Russians Unveil 9M729 GLCM in Attempt to Save INF Treaty

Russia showed foreign military attaches on Wednesday a new cruise missile that the United States says breaches a landmark arms control pact, billing it as an exercise in transparency it hoped would persuade Washington to stay in the treaty.

link.

more info.

Even more.

The US demanded Russia destroy the missiles and their launchers.  Russia refused.  NATO backed the US.  The US will quit the treaty.

Terminator Times #54

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs/Drones):

The Pentagon flew as many domestic drone missions in 2018 as it did in the previous seven years combined.

The USAF is considering using autonomous swarms of UAVs to conduct search and rescue missions.

The US Army wants drones that can take off vertically and produce mesh networks on the fly.

Brazil will resume using its Heron 1 UAVs.

Chile is showing off its Israeli made Hermes 900 UAVs.

China's Sky Hawk (tian ying) UCAV has flown for the first time and may have communications capabilities with fighters to act as a Loyal Wingman.

China's CASC is looking at a heavy fuel engine variant of its CH-4 UCAV.

Who is China targeting with its drone sales?

China's FL-1 MALE UAV has taken its first flight.

Dutch Reaper pilots are training in the US.

France signed a $89M for FLIR micro drones.

General Atomics unveiled the local suppliers to support the Belgian purchase of the SkyGuardian UAV.

General Atomics has found local suppliers for the British Protector UAV.

Houthi drones killed several in an attack on a government parade in Yemen.

The Houthi are using Iranian Shahed-123 drones.

IAI is considering attempting to buy Aeronatics after Rafael's failed bid.

India has developed an armed quadcopter.

An administrator has been appointed to find a buyer for the bankrupt Piaggio Aerospace.

Rafael signed an agreement to codevelop advanced versions of Aeronautics' Orbiter UAV after their failed attempt to buy the drone maker.

The first hi-res image of the Russian Altair UAV has emerged.

Russia's Ohotnik-B or Hunter-B appears to have been doing taxi tests.  Here are some picture links.  Aviation Week is calling it a strike aircraft.

Taiwan's navy showed off a new drone.

Turkey is selling drones to Ukraine.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos and Ogres):

The US Army is considering using AI based weapons for counter-fire capabilities.

Why the British tested combat bots in mud.

Textron finalized its acquisition of Howe & Howe.

Textron is hoping to win these procurements.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs/Roboats):

AAI has received a contract from the US Navy for almost $11M for its Unmanned Influence Sweep System USVs.

The US Navy is moving towards using significant numbers of USVs.

The US Navy has deployed the Sea Hunter as part of exercises.

The US Navy is considering robo wolf packs of USVs.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles:

Russia claims it will start procurement of 32 of the intercontinental, doomsday nuclear torpedo/UUVs called Poseidon.

3d Printing:

The US Army is looking into 3d printing to improve readiness.

The USAF is testing a 3d printed part of the F-22 to see if they can reduce costs.

Software bots (AI, skynet, etc):

BAe is looking at adding software bots and machine learning to naval combat systems.

DARPA wants a software bot to look for patterns in the global chaos.

Google's "AI" may help with the breathing problems for US military pilots.

A poker playing bot is being adapted for use by the Pentagon.

South Korea's army has created a lab for AI development.

Are Germany, France and Russia going to Collaborate with China on their new Space Station?

Tass quotes China National Space Administration Secretary General Li Guoping as saying his nation is ready to cooperate with Russia, Germany and France on a future space station.

link.

SpaceX's BFR Test Rocket Toppled by Wind, Damaged

A prototype of SpaceX’s next big rocket fell over and sustained damage in south Texas, thanks to high winds in the area. Images from SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas show part of the vehicle sideways on the ground and slightly crumpled. The damage from the mishap will take a few weeks to repair, according to CEO Elon Musk.

Since the holidays, SpaceX engineers in south Texas have been building a prototype of the company’s new Starship rocket. Formerly known as the BFR, the Starship is the next-generation vehicle that SpaceX is developing to transport cargo and people to orbit, as well as to the Moon, Mars, and maybe even beyond. The full system actually consists of two big components: a large rocket booster, named Super Heavy, which will launch a crew-carrying spacecraft — the Starship — into space.

link.

