Daily Archives: June 19, 2017

New model backs controversial idea of how evolution works – Cosmos

Posted: June 19, 2017 at 7:20 pm

American Palaeontologist Stephen Gould.

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In 1972 the eminent palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould and his colleague Niles Eldredge proposed an idea about the way evolution worked and, in so doing, sparked a fight of almighty proportions.

New modelling revealed by Michael Landis and Joshua Schraiber of Temple University in Pennsylvania, US, however, adds considerable extra weight to their case.

Gould and Eldredge sought to explain so-called gaps in the palaeontological record missing fossils assumed to represent transitional phases between ancient species and the modern ones into which they evolved by suggesting they were an illusion.

Evolution, they proposed, wasnt a gradual process, marked by the slow accumulation of new characteristics. Rather, they said, the history of evolution is not one of stately unfolding, but a story of homeostatic equilibria, disturbed only rarely by rapid and episodic events of speciation.

Two important principles underpinned their explanation, which they dubbed the theory of punctuated equilibria.

The first was that once a species evolved, it tended to stay pretty much the same from thereon in until extinction ended its run. The second was that when part of a species became isolated from the rest and thus fell under new selection pressure, if it was going to evolve into something new it would do so very quickly (at least, on a geological scale).

If new species arise very rapidly in small, peripherally isolated local populations, the pair wrote, then the great expectation of insensibly graded fossil sequences is a chimera.

The theory was roundly attacked by some other prominent voices in the field. In his book, The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins said punctuated equilibrium was an idea that "does not deserve a particularly large measure of publicity".

Philosopher Daniel Dennett, in his book Darwins Dangerous Idea, also slammed Gould who responded by calling him Dawkins lapdog. Dennett shot back that in doing so Gould was turn[ing] up the volume of his vituperation.

Gould died in 2004, Dennett is now 75, and the debate is still a long way from settled.

However, Landis and Schraiber, publishing on the preprint site bioRxiv, push the argument back in favour of speciation as a comparatively rapid, rather than gradual, process.

The title of their paper serves also as its bold conclusion: Punctuated evolution shaped modern vertebrate diversity.

The pair constructed a mathematical model based on random probability distribution and fed in datasets derived from the morphological characteristics of about 50 clades (genetically-related groups of animals) covering mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians.

The results fitted best within a framework of punctuated development, with long periods of stasis averaging around 10 million years between jump processes of pulsed evolution lasting as little as 100 generations.

All of the data used concerned modern species. Landis and Schraiber suggest that future work integrating their work with the paleontological evolutionary research kick-started by Gould and Eldredge will throw up more detailed evidence about how rapid spurts of evolution and speciation are related.

The reactions of professors Dawkins and Dennett remain unknown, but might be memorable.

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N.B.A. Teams Covet a New Breed of Big Man in the Draft – The New … – New York Times

Posted: at 7:20 pm

Understanding the evolution in the style of N.B.A. basketball since the 2007 draft helps explain how this Thursdays draft is likely to unfold.

The increased reliance on the 3-point shot; the constant presence of the pick-and-roll, which can be more easily defended with nimble big men who can defensively switch onto traditional ballhandlers; the increased use of spacing, which requires big men who can credibly draw their defender away from the basket on offense, all mean that some of the best contemporary big men are mold breakers.

They are players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, the 22-year-old, 6-foot-11 All-Star from Greece who has been versatile enough to play point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, or gentle giants like the Utah Jazzs Rudy Gobert, a Frenchman who led the N.B.A. in blocks per game while ably switching onto smaller opponents.

Youve had a bunch of very athletic guys coming in from overseas Giannis, Rudy Gobert, said the player agent Marc Fleisher, and youre finding American players who are more skilled now, even though theyre big and lanky.

Among the likely lottery draft picks, it seems as if for every traditional center who is focused on protecting the rim and scoring down low, there are two Swiss-Army-knife-style big men who are as comfortable shooting 18-foot jumpers as five-foot bunnies.

