A mind-controlled robot arm doesn’t have to mean brain implants

A robotic arm smoothly traces the movements of a cursor on a computer screen, controlled by the brain activity of a person sitting close by who stares straight ahead. The person wears a cap covered in electrodes. This "mind-controlled" robot limb is...

Tomorrow’s ‘general’ AI revolution will grow from today’s technology

During his closing remarks at the I/O 2019 keynote last week, Jeff Dean, Google AI's lead, noted that the company is looking at "AI that can work across disciplines," suggesting the Silicon Valley giant may soon pursue Artificial general intelligence...

These Wheels Shapeshift for Different Terrain

Who says wheels need to just be round? These unusual Reconfigurable-Wheel Track (RWT) wheels were developed by CMU National Robotics Engineering Center for DARPA’s Ground X-Vehicle Technologies program.

We can expect to see these on the war machines of the future and they may be the next step toward real-life Transformers like Optimus Prime.

These wheels can morph from a round wheel to a triangular treaded track quickly, in less than a second, which makes the vehicle good for a wide variety of terrains. The round wheels are good for hard surfaces, while the triangular tracked wheel is good for softer ones.

It’s pretty impressive to see the wheels in action. I’m hope we see them on more military vehicles very soon, then one day hopefully our own civilian vehicles will have them as well. There’s certainly more that can go wrong with these wheels compared to what we are using now, but they provide a lot more benefits too.

It’s just a shame that they only show them working on a paved parking lot. I’d like to see how they perform and change while on softer ground. This makes me think that they may not be ready for prime time.

[via Geekologie]

Future phones will ID devices by their electromagnetic fields

While NFC has become a standard feature on Android phones these days, it is only as convenient as it is available on the other end, not to mention the awkwardness of aligning the antennas as well. As such, Carnegie Mellon University's Future Interfac...

Get ready to ‘spray’ touch controls onto any surface

Nowadays we're accustomed to the slick glass touchscreens on our phones and tablets, but what if we could extend such luxury to other parts of our devices -- or to any surface, for that matter -- in a cheap and cheerful way? Well, apparently there's...

How an AI took down four world-class poker pros

That was anticlimactic," Jason Les said with a smirk, getting up from his seat. Unlike nearly everyone else in Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino, Les had just played his last few hands against an artificially intelligent opponent on a computer screen. After...

Two research teams taught their AIs to beat pros at poker

Poker-playing bots aren't exactly new -- just ask anyone who's tried to win a little cash on PokerStars -- but two different groups of researchers are setting their sights a little higher. To no one's surprise, those AI buffs are trying to teach thei...

Carnegie Mellon researchers develop robot that takes inventory, helps you find aisle four

Carnegie Mellon researchers develop robot that takes inventory, helps you find aisle four

Fed up with wandering through supermarket aisles in an effort to cross that last item off your shopping list? Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Intel Science and Technology Center in Embedded Computing have developed a robot that could ease your pain and help store owners keep items in stock. Dubbed AndyVision, the bot is equipped with a Kinect sensor, image processing and machine learning algorithms, 2D and 3D images of products and a floor plan of the shop in question. As the mechanized worker roams around, it determines if items are low or out of stock and if they've been incorrectly shelved. Employees then receive the data on iPads and a public display updates an interactive map with product information for shoppers to peruse. The automaton is currently meandering through CMU's campus store, but it's expected to wheel out to a few local retailers for testing sometime next year. Head past the break to catch a video of the automated inventory clerk at work.

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