Terminator Times #70

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones):

DARPA's AlphaDogFight final demo is imminent.

The USAF is planning when to buy Loyal Wingmen drones.

The USAF has taken over a remote Mojave airstrip and turned it into a drone air base.

The USMC has realized they were asking for too much with the MUX drone and are going to redo the program.

A comparison of the F-35 and the XQ-58A Valkyrie.

Attritable UAVs have defense contractors rethinking their approaches with the probable lost of the lucrative MRO contracts.

Elon Musk told USAF fighter pilots the era of the manned fighter has passed and that the F-35 should have an unmanned competitor.

The USN exercised a clause in the contract for the MQ-25A to get 3 more by 2024 and Boeing is refusing to add extra capabilities to keep costs low.

How the MQ-8C is helping the USN with its surveillance gaps.

Argentina has produced the Asteri RUAS 160 VTOL UAV.

Australia has accepted the new engine for the CamCopter VTOL drones.

Australia has selected four companies to compete to replace its Shadow 200 UAVs.

The British have stood up a group to develop swarming drones.

China showcased its BZK-005 UAV.

Russia has integrated the Orlan-10 UAV into its 2s5 artillery units.

South Korea is considering its KUS-FS UAV for ground command operations.

South Korea expects their RQ-4 to begin initial operations by year's end.

Taiwan has decided not to buy the MQ-9B VTOL UAV.

Turkish UAVs are playing an important role in the battle of Idlib in Syria.

Turkish drones killed 19 Syrian government soldiers.

Turkey sold UAVs to Tunisia.

(above) Ukraine unveiled its Thunder suicide drone.

Ukraine has unveiled the RAM suicide drone.

Boeing is leveraging its relationships with Australian business to work on its Loyal Wingman tech.

General Atomics has unveiled its Defender Loyal Wingman to protect tankers and other like assets.

General Dynamics' first production quality MQ-9B has started flight tests.

Meet Northrop's XRQ-72A Great Horned Owl.

UAVOS & KACST unveiled the Saker-1B UAV and demonstrated progressive flight control.

UMS Skeldar has unveiled an enhanced V-150 VTOL UAV.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos & Ogres & Terminators, oh my!):

Britain's DSTL has ordered its first autonomous UGVs.

IrvinGQ has developed an airdrop platform for the MilRem UGV.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (Ro Boats):

GeoSpectrum has developed a scaled down traps sonar for USVs.

Zycroft has updated its Dolphin USV.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (Robo subs):

DARPA is expanding its Manta Ray autonomous UUV program.

The USN is combining two UUV programs.

The USN conducted an exercise with UUVs equipped with SONAR and suggests that is the future of ASW operations.

China's latest Haiyi underwater gliders have been deployed to the Indian Ocean.

Terminator Times #69

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones):

The US has ended a secretive UAV program with Turkey over Turkey's actions in Syria.

DARPA is starting an infrastructureless launch and recovery system program for UAVs.

The Valkyrie has had a successful 4th flight and expanded its flight envelope.

Kratos has started XQ-58A production despite the delay in the production contract by the USAF.

Details of the USAF RQ-170's first trip to South Korea emerge.

A USAF General thinks the Reaper would be the ideal SOCCOM overwatch aircraft.

The USAF is abruptly ending Reaper procurements.

And CENTCOM wants more Reapers.

The USAF has stated UAVs could start replacing manned fighters in mid 2020s.

The USMC is seeking medium and long endurance ISTAR UAVs.

The first USN Tritons arrive in the west Pacific.

The USN demoed flying EA-18G Growlers as unmanned aerial vehicles by another Growler.

The Australian/Boeing Loyal Wingman ATS is progressing.

Australia will buy a 2nd Triton.

The Bahamas have bought UAVs.

The British are planning a large UAV demo off the HMS Prince of Wales.

China unveiled a 3 engine variant of the Tengen TB001.

Egypt has deployed its Wing Loong II drones to western bases.

The French Neuron UAV is informing the FCAS 6th gen fighter effort.

The Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia with drones again.

Indonesia approved the plan to procure ScanEagle UAVs.

Israel's drone sector is changing.

Morocco has received 3 Harfang UAVs from France.

Portugal has added VTOL UAV capabilities to its OPV ships.

Russia has ordered an updated Forpost UAV.

Russia accused Turkey of illegally sending its drones into Idlib, Syria.

South Korea has set up a new squadron to operate its Global Hawks.

South Korea is developing UAV engines.

Syria shot down two drones near Hmeimim airbase.