Robopocalypse Report #112

Drones:

Canada has introduced strict rules for drone flights.

DJI drones can fly over crowds, if they have parachutes.

Drones have been shown to make traffic accident assessments safer and faster.

Dronestagram's drone photo contest had some breath taking entries.

The FAA is proposing relaxing the rules on flying drones.

Heathrow Airport was shutdown because of drones.

Intelligent Energy claims a new endurance record for hydrogen powered flight by a quad copter: 70 minutes.

The NYPD deployed a drone on New Year's Eve for security purposes.

The Severn Bridge in Britain was shutdown because someone started flying a drone from one of its towers.

A wireless tech company has found a way to charge drones without landing.

Self Driving Cars:

What is the future of transportation in the Automated Age (aka robopocalypse)?

Are self driving car efforts stalling?

Australia's autonomous train is being called the world's longest robot.

Baidu's self driving cars can handle speed bumps and parking lots now.

China is launching automated high speed trains.

DoorDash has teamed with GM's Cruise to test self driving cars for deliveries in San Francisco.

Intel's Mobileye tech is helping China's public transit become autonomous.

Hyundai has unveiled its autonomous charging concept.

KIA is looking past self driving cars to the next step.

Panasonic unveiled its self driving vehicle concept, the SPACe_C.

Stop and Shop will have self driving mini markets come to your house.

There is a self driving robotic bar.  Kid you not.

Toyota's self driving Lexus is testing two different self driving technologies.

And Toyota's self driving tech is improving.

Yandex's self driving car demo at CES has no safety driver.

3d Printing:

A new technique can 3d print 100 times faster than with melted filament layers.

In Eidhoven, a 3d printing house factory is being rolled out.

Robotics:

2018 robotics in review.

Breadbot can produce a new loaf of freshly baked bread every 6 minutes.

Caper's smart cart uses software bots to allow customers to skip checkout lines.

Hyundai has a new walking 'car.'

The Israeli robot ElliQ is designed to engage and interact with the elderly.

Pepsi is testing snack delivery bots on college campuses.

Police ended a standoff at a gas station by delivering a vape pen.

Robot butler dreams are getting closer to reality.

Watch this robot teach itself to walk.

This robot dog taught itself to walk.

A new approach will improve robots ability grasp.

A robot is helping with some experimental paleontology.

A Russian company claimed a self driving Tesla ran over its robot.  It appears to have been staged.

Segway is getting into the automated delivery business.

The Temi telepresence robot has added Alexa to its capabilities.

UBtech's Walker robot is intended to help at home.

Washington State University has its own robot for elder care.

Exoskeletons:

Atoun has unveiled two new exoskeletons.

Neofect has a robotic glove for those with hand paralysis.

Samsung has their own exoskeletons.

Sarcos Robotics has an exoskeleton capable of lifting 200 lbs.

Toyota's Mobility conference had ride share wheelchairs (!) and exoskeletons.

Whill's self driving wheel chair is coming.

Cyborgism:

Facebook's Zuckerberg and his wife funded brain implantable devices.

Software Bots:

China is flourishing with AI in no small part because of all the health care data and very lax rules regarding its sharing.

DeepSqueek is a software bot designed to interpret what sounds rodents are making.

Google's Assistant will soon be listening in on 1 billion devices.  Hello, big brother!

Google's AI is helping book flights online.

IBM is killing off Watson Workspace.

The Mayo Clinic is using software bots to detect heart disease.

Microsoft is stripping Cortana out of the its search.

The mining industry hasn't embraced software bots yet.

Did Numenta have a breakthrough in software bots?

A software bot using machine learning might have found an unsolvable math problem.

Software bots can help ID problems in EKGs.

A software bot can diagnose genetic illnesses from people's pictures.

A new software bot can listen for unusual sounds in your home and alert you if something is amiss.

New software bots are going to be used to crackdown on password sharing for video services like netflix.