So when the draft gets underway on Thursday night, expect the top-picked big man not to be Texass bruising center, Jarrett Allen, but Arizonas 7-foot forward Lauri Markkanen, who made nearly two 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, or Florida States Jonathan Isaac, a Durant-like athlete.

And describing Edrice Adebayo, whose nickname is Bam, the Kentucky freshman whose draft stock fell because of a subpar season with the Wildcats, the ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla, in a conference call, outlined the very model of a modern N.B.A. big man: Youre looking at 6-10, strong, athletic, runs the floor, can guard pick-and-roll, can ball-screen and run to the rim and catch lobs, and hes young.

Fraschilla added, Adebayo comes to mind as maybe someone that slipped in the so-called mock drafts that might be a good, really good, value.

Fleisher, copping to personal bias, had another candidate for such a player, and for the same reasons. Not to plug my own guy, he said in an interview, but thats one of the reasons Jonah Bolden is so interesting to teams. Hes 6-10, 7-4 wingspan, and can play small forward, power forward or center.

Thats the prototypical player teams are looking for now, Fleischer added. (Bolden, for those not in the know, is from Australia, played a year at U.C.L.A. and then moved to Serbia to play professionally.)

And then there are the elite point guards, with as many as five likely to be selected with the top 10 picks on Thursday: Markelle Fultz (Washington), Lonzo Ball (U.C.L.A.), DeAaron Fox (Kentucky), Dennis Smith (North Carolina State) and Frank Ntilikina (France). All were just freshmen (or the equivalent, in the case of the 18-year-old Ntilikina). And all can score as well as do the more traditional point-guard work of facilitating the offense.

What this mother lode of ball-handling talent reveals along with a simple abundance of skill that happens to exist in this draft class is the increased premium on that position.

Theres no question having a really good point guard is pivotal in todays game, whereas the center position has probably been a little devalued lately, Fleisher said.

Indeed, the ever-idiosyncratic San Antonio Spurs might be the only team to make this seasons conference semifinals without an in-his-prime point guard, such as the Washington Wizards John Wall or the Boston Celtics Isaiah Thomas.

If you look at the teams winning now, King said, look at the East, with Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas and John Wall. If youre going to have a good team, you have to have a setup point guard or a scoring point guard.

The fact that the Celtics possess a star point guard in Thomas, as well as the No. 1 pick (because of a fateful four-year-old trade with the Nets), has created its own drama. The consensus best player in the draft is Fultz. So the word, first reported by Yahoos Adrian Wojnarowski, is that the Celtics will avoid that redundancy by trading their pick to the Philadelphia 76ers (who will select Fultz). With the third overall selection they would receive in return, they are expected to pick one of the two traditional wing players bound to go early in the first round Josh Jackson (Kansas) or Jayson Tatum (Duke). Boston would plug him in immediately and try to get past the Cleveland Cavaliers in next seasons playoffs, which it failed to do this season.

Ball, too, is the subject of much speculation, some of it manufactured by his P. T. Barnum-esque father, LaVar, who has made clear he considers the hometown Los Angeles Lakers, selecting second, to have the only glass slipper that will fit his sons otherwise ZO2-covered foot.

Still, recent chatter has the Lakers perhaps selecting Fox over Ball, and that is assuming Fultz does not drop to them.

Such details sound trivial, but they are not. The precise order of those high draft picks matters a great deal, as does good judgment. Consider what happened in 2009. That draft class was similarly stocked at point guard, with as many as five (depending on how you define them) taken with the first 10 picks that June.

The Minnesota Timberwolves used the fifth and sixth picks to select two point guards Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn. Since that draft, the Timberwolves have never made the playoffs. With the seventh pick, the Warriors selected what ostensibly should have been the fourth-best point guard, Stephen Curry.

They have had considerably superior results.

A version of this article appears in print on June 19, 2017, on Page D2 of the New York edition with the headline: N.B.A. Teams Covet a New Breed of Big Man.

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The company that builds the robots that make Teslas wants to build home robots – Recode

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Industrial machines that build cars and the machines that work in your home are worlds apart.