A Turkish drone was shot down in Idlib.

BAe's PHASA 35 has flown for the first time.

BGJX unveiled more details about its JH-1 Dragon VTOL UAV.

CIAC is attempting to pitch its UAV to the Colombian military.

Controp is working on a a quad copter for surveillance.

Edge unveiled its Garmousha VTOL UAV.

Elbit will demo the Hermes 900 for civilian applications for the UK.

General Atomics received more funding for Reapers, $7.8M.

General Atomics will extend its partnership with Cobham in Australia.

General Atomics demonstrated laser comm to orbit for a OAV.

General Atomics unveiled the Defender UCAV: it looks like the Avenger's big brother and suspiciously like the Avenger twist I posited here.

IAI introduces the Heron II.

IAI signed an MOU with Indian companies to locally produce UAVs.

Leidos completed the purchase of Dynetics.

Watch a Lockheed drone recovery go very wrong.

Piaggio's administrator has called for bids for the purchase of the drone company.

PT Len is developing UAV mission payloads.

Safran is working on fixing the Patroller UAV after a crash.

ST Engineering unveiled its Veloce VTOL UAVs.

UAVOS continues to work on VTOL UAVs.

UAVOS will demo maritime search and rescue with its ISR350-5 VTOL UAV.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos & Ogres, & Terminators, oh my!):

The artillery branch of the US Army is seeking autonomous ammo haulers for the artillery.

Autonomous supply vehicles may increase safety for the US Army convoys.

Milrem is showcasing its updated Themis UAV.

ST Engineering has a new remote weapon station for UGVs.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (ro-boats):

DARPA lays out its goals for NOMARS.

The USN is working on resiliency for its USVs.

The USN is starting initial low rate production of the CUSV as part of the Unmanned Influence Sweep System.

Britain has procured a MANTIS T12 USV.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (robo subs):

DOT&E states the Knifefish needs more development.

Huntington Ingalls is prepping for US Navy demand in UUVs.  They bought Hydroid.

Northrop will integrate its sonar systems on L3 Harris UUVs.

Software Bots:

The Pentagon has established ethical guidelines for AI work.

META:

Former democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang called for a ban on autonomous weapons.

DARPA is pushing forward with its Assured Autonomy program.

Terminator Times #68

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones):

The US government has banned the procurement and use of Chinese made UAVs.

DARPA's X-61A Gremlins made a first flight.  However, the prototype crashed when the recovery parachute failed to deploy.  DARPA is moving onto aerial recovery.

A USAF MQ-9 Reaper was ferried itself to Holloman AFB instead of being shipped and assembled.

A drone strike by the USAF killed an Iranian QUDS Force commander.  Israel claims the strike happened  due to an intercepted communication.   That has been cast in doubt.

The USAFA and Sierra Nevada designed and built the 5GAT 5th gen target drone.  It might be useable as a Loyal Wingman.

The USAF's X-58A Valkyrie flew its 4th test.  It expanded its flight envelope.

The US Coast Guard will outfit all its national security cutters with ScanEagles by end of year.

Brazil will operate ScanEagles from its naval ships.

British efforts to deploy its first swarming drone squadron have been delayed.

In Cambodia, a Chinese made drone crashed.  It's a bit of a mystery as to who owns it.

China is expanding its use of small UAVs.

China's CASC is expanding its UAV production.

China's army may be using the Harwar’s Zhanfu H16-V12 UAV.

China flew the world's first 3 engine large fixed wing drone.

A Houthi attack using missiles and drones killed more than 100.

Indonesia unveiled its Black Eagle MALE UAV.

The Philippines air force has its first Hermes 900 enter service.

Russia is pursuing a quad tilt-rotor drone for its navy.

The Russian Altius - U UAV will have sat communications.

A Turkish made Karayel UAV was shot down over Yemen.

Turkey TEI is delivering indigenous UAV engines.

Bell's V-280 being tested for the US Army's Blackhawk replacement program can now fly autonomously.

Boeing has partnered with Tactical Robotics.

General Atomics will demo the Gray Eagle UAV as a ballistic missile spotter.

Leonardo's Falco Xplorer has taken flight.

Robotic Research unveiled a UAV/UGV hybrid.

Telephonics claims to have won the competition for the MUX UAV's AEW sensor.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos and Ogres and Terminators, oh my!):

The US Army selected Qinitiq for the RCV-L and Textron (Howe & Howe) for the RCV-M.