Yet another software bot can detect if you have a urinary tract infection.

Software bots threaten privacy of health care data.

Software bots can now ID an individual zebrafish in a shoal of 100.

Software bots are starting to be able to organize what they see.

Unprovability is becoming a problem for whether or not software bots are actually useful for some problems.

Virtual assistants are hitting a wall.

Automation:

Kroger and Microsoft are testing 'connected' grocery stores.

An automated chemical compound fabricating lab.

The hotel is Japan run by robots is getting rid of half of them.

META:

Americans want AI regulated, but don't trust anyone to do it.

It's getting hard to tell what's automated or not.

What happens when you automate your coworkers out of a job?

LG's vision of the future has creeped some out.

Will the end of Moore's Law halt the Singularity?

Did GM's decline come from trying to automate?

The robopocalypse has been displacing some workers, but not all.

We should not freak out over the robopocalypse.

Finland has an ambitious plan to teach everyone the basics of AI.

Project Lyra: the Proposed Mission to Oumuamua

Project Lyra: Sending a spacecraft to 1I/’Oumuamua (former A/2017 U1), the interstellar asteroid

Authors:

Hein et al

Abstract: 

The first definitely interstellar object 1I/‘Oumuamua (previously A/2017 U1) observed in our solar system provides the opportunity to directly study material from other star systems. Can such objects be intercepted? The challenge of reaching the object within a reasonable timeframe is formidable due to its high heliocentric hyperbolic excess velocity of about 26 km/s; much faster than any vehicle yet launched. This paper presents a high-level analysis of potential near-term options for a mission to 1I/‘Oumuamua and potential similar objects. Launching a spacecraft to 1I/‘Oumuamua in a reasonable timeframe of 5–10 years requires a hyperbolic solar system excess velocity between 33 and 76 km/s for mission durations between 30 and 5 years. Different mission durations and their velocity requirements are explored with respect to the launch date, assuming direct impulsive transfer to the intercept trajectory. For missions using a powered Jupiter flyby combined with a solar Oberth maneuver using solid rocket boosters and Parker Solar Probe heat shield technology, a Falcon Heavy-class launcher would be able to launch a spacecraft of dozens of kilograms towards 1I/‘Oumuamua, if launched in 2021. An additional Saturn flyby would allow for the launch of a New Horizons-class spacecraft. Further technology options are outlined, ranging from electric propulsion, and more advanced options such as laser electric propulsion, and solar and laser sails. To maximize science return decelerating the spacecraft at ’Oumuamua is highly desirable, due to the minimal science return from a hyper-velocity encounter. Electric and magnetic sails could be used for this purpose. It is concluded that although reaching the object is challenging, there seem to be feasible options based on current and near-term technology.

China Claims to have Tested a TBCC Engine, Allowing for Hypersonic, Airbreathing Flight

China's home-grown turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine system has completed its design and development stage and entered the aircraft-engine integration test phase, a major step toward the development of the country's next generation hypersonic drone.

An article published by the WeChat account of Chengdu Aircraft Research and Design Institute, a design facility of the Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Co, on Thursday said the TBCC engine flight test project is led by the institute's chief architect Wang Haifeng, who also led key national defense projects, such as the development of the J-20 and J-10 fighter jets.

The TBCC engine combines a turbine and a scramjet engine, which offers an ideal single-engine solution to achieving the shift from low speed to hypersonic speed, said Liu Xingzhou, a prominent ramjet expert and Chinese Academy of Engineering academician at the China Aerospace Science and Industry Cooperation, in 2011.

The TBCC engine will allow the aircraft to fly at speeds of up to Mach 6, which means five to six times faster than the speed of sound, said Wei Xudong, a Beijing-based military analyst.

link.

2nd link.

Stealth Saga #43

Sixth Generation Fighters:

The USAF's 6th gen PCA may cost $300M each or so thinks the CBO.  Some think that is unaffordable.

The USAF AWFICS has been considering the 6th gen.

Has the USAF started prototyping its 6th gen PCA fighter?