But the CEO of Kuka, one of the biggest industrial robot makers, said in an interview in the Financial Times on Sunday that the company is planning to make a personal consumer robot.

Germany-based Kuka was bought by Chinese home appliance maker Midea last year in a $5 billion deal. Industrial robots from Kuka are used to build cars for Tesla and airplanes for Boeing.

Midea is not doing any robotics or automation, so Kuka is automation for Midea, said CEO Till Reuter And they are very well connected to the consumer industry. So together we want to do consumer robotics.

Right now, most digital assistants for the home dont leave the tabletop, and are essentially internet-connected speakers with adroit voice-enabled artificial intelligence software, like Amazons Echo and Googles Home.

But Kukas expertise in building machines that move on their own, combined with Mideas deep understanding of home appliances, could be the right combination for making a consumer home robot thats actually useful.

Home robots that move generally only do one chore, like vacuum or mop, but they continue to sell. Last year, the market value of domestic robots grew nearly 26 percent from the year before, according to research from Loup Ventures and the International Federation of Robotics. By 2025, the market for home robots is expected to grow to $4.4 billion. To put that growth in perspective, the market value of domestic robots in 2016 was $1.4 billion.

Midea isnt the only company poised to enter the home robot market. Earlier this month, the Japanese company SoftBank announced that it is buying Boston Dynamics, as well as Japanese legged-robot maker Schaft, from Google parent company Alphabet for an undisclosed amount. Boston Dynamics is considered one of the best robotics firms in the world for its versatile, legged robots that can maneuver over diverse terrain, as well as environments made for humans. But those robots have been primarily built for military research, not for the home.

Since it acquired a majority share of robot maker Aldebaran in 2012, SoftBank has been working to bring its humanoid Pepper robot to more retail settings, and even to some homes in Japan. Pepper has a wheeled base so it cant climb stairs and only uses its hands to gesticulate. The robot is mostly at work in stores, helping shoppers find things and answering basic questions. Combining Boston Dynamics ability to build agile machinery with the team behind the friendly-looking Pepper could position SoftBank to build a robot thats much more useful.

Japanese carmakers Honda and Toyota have also been working on robotic assistants for the home. Their inventions, so far, have primarily focused on addressing the needs of Japans growing elderly population.

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Nuclear decommissioning: sending the robots in – Power Technology

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The Surrey Technology for Autonomous Systems and Robotics (STAR) Lab is currently conducting a four-year research project into the potential uses of robotics within the nuclear sector, funded by the UK Nuclear Industry and Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)s Impact Acceleration Account. The team is working in collaboration with Sellafield and the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) to examine how robotics could be used within nuclear decommissioning specifically.

The project, known as Automated Robot Waste Processing, began last year and is making fast progress. As the worlds nuclear fleet ages an increasing number of reactors will need to be decommissioned, a traditionally expensive and hazardous process. The STAR Lab is hoping to help by using robust robotics running autonomously to dismantle and clear nuclear sites.

Their robots combine a number of technological advancements to suit nuclear decommissioning, taking inspiration from space robotics. They include high-performing visual imagining systems, along with robotic arms, combinations of which are entering the testing stage of the project.

STAR Labs main focus since its inception in 2007 has been space robotics, and the new research reflects this. But according to Professor Yang Gao, who leads the Surrey team, nuclear sites and space actually have a lot in common. Space is remote and hostile, and overcoming these problems has provided many clues for working within nuclear sites.

One area [of comparison] is autonomous software, as you can imagine space missions tend to deal with locations that are very, very far from earth so remote operation in many scenarios is not feasible, says Gao. So were developing software that can potentially do the models which involve the mission goals and then make decisions. Essentially autonomous software.

"Space is remote and hostile, and overcoming these problems has provided many clues for working within nuclear sites."

Because of the very high requirements of space missions, software has to be very reliable and robust, so we have techniques while designing autonomous software to take into consideration robustness and reliability.