The French army has received its first NERVA LG UGVs.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (Ro-boats):

The US Navy thinks getting USVs into the line is more important than whether they count as part of the battle force.  However, the USVs won't count towards the 355 ship fleet.

There is a debate suggesting the robo ships are really years away.

The US Navy is working to teach USVs to talk to one another.

A Sea Hunter USV will exercise with a carrier battle group.

Northrop tested the AQS-24B on the CUSV outfitted for MCM.

Textron thinks the CUSV will be great for USMC logistics.

Textron's CUSV is ready for production.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (robo subs):

The US Navy will start searching for a new medium class UUV.

L3Harris has providing IVER4 UUVs for the US Navy.

META:

China and America talking past each other on "AI" breeds distrust.

Could killer robots reduce collateral damage?

The US Army is looking at welding automation for its next gen combat vehicles.

Terminator Times #67

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones):

A USAF Reaper overflew the Aviation Nation gathering.

The USMC's MUX UAV is now a EW asset and is being shaped by integration with naval aviation.

The US Navy needs unmanned ISR, tankers for its carriers to counter Russia and China.

The US Navy needs to replace its ScanEagles to fight China.

The US Navy has bought 3 more MQ-4C Tritons.

The Brazilians detail their ScanEagle acquisition.

France gave Lockheed a contract to support its Reapers.

NATO finally got its Global Hawk.

Russia's Forpost-R will have two Russians sensors on it.

Russia is looking to deploy its UAVs in Kyrgyzstan.  

South Korea's first RQ-4B Global Hawk finally arrived.

The Spanish Air Force received its first Predators.

Tunisia is buying AeroVironment's UAVs.

Turkey's gun toting quad copters get profiled again.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos, and Ogres and Terminators, oh my):

Russia unveiled its updated Marker UGV.

META:

The US Navy is looking to slash its total manned ships in favor of pushing its unmanned capabilities.

Terminator Times #66

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones):

The USAF lost a drone over Libya just after Italy did.  Is there a new jamming/hacking system in play?

The USAF AFRL tested a low cost ISR drone flying it for 2.5 days.

The rival Shadow replacement drones for the US Army are being sent to combat units for tests.

A grenade launcher armed tricopter will be used in an upcoming US Army exercise.

The US Navy's Ohio class SSGNs were intended to be drone command posts.

The US Navy will prototype the MQ-8C with weapons.

The MQ-8C is getting a new radar from Northrop.

A US Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk suffered major damage at takeoff in the Middle East.

In support of the Australian Loyal Wingman program, Boeing has started flying surrogates

Australia is considering buying the MQ-9B.

A Chinese Soar Dragon UAV shadowed and monitored USN ships recently.

Pictures of a sigint version of the GJ-2 drone seems to have emerged from China.

A whole bunch of Chinese drones were spotted at Malan AB by spysat.

British Watchkeepers are being deployed to Cyprus.

Iran is heavily dependent on UAVs for its air power.

Israel asked the US to withhold drones from the military aid to Lebanon.

Italy lost a MQ-9A Reaper in Libya.

The Japanese Coast Guard will phase out its Chinese made drones starting in 2020.

Kazakstan will start producing Elbit UAVs in 2020. 

Morocco's recently approved Apache helicopter buy will have manned/unmanned teaming.

The first NATO RQ-4D Global Hawk has been delivered.  This is the first of 5.  It has been sent to Italy.

Russians are wargaming with drones.

Serbia has bought the CH-92A UAV from China.

Turkey's UAVs in Libya are suffering from a high attrition rate.

Turkey is getting quadcopter drones with automatic weapons.

Turkish drones escorting drill ships will fly from Turkish Cyprus.

Yemeni Houthis shot down a Wing Loong drone.

AeroVironment is trying to play catchup with new Switchblade suicide drones.

Bell has flown its APT-70 cargo drone with actual cargo.

Elbit has launched its Magni quad copter.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos, Ogres and Terminators, oh my!):

The US Army has developed a universal kit for offroad self driving vehicles.

The US Army is looking for unmanned medevac vehicles.

More on the FLIR win of the CRS-H robot contract with the US Army.

The USMC wants to use autonomous robotic CRABS to clear obstacles for amphibious assaults.

Qatari Barzan Holdings showed off its multimission UGV in Japan.

Russia is testing UGVs to kill UGVs.

Critical Solutions International showed off its amphibious UGVs.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (Ro-boats):

DARPA has unveiled its NOMARS USV project.

The US Navy is wargaming how to use the LUSV in the future.