Germany and France are inviting Spain to be a full partner in the FCAS.

Japan is feeling its way forward with the F-3 program despite ordering more F-35s.

KF-X:

Indonesia has resumed making payments for the KF-X/IF-X fighter program.

Neuron UCAV:

The Spanish Eurofighters conducted tests with the French Neuron UCAV demonstrator.

Su-57:

The Su-57 is supposedly going to be equipped with a hypersonic attack missile.  This won't help the aircraft.

The Russians have also updated the stealth coating on the Su-57.

PAK-DA:

Russia is reminding everyone they are working on the PAK-DA bomber.

Sky Hawk UCAV:

China has flown its Sky Hawk UCAV demonstrator and it has been upgraded for potential aircraft carrier use.

The Sky Hawk may also have Have Raider/Loyal Wingman esque capabilities.

J-31/FC-31:

Speculation resurfaces China is building a carrier based variant of the J-31/FC-31.

J-20:

A fake J-20 showed up at Savannah, Georgia.  It turns out to have been a mockup for OPFOR training paid for by the USMC.

USAFA Target Drone:

The USAFA is building the first stealthy target drone for the USAF.

Stealth Special Ops Transports:

The Warzone has a two part article on the multi decade quest for stealthy special ops transports for the US.

They also discuss the origins of the StealthHawk helicopter we saw the tail of from the bin laden raid.

B-21:

The B-21 program completed a review and project remains on track.  Rumors were true and this was the CDR.

The USAF feels it needs more bombers.

B-2:

Whiteman AFB released a video of a B-2 dropping two 30,000 lbs bombs.

The B-2 overflew the Rose Bowl and the Rose Parade.

The USAF is sending B-2s to Hawaii for exercises.

F-22:

Some of the Tyndall AFB F-22s are now based in Alaska.

F-35:

Major Rachael Winiecki has become the first female F-35 test pilot.

The F-35 has begun IOT&E testing.

The Block IV F-35s will have improved maritime strike capabilities.

The USAF announced a new F-35 areobatic display for the 2019 airshow season.

An F-35 oooed and aaahed folks with its flight through Star Wars Canyon.

F-35 operators are switching the version of the AIM-9 they are using.

F-35As will probably replace the F-22s at Tyndall AFB.

The 388th Fighter Wing’s 421st Fighter Squadron received its first F-35A.

The US Navy's first operational F-35C squadron is declared safe for flight.

The  US Navy's F-35Cs have a 15% readiness rating.

The F-35C is on track, despite the above, to be declared to have reached IOC.

Australia's first two F-35s are due to arrived on Dec 10th.

Watch British F-35Bs with F-15s and Rafales.

The Brits are on a roll after their testing of the F-35B.

The British RAF/RN are in a tug of war over the order of the F-35s.

The British have declared IOC for land based ops for its F-35s.

Israel has started making its own wings components for the F-35C.

More on Italy declaring IOC for its F-35As.

Italy will review the F-35 program in 2019.

Japan is replacing 99 F-15SJs with F-35s.  The F-4 Phantoms will also be replaced with already planned F-35s.

Some are convinced Japan's intent to convert its helicopter carriers to VSTOL carriers using F-35Bs is going to be harder than people think.  Japan is moving forward, however, to counter Russia and China.

With this latest order, Japan is on track for to become the second largest operator of F-35s.

The Pentagon stated if Turkey is removed from the F-35 program, there won't be a devastating impact.

Turkey is endangering its F-35 purchase by not cancelling its S-400 buy.

Leonardo figured out how to overcome overheating issues with the internal F-35 training system.

Lockheed met its production target for 2018 and delivered 91 F-35s.

Lockheed also got a contract for updating the F-35's avionics.

META:

A course to integrate 4th & 5th gen fighters took place.

The US Congress' CBO floated the idea of postponing the B-21, 6th gen fighter, getting rid of the F-22 and ending manufacture of the F-35 to save on the budget.

Shutdown Postpones SpaceX Dragon V2 Flight to February

ASA and SpaceX are continuing to work on the activities leading toward the Demo-1, uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than February for the launch of Demo-1 to complete hardware testing and joint reviews.

link.