The nuclear decommissioning process, which can cost anything from $13m to $19m, currently takes years and necessitates humans working to dismantle the site and decontaminate the waste. This is often made more challenging by the remote location that nuclear plants are often purposefully situated in, and the hazardous residual radiation.

Another aspect of comparison is probably more in line with what is happening with the hardware of the robotics systems, says Gao. It needs to be radiation proof, so the mechanisms we develop, the different actuators, the different censors, they all need to be able to cope with that sort of environment. These challenges are very much shared with the space environment, there's a great synergy in that respect.

The obvious and most important benefit of robotics in nuclear decommissioning is removing humans from harms way. The environment is classified as an extreme environment as there are many hazards, so using humans to perform those tasks is risky, says Gao. Using machines, using autonomous systems to replace humans from that sort of environment is definitely more desirable.

This is particularly relevant for nuclear sites which have deferred dismantling, and have instead enclosed the site for anything from 40 to 60 years. When such a site is eventually dismantled, surveys must be undertaken to ensure that the radiation level has dropped as much as expected and is below 25 millirem per year, the level required for the site to be redeveloped for other uses. When entering a site, however, it is difficult determine the amount of residual radiation, and whether it will affect the humans undertaking the survey. Using robotics would remove this danger.

There are other benefits to increased use of robotics, too, such as accuracy and productivity. Sometimes there are some anomalies in sites that, although they are visible the human eye, could [be] quite hard to see, because either they are quite small or because some of the facilities are actually very homogeneous, says Gao. For the human eye to react to that sort of homogeneity is not easy. The machine would do a better job.

The robots are equipped especially for this, with 3D light scans and cameras. We can also introduce measuring techniques such as deep-learning to allow us to very reliably map the site and detect what has changed, says Gao. Even though this change could be very, very small and probably quite difficult for human eyes to detect, with our learned-visual model we can achieve this anomaly detection reliably.

Decommissioning nuclear sites requires a lot of monotonous dismantling, tasks well suited to robots whose productivity is not deterred by fatigue or boredom. For the decommissioning task we envision using robotic arms, which could definitely improve productivity because it's actually just repetitive work, says Gao. A machine cannot be annoyed by that because there is no emotion, they will actually be able to keep to the same rate of productively.

The project has already overcome challenges, but Gao is expecting more as integrated trials begin at the NNLs testing facility. We'll never stop facing challenges I'm afraid that's just reality. In the research phase, and currently in the development phase, there have been a lot of challenges in terms of getting the actual hardware working at the actual conditions that we anticipated.

These challenges were created not just by the environment but also by the integration of technologies. Once you start putting different hard components together, integrating different software packages, you start to find some real problems, says Gao. Some of them are due to communication issues, and some of them due to signal issues within some of the components.

"We envisage that challenge might come from the culture of such a traditional sector."

Whilst this research collaboration only began last year, it relies on theoretical elements Sellafield and STAR have been working on for years; it is often in fitting these aspects together that things do not run smoothly.

A further challenge may be the nature of the nuclear industry, as change can take a long time to be accepted. I think we envisage that challenge might come from the culture of such a traditional sector. Of course people need to get used to things, even if they know, they agree and they appreciate that this is coming in to help, says Gao. But you can imagine when you introduce new machines into a sector people are not used to, there will always be some cultural impact.

Professor Gao and her team are working on nuclear decommissioning but there are several projects running parallel to each other tackling different elements of the nuclear industry. The current project is to try and solve decommissioning problems, so waste management, but I also want to mention that at the same time we're running projects looking into other areas, for example atomic fusion, says Gao.

As such she believes that robotics is set to play a much bigger role in the nuclear industry in the future. Gaos team is currently running subsection trials, with full integrated system trials coming up in the next couple of months, and hopefully a full test within an actual nuclear site by the end of the year. If successful this technology could soon become commonplace in the nuclear industry.

