of your burrito or taco, Chipotle said. Like an earlier rollout of the Pepper chat bot, Chippy will be there to “improve the human experience” rather than replace back-of-house cooks. You might get your meals sooner and with more consistent quality, particularly during busy hours.

Robotic eyes on autonomous vehicles could improve pedestrian safety, according to a new study at the University of Tokyo. Participants played out scenarios in virtual reality (VR) and had to decide whether to cross a road in front of a moving vehicle or not.

When that vehicle was fitted with robotic eyes, which either looked at the pedestrian (registering their presence) or away (not registering them), the participants were able to make safer or more efficient choices.

A survey of artificial intelligence researchers found that 36 per cent believe AIs could cause a catastrophe on the scale of nuclear war.

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Since ferrofluids are easy to control and offer great flexibility with fast motion, they are often preferred by scientists for producing shape-shifting soft robots. In 2015, a team of researchers in South Korea created ferrofluid soft robots capable of mimicking an amoeba’s movements. Another group of researchers from Arizona State University developed a miniature shape-altering robot in 2021 using ferrofluids.

There has been a lot of buzz about quantum computers and for good reason. The futuristic computers are designed to mimic what happens in nature at microscopic scales, which means they have the power to better understand the quantum realm and speed up the discovery of new materials, including pharmaceuticals, environmentally friendly chemicals, and more. However, experts say viable quantum computers are still a decade away or more. What are researchers to do in the meantime?

A new Caltech-led study in the journal Science describes how machine learning tools, run on classical computers, can be used to make predictions about quantum systems and thus help researchers solve some of the trickiest physics and chemistry problems. While this notion has been shown experimentally before, the new report is the first to mathematically prove that the method works.

“Quantum computers are ideal for many types of physics and materials science problems,” says lead author Hsin-Yuan (Robert) Huang, a graduate student working with John Preskill, the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics and the Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of the Institute for Quantum Science and Technology (IQIM). “But we aren’t quite there yet and have been surprised to learn that classical machine learning methods can be used in the meantime. Ultimately, this paper is about showing what humans can learn about the physical world.”

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Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, called microrobots, that can swim around in the lungs, deliver medication and be used to clear up life-threatening cases of bacterial pneumonia.

In mice, the microrobots safely eliminated pneumonia-causing bacteria in the lungs and resulted in 100% survival. By contrast, untreated mice all died within three days after infection.

The results are published Sept. 22 in Nature Materials.

The world famous Artificial Intelligence designer/expert Hugo de Garis has some horrific views on the future of technology. He demands people listen to his warnings wherever he goes. I thought I’d help him spread his nightmare with Camper Killer Commentary 17 “The Artilect War. The Nightmare of Hugo de Garis”. I hope you enjoy learning about your doom.