Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Watch 50 Drones Controlled at Once in a Record-Breaking Swarm
September 16th, 2015Via: New Scientist: A team at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, has succeeded in launching 50 drones that were all controlled by a single person. “To our knowledge, this is a world record for the number of UAVs under single operator control, by quite a long way,” says project lead Kevin Jones. The […]
“Google Self-Driving Car Patent Reveals How You’ll Let AI Take the Wheel”
September 15th, 2015Via: The Verge: A new patent from Google published today has some fascinating insight into how the company thinks that production of self-driving cars of the future might take control from the drivers they’re shuttling around — and how they could give it back, too. The description of “Google Chauffeur,” spotted by Stanford’s Reilly Brennan, […]
“In Japan, the Rise of the Machines Solves Labor and Productivity”
September 13th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: The rise of the machines in the workplace has U.S. and European experts predicting massive unemployment and tumbling wages. Not in Japan, where robots are welcomed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government as an elegant way to handle the country’s aging populace, shrinking workforce and public aversion to immigration. Japan is already a […]
Honda Gets California Approval for Self-Driving Cars on Roads
September 13th, 2015Via: Reuters: Honda Motor Co Ltd has received a permit from the state of California to drive its autonomous vehicles on public streets, joining companies ranging from Google Inc to Volkswagen AG in testing the fast-growing technology. The California Department of Motor Vehicles on its website listed Honda as the most recent of 10 companies […]
Meanwhile, in Hitachi Warehouses
September 9th, 2015Via: Popular Science: Say hello to your new artificial intelligence overlord–er, boss. At Hitachi, the Japanese electronics manufacturer, workers have started to take orders from artificial intelligence programs meant to increase productivity in the workplace. Hitachi has deployed the AI in an unspecified number of warehouses, where it issues work orders and instructions to employees. […]
New Teflon Coating Renders Drones Nearly Invisible
September 8th, 2015Via: Inverse: Just as we’re getting used to the idea of drones flying overhead, the University of California-San Diego has figured out how to make them invisible. While making a drone literally invisible isn’t possible, covering it in a sheet that reflects its surroundings — like a fluid mirror — has a similar effect. The […]
“The mission I have to educate everybody is really an attempt to delay what AI will eventually do to us”
September 4th, 2015In ten or twenty years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the majority of paid work in companies, that is, work that isn’t done by machines, being done by these “certificate” holders. —Top U.S. Colleges to Offer Free Classes Online And now: “Nanodegrees.” Yeah, that’s the ticket. Also see: Humans Need Not Apply: Via: The […]
Boeing: Portable Drone-Killing Laser
August 29th, 2015Via: The Verge: Boeing has been researching ways to disable drones with lasers for a while now, and this week, the defense contractor released new footage (below) of its Compact Laser Weapons System: a portable, tripod-mounted device that can burn a hole in a UAV or a quadcopter in seconds. The system is essentially a […]
Pentagon Teams Up with Apple, Boeing to Develop Wearable Tech
August 28th, 2015Via: Reuters: U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter awarded $75 million on Friday to help a consortium of high-tech firms and researchers develop electronic systems packed with sensors flexible enough to be worn by soldiers or molded onto the skin of a plane. Carter said funding for the Obama administration’s newest manufacturing institute would go to […]
New Boss on Construction Sites Is a Drone
August 27th, 2015Via: MIT Technology Review: For some construction workers, any thoughts of slacking off could soon seem rather quaint. The drones will almost certainly notice. The workers building a lavish new downtown stadium for the Sacramento Kings in California are being monitored by drones and software that can automatically flag slow progress. Once per day, several […]
