Monthly Archives: March 2017

Today at the inauguralUdacity Intersect conference, the online education startup announced new robotics and digital marketing variants of its popular Nanodegrees an effort to expand its corpus of 21st century skills-based courses. In addition to the new degrees, Udacity is adding 21 new hiring partners spanning the automotive, defense, tech, hardware and telecommunicationsindustries. And, lastly, the company is partnering withDidi Chuxing for a new $100,000 competitionto build safety features for self-drivingcars.

More than 20,000 students have been a part of Udacity Nanodegree programs. Spanning topics like deep learning and VR development, the programs offer students studies that aremore rigorous than a certificate and less intensive than a full degree. The new Nanodegreesannounced today expand the reach of Udacity into marketing and robotics.

This is a blueprint for anyone in higher education, said Sebastian Thrun, co-founder and chairman of Udacity.

Udacitys addition of the Deep Learning Nanodegree might have been a tip-off that the startup would be looking to cater to robotics enthusiasts. The first of two new Nanodegrees will be for robotics. Automation is a hot topic and any future involving machine intelligence will involve software-enabled hardware to increase efficiency. Students interested in this program will need a background ofcalculus, linear algebra, stats, basic physics, Python and computer algorithms.

It is easy to think that Udacity is reaching into uncharted territory with its new Digital Marketing Nanodegree program, but as marketing becomes more reliant on digital channels, new approaches are needed to prepare students for the rapidly changing career. And unlike the Robotics Nanodegree, the Digital Marketing Nanodegree will not require any prerequisite knowledge.

Each program will take three months to complete. Applications for the Robotics and Digital Marketing Nanodegree will open on March 8th and remain open until April 17th. Each term will cost $1,200.

The team also provided an update on Udacitys self-driving car efforts.Udacitys relationship with Didi is going beyond traditional partners. The two are launchinga new competitionto build anAutomated Safety and Awareness Processing Stack (ASAPS) for autonomous vehicles. And, of course, another partner,Velodyne, will be providing the necessary data to fuel the efforts. The competition will have two rounds and begin on March 22nd, with the winners getting $100,000 and the right to implement their code in Udacitys actual self-driving vehicle.

Udacity has made an effort to brand itself as a solution for the education asymmetries that plague the economy. This meant working in tandem with more than 50 hiring partners to both tailor curriculum toemployers needs and match students to prospective jobs.

Students end up at thesecompanies and open up doors to us, added Thrun. Its working, its kind of amazing.

The new partners added today fit the trend of connecting availableNanodegrees directly to open jobs. iRobot and Megabots are both in need of students with an understanding ofmechatronics. But beyond just robotics, Udacity has added companies, large and small, with a global reach.

The startupplans to continue adding new hiring partners and including them in discussions about futurecurriculum. But Thruninsists that there is more thatneeds to be done.

The single thingthat works best is instilling confidence and helping students prep for interviews and get theirCV into shape, insisted Thrun. Youd be shocked at how many people lack the confidence to ace their interview.

To get there, Udacity has been building itscommunity of graduates and putting them to use helpingnew students. Some graduates, like Omar Albeik, a Syrian refugee studying in Istanbul, are hired to develop websites and other side projects, sometimes for Udacity and sometimes for other companies. Other former studentsevaluate project submissionsand offer mentorship.

Albeik, who contributed back to Udacity as part of its Blitz team, didnt sign up for Udacity because of its pitch to help with securinga job. Instead, it was about the ability to try to experiment with something without being forced to commit to it.

When I started learning, I was learning for the sake of learning, said Albeik. I wanted to choose what area to go into and Nanodegrees helped me discover.