Russians Claim to Have Successfully Tested the Avangard Boost Glide Weapon

The Russian Defence Ministry, on orders from President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday conducted a successful test launch of an Avangard missile from the Orenburg region, hitting a target in Kamchatka, the Kremlin press service reports.

link.

Terminator Times #53

Unmanned AerialVehicles (drones):

The USAFA Cadets are building a stealthy target drone.

The USAF gave General Atomics a $293M contract to support the MQ-9 Reapers.

The US Army has teamed with Lockheed to create a UAV armed with a high powered microwave weapon.

The US Coast Guard Commandant wants a small UAV like the ScanEagle for its future patrol cutters.

The US Navy has modified the contract for Boeing to continue work on the MQ-25A Stingray.

China has developed a kerosene burning variant of its CH-4 uav.

China has exported its 100th Wing Loong UAV.

A second Chinese made CH-4B has been shot down in Yemen.

Egypt is buying a second lot of Chinese UAVs.

The Europeans have finished the design definition of the program formerly called the EuroMALE.

A Russian company has created the Carnivora UAV to intercept other drones.

The Russian army will be receiving drones in 2019.

Airbus' VSR700 flew its first autonomous flight.

Does Elbit's rise mean the downfall of IAI?

Elbit and Adani opened a joint UAV center.

Schiebel demonstrated new payloads for its S-100 VTOL UAV for the Australian army.

V-BAT aspires to replace the Shadow UAV.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos & Ogres):

The Brits' new bomb disposal robot has haptic feedback for its operators.

Endeavor Robotics unveiled details of its Scorpion UGV.

Israel's Rafael envisions a mobile command center/mothership for unmanned ground vehicles.

Rheinmetall's Mission Master UGV gets profiled and a weaponized variant is in the works.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (robo subs):

Are swarms of underwater drones the future of mine clearing?

China's Haiyan underwater glider UUV operated for 141 days and travelled 3619 km in the South China Sea.

Russia has begun testing its intercontinental nuclear torpedo/UUV called Poseidon according to reports.

Thales teamed with msubs to work on UUVs.

Software Bots:

How the Pentagon is working on a two pronged approach to "AI."

After the Pentagon's relationship with Google collapsed, it's seeking its own AI talent.

Counter UAV:

The Russian Pantsir air defenses may be unable to defend against drones.  The Russians claim they have developed a new targeting system in response.

META:

India Approves Budget for 2022 Human Spaceflight

Giving a boost to the country's maiden human spaceflight programme, the Union Cabinet on Friday approved a budget of Rs 10,000 crore for India's Gaganyaan project, whose 2022 deadline was fixed by PM Narendra Modi + during his I-Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15, 2018.

"The Union Cabinet has approved the Gaganyaan project under which a three-member crew will be sent to space for at least seven days," Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced at a press conference on Friday.

link.

China May Have Tested a new Sub Launched Nuclear Missile

China conducted the first test flight of its next-generation JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in late November, according to report published on the Washington Free Beacon website on 18 December.

Citing unnamed defence officials, the test firing was detected by US missile-launch warning satellites and monitored by US intelligence agencies.

link.

Robopocalypse Report #111

Drones:

The first global standards for drones have been unveiled.

A 737 seems to have been damaged by a midair impact with a drone.

Amazon promised drone delivery in five years...five years ago.  Where are they?

In Britain, the Gatwick airport was seriously impacted by one or more drones flying through restricted air space.  The Army was deployed.  People were arrested and then released.  A British Minister stated new detection equipment is needed.

Drones are being used in Britain to spot European nightjar nests.

The Dauntless cargo UAV can lift 200 lbs.

Regular drones are being used to monitor and track sharks.

Drones can be used to replace several cameras in film making and even used in animation.

Foldable drones could be used in rescues because they can fly through smaller holes.

Google/Alphabet's Project Wing drones will start delivery trials in Finland next year.

Google/Alphabet is working to make those drones quieter.

Indonesian rescuers are using drones after the recent tsunami.