Looking ahead, the success of robotics also relies on training a new generation of engineers. At the moment we work closely with engineers and scientists at NNL, but what we want to do next, probably towards the end of this year or early next year, is to help also train the site engineers and operators, says Gao. This will eventually allow STAR to step back, and allow others to use the robots for decommissioning, site maintenance and other areas.

The STAR Labs research is progressing at an impressive rate thanks to collaboration. At this rate, it seems that robots are likely to become a key tool in nuclear decommissioning.

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The Collaborative Robots & Advanced Vision Conference welcomes: – Robotics Online (press release)

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Agenda

Conference sessions will be listed here soon! Please check back.

Robot Tracks

Stuart Singer

Schneider Optics, Inc.

Advanced Optics for Vision - CVP-Advanced Certification

Designed for the engineering professional, this course concentrates on real world techniques for putting together optic systems that work. Youll learn how to select proper lens components, optomechanical layout, including system bends, and mounting techniques. Prior attendance at a Basic Optics course is encouraged, but not required.

Vision Tracks

Stuart Singer

Schneider Optics, Inc.

Advanced Optics for Vision - CVP-Advanced Certification

Designed for the engineering professional, this course concentrates on real world techniques for putting together optic systems that work. Youll learn how to select proper lens components, optomechanical layout, including system bends, and mounting techniques. Prior attendance at a Basic Optics course is encouraged, but not required.

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Snake on a Plane! Don’t Panic: It’s Probably Just a (Soft) Robot – Fortune

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Robots are getting softer.

Borrowing from nature, some machines now have arms that curl and grip like an octopus, others wriggle their way inside an airplane engine or forage underwater to create their own energy.

This is technology that challenges how we think of, and interact with, the robots of the not-too-distant future.

Robots are big business: by 2020, the industry will have more than doubled to $188 billion, predicts IDC, a consultancy. But there's still a lot that today's models can't do, partly because they are mostly made of rigid metal or plastic.

Softer, lighter and less reliant on external power, future robots could interact more safely and predictably with humans, go where humans can't, and do some of the robotic jobs that other robots still can't manage.

A recent academic conference in Singapore showcased the latest advances in soft robotics, highlighting how far they are moving away from what we see as traditional robots.

"The theme here," says Nikolaus Correll of Colorado University, "is a departure from gears, joints, and links."

One robot on display was made of origami paper; another resembled a rolling colostomy bag. They are more likely to move via muscles that expand and contract through heat or hydraulics than by electricity. Some combine sensing and movement into the same componentjust as our fingertips react to touch without needing our brain to make a decision.

These ideas are already escaping from the lab.

Rolls-Royce, for example, is testing a snake-like robot that can worm its way inside an aircraft engine mounted on the wing, saving the days it can take to remove the engine, inspect it and put it back.

Of all the technologies Rolls-Royce is exploring to solve this bottleneck, "this is the killer one," says Oliver Walker-Jones, head of communications.

The snake, says its creator, Arnau Garriga Casanovas, is made largely of pressurized silicone chambers, allowing the controller to propel and bend it through the engine with bursts of air. Using soft materials, he says, means it can be small and agile.

For now, much of the commercial action for softer robots is in logistics, replacing production-line jobs that can't yet be handled by hard robots.

Food preparation companies and growers like Blue Apron, Plated, and HelloFresh already use soft robotics for handling produce, says Mike Rocky, of recruiter PrincetonOne.

The challenge, says Cambridge Consultants' Nathan Wrench, is to overcome the uncertainty when handling somethingwhich humans deal with unconsciously: figuring out its shape and location and how hard to grip it, and distinguishing one object from another.

"This is an area robots traditionally can't do, but where (soft robots) are on the cusp of being able to," said Wrench.

Investors are excited, says Leif Jentoft, co-founder of RightHand Robotics, because it addresses a major pain point in the logistics industry. "E-commerce is growing rapidly and warehouses are struggling to find enough labor, especially in remote areas where warehouses tend to be located."

Some hope to ditch the idea that robots need hands. German automation company Festo and China's Beihang University have built a prototype OctopusGripper, which has a pneumatic tentacle made of silicone that gently wraps itself around an object, while air is pumped in or out of suction cups to grasp it.

