Saturday, November 09, 2019

Robopocalypse Report #121

Drones:

Would you trust a self landing passenger plane?

Drone swarms could protect airports from intruding drones.

The US Department of the Interior has grounded all its DJI drones due to Chinese government spying concerns.  DJI is aware and China is not happy.

Aircraft pilots mostly miss seeing drones.

Drones are mapping Iceland's receding glaciers.

DJI's palm sized Mavic is small enough it doesn't need to be registered with the FAA and can fly for 30 minutes.

Google's Wing has started doing deliveries in the US.

Harvard's Robobees now use soft robot muscles for its powered flight.

Skydio has an autonomous, self charging drone.

A swarm of search and rescue drones could function without people.

Uber has unveiled its new VTOL drone for Uber Eats and hopes that will push the company into profitability.

UPS and CVS have teamed up to deliver prescriptions by drone.  It has done so in Cary, North Carolina for the first time.

Volvocopter has a massive drone that can lift 200 kg as cargo.

Self Driving Cars:

Would you let a self driving car drive you?

Why are parking lots so tough for self driving cars?

Self driving cars could make traffic worse.

A better algorithm has been created for autonomous vehicles in merging traffic/

Lyft is collaborating with Uber and Ford on self driving car safety.

MIT is teaching self driving cars to watch shadows so it can 'see' around corners.

Sony's Social Cart is a self driving shuttle with lots of advertising.

Tesla's summon capability might be glitchy.

Tesla's Autopilot now recognizes traffic cones.

Toyota's self driving e-Palette vehicles will shuttle people around at the 2020 Olympics.

Uber laid off 350 people, including from their self driving division.

An auditor found that Uber does, in fact, use Waymo code in its self driving cars.  This will force Uber to either license it or completely rewrite chunks of the code.  It will be expensive and setback Uber's plans nontrivially either way.

The Uber self driving car that killed the homeless woman in Phoenix, AZ, could not detect jaywalkers and had other serious software flaws.

Uber's self driving cars were in 37 accidents before hitting and killing the woman.  3 were caused by the self driving car.

VW has set up self driving car tech offices in Silicon Valley and China.

Waymo is close to unleashing its self driving cars with no backup driver.

In fact, Waymo seems to have in Phoenix.

Waymo's self driving cars will start mapping Los Angeles.

Waymo is complaining that California rules for purely self driving taxi services must be, for now, for free.

Waymo blames the media for overhyping self driving cars.  (hahahaha)

Waymo will deliver parts by self driving cars to repair shops.

3d Printing:

3d printing coral could help reefs.

3d printing has been proposed for refugee shelters in Syria.

3d printed polymer concrete gets assessed.

A bioprinted pancreas is expected to be implanted within 5 years.

Bio inks can 3d print into implantable blood vessels.

A father/son team has 3d printed a Lamborghini.

Kent State 3d printed a sculpture that will be installed on Ellis Island.

The Kraken 3d printing system is huge, 6 meters by 8 meters.

Local Motors has teamed up Airbus to develop 3d printing for flying taxis.

Massive 3d printers are printing rockets.

NWU is developing HARP, a high speed, large sized 3d printer.

Open source bioprinting for cell cultures?

A pediatric surgeon 3d printed an aorta replacement valve.

Prusa i3s can 3d print with 316L stainless steel filaments.

Qrons is developing 3d printable implants to repair brain injuries.

Researchers have 3d printed bacterial cellulose for use in medicine.

SUTD has a new method of 3d printing chocolate without heating it.

WASP will 3d print structures in Bologna.

You can 3d print the Youbionic robotic arm at home.

Robotics:

Irobot is suing a startup.

MIT has developed BILL-E, a construction bot.

Biologically inspired skin increases robot senses.

A chameleon's tongue is inspiring new robots.

A new algorithm created by Ford and MIT helps robots find the front door.

Machines are learning to smell.

MIT is working to give robots a faster grasp.