The Acting US SecNavy has put forward that unmanned vessels will count to the 355 ship navy vessel count.

Congress wants to slow the US Navy's purchase of USVs becaue it thinks the Navy doesn't know what it wants.

Thales UK has demonstrated an offboard EW package on a USV during a NATO trial.

3d Printing:

The USMC is deploying 3d printers to allow for replacement parts to be made onsite instead of ordering them.

The Australian Navy is also testing deployable 3d printing tech.

Software Bots:

The SecArmy sees a huge role for AI in its long range kill chain.

A report to Congress on AI and national security.

AI command and control must leave room for people.

The US military needs better data to use AI.

Robopocalypse Report #122

Drones:

Some background on the ballistically launched drone.

The AB5 quadjet drone will be very expensive.

Using drones to make art in the Atacama Desert.

A fuel cell powered drone crossed 43 miles between US Virgin Islands.

Bell has test flown its APT-70 cargo drone with real cargo.

Self Driving Cars:

Who actually regulates self driving cars?

Using software bots to tell when to intervene with your driving.

Alfa Romeo is adding semi self driving tech.

MIT wants to train self driving cars to classify the personalities of the human drivers around them.

The fatal crash by an Uber self driving car was caused mostly my human error: use of a cell phone instead of paying attention and Uber not checking to see if its safety drivers were actually paying attention.

3d Printing:

A new micro 3d printing technique won a prestigious New Zealand science award.

3d printing large structures with Loctite materials.

A new 3d printer has multiple material nozzles.

3d printing with glass is now possible.

Lockheed manufactured Orion space capsule for NASA has over 200 3d printed parts.

Overcoming the problems facing printing large scale parts for aircraft.

Robotics:

Adidas is shifting its production from the US to Asia despite using robots in both locales.

Boeing has rescoped how it uses robots in aircraft construction after problems with the RUAB system.

Boston Dynamics' priorities are Spot, Handle and then, in the future, Atlas.

Boston Dynamics' Spot is being tested by the Massachusetts state police.

University of Bristol has created a soft robot that cane be put in your pocket.

Domodedovo airport will start testing cleaning robots.

Google's dream of an everyday robot remains out of reach.

NYC has warned Fedex not to invade their sidewalks with delivery robots.

Someone has developed a robot to entertain cats while you are away.  I cannot help but feel this will end badly.

Researchers are trying to better understand how soft muscle actuators work.

Softbank Robotics is releasing its robot janitor in the US.

Tokyo Metropolitan University developed a ladder climbing robot.

How to design robots with flexing, stretchy pieces.

Why robots should learn to build Ikea furniture.

A new haptic skin provides a sense of touch.

Robotic surgery is safe for overweight patients with kidney disease.

Cyborgism:

Ctrl-Labs CEO is claiming we will have neural interfaces in 5 years.  Press X to doubt.

A blind man can see his birthday cake candles again after a brain implant and artificial eye.

Automata:

Amazon is looking to open full supermarkets without cashiers next year.

Software bots may run the chemical factories of the future.

Should workers have a say in automation?

Software bots have greatly improved microscopes.

Software Bots:

China is using software bots to incarcerate people.  Precrime anyone?

Bill Gates is against borders being invoked to prevent AI researchers from collaborating.

The US Patent and Trademark Office wants to know who owns the inventions created by AI.

Senator Schumer wants a big push on AI in the US.

NYC has created an AI ethics officer.

The dangers of black box AI.

Researchers want to put limits on AI to protect against bias.

Ancestry is using a software bot to sift through millions of obituaries.

Google made a bot to compare voices.  Their test case was Freddy Mercury.

Google has created a software bot to designed to help with exploring fashion through color.

Why is Google slow walking its AI advances?

Microsoft has deployed a new type of AI processor into their cloud.

Better ways of understanding neural nets are underway.

A new bot can predict epilepsy seizures at almost 100% accuracy.

Software bots are more successful in interacting with people when they imitate people.

Software bots can adapt to avoid censorship.

A software bot can predict life expectancy for heart failure survivors.

A new software bot has been developed to help with plant breeding in the face of climate change.

How software bots could revolutionize psychiatry.  

Software bots are being used to study how to remediate nuclear waste.

Software bots could speed up and improve weather simulations.

A new software bot can design new tuberculosis drug regimens.

A new framework has been developed for software bots to limit bias and improve fairness.

The first census of bots on wikipedia has been completed.

A software bot lawyer can be used to untangle understanding user agreements.

Software bots writing fiction is now a thing.