The ocean has inspired other robots, too.

A soft robot fish from China's Zhejiang University swims by ditching the usual rigid motors and propellers for an artificial muscle which flexes. It's lifelike enough, says creator Tiefeng Li, to fool other fish into embracing it as one of their own, and is being tested to explore or monitor water salinity.

And Bristol University in the UK is working on underwater robots that generate electrical energy by foraging for biomatter to feed a chain of microbial fuel-cell stomachs. Hemma Philamore says her team is talking to companies and environmental organizations about using its soft robots to decontaminate polluted waterways and monitor industrial infrastructure.

This doesn't mean the end of hard-shelled robots.

Part of the problem, says Mark Freudenberg, executive technology director at frog, a design company, is that soft materials break easily, noting that most animatronic dolls like Teddy Ruxpin and Furby have rigid motors and plastic casings beneath their fur exteriors.

To be sure, the nascent soft robot industry lacks an ecosystem of software, hardware components, and standardsand some companies have already failed. Empire Robotics, one of the first soft robot gripper companies, closed last year.

RightHand's Jentoft says the problem is that customers don't just want a robot, but the whole package, including computer vision and machine learning. "It's hard to be a standalone gripper company," he says.

And even if soft robots find a niche, chances are they still won't replace all the jobs done by human or hard-shelled robots.

Wrench, whose Cambridge Consultants has built its own fruit picking robot, says he expects to see soft robots working with humans to harvest fruit like apples and pears which are harder to damage.

Once the robot has passed through, human pickers would follow to grab fruit hidden behind leaves and in hard-to-reach spots.

"It's a constant race to the bottom, so there's a pressing business need," Wrench said.

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Google backing off robotics, but Japanese firm banks on robots with … – News & Observer (blog)

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News & Observer (blog)
Google backing off robotics, but Japanese firm banks on robots with ...
News & Observer (blog)
Meet Pepper, Handle and SpotMini. These new robots are cute, frightening and useful but may require an attitude adjustment.
SoftBank buys robotics leader Boston Dynamics from AlphabetNewburgh Gazette
SoftBank acquiring Boston Dynamics as Alphabet finally sells off ...Leicester Post

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ASU alumna unifies students across borders through robotics – Arizona State University

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June 19, 2017

In a world transformed by globalization, many individuals find themselves working with others across national borders and cultural barriers. This international cooperation in the world of business has become even more important as the social dynamics between the leaders of the United States and the rest of the world shift in the modern era.

ASU alumna Anisha Hindocha, director of logistics at FIRST Global, deals with international governments and corporations on a daily basis, ensuring that students from over 140 countries have the opportunity to take part in a global robotics competition. ASU alumna Anisha Hindocha Download Full Image

Since she deals with countries with differing social norms, Hindocha has had to adapt and her years at Arizona State University's School of Politics and Global Studies (SPGS) has enabled her to take it in stride. One of the challenges, according to Hindocha, was getting used to the work schedule of other cultures.

Before this job I knew that the Muslim world doesn't work on Fridays but I had never been affected by it," Hindochasaid."Now, though, I know I can't make calls there on Fridays, which means changing my schedule a lot.

Hindocha has also had to manage the trickiness of international politics while working at FIRST Global, dealing with the State Department and other international groups. This means coping with policies, such as President Trumps proposed travel ban on Muslim-majority nations, as well as ensuring students in nations that are economically sanctioned have access to the robotics kits vital to the competition.

My learning experiences at SPGS have taught me to be detailed and meticulous which are key to my job," Hindocha said. "Additionally, I have learned to communicate best with people from around the world, who are of my faiths, creeds and cultures.

During her time at ASU, Hindocha completed a junior fellowship with political science lecturer Gina Woodall.

I think that opportunity helped me a lot. It taught me to be dedicated to students, which has translated into what I do now, Hindocha said.

Reflecting upon her time at FIRST Global, Hindocha remarked that helping the students, whether with visa applications or ensuring their robot was received, was the most rewarding part of the job.

