In this episode, Byron and Daniel talk about magic, robots, Alexa, optimism, and ELIZA. Byron Reese: This is Voices in AI, brought…
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Research
Artificial Intelligence: It’s Not Man vs. Machine. It’s Man And Machine
At the Gigaom Change conference in Austin, Texas, on September 21-23, 2016, Manoj Saxena (Chairman of CognitiveScale), Josh Sutton (Head of Data…
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Bob Metcalfe to Keynote at Gigaom Change in Austin
One of the nice things about the Internet Age being relatively new is that many of its earliest pioneers are not only…
Read MoreWhy you can’t program intelligent robots, but you can train them
If it feels like we’re in the midst of robot renaissance right now, perhaps it’s because we are. There is a new…
Read MoreMeet your new driveway-clearing masters: Robot snowplows
They won’t arrive in time for this week’s “historic snowstorm Juno,” but a spate of prototype autonomous snow-clearing devices (aka snow-shoveling robots) might spell…
Read MoreRobotics funding is off to a hot start in 2015
Robotics hardware startups have already raised more than $51.9 million in 2015 thus far, bolstered by home robotics startup Jibo’s $25.3 million Series A…
Read MoreArduino-compatible Quirkbot lets kids build robots out of straws
One year ago, a simple and very cool construction kit for children came out; called Strawbees, it lets kids develop their inner…
Read MoreThe best of HAXLR8R’s hardware startup demo day: robots for all, friendship bracelets for some
Connected devices are all the rage at hardware accelerators in San Francisco. HAX's fifth batch of startups debuted a circuit printer, modern answer to a Polaroid camera and lots of robots.…
Read MoreBirds (and dinosaurs) have a thing or two to teach running robots
Robots are generally programmed to keep a steady gait. But birds constantly speed up and slow down to accommodate obstacles. Copying their movement could help robots be safer and more efficient.…
Read MoreIt looks as if Amazon is building out its robot army
Bill Vass, formerly CEO of Liquid Robotics and a Sun Microsystems veteran, is now VP of engineering at Amazon Web Services.…
Read MoreForget Terminator: The robots of the apocalypse could be squishy
Soft robots can be especially resilient when it comes to bad conditions. A new robot out of MIT can withstand ice, fire and being run over by a car.…
Read MoreStudying how dogs herd sheep could help robots learn how to herd humans
Robots could someday be used in disaster situations to help people out of burning rooms or collapsed buildings. They could also control huge crowds, which herding dogs already do with ease.…
Read MoreDelivery drones will need to recognize when they are not fit to fly, and this algorithm could help
MIT researchers have developed a way to help drones predict how much fuel it has and the condition of its hardware. It also allows them to compute possible routes in advance to best handle problems.…
Read MoreThis is cool: Big Ass Fans launches new fan with Nest integration
Okay, smart home aficionados in warm climates, get out your wallets because Big Ass Fans is ready to ship its new connected fans with a Nest integration.…
Read MoreLIFX plans to move beyond lightbulbs with plans for a switch
The smart home needs both intelligence and context, so in this week's podcast we're discussing data, AI and standards in the home as well as smart light bulbs with LIFX.…
Read MoreRobots helped inspire deep learning and might become its killer app
Andrew Ng knows a lot about both deep learning and robotics, and he recently presented on how the former might affect the latter. Robot brains will need to train on a lot of data, and deep learning seems like a good way to do it.…
Read MoreJibo the robot could be the face of the internet of things
Jibo can read messages, tell a dramatic story and beam in live video of a relative. Robots like it could soon bridge the social gap between humans and increasingly intelligent everyday devices.…
Read MoreWhat is a robot? The answer is constantly evolving
We are already surrounded by bots in the form of ATMs, GPS systems and Nest thermostats. Our appliances will become autonomous one by one, but we'll still refuse to call them robots.…
Read MoreWhy we should be celebrating the rise of robot journalism instead of criticizing it
The Associated Press says it will use algorithm-generated content from Automated Insights to produce earnings reports, which has some professional journalists nervous about robots taking their jobs -- but in reality such drudgery is better off being done by algorithms than by human beings…
Read MoreBig Ass Fans’ new ceiling fan is really a robot
The robot invasion has begun, only the form factor may not be what you expected. For example, a ceiling fan company has launched a connected product that learns when to start circulating.…
Read MoreHelping robots see faster could make them smarter
A new system developed at MIT, which was inspired by how a group of super-fast quadcopter drones gathered information, uses a camera to analyze robots' surroundings a 1,000 times a second.…
Read MoreA print newspaper generated by robots: Is this the future of media or just a sideshow?
The Guardian has been experimenting with limited-edition printed newspapers that are produced by algorithms, based on the sharing habits of readers, and is rolling out a new version in the U.S. soon. But is that really what we want from our newspapers?…
Read MoreIf you like Legos and robots, you will love TinkerBots
TinkerBots sets include modules that snap together to form robots that move and interact with their environment. They are on sale on Indiegogo starting today.…
Read MoreSay goodbye to Willow Garage
Many employees of Willow Garage, which pioneered work in "open source" robotics including Personal Robot 2, have moved on, although the company continues to sell and support its robots.…
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