But for when the time comes, the corporate relationships certainly dont detract. Thefull list of new hiring partners is below:

X

Megabots

iRobot

Fiat Chrysler

Lockheed Martin

Kuka

Delphi

Innovation Works

Ross Intelligence

Renovo

Velodyne

Paytm

1mg

Zomato

ZEISS

SAP

CI&T

IBM Brazil

Telefonica Vivo Brazil

Zalando

Rakuten

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Udacity adds robotics and digital marketing Nanodegree programs ... - TechCrunch

The idea for remote-controlled robots that drive trucks came to Stefan Seltz-Axmacher on a camping trip in Northern California.

I was talking to my friend about cool robots we can build, and I just pitched the idea, he said.

Now the 27-year-old co-founder of Starsky Robotics is heading one of a handful of startups looking at upending the long-haul trucking industry.

The 15-employee company already has raised $3.75 million, but unlike other startups such as the Uber-owned Otto that seek to eschew truck drivers completely, San Francisco-based Starsky Robotics wants humans steering big rigs, just not from behind the wheel.

Starsky outfits trucks with an add-on system that uses computers, radar and software to allow the vehicle to run autonomously on the highway, where there is much more predictability than on the streets. Then, once the big rig exits on to city streets, the remotely controlled robots take over.

Theres a very essential role for truckers to play in the economy, he said. What we are doing now is greatly increasing their productivity, so they can drive more trucks.

A shortage of drivers has plagued the industry, with one 2015 study from the American Trucking Associations estimating the shortage could grow to 175,000 by 2024.

With Seltz-Axmachers system, truckers wont be sitting inside a truck, but near a screen.

The core problem we are solving is that it is hard to get human beings to spend a month at a time in the truck, he said.

Last month, the company equipped a Freightliner and hauled 5,000 pounds of freight from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale. For 120 miles the truck ran humanless and then an additional 20 miles via remote control.

We are using people for what people are really good at, and that is complex tasks, high-level understanding and dealing with new variables, he said. And we are using artificial intelligence for what it is best at: boring repetitive tasks, staying in the lane and managing speed relative to other vehicles.

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Human-less trucks are here, courtesy of Bay Area robotics firm - Long Beach Press Telegram

The Chancellor Philip Hammond said the funds would keep the UK at the forefront of disruptive technologies. However, the funding was criticised as inadequate by some in the industry, who pointed out that it can cost hundreds of millions of pounds to develop one technology alone.

While of course any investment in our technology industry is welcome, a leading world economy like the UK should be more decisive in its efforts to boost the development of disruptive technologies, said Alfonso Hernandez, the chief executive of language software firm SDL.

A 270m pot to cover everything from artificial intelligence, robotics, driverless cars and new biotech isnt big when you put it into context. The US spent more than $1bn (820m) on R&D in AI-related technologies alone in 2015. For the UK to be a true global leader in these areas, we must be prepared to provide adequate funding and support.

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Budget 2017: Funding for robotics and batteries dismissed as ... - Telegraph.co.uk

An Australian team will do battle next week against 24 other outfits in pursuit of $US5 million ($6.6 million) prizemoney at the Abu Dhabi Formula One circuit.

But they won't be racing cars. Instead, the University of NSW engineers will compete using drones and a ground-based robot in a search and disaster response simulation.

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The only Australian team to compete in the $6.6 million Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Competition leaves this weekend for Abu Dhabi to do battle against 25 teams from 11 countries.

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The only Australian team to compete in the $6.6 million Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Competition leaves this weekend for Abu Dhabi to do battle against 25 teams from 11 countries.

It is the richest robotics competition in the world and is named after the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Bin Zayed.

"The focus of the competition is disaster response," said Mark Whitty, lead researcher for the engineering team.

"Take the Fukushima disaster, when the Japanese reactor went into meltdown. The robots they tried to place were unable to do things like walk up stairs, unscrew nuts and bolts basically incapable of doing anything useful."

Dr Whitty said that while the competitions are fun, the end goal is for the deployment of search-and-respond robotics that are safe, co-operative and autonomous.

"A big challenge in using robotics during disasters is communication," he said. "From 9/11 on, there have been problems. We need systems that don't rely on cables or uncertain WiFi and other systems."