The NYPD will start using drones.

The number of drone flights in Russia are projected to increase 16 fold from 2015 to 2020.

Russia has demonstrated a new cargo drone with claims it is capable of carrying 400 kg (880 lbs) 350 km (~220 miles).

The Self Repairing Cities Project continues to develop 3d printing drones that repair potholes.

Self Driving Cars:

Congress did not pass its self driving car laws before the end of 2018.

How self driving cars handle tricky highway merges.

Self driving cars are here.  Here just depends on where you live.

Audi is using Luminar's lidar for its self driving cars.

Baidu is testing its self driving cars with the Unity game.

Bosch is developing self driving tech.  Even betting on it.

GM Cruise's has a new boss, Dan Ammann.

Honda is testing off road self driving work vehicles.

Kroger has launched a self driving vehicle based service for grocery delivery in Arizona with Nuro's help.

Levandowski, the troublesome ex Google, ex Uber self driving car engineer who founded a church that believes AI is the savior, claims to have ridden a self driving car from the Atlantic to the Pacific, over 3000 miles.

A Lyft patent shows how their self driving cars might communicate.

May Mobility is another self driving car startup.

Rinspeed has shrunk its self driving pod.

Tesla celebrates over 1 billion miles using Autopilot.

Musk is stating Tesla's Autopilot will recognize emergency vehicles shortly.

Musk misused Tesla's Autopilot on the tv show 60 minutes.

Tesla is testing its Autopilot system for successful navigation of traffic lights and roundabouts.

TuSimple's cameras can see farther than lidars can for self driving cars.

Uber apparently ignored warnings about its safety before the death of the woman in Arizona.

Uber got permission to return its self driving cars to the road in Pennsylvania in a scaled down test.

Volvo's self driving trucks will be hauling limestone from a mine.

As reported before, Waymo has returned safety drivers to its self driving cars.

Waymo has already launched its self driving car service in Phoenix.  They still have safety drivers as noted above.

People are harassing Waymo's self driving cars.

Zoox has won approval to carry passengers in its self driving vehicles in California.

3d Printing:

3d printed houses vary from mud huts to luxury mansions.

A software bots are able to recreate famous paintings in 3d printing.

An Australian woman has received a 3d printed jaw after a tumor removal.

Bugatti is testing 3d printed titanium parts for its cars.

A Bulgarian patient has received a 3d printed rib, a first for that country.

A custom 3d printer makes better microfluidic devices.

Harvard Innovation Labs has set up the MakerFleet 3d printer farm.

3d printed scaffolds could help bones heal.

3d printed homes may be the future of architecture.

An Italian bioengineer figured out how to 3d print a steak from vegetable proteins.

A new paper states there needs to be a better way to allow more people to design 3d printed components.

Norwegian researchers compared the results of 3d printing in both a factory setting and in a military cargo container. 

Robotics:

A new type of robotic hand can play the piano with more human like motion.

Where are the SciFi promised home robots?

Amazon is launching a cloud-based robotics testing platform.

Amazon is trying to get developers to make the control software for small robotic car.

24 Amazon workers were sent to the hospital when a warehouse robot broke open a can of bear spray.

Arm is building chips with a sense of smell.

BART is a type of bar tending robot.

DHL will spend $300 million to quadruple the robots in their warehouses.

European scientists have made an artificial neuron from nanowire.

Studying fish will help robotics.

Harvard developed a robot that can climb on ceilings.

A new huggable robot about to go on sale looks eerily like Cheburashka.

Intel has developed a wheelchair controlled by facial expressions.

Kiwi, a delivery bot, caught fire in Berkeley, California.

Larvalbot has been seeding the Great Barrier Reef with coral.

Postmates unveiled its robotic delivery bot.

A Robotic rice planter is being sent to the fields.

Toyota has invested in the autonomous ship company, Sea Machine Robotics.

The Velox robot skates over ice, but does so in way that creeps some people out.

Waitrose and Partner's parent company is testing in robotic farming equipment.

