Lifeboat Foundation

In response to the so-called “labor shortage,” companies are looking to finally replace replace workers with machines — and robotics companies couldn’t be happier to oblige.

David Zapico, the CEO of robotics company Ametek Inc., told Bloomberg News that his company is “firing on all cylinders” because, as he put it, “people want to remove labor.”

He’s not alone in his musings. Executives at Hormel Foods Corp and Domino’s Pizza also confirmed to Bloomberg that they’re investing in automation in an effort to reduce labor costs and respond to a “tight labor supply,” as one Hormel vice president put it.

Circa 2019

Set against the backdrop of continuous AI improvements, the picture seems simple enough: machines get a little more capable every day, and every extra bit of intelligence brings a few more jobs within reach of automation. But the reality is more complex, operating at a far larger scale. In most cases, we’re not automating individual jobs but entire industries, as we meet more of our needs through massively scalable software.

It’s a huge shift in the way society works, and it doesn’t have to be a bad one. We just have to look at the big picture.

Continue reading “How to protect humans in a fully automated society” »

Circa 2020

A newly recruited firefighter in Los Angeles put out a major fire even before being formally introduced at a news conference. That new recruit is a robot.

The Thermite RS3, the first robotic firefighting vehicle in the United States, was scheduled to arrive at the news conference the morning of October 13 but it was diverted to a major emergency structure fire in the fashion district in Downtown Los Angeles earlier that day.

Continue reading “The first firefighting robot in America is here —- and it has already helped fight a major fire in Los Angeles” »

The US offshore wind industry is actually happening: The US’s first high-voltage subsea cable plant has opened in Charleston, South Carolina.

Investment Led by Alpha Wave Ventures, a Global Growth Stage Falcon Edge | Chimera Partnership, along with Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG), Accelerates Business Expansion and Relentless Pursuit of AI Innovation.

Finland-based Wolt was founded in 2014 by Miki Kuusi, who, upon the deal closing, will run DoorDash International and report to Xu. The company has over 4,000 employees across 23 countries and its technology enables users to easily discover and receive food via its platform by selecting a restaurant, placing the order and hitting send.

Wolt has raised over $850 million to date, according to its Crunchbase profile. Its most recent funding round was $530 million in January, led by Iconiq Growth, with participation from Tiger Global, DST, KKR, Prosus, EQT Growth, EQT Ventures and Coatue.

Wolt represents DoorDash’s sixth acquisition according to Crunchbase data and its second in 2,021 which includes an acquisition of Chowbotics earlier this year. The latest transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

In a first for particle physics, the CMS collaboration has observed three J/ψ particles emerging from a single collision between two protons.

It’s a triple treat. By sifting through data from particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the CMS collaboration has seen not one, not two but three J/ψ particles emerging from a single collision between two protons. In addition to being a first for particle physics, the observation opens a new window into how quarks and gluons are distributed inside the proton.

The J/ψ particle is a special particle. It was the first particle containing a charm quark to be discovered, winning Burton Richter and Samuel Ting a Nobel prize in physics and helping to establish the quark model of composite particles called hadrons.

Engineers have successfully transferred digitally encoded information wirelessly using nuclear radiation instead of conventional technology.

Radio waves and mobile phone signals relies on electromagnetic radiation for communication but in a new development, engineers from Lancaster University in the UK, working with the Jožef Stefan Institute in Slovenia, transferred digitally encoded information using “fast neutrons” instead.

The researchers measured the spontaneous emission of fast neutrons from californium-252, a radioactive isotope produced in nuclear reactors.

Understanding the structural secrets of how mollusks form symmetrical pearls could inspire more optimal materials for solar panels and space travel.