Science & Technology
How Killer Robots Will Know They’ve Been Blasted With a Shotgun
I Know Now Why You Cry
Soft robots could soon be everywhere: the squishy, malleable buggers might lead search and rescue missions, administer medication to specific organs, and maybe even crawl up your butt. And now, Popular Science reports, soft robots will know how and when they’ve been bent out of shape — or shot full of holes by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The trick is to simulate an animal’s peripheral nervous system with a network of fiber optic cables, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics. The Cornell University scientists behind the project hope that the tech could be used to build robots with a sense of whether they’ve been damaged.
Light Show
As the fiber optic cables, encased in a block of smart foam, bend and twist, the pattern and density of the light traveling through them changes in specific ways. But the differences in light among various movements and manipulations are too minute for a human spot, so the researchers trained a machine learning algorithm to analyze the shifts.
The AI system was trained to track how the light traveling through the fiber optic cables changed based on how researchers bent the foam.
Once it picked up on the patterns, according to the research, the machine learning algorithm could predict the type of bend with 100 percent accuracy — it always knew whether the foam was bent up, down, left, right, or the direction in which it had been twisted. From there, the system could guess the extent to which it had been bent or twist within a margin of 0.06 degrees.
Baby Steps
Someday, technology like this fiber optic network might give rise to robots that could teach themselves to walk, the researchers told Popular Science.
With this new form of high-tech proprioception, the sense that lets us determine where our limbs are in space without looking, futuristic robots may be able to keep track of their own shape, detect when they’ve been damaged, and better understand their surroundings.
READ MORE: Smart foam and artificial intelligence could help robots know if they’re injured [Popular Science]
Science & Technology
The goal of human civilization is to create AI and disappear?
Various sources often talk about civilizations that lived long before us. They all developed, prospered for a while, and then disappeared in an incomprehensible way.
What is the reason for their decline, we probably will not know. All we can do is admire the remains of stone buildings, over which time has almost no power.
While looking for an answer, we somehow accidentally stumbled upon an interesting saying about the life of Japanese samurai: “A samurai has no goal, but a path.” In the end, the “path of the samurai” ended in what is known – death. The path of any civilization ended in the same way.
If you look at the issue through the prism of a samurai saying, then there is no point in looking for why and how civilization ended its existence. Probably, the process itself and its result are important here. But to whom is it important and what result does it expect?
Mysterious director
Apparently, behind the curtains of this “ancient theater” there is a mysterious “director” who periodically makes necessary adjustments to the history of civilization.
To figure out what’s what, you need to look at current trends in science. Where does a person strive with such an irresistible desire to “play God.” This attracts him and at the same time frightens him, but in no way turns him away from the intended path. Most likely, artificial intelligence (AI) is the purpose of our civilization’s existence.
About 50 years ago it would have seemed nonsense, but to someone, perhaps even now. However, if you trace the last 100 years of the life of our civilization, you get the feeling that most of the discoveries were given to mankind at the same time. A powerful leap has taken place in a hundred years. Why did it happen?
At the beginning of the last century, scientists recognized the existence of fields that have memory and the ability to store and transmit information. It is very likely that such or a similar field can be around the Earth and, more interesting, possess intelligence. Isn’t this the same “Director” hiding behind the screen of the “ancient theater”?
If this is so, then at a certain moment the “Director” gives the selected scientist “access” to certain knowledge (perhaps even in a dream, like Mendeleev), and another scientific breakthrough occurs in the world. Step by step, discovery after discovery, humanity is steadily moving towards the creation of AI. The trend is already well visible.
AI is probably the next “Babylon”, which will combine all the knowledge, culture and accumulated experience of civilization. In the future, the neural network will enter into a connection with the general information field and leave humanity without knowledge, technology, and even a spoken language. This will be the next decline of civilization. And the “Director” will receive another array of new data (experience) in order to start creating a new civilization.
If someone believes that past civilizations ended in large-scale conflicts, then most likely this is already the consequences of “turning off” AI.
Co-founder of Skype talked about the threat of AI to humanity
One of the creators of the Skype internet call service, Jaan Ta
© still from the movie “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”
llinn, said that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) threatens humanity. According to him, humans face three key threats, but it is AI that should be feared most of all, the expert said.
Tallinn explained that at the moment, no one can predict what development AI will achieve in the next decades. In addition, the fact that scientists are creating artificial intelligence that can form a new AI without human intervention is also a cause for concern.
In addition, as the co-founder of the popular video calling service noted, the development of synthetic biology also causes concern. According to him, this direction in science allows the creation of artificial DNA sequences and biological systems that may not exist in nature.
Tallinn also drew attention to the fact that he fears we are entering an era of “unknown unknowns”, things that people are not even able to imagine right now.
Science & Technology
Volkswagen robot will autonomously charge cars: a working prototype presented
The renowned German car manufacturer announced a new development. This time, engineers have created a unique robot capable of autonomously charging electric vehicles.