The UNSW team must use drones they have designed to locate and land on moving vehicles. Those four hexacopter drones Flippy, Floppy, Flappy and Fally were developed by seven students and three UNSW researchers.

One drone will land on a truck, pick up a target object and deliver it to a final destination.

But that's just the first of their heroic labours they also have to use an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to approach a mock disaster site.

The UGV, called Pepper, has a top speed of three metres a second - about 11 kilometres an hour. The drones can fly at 60km/h, but the competition speed limit is 30km/h.

"Our UGV has to drive to a location, identify and pick up a certain size spanner, then grip it and use it to turn a valve stem," said project leader Dr Stanley Lam.

In total there are four challenges:

The UNSW team has entered all four challenges and Dr Whitty rates their chances.

"Of the 25 teams selected we are ranked second of those that are funded independently," Dr Whitty said.

"We are taking a crack team of students. It's the same group that won best technical performance and blitzed the course record at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition in 2015," he said.

The team's name, Saving Robert, "came out of our lab's theme of saving vegetables", says team member John Lam, who now works at Microsoft in Seattle.

"We had a pet onion plant in the lab called Allen and it died," Mr Lam said. "We've now moved on to a carrot, called Robert, but we haven't planted it yet."

What will they do with the prizemoney if they win?

"I imagine the students will want to continue to support the development of robotics at UNSW," Dr Whitty said.

This could be in the form of preparing for other events, buying equipment and supporting younger students, including high-school kids, he said.

In total, 143 teams from 35 countries applied to enter the competition. But only 25 made the final cut.

Other teams that are through include some of the best robotics outfits in the world from Carnegie Mellon University (USA), ETH Zurich, University of Tokyo and Imperial College London.

Three of the 10 team members are UNSW graduates: Stephanie McArthur is now at Google Waymo, working on self-driving car technology; John Lam is at Microsoft in Seattle; and Samuel Marden is at Uber in Pittsburgh.

Other team members are Chris Lu, William Andrew, Daniel Castillo, Harry Dudley-Bestow and Dominik Daners.

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UNSW team chase $6.6 million prizemoney at Abu Dhabi robotics competition - The Sydney Morning Herald

The Pleasant Hill High School robotics team, Gromits Grommets, took first place in the Winning Alliance category of a state robotics competition Feb. 26, guaranteeing the team a spot in a regional competition scheduled for Thursday through Saturday in Tacoma.

The six students were on one of 48 teams from across Oregon that competed in the First Tech Challenge Championship Tournament that was held at Polytechnic High School in Portland.

Rick Faber, a mentor for the team and parent of one of its members, said its rare when a school thats not from the Portland area wins the competition.

Oregon has a lot of stiff competition, especially in the Portland area, Faber said.

Team members include Hannah Gibson, 18, Tristan Barrett, 14, Nathan Faber, 16, Dylan Hammond 15, Ana Borg, 14, and Gabe Placko, 16. They began building their robot in September after rules and details of the competition were released.

Each year, the students are trying to score as many points as possible, but each year the rules and goals of the game are different, Faber said.

During the competition, one team is paired with another to compete against two other teams that have been paired together. Essentially two robots are on one team, two are on the other and theyre battling for points. The team to rack up the most points wins.

As a part of this years rules, each team could receive points for having their robot complete certain tasks on its own, such as pushing buttons, placing a yoga ball through a hoop and throwing whiffle balls into a goal. The students program the robots to complete these tasks before the competition starts.

If one wire is faulty or one screw is loose, it can ruin the whole thing, Faber said.

Members of Gromits Grommets were the captains of the Winning Alliance, which means they earned first place in the competition portion of the tournament. During the judgment part of the tournament, team members talked through the intricacies of their robots before a panel of judges.

Follow Alisha on Twitter @alisharoemeling. Email alisha.roemeling@registerguard.com .

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Pleasant Hill High robotics team wins at state tournament, heads to regional - The Register-Guard