Robotics/AI – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Aug 23
2020

Pentagon approves five US drone makers ahead of likely ban on China’s DJI

Ahead of a likely ban on the US federal government’s use of Chinese-made quadcopters, including popular DJI drones, the Department of Defense has approved the products of five US-based unmanned air vehicle (UAV) makers for government use.

Those companies are Altavian, Parrot, Skydio, Teal and Vantage Robotics.

Small UAVs from these manufacturers have been deemed cyber-secure by the Pentagon – not vulnerable to backdoor spying that some suspect might be possible from the video cameras and other sensors attached to Chinese-made DJI drones. The US Congress is considering banning the US federal government from using foreign-made drones as part of its 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

Aug 23
2020

Robots That Can Deliver Parcels

Click on photo to start video.

Digit is a semi-autonomous delivery robot that can also double up as a workout buddy! 💪🤖

Agility Robotics

Aug 23
2020

These photorealistic portraits of ancient Roman emperors were created using old statues and AI

Designer Daniel Voshart has created photorealistic portraits of ancient Roman emperors by transforming old statues using AI. With the help of Photoshop and a tool named ArtBreeder, Voshart’s work brings these long-dead figures back to life. Uncanny and realistic all at the same time.

Aug 23
2020

An AI Breaks the Writing Barrier

A new system called GPT-3 is shocking experts with its ability to use and understand language as well as human beings do.

Aug 23
2020

Facebook is training robot assistants to hear as well as see

In June 2019, Facebook’s AI lab, FAIR, released AI Habitat, a new simulation platform for training AI agents. It allowed agents to explore various realistic virtual environments, like a furnished apartment or cubicle-filled office. The AI could then be ported into a robot, which would gain the smarts to navigate through the real world without crashing.

In the year since, FAIR has rapidly pushed the boundaries of its work on “embodied AI.” In a blog post today, the lab has announced three additional milestones reached: two new algorithms that allow an agent to quickly create and remember a map of the spaces it navigates, and the addition of sound on the platform to train the agents to hear.

Aug 23
2020

Deep Learning on MCUs is the Future of Edge Computing

Deep learning on MCUs, also known as TinyML, is perfectly possible today but TOPS ratings don’t always tell the full story.

Aug 22
2020

Meet the Xenobot, the World’s First-Ever “Living” Robot

These researchers paired biology with AI to create the world’s first “living” robots 🤯.

Aug 22
2020

Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Pathologists, Radiologists, Microbiologists?

If artificial intelligence can replace some highly specialized medical doctors, is any job safe? It appears the biomedical profession is ripe for an overhaul.

Aug 22
2020

Artificial Intelligence is being used to find disease-related genes

“We have for the first time used deep learning to find disease-related genes. This is a very powerful method in the analysis of huge amounts of biological information, or ‘big data’,” said Sanjiv Dwivedi, first author of the newly published research.

AI in gene expression

Aug 21
2020

Amazon envisions aerial drones pulling skiers and surfers across water, new patent filing reveals

Amazon isn’t just thinking about delivery with its drones.

The new patent made public this week reveals an idea for a drone-powered towing system designed for skiers, surfers, skaters, and more.

“While there are various known uses for unmanned aerial vehicles, certain techniques for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicles are relatively limiting with respect to other uses,” according to the patent filing, originally filed in June 2016. “For example, current hand-operated remote controls for automated aerial vehicles are not conducive to users being able to operate the remote controls while simultaneously utilizing their hands for other purposes.”