Monday, February 08, 2016

Robopocalypse Report #74: The Singularity Competition Prize!

Drones:



Drones are being used in the Antarctic ice breaking mission.

This drone is powered by hydrogen releasing pellets.

Will personal drones have a future past hobbyists? 

The reason for the rumors of Amazon bookstores might be because of Amazon's drone delivery ambitions.  Maybe.

The FAA has stated there are now more registered drones than manned aircraft.

The Superbowl shut down drone air traffic in Silicon Valley.

Canada is considering new guidelines for drones.

Self Driving Cars:



Google is on the offensive when it comes to self driving cars.  A Sacramento Bee reporter put the Google Car tech to the test. They are testing wireless recharging for their cars.  Google is also testing the car in Washington state.  And Google wants to expand the self driving car tests to four more states. 

The Brits want Google to test their self driving cars in London.

Lyft and GM want to build a network of self driving cars.

Some feel self driving cars ought to be taught to think like people do.  geez.  Just imagine the road rage.

Should self driving cars require a licensed driver?  The question is putting consumer advocacy groups against promoters and disabled advocates.  I'd say, initially, yes, but after a period to verify the safety, not just through tests but through real life use, then no.

The supposedly 'secret issues' that will make or break self driving cars.

Scania is testing self driving trucks for use in mining operations.

The Dutch driverless bus gets a profiling again.

Apparently, self driving taxis are a nightmare for cabbies.

What happens to the jobs of drivers, truckers, etc, in the future of self driving cars, trucks and buses?

3d Printing:

The first semi auto gun was mostly 3d printed.

The US Army wants to 3d print its meals...so they can be customized!

3d printed bone implants are being researched.

A university in the Netherlands used a robotic welding arm to 3d print a metal bicycle frame.

Tanzanians have built the first 3d printer recycled from ewaste.

Livermore National Lab and Autodesk are working on improving football helmets through 3d printing.

Additive manufacturing is being promoted as game changing for industry.

Composite materials are being made with a new ultra sonic process.

A Dutch company 3d printed a submarine!

Scientists have 3d printed liver tissue for use in drug trials.

Robotics:




Biomimicry might have gone a touch too far with this cockroach inspired bot.

Relay, the hotel room service bot, apparently is a hit.

DEDAVE may be the first real robo sub drone for everyone.

Swarming robotic rc boats have learned to, well, learn.

Are softbots the future of robotics?  Here's a video on soft robots.

Sometimes there are some people who silly things with bots.

The Robopocalypse has come for golfers!

Abu Dhabi has a robotic parking garage.

Robots are supposed to build a pavilion at London's V&A Museum this summer.

Will robots lead to construction returning on site again?  wuh?

Meet Pleurobot, a swimming, crawling robot inspired by salamanders.

Exoskeletons:

Suit-X claims to have the most affordable exoskeleton on the market.

Software Bots:

Microsoft is embedding some artificial intelligence in its SwiftKey app.

A new AI can learn how to save the Princess in Mario Brothers on its own.

A software bot was developed to deal with robo callers.

It seems the rich have already started using robo investment advisers for investments and that concerns banks.

Cortana, MS' digital assistant, is designed to NOT be submissive or put up with sexual harassment, but apparently there is a market for sexually submissive digital assistants.

Singularity:

Can our minds be copied?  There's a prize for that!

Other Hardware:

MIT researchers have developed a chip intended for the implementation of neural networks to allow machine learning to be implemented on smart phones and other devices.

Economics & Philosophy:

Construction bots are expected to claim 500,000 jobs in the industry by 2020.

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