Walmart is rolling out 360 mopping robots as janitors for its stores by the end of January.  The same robots are in use at airports in Boston, Miami, San Diego, and Seattle,

Walmart is also supposed to be testing a burger flipping robot.

Youbionic has added 3d printed arms to a Boston Dynamics Mini Spot robot.

The Z6 robot is an unfolding hexapod.

Cyborgism:

Meet Elowan, the first(?) mobile cyborg houseplant.

Researchers have developed a new hydrogel electrode for brain implants.

A new artificial joint allows lower arm amputees to have wrist movements.

Software Bots:

US law makers are seeking to introduce bills to make certain actions illegal for bots during the holiday season.

100 AI researchers could not get visas to Canada for a conference.

Canada and France want to study the global impacts of AI.

Alibaba's Voice Assistant is way better than Google's.

An Amazon Alexa had a software error that allowed another user in another house to spy on one house hold.

Alexa is gaining self teaching algorithms to be able to learn from the people its communicating with to better understand them.

The BBC asked two software bots to come up with christmas dishes that were inspired by cultures around the world.

In China, a facial recognition software bot took an ad on the bus for a jaywalker.

Digital assistants are getting better, but have a long, long ways to go.

Europe actually publishes the most papers on AI, not China or the US.

Can software bots actually clean up Facebook?

Google's head of AI research wants bots to think more like a brain does.

Google's not being as open as it ought over the Duplex calls.

Google's Deep Mind can predict the 3d shape of proteins.

Google Deep Mind now has a generalized game playing system for any sort of game.

IBM is looking at Watson for human resources.

The Japanese have developed an automated technique for coloring anime.

Memristers are making circuits that mimic synapses better.

Microsoft wants to stop facial recognition AI's 'race to the bottom.'

MIT and Facebook are teaming up to use bots to give everyone who does NOT have a address in the world one.

Musicians are using software bots to master songs.

NBCUniversal is attempting to use software bots to make their ads more relevant.

Communication between two neural networks is being worked on.

Nvidia has developed a software bot to generate cityscapes in real time.

Nvidia has also released its new machine learning chip.

Oregon State University is looking at using machine learning to work on energy storage.

Texas A&M is using software bots for material science.

The UK is looking at AI to predict and prevent violent crime:  pre crime, here we come.

Software bots can be used to detect water leaks in city water systems.

Software bots can accelerate cancer discoveries.

Software bots can be trained without negative data.

Software bots can reduce the gadolinium dose needed for MRIs.

A new software bot can track biological age on multiple levels.

Bots are also being used to tell how healthy you will be in old age.

Software bots have mapped every last solar panel in the US.

Software bots are being used for hiring now and its producing some unorthodox results.

A new form of machine vision uses software bots to recognize objects like people do.

Software bots are being used to determine if you could have a potentially life threatening skin infection.

Software bots are being used to notice details in low exposure images.

Software bots are being used to design peptides.

Software bots can sort cancer cells now.

Codeveloping hardware and software makes neural nets less power hungry.

Technology companies and employees are pushing back against software bots, or at least putting limits on them.  Some.

Tumblr is banning porn on its site and has developed a software bot to find and delete it.  It's really bad at its job.

Automation:

2018 was the year bots began taking over service jobs.

Automation is changing work.

Amazon is testing its cashierless system on larger stores than their Amazon Go.

Amazon wants to open its Go stores in company lobbies.

Space Tango plans a orbital robotic factory.

META:

Can an AI conference shed its sexist behavior?

Germany will attempt a universal basic income experiment in 2019.

New models can sense when and if people trust robots. Think of them as your robotic rat friends.

While the robopocalypse may be upon us, the singularity has a long, long ways to go.

Do not fear the robotic overlords!  Embrace them as coworkers!

The year in the robopocalypse.

NASA Approves Sierra Nevada's DreamChaser Manufacture of First Prototype Space Plane

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has won NASA approval to begin full-scale production of its Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft scheduled to make its first flight in about two years.

The company announced Dec. 18 that it completed a milestone in its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 2 contract called Integrated Review 4. With that milestone, the company is cleared to move ahead into assembly of the Dream Chaser vehicle that will deliver cargo to the station.