Using software bots to determine if immunotherapy is working.

Software bots can now beat people in hidden goal games online.

Software bots can learn quantum mechanics.

Software bots could transform how we monitor the health of civil infrastructure.

How software bots are changing marketing research.

A software bot has been written to determine authorship and its test case is Shakespeare.

Software bots have been made for traumatic brain injury.

Software bots are been developed to screen for antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Software bots have been designed to study how humans interact in groups and make group decisions.

Software bots have been designed to help with gene therapy.

Software bots are watching us and judging us.

Someone wrote a software bot to try to predict and out trade the market.

META:

Either people are responsible for AI's actions or we will end up with Skynet?

Should modern "AI" have the same rights as animals?

The robopocalypse may threaten highly paid white collared jobs the most.

Terminator Times #65

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones):

DARPA has selected 8 companies to do dogfight air to air combat.

The RQ-4D has received its military certification.

The RQ-4s have been redeployed from Japan to Guam.

The USAF is going to test using the XQ-58A Valkyrie as a com link between F-35 and F-22s.

A USAF F-35A worked with a MQ-9 Reaper near Area 51.

The US Army is integrating drones with its Hololens tech.

The US Navy is placing Link-16 on its MQ-8C FireScouts.

Australia and America have been testing drone delivered medical supplies.

The Brits gave a contract mod to General Atomics for their SkyGuardians.

The Brit's Royal Navy has begun mini UAV training.

China may be exporting autonomous UCAVs.

The Czech Army formed a UAV battalion.

France is starting to arm its MQ-9 Reapers.

France has completed integration of the S-100 camcopter with its LHD.

Airbus unveiled its stealthy UAV test article paid for by Germany.

Hezbollah fired on an Israeli drone.

Houthis claim to have downed a ScanEagle in Yemen.

Iran claims to have shot down a drone over one of its port cities.  The US has stated its not one of theirs.

An Israeli shot down a drone over the Gaza Strip.

The Koreans are studying the results of their unmanned 500MD tests.

Russia has started testing the Orion-2 UAV with strike capabilities.

The Russians are testing Flock 93, a 100 drone strong swarm with individual explosives to attack convoys.  Russia claims they bombed and attacked air defenses with their Flock 93 during an exercise.

Airbus has started testing its VSR700 unmanned helicopter.

Bell plans an unmanned demo of the V-280 by year's end.

FLIR Systems is enhancing tethered UAV ops.

General Atomic is developing an attritable drone called the SparrowHawk that can be launched from and recovered by a Reaper.

General Atomics will also demo MQ-9s for maritime patrols in Europe.

HAPSMobile Hawk30 solar powered UAV conducted a 1.5 hour flight.

Leonardo has invested in the Skydweller electric UAV.

Northrop got a contract mod for supporting the MQ-4C Triton.

UAV Turbines is developing micro turbines for UAVs.

UAVOS has flown its 14m wingspan.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos, Ogres and Terminators, oh my):

The US Army selected the GD MUTT UGV to carry combat troops' loads.

The US Army has down selected to four teams for the RCV-L.  The teams are preparing their proposals.

The US Army has given the $106M contract for its Common Robotic System - Heavy to FLIR.

South Korean companies displayed prototype UGVs.

BAe has a 'Rolling Lab' UGV.

The Textron RIPSAW M5 gets touted for the RCV contracts.

Three teams are moving in on the US Army's RCV-M program.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (Ro-boats):

The USMC and US Navy will move forward with their unmanned vessel programs.

LIG Nex1 unveiled its Sea Sword II USV.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (Robo Subs):

Hanwha displayed a ASW UUV.

Software Bots (Skynet!):

A set of ethical rules have been proposed for AI in war by a panel for the Pentagon.

The Pentagon's biggest problem with AI is dirty data.

The US may be falling behind in its use of AI in war.

US Army researchers are working on bots to cooperate with people.

The US Navy is pleased by the COTS focus of the Pentagon AI office (sigh).

Software bots will be used for target detection in a 2020 wargame.

Time is not on the US' side when it comes to AI in warfare.

China may be seeking military AI without ethics or limits.

Japan is going to use AI to study the data gathered by maritime patrol craft.

Google is back to working with the US military again.

Can Microsoft's AI work both for peaceful purposes and the US Military?

META:

Drone wars are here.

A bipartisan commission suggests the US military should consider purely autonomous weapons.

Are we well on our way to a terminator style uprising?

The US Navy is working on refining the unmanned surface and underwater command structures.

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?