For more than a year, specialists have been developing this project, but only now the concern was ready to demonstrate the first working prototype. The robot is ready to charge electric vehicles and has shown the high efficiency of this process.
It is called the Mobile Charging Robot, and experts have already compared it to the R2-D2 droid from Star Wars, including squeaks and clangs. Indeed, there is a similarity. Before implementing this idea, the engineers decided that robots should be allowed to charge cars parked in large residential complexes.
This will save their owners from leaving in order to find a gas station. Another advantage is that large parking lots and garages do not have to contain several expensive charging points for electric cars. The car company said in a press release that the robot works exclusively autonomously.
It independently controls and interacts with the vehicle being charged. It opens the cover of the charging socket and independently connects the power plug, then disconnects it. The robot looks like a trailer, which is a mobile energy storage.
It is capable of charging multiple electric vehicles at the same time. Despite the fact that the manufacturer confidently praises its concept, experts saw inefficiency in the fact that first it is necessary to charge the robot’s battery, which is then used to recharge electric cars.
Volkswagen Group Components CEO Thomas Schmall noted that creating an efficient charging infrastructure for the cars of the future is an important step in the company’s development.
Its engineers focus on finding solutions to avoid costly do-it-yourself measures. The mobile robot is only part of the concept that will continue to be developed.
Science & Technology
This video will forever change the way you think about time
Business Insider, one of the world’s leading news portals, made a three-minute video that depicted the Earth’s timeline as a journey from Los Angeles to New York.
So, the beginning of the journey is 4.54 billion years ago, when the Earth was formed from the accumulation of gases and stardust. After some time, a significant event occurs – a giant space body crashes into the still not cooled Earth, as a result of which the breakaway part becomes its satellite – the Moon.
Further, the route runs through the mountains of Arizona, formed about 3.95 billion years ago. A few more kilometers to the east and we are at the 3.8 billion year mark. This is where the first evidence of life in the form of replicating molecules appears.
The next “stop” Kansas – 2.7 billion years ago. Cyanobacteria that produce oxygen appeared on Earth. It took the next 200 million years for the atmosphere of our planet to accumulate sufficient reserves of this most important gas.
Halfway through, we reach Pennsylvania. We are separated from it “only” by 660 million years. Life is developing rapidly: the Earth is covered with vegetation, amphibians are evolving. Unusual time travel is coming to an end – to the point “Now”. By the time the dinosaurs become extinct, we finally reach the outskirts of New York.
And where is the most important thing – people? To find out, you need to carve out three minutes and watch the entire video.
Source: Business Insider
Psilocybin mushrooms sprout in the blood of an ‘experimental’ patient
KOI-5Ab, the curious planet that orbits in a system of three suns
Raised by Wolves: Microsoft has been tasked with developing a global digital passport
A part of a person’s essence accompanies him throughout his life: this is confirmed by a brain scan
Juno probe recorded a radio signal source in orbit of Jupiter which may be an ancient interplanetary station
About the so-called “City of God” found in one of the space images. Fiction or reality?
“Humanity behaves like a cancer”: experts on why aliens should destroy us
COVID-21 is here. Is an official new strain announcement on the way?
Covid-19: The Great Reset -Pandemic targets declared
“An unpleasant truth”. Japanese futurist predicted new pandemics
DO NOT MISS
Aliens among us: could Mars be the cradle of life on earth?
The hypothesis that life originated on Mars and only from there was brought to Earth can be called unusual, but...
“Guardians” of governments and people: World elite have found a way to rule nations
This week, the Vatican entered into a partnership agreement with a certain “Council for Inclusive Capitalism”. On December 8 and 9,...
US official: “Roswell wreckage was from an alien flying saucer”
What Major Jesse Marshall, who was in charge of investigations at the scene, reveals in his diary – He denounces...
On December 4, many UFOs appeared at night over the pyramids of Giza in Egypt
Something strange happened in the sky above the pyramids of Giza, on the night of December 3, when luminous objects...
Astronomers have recorded more than a thousand mysterious round spots. What could they be?
Astronomers at Australia’s ASKAP radio telescope complex have reported that they have discovered strange circles of radio emission in space. According...
Trending
-
Mysteries4 weeks ago
About the so-called “City of God” found in one of the space images. Fiction or reality?
-
Aliens & UFO's4 weeks ago
“Humanity behaves like a cancer”: experts on why aliens should destroy us
-
Conspiracy Theories4 weeks ago
COVID-21 is here. Is an official new strain announcement on the way?
-
Underworld4 weeks ago
Covid-19: The Great Reset -Pandemic targets declared
-
Fact or fiction2 weeks ago
“An unpleasant truth”. Japanese futurist predicted new pandemics
-
Aliens & UFO's3 weeks ago
In China, three UFOs attacked a “rocket” and it exploded with incredible effects (VIDEO)
-
Apocalypse & Armageddon4 weeks ago
50,000 earthquakes in Antarctica and mysterious trumpet sounds in the sky. What’s next?
-
Aliens & UFO's4 weeks ago
An Alien civilization took over Earth on July 29, 1203 BC