AI & Robotics News and Discussions

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

The idea of artificial intelligence overthrowing humankind has been talked about for decades, and in 2021, scientists delivered their verdict on whether we'd be able to control a high-level computer super-intelligence. The answer? Almost definitely not.

The catch is that controlling a super-intelligence far beyond human comprehension would require a simulation of that super-intelligence which we can analyze (and control). But if we're unable to comprehend it, it's impossible to create such a simulation.

Rules such as 'cause no harm to humans' can't be set if we don't understand the kind of scenarios that an AI is going to come up with, suggest the authors of the new paper. Once a computer system is working on a level above the scope of our programmers, we can no longer set limits.

"A super-intelligence poses a fundamentally different problem than those typically studied under the banner of 'robot ethics'," wrote the researchers.

"This is because a superintelligence is multi-faceted, and therefore potentially capable of mobilizing a diversity of resources in order to achieve objectives that are potentially incomprehensible to humans, let alone controllable."

[weatheriscool]

Machine learning generates 3D model from 2D pictures
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-mac ... tures.html
by Brandie Jefferson, Washington University in St. Louis

Researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a machine learning algorithm that can create a continuous 3D model of cells from a partial set of 2D images that were taken using the same standard microscopy tools found in many labs today.

Their findings were published Sept. 16 in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

"We train the model on the set of digital images to obtain a continuous representation," said Ulugbek Kamilov, assistant professor of electrical and systems engineering and of computer science and engineering. "Now, I can show it any way I want. I can zoom in smoothly and there is no pixelation."

The key to this work was the use of a neural field network, a particular kind of machine learning system that learns a mapping from spatial coordinates to the corresponding physical quantities. When the training is complete, researchers can point to any coordinate and the model can provide the image value at that location.

A particular strength of neural field networks is that they do not need to be trained on copious amounts of similar data. Instead, as long as there is a sufficient number of 2D images of the sample, the network can represent it in its entirety, inside and out.

The image used to train the network is just like any other microscopy image. In essence, a cell is lit from below; the light travels through it and is captured on the other side, creating an image.

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

The industrial robotics market in China achieved strong growth with a new record of 243,300 installations in 2021 – a rise of 44% compared to the previous year. These preliminary data have been published by the International Federation of Robotics.


“China was leading the global recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic and accounted for half of worldwide robot installations in 2021,” said Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “Growth is strong across all industries with electrical and electronics being the dominant sector – up 30% to 81,600 installations. The automotive industry also showed a strong recovery. This was mainly driven by electric vehicle manufacturing in China. It rose by 89% in 2021 with 50,700 installations.”

[Yuli Ban]

[weatheriscool]

Smart microrobots walk autonomously with electronic 'brains'
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-sma ... rains.html
by Cornell University

Cornell University researchers have installed electronic "brains" on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size—smaller than an ant's head—so that they can walk autonomously without being externally controlled.

While Cornell researchers and others have previously developed microscopic machines that can crawl, swim, walk and fold themselves up, there were always "strings" attached; to generate motion, wires were used to provide electrical current or laser beams had to be focused directly onto specific locations on the robots.

"Before, we literally had to manipulate these 'strings' in order to get any kind of response from the robot," said Itai Cohen, professor of physics. "But now that we have these brains on board, it's like taking the strings off the marionette. It's like when Pinocchio gains consciousness."

The innovation sets the stage for a new generation of microscopic devices that can track bacteria, sniff out chemicals, destroy pollutants, conduct microsurgery and scrub the plaque out of arteries.

The project brought together researchers from the labs of Cohen, Alyosha Molnar, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Paul McEuen, professor of physical science, all co-senior authors on the paper. The lead author is postdoctoral researcher Michael Reynolds.

The team's paper, "Microscopic Robots with Onboard Digital Control," published Sept. 21 in Science Robotics.

