Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Boston Dynamics: Handle
February 27th, 2017Via: Boston Dynamics: Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4? ?feet vertically. ?It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ???Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation […]
AI Learns to Write Its Own Code by Stealing from Other Programs
February 23rd, 2017Via: New Scientist: OUT of the way, human, I’ve got this covered. A machine learning system has gained the ability to write its own code. Created by researchers at Microsoft and the University of Cambridge, the system, called DeepCoder, solved basic challenges of the kind set by programming competitions. This kind of approach could make […]
French Military Trains Eagles to Hunt Drones
February 22nd, 2017Via: Reuters: In a battle between ancient arts and modern technology, France’s army is teaching birds of prey to bring down remote-controlled drones when they enter no-go urban airspace. Four golden eagles are getting military training for combat against battery-charged drones that just about anybody can buy in a local store, and fly into security-sensitive […]
UPS Tries Arming Its Brown-Clad Drivers With an Octocopter Drone
February 21st, 2017Via: Bloomberg: United Parcel Service Inc. sees a day when your latest purchase may be dropped off not by a brown-clad delivery driver, but by an octocopter drone. The world’s largest courier took a step closer to that future on Monday, launching an unmanned aerial vehicle from the roof of a UPS truck about a […]
Robots Poised to Take Over Wide Range of Military Jobs
February 21st, 2017Via: San Diego Union Tribune: The wave of automation that swept away tens of thousands of American manufacturing and office jobs during the past two decades is now washing over the armed forces, putting both rear-echelon and front-line positions in jeopardy. “Just as in the civilian economy, automation will likely have a big impact on […]
GM Plans to Build, Test Thousands of Self-Driving Bolts in 2018
February 18th, 2017Via: Reuters: General Motors Co plans to deploy thousands of self-driving electric cars in test fleets in partnership with ride-sharing affiliate Lyft Inc, beginning in 2018, two sources familiar with the automaker’s plans said this week. It is expected to be the largest such test of fully autonomous vehicles by any major automaker before 2020, […]
Flashback 2013: Jeff Bezos Is Doing Huge Business with the CIA, While Keeping His Washington Post Readers in the Dark
February 17th, 2017Not only do I buy a lot of homeschooling books for my children from Amazon, but Cryptogon depends on affiliate commissions from Amazon. Several retailers in New Zealand simply buy stuff at retail from Amazon and then send it over to NZ. (That should give you an idea of how broken retailing is in NZ […]
AI-Powered Body Cams for Police
February 17th, 2017Via: Vocativ: The police body camera industry is the latest to jump on the artificial intelligence bandwagon, bringing new powers and privacy concerns to a controversial technology bolstered by the need to hold police accountable after numerous high-profile killings of unarmed black citizens. Now, that tech is about to get smarter. Last week, Taser, the […]
Cassie – Next Generation Robot
February 17th, 2017Via: Oregon State University: Related: Agility Robotics
DroneSeed
February 13th, 2017Forestry jobs? *poof* Via: Vimeo: DroneSeed: First Video of a Drone Planting a Tree from DroneSeed on Vimeo.
