Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Google, Apple, Tesla Veterans: Startup Developing Self-Driving Truck Kits
May 17th, 2016Via: The Verge: Former employees of Google, Apple, Tesla, Cruise Automation, and others — 40 people in total — have formed a new San Francisco-based company called Otto with the goal of turning commercial trucks into self-driving freight haulers. Prominent staffers include former Google Maps lead Lior Ron and Anthony Levandowski of Google’s self-driving car […]
Battelle Fielding 100 Drone Zappers to Pentagon, Homeland Security
May 17th, 2016Via: Defense Tech: The military has turned to a directed energy frequency jammer mounted on an assault rifle-type frame to deal with the growing threat of small drones to military bases and troops in the field. Officials of Battelle, the non-profit research and development organization based in Columbus, Ohio, said Monday the Defense Department and […]
Pentagon Wants AI to Read Social Media and Draw Up Lists of People for Lethal Autonomous Robots to Kill
May 16th, 2016Via: Medium: “LARs [lethal autonomous robots] have the unique potential to operate at a tempo faster than humans can possibly achieve and to lethally strike even when communications links have been severed. Autonomous targeting technology will likely proliferate to nations and groups around the world. To prevent being surpassed by rivals, the United States should […]
Wendy’s Installing Self-Service Ordering Kiosks in 6,000-Plus Restaurants
May 13th, 20162014: Notice how companies in Seattle have between three and seven years to start paying the $15/hour rate? *wink* And now… Via: IBD: Wendy’s (WEN) said that self-service ordering kiosks will be made available across its 6,000-plus restaurants in the second half of the year as minimum wage hikes and a tight labor market push […]
Volvo’s Self-Driving Program Will Have Redundancy For Everything
May 11th, 2016Via: IEEE: Next year Volvo will do something no other company has tried: it will put 100 fully self-driving cars in the hands of customers. The tests, which will begin small and ramp up slowly, are to be held in Gothenberg, Sweden and in London. It’s a lot harder than it may seem. True, the […]
Nimble-Fingered Robot Outperforms the Best Human Surgeons
May 10th, 2016Via: MIT Technology Review: A robot surgeon has been taught to perform a delicate procedure—stitching soft tissue together with a needle and thread—more precisely and reliably than even the best human doctor. The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), developed by researchers at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C., uses an advanced 3-D imaging system […]
The Coming Wide-Spread Use of Drones in Agriculture
May 10th, 2016Via: Hackaday: Let’s cover what drones can offer and what growers can use, then dig into what is out there and happening over some fields right now. These Things are Important to Farmers, but are Limited or Troublesome Confirmation: Verifying that plants are growing where and when they should, and checking this as early and […]
UPS Using Drone Delivery for Medical Supplies in Rwanda
May 9th, 2016Via: MarketWatch: United Parcel Service Inc. has for decades been the company that delivers packages to your doorstep with its signature brown trucks, but the company has quietly begun expanding into drone delivery. The UPS Foundation announced Monday it has entered into a partnership with drone startup Zipline and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to deliver […]
Intel: Drone 100
May 4th, 2016Via: Intel:
Britain: Google Given Access to Healthcare Data of Up to 1.6 Million Patients
May 4th, 2016Via: Guardian: A company owned by Google has been given access to the healthcare data of up to 1.6 million patients from three hospitals run by a major London NHS trust. DeepMind, the tech giant’s London-based company most famous for its innovative use of artificial intelligence, is being provided with the patient information as part […]
