Monday, September 14, 2015

Robopocalypse Report #21: The Uprising has Begun and Some Embrace Their Robotic Overlords



Welcome to the Robopocalypse Report!  

This is where I link to the interesting articles on the coming robotics revolution and its impact on our economy.  This is as profound as the industrial revolution was upon our economy and will effect us all.  Whether it flies through the air or drives itself down the street or builds your house or milks the cows, the robopocalypse will effect us all.  

Drones:

DARPA just demonstrated a robotic landing gear to allow VTOLs like helicopters to land on uneven terrain using a drone helicopter. Here's another link with video.

The LAPD detained a man who flew his drone too close to a police helicopter during a manhunt.  The helicopter had to take evasive measures to avoid being hit.

Another drone flew within 20 ft of an air force tanker plane at MacDill Air Force Base.

Senator Schumer wants to install technology to prevent drones from approaching airports, parades and other large events.  This is another variant on the electronic fence.

The Brits OTOH have developed tech to take control of drones behaving badly.

Others argue the only way to make drones avoid where they ought not go is to make them self aware.  A skynet full of diamond drones!

Imagine a world with autonomous consumer and commercial level drones.

California is increasingly using drones to watch for sharks near beaches.

Self Driving Cars:

Honda is going to test self driving cars in California.

California has posted the regulations for testing self driving cars for manufacturers.

Forbes has a history of Google's self driving car program.   Google will now be manufacturing hundreds of beta test articles of its self driving car.  Google has named a new head of its self driving car project.

The Guardian claims in 2020 all cars will be self driving cars.

Mercedes puts forward their own vision of what the future looks like in the city full of self driving cars.

Creeping towards the self driving car on normal cars, ten major auto manufacturers have agreed to put automatic emergency braking in all their new models.

Royal Truck and Equipment will be testing a self driving crash truck in Florida.

3d Printing/Additive Manufacturing:

A cancer patient has received the first 3d printed titanium sternum and ribs.The patient  was not played by Sam Worthington and operated on by

Proto Labs is adding an additive manufacturing service.

Dutch startup MX3D is planning on 3d printing bridges.

General Robotics:

Soft robots are increasingly being embraced.

AI has been coupled with a surveillance camera. What could go wrong? And where's the cake?

Speaking of things that could go wrong, a parking bot smashed up a $65k Audi.  The uprising has begun!

The NY Times discusses Uber's involvement with CMU's robotics department.

Robots have taken root already at smaller diary farms and have upped production.  Is your milk organic and robot free?  ;P

Robots are starting to be used in agriculture in Australia already.

Surgery bots are predicted to become ubiquitous in Indian hospitals.

Iron mining companies are getting significant benefits from robotics.

Some of the construction bots are discussed here.

A tadpole like endoscope swims down your gastrointestinal tract looking for cancer.

Machine Learning:

A machine learning program taught itself chess in 72 hours and can play at the International Master's Level.

Mind Machine Interface:

DARPA has succeeded in providing a near natural sense of touch using a robotic hand.

Economics:

Brynjolfsson and McAfee discuss what jobs AI cannot replace at the BBC.

On the flip side, the BBC discusses the jobs the bots will steal first.

China's industrial robotics manufacturers are reporting a huge slow down in purchases.

The agricultural bot market is projected to grow around 11% between 2014 to 2019.

Forbes has a countrary article to all the doom and gloom about the Robopocalypse.

Japan is embracing the robopocalypse due its demographics and desire not to allow immigrants.

Misc:

The US Military thinks human-machine collaboration will be key to its attempt at maintaining military technology superiority.

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