Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: robotics/AI

While CRISPR, nanobots and head transplants are making headlines as medical breakthroughs, a number of new technologies are also making progress tackling some of the toughest age-old diseases still plaguing millions of people in the poorest parts of the world.

In low income countries, over 75% of the population dies before the age of 70 due to infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, lung infections, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and increasingly, cardiovascular diseases. Over a third of deaths in low income countries are among children under age 14 primarily due to pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, malaria and neonatal complications. In the developed world, those living in extreme poverty, such as homeless populations, also die on average at age 48.

Over the last year, artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology have all generated a number of new solutions that have the potential to dramatically reduce these problems.

Read more

Good article and perfect timing for me too because I plan to see what “good” bots are available and how I can use it to eradicate troll activity around my online content.

To some unfortunate users, the internet is a minefield of harassment and hatred. But there are steps we can take to make it a lot friendlier.

Read more

Robotics with grace — hmmm.

A new type of hydrostatic transmission that combines hydraulic and pneumatic lines can safely and precisely drive robot arms, giving them the delicacy necessary to pick up an egg without breaking it.

This transmission has almost no friction or play, offering extreme precision for tasks such as threading a sewing needle.

The hybrid transmission makes it possible to halve the number of bulky hydraulic lines that a fully hydraulic system would require. Robotic limbs can thus be made lighter and smaller, said John P. Whitney, an assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern University, who led the development of the transmission while an associate research scientist at Disney Research.

Read more

I still ponder on this question “Under current US laws, can I possibly win a suit against a law firm for poor representation because they used AI on my case and I lost my case that ended up causing me to lose millions and impacted my reputation? And, could this firm lose their license through the state board resulting from my claim & suit as well as others who claimed poor representation due to AI used on their case?” I believe they can under current laws.

Welcome to the firm, robot lawyers!

Last week, BigLaw firm BakerHostetler announced that it was partnering with ROSS Intelligence to bring artificial intelligence to its Bankruptcy, Restructuring, and Creditor Rights practice. ROSS will be used to help BakerHostetler’s non-robot lawyers research more quickly and intelligently. Will other firms follow their lead?

A New Kind of First Year Associate

When it comes to the law, many attorneys are skeptical of AI. After all, smart, machine learning programs will never have the charisma, experience, or gut instincts of seasoned attorneys. And many have predicted that the integration of AI into legal practice will be largely driven by client demands, not forward-thinking law firms.

Read more

AI revolutionizes the beauty industry everything from manufacturing and processing of products, to services, and to treatments.

The beauty industry is getting a makeover and thanks to artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, AI’s incorporation into the field of beautification is still in its infancy, making usages exceptionally limited.

Read more

You are really starting to see the shape of the Singularity, ever more clearly, in the convergence of so many engineering and scientific discoveries, inventions, and philosophical musings.

I can say, without a doubt, that we are all living in truly extraordinary times!

This five-fingered robot hand developed by University of Washington computer science and engineering researchers can learn how to perform dexterous manipulation — like spinning a tube full of coffee beans — on its own, rather than having humans program its actions. (credit: University of Washington)

A University of Washington team of computer scientists and engineers has built what they say is one of the most highly capable five-fingered robot hands in the world. It can perform dexterous manipulation and learn from its own experience without needing humans to direct it.

Their work is described in a paper to be presented May 17 at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

Read more

MAY 12, 2016, WASHINGTON (Army News Service) – “This is the most advanced arm in the world. This one can do anything your natural arm can do, with the exception of the Vulcan V,” said Johnny Matheny, using his right hand to mimic the hand greeting made famous by Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy. “But unless I meet a Vulcan, I won’t need it.”

Matheny was at the Pentagon, May 11, 2016, as part of “DARPA Demo Day,” to show military personnel the robotic arm he sometimes wears as part of research funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.

Read more

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HMXKXzEz44c

Getting ready to send the robots to Space on an AI Spaceship; perfect for that trip to Mars, Jupiter, etc.

DARPA will soon build and relase their first space shuttle without a pilot.

Read more

Fun stuff.

Johnny Matheny’s handshake is friendly, confident and firm — though not in the bone-crushing manner favoured by some of the alpha types here in the Pentagon.

What is remarkable is that Matheny’s proffered hand is not actually his. It is part of a robotic prosthesis researchers hope one day could help transform the lives of countless amputees.

“In the beginning, you had to think pretty hard about individual movements,” Matheny said as he demonstrated his mastery of the black metallic limb, clenching the fist and swiveling his wrist in a natural-looking motion.

Read more

It’s clear that bots are having a moment. Even before Facebook’s Bots for Messenger announcement at their developer conference, there had already been a flood of investments, controversies, and critiques. So I wanted to learn how to make my own bot — and put it to work!

On the one hand, chat bots are nothing new. They have been around since the 1960s and the days of ELIZA. But suddenly the tools to create meaningful, personalised conversations are easy enough to deploy at scale. We have APIs, the ability to continuously monitor and parse messages for relevance and enormous messaging platforms for distribution — which is where people are spending the majority of time these days.

To get a sense for the bot world I decided to try my hand at making one.

Read more