OpenAI's robot hand can solve a rubics cube one handed.

People are likely to blame robots for workplace accidents, but only if the robots are autonomous.

A new robot is designed to "mimic" how plants grow when it moves.  This will allow it to move through tight spaces.

If you want a robot to learn better, be a 'jerk' to it.

A telepresence travel bot for the infirm.

University of Houston has developed a soft robot with a neurologic like system.

A UIUC robot has human-like reflexes.

University of Toronto roboticists have created a soft robot that moves like an inch worm.

Cyborgism:

Tilly Lockey spoke at the Singularity University summit.

A software bot can interpret a paralyzed person's mind sufficient to allow writing.

Software bots:

The US DOE is about to embark on a multibillion dollar AI push.

The US is urged to invest more in AI as China is catching up.

California's anti Deep Fake law is pretty weak sauce.

An AI pioneer wants his algorithms to understand WHY they make the decisions they make.

Adobe has added more 'AI' tools to Photoshop.

Chinese researchers are using software bots to improve 3d printing.

Deep3dFly is a software bot designed to create insect inspired UAVs.

Researcher Anca Dragan wants robots to understand humans.

Why are deep learning software bots so easy to trick?

Facebook's software bots can change a person's face enough in video to hide it from facial recognition software.

Google's DeepMind appears to be better at deciphering damaged Greek clay tablets than people are.

Google's DeepMind can now beat Grandmasters at Starcraft II.

Google's software bot training tool can speed up the process.

IBM believes AI will leave no job untouched.

Microsoft wants to use software bots to bleep out bad words in XBOX chat.

Microsoft previewed its no coding tools to create chatbots.

Microsoft's Cortana can now read your emails in IOS.

Nvidia's deep fake work continues with being able to transplant your pet's smile onto any other pet.

Nvidia's software bots will help the USPS sort mail faster.

OpenAI has released the software bot that can write disturbingly good fake news.

Pinterest has stated software bots have vastly reduced the self harm content on the website.

USC has been using software bots to study how people react to music.

Wells Fargo stated big banks will automate away 200,000 jobs by 2030.

Software bots are being used in botany to study leaves.

Software bots can identify collapsed lungs from Xrays.

Software bots can help small holder corn growing.

Software bots can warn about drug-drug interactions.

Software bots can detect diabetic eye disease.

Software bots can't compete with humans in Angry Birds yet.

Software bots for health care discriminated against black people.

Software bots will soon study human feces.

A software bot can analyze whether you are confused or nervous.

There is also a bird watching software bot.

Software bots have been using CT scans to learn muscle anatomy.

Software bots are being used to predict whether a cancer patient should use immunotherapy.

Software bots are being used to study RNA/protein interactions.

Software bots can make realistic characters in 3d.

Software bots can make better ozone warnings.

Software bots can also give fashion advice.

Software bots are good at picking out catalytic properties when examining xrays.

Software bots are able to detect what the brain likes to see.

A software bot 'figured out' the earth orbits the sun.

Software bots could help diagnose canine disorders.

Software bots are learning to design structures.

There is an attempt to predict where lightning will strike with software bots.

Facial recognition bots can be fooled by a shirt?!  Antagonistic design may be a real thing.

Some startups are writing software to watch the bots.

A new technique can make software bots understand videos better.

Automation:

A software bot included in a cytometer detects rare cells in the blood.

Hackers might have compromised a hotel that uses robots and watched guests through bedside robots.

Software bots are being used to improve beam quality at LBNL's Advanced Light Source.

META:

The robopocalypse is underway.  It's just happening quietly.

Worker pay is stagnant and economists are blaming the robopocalypse.

The US has blacklisted Chinese AI researchers from getting visas.

40% of the money given out in an experiment of universal basic income was spent on food, clothing and other basic necessities.

US Presidential candidate Andrew Yang is stating robots are taking our jobs.  Is he wrong?

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