[Its] about the kids and giving them the opportunity to build a robot, and when one of those things becomes a reality, nothing is more rewarding.

Written by Henry Campbell

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Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface plans are creepy and exactly the kind of AI you dread – BGR India

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Humans are driven by emotions and sentiments. Their outlook to the surrounding is quite subjective rather than being driven algorithms or binary codes like 01101100011010010110011001100101. Being the most intelligent species on this blue planet, humans have sporadically played God. From cloning to genetic-level modifications, there are numerous such instances. Of late, the focus has shifted toArtificial Intelligence (AI). Perhaps your first-level interactions with AI have already happened. From Apples Siri to Amazons Alexa, the so-called assistants are actually your personal assistants, assisting you in your daily lives with bare minimum distraction.

Ask some silly questions to Siri, get some witty responses, and no harm done. Right? Of course, AI is at a very nascent stage but quite smart or dumb, as you may perceive, even in its budding years. The different forms of AI around us are constantly improving, getting upgrades and more importantly getting smarter. Like most of you, even I dread the day AIs get better than us and then get better of us. Even though I hail accomplishments like Google DeepMinds victory over Go Player champion, I seriously dont want AIs to peak after a certain level, where we have lost control only to be left as the second most intelligent species on this planet.

Even as tech companies are working, at surprisingly good pace, to improve the current AI, a few have envisioned slightly different versions. Elon Musk, the man who is known for his ambitious plans like electric cars, solar-powered homes, reusable rockets, sending people to Mars and so on, has also joined the fray with Neuralink. His idea of AI is building an interface between your brains and the computer. Elon Musks AI is more of an extension of yourself that is most probably bit more smart and efficient. I am sure youre already wondering if its something like The Matrix. Perhaps. Musk hopes to build something that will keep a check on AI an apprehension raised by the likes of Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates.

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According to Tim Urban of Wait But Why, Musk is working to merge human brains and AI that will cope with the super-intelligent AIs. He [Musk] believes that the solution to reduce existential risk is to be able to high bandwidth interface with AI. He thinks that if we can think with AI, it allows AI to function as a third layer in our brain, where we could have AI thats built for us. So we have human intelligence and then we have artificial intelligence, and theyre both us and so we become AI in a way, Urban is quoted as saying. ALSO READ: Neuralink and the Brains Magical Future

Urban admits this is indeed creepy but hopes that with everyone having his own AI, there will be nothing for the AI to conquer anything. Its much safer in a weird way, even though it gives us all a lot more power. Its like you dont want one Superman on earth, but if you have a billion Supermen then everything is okay because they check and balance each other, he adds.ALSO READ: A quick guide to Elon Musks new brain-implant company, Neuralink

Essentially, Urban is saying that if each country on the planet had a nuclear bomb, thered be no nuclear war ever. Well, the AI is not like the nuclear bomb, but the fear from it, in my opinion, is quite at the same level. At the moment, when we think about the AIs, we think of a smarter holographic image of a person that has all the answers and knowledge. But would we want to give away everything that our brains have to create a smarter version of yourself? I would not, for one. Perhaps I am okay to see an AI as a third person and neutral face rather blended with my personal history, dark desires, and fears that Id never acknowledged or even document. Most probably Id be livid and submerged into inferiority complex after seeing a smarter version of myself.

In case youre wondering, brain-computer interface concept is not really new. The basic versions of the interface are already lending support to people with disabilities, allowing hearing capabilities to auditory impaired, letting visually challenged to see, and lending a limb with prosthetics. Researchers are already working to connect the 100 billion neurons in our brain to make us do things that seem super human at the moment. Making an AI out of the brain-computer interface, of course, seems plausible but will be an overkill.