“NASA’s acknowledgement that SNC has completed this critical milestone and its approval of full production of the first Dream Chaser spacecraft is a major indication we are on the right path toward increasing vital science return for the industry,” John Curry, CRS-2 program director at the company, said in a statement announcing the milestone.

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Russian Military Can't Seem to Grow Past 384,000 Contract/Professional Soldiers

Last week Russian General Staff Chief Valeriy Gerasimov addressed a variety of topics in his annual briefing for the Moscow foreign military attaché community. According to KZ’s coverage, he said Russia continues to work at manning Russia’s military forces at 95-100 percent of their authorized level.

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Anyone studiously following the process of Russian military professionalization would notice that 384,000 is the very same number given by Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu almost exactly two years ago.

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Paleolithic Papers #25

Genus Homo:

Stone tools found in China from the Pleistocene of the Levallois tradition hint at a potential local development of the technology.

A cave painting in Borneo in Indonesia dates from 40,000 years ago.

Inbreeding was common in hominins.

Crossing out of Africa was not difficult because the Arabian peninsula was green.

Hominins were not the cause the megafaunal extinctions in Africa, rather climate and the expansion of the grasslands were.  Unless, of course, the evidence for H. erectus purposefully expanding the grasslands with fire are accurate.

How did human language arise?  We don't really know.

How did members of the genus Homo survive in east Africa from paleolithic to mesolithic?

Analyzing Aurignacian tools using morphometrics.

A Russian site and its dating from the Upper Paleolithic is discussed and explored more.

H. sapiens:

The Lago Santa people had African-like features and were possibly Clovis culture descendants.  The peopling of South and Central America turned out to be fairly complicated.

The peopling of the Americas is getting a lot of interest once more with genetic studies.

Multiple types of projectiles found in Texas hint at potentially multiple migrations into the Americas.  Note: this could also be an example of a transition from one projectile point technology to another.

It seems the dispersals into the AMericas were more complex and hint at an Australasian component.

How did people cross the Wallace Line?

How the environment of northwestern Argentina changed across the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary.

People appear to have inhabited Tibet at least as early as 30,000 years ago.  This is much earlier than previously thought.

Star watching to understand the seasons may have very early origins.  Cave paintings from 40,000 years ago definitely suggest this.

Why do modern humans have round heads?

H. neanderthalensis:

Neandertals were just as violent as modern humans.

Neandertal children suffered from extreme stress during the winter.  Lead exposure was noted.

Neanderthals in the Caucasus transported obsidian over 250 km to make tools with.

Neandertal genes associated with neurogenesis in modern humans have been found.

H. erectus:

Are stone tools of the Acheulean style from 190k to 240k years ago a sign Homo erectus survived in Saudi Arabia until a late date?

H. erectus social behavior is discussed wrt an animal carcass. 

H. habilis:

Oldowon stone tools, the style associated with Homo habilis, have been found in Algeria dating from 2.4 million years ago.

Genus Australopithecus:

Little Foot, a likely A. africanus, is emerging from the stone matrix it was preserved in.

Little Foot's brain endocast suggests a more basal, chimpanzee like brain.

The original studies of A. africanus when it was known as A. prometheus are discussed.

Genus Paranthropus:

The scapular anatomy of P. bosei gets studied.

KNM-ER 47000 appears to be from P. bosei.

META:

U-Pb dating of flowstones from South Africa constrains the dates hominins were evolving there and shows they were living in dry climate conditions.

Trabecular Bone Fraction gets compared between modern humans, hominins and other primates.

The stone tool gripping abilities of modern humans, hominins and apes are compared.

3d analysis of bone tools sheds some light on how they were made and used.

Three plus different hominins coexisted in the early Pleistocene ~2 million years ago in the Omo-Turkana Basin (P. bosei, H.habilis and H. erectus. possibly H. rudolfensis as well).

What was the dietary diversity of early Pleistocene hominins?

The trabecular structure of the distal femur is compared between humans, apes and baboons is compared.