[weatheriscool]

New discovery suggests a novel strategy against harmful inflammation
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-09- ... ation.html
by The Scripps Research Institute

A team led by Scripps Research scientists has uncovered key details of an immune cell process that frequently underlies excessive inflammation in the body. The findings could lead to new ways of preventing and/or treating inflammation-related conditions such as sepsis, arthritis, and coronary artery disease.

In the study, published September 21, 2022 in Nature Communications, the researchers showed that a multi-protein "molecular machine" called WASH has a powerful role in restraining excessive inflammatory activity by neutrophils, immune cells that are important early responders against infections.

"Our findings point to the possibility of future treatments that target this WASH-regulated pathway to inhibit neutrophil-driven inflammation while preserving most of neutrophils' anti-microbial effectiveness," says study senior author Sergio Catz, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research.

Neutrophils are workhorses of the mammalian immune system, comprising about two-thirds of the white blood cells that circulate through our bloodstreams. They combat invading microbes by engulfing and digesting them, and by releasing a variety of antimicrobial molecules via a process called exocytosis.

[spryfusion]

[Yuli Ban]

[caltrek]

Tiny Robots Have Successfully Cleared Pneumonia from the Lungs of Mice
by David Nield
September 27, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Scientists have been able to direct a swarm of microscopic swimming robots to clear out pneumonia microbes in the lungs of mice, raising hopes that a similar treatment could be developed to treat deadly bacterial pneumonia in humans.

The microbots are made from algae cells and covered with a layer of antibiotic nanoparticles. The algae provide movement through the lungs, which is key to the treatment being targeted and effective.

In experiments, the infections in the mice treated with the algae bots all cleared up, whereas the mice that weren't treated all died within three days.
The technology is still at a proof-of-concept stage, but the early signs are very promising.

"Based on this mouse data, we see that the microrobots could potentially improve antibiotic penetration to kill bacterial pathogens and save more patients' lives," says Victor Nizet, a physician and professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego.

The nanoparticles on the algae cells are made of tiny polymer spheres coated with the membranes of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. These membranes neutralize inflammatory molecules produced by bacteria and the body's own immune system, and both the nanoparticles and the algae degrade naturally.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/tiny-robo ... s-of-mice

[Yuli Ban]

Elon Musk’s robot is going to have to work hard to impress at Tesla’s AI Day

This Friday, Elon Musk is expected to unveil a prototype of his Optimus robot — better known as the Tesla Bot. When Musk announced last August that Tesla was developing a general-purpose robot capable of handling “unsafe, repetitive or boring” tasks, the reaction from experts was skeptical. A year on and not much has changed, with roboticists telling The Verge that we’re a long way off building a robot that can outright replace human labor.

That doesn’t mean, though, that they’re not excited to see what Tesla has come up with.

“We still have fundamental robotics technology gaps that need to be solved before we will see ‘human level’ anything,” Will Jackson, CEO of robotics company Engineered Arts, tells The Verge. Jackson sees a lack of artificial muscle that matches biological muscle as one such problem. “Maybe Tesla [has] solved it — if they have, it will be an absolute game changer — however, it feels unlikely as it would be a great leap forward out of nowhere.”

[agi]

deleted

[ººº]

Impressive

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

Restaurants have been struggling with labor shortages since the worst days of the pandemic, and the situation doesn’t seem to be getting any better. After employees quit in droves and millions of restaurants shut down and laid off their entire staff, people seem to have found other ways to earn a living. The result for restaurant-goers? Long waits, slow service, and disappointing meals.

While there may not be a ton that robots can do to help at traditional sit-down restaurants, they’re quickly moving in to fast food and fast-casual restaurants. Miso Robotics’ Flippy, initially debuted in 2017 to flip burgers at a California fast food chain, got hired at 100 White Castles earlier this year (with expanded capabilities!). It turns out Flippy has a cousin, and that cousin is rolling up its sleeves to go to work at Chipotle. Its name, while maybe not terribly original, is pretty spot-on for its task (and for rhyming with the name of its predecessor): Chippy.

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]