Fortunately, Musks plans dont involve connecting wires to the back of your neck to summon the AI, but wirelessly with the cloud. That being said, Musks few observations about us are quite intriguing. One of them is that we are already becoming a cyborg. Youre already a different creature than you would have been 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. I think people theyre already kind of merged with their phone and their laptop and their applications and everything, he mentioned.ALSO READ: Google I/O 2017: Artificial Intelligence-first finally becomes a thing

Contrary to his opinion, Id like to believe our dependence on internet, smartphones, and applications is more based on our necessities rather the novelty. The apps and the magical world of the internet are just filling gaps that we perhaps had overlooked for a while. For an example, before Facebook, there was Orkut or Myspace, and after Facebook, therell be something else. But I doubt we are ready now or will ever be in at least the next decade, to give away everything we possess to upload our brains to the cloud. Had the Man of Steel been real, and I were the Kal-El, Id be freaked out to see my dead father, wandering around in the abandoned ship. Perhaps, I am okay to talk to an invisible AI with robotic-accent.Mind uploading in fiction Wikipedia

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Elon Musk's brain-computer interface plans are creepy and exactly the kind of AI you dread - BGR India

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RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY/INNOVATION: ITS Fiber brings fast connections, data center services to local business – TCPalm

Posted: at 7:18 pm

Richard Westlund, For Progress & Innovation 8:00 a.m. ET June 19, 2017

Jeff Leslie is CEO of ITS Telecom and ITS Fiber, LLC.(Photo: HOBIE HILER/FOR PROGRESS & INNOVATION)Buy Photo

If you were listing Floridas technology hubs, Indiantown is probably not the first name that comes to mind. But ITS Fiber, LLC, has brought national recognition to this small Martin County community for its state-of-the-art data center, high-speed fiber network and array of managed services.

Businesses today need powerful, secure IT solutions, along with the ability to easily send and share large data files, such as videos and presentations, said Jeff Leslie, president and CEO. We support their operations by offering enterprise-level network, broadband, voice, data center and cloud services.

In 2013, ITSopened its co-location facility and network operations center in Indiantown, following its deployment of a high-speed fiber network for the region.

That year, the company was honored with the Smart Rural Community Award from NTCA the Rural Broadband Association, and received an innovation awardfrom Calix, a national telecom supplier and an expansion award from the Business Development Board of Martin County.

ITS Telecom and ITS Fiber's Customer Service & Sales Center is in Indiantown. The sister companies offer services in Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach County.(Photo: HOBIE HILER/FOR PROGRESS & INNOVATION)

ITS is an early adopter and industry leader in the growing movement toward edge computing, and should be an example for other rural telephone companies to follow, said Mark Hurley, data center solution architect withSchneider Electric, which partnered with ITS Fiber in deploying the data center.

Leslie says ITS was the first company in South Florida to offer symmetric bandwidth with speeds up to 1 gigabit (1000 mbps) to both residents and businesses, rivaling large national competitors.

Thathigh speed is important for uploading large digital files, as well as streaming videos at home or at work, he said.

Rudy Hernandez, voice engineer, works at his desk at ITS Telecom and ITS Fiber.(Photo: HOBIE HILER/FOR PROGRESS & INNOVATION)

ITS Fiber, along with its sister company, ITS Telecom, offers a full suite of communications services in Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach County.

Using the Indiantown network operations center, the company also offers hosted voice services in seven states.

We can put voice service on any device desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet so its available wherever you travel, Leslie said. Its like putting everyone in the same office, even if the business has locations outside Florida.

Thats one of the many ways ITS Fiber is growing in the cloud services market.

Many small to mid-size businesses dont have the capital to constantly invest in their on-premise infrastructure, Leslie said. We can take care of their network needs and offer software as a service . With our fiber connections, its like having our data center right there on site.

Currently, ITS has about 30 employees, a number that Leslie expects to grow in the next few years as the company expands its fiber network on the Treasure Coast and adds more business and residential customers.

We think the Treasure Coast is an excellent place for technology companies in todays digital era, he said. Fiber is the key to connectivity and collaboration, and we bring that to a region with a warm climate and a great lifestyle.

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RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY/INNOVATION: ITS Fiber brings fast connections, data center services to local business - TCPalm

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