MIT has given a computer x-ray vision, but it didn’t need x-rays to do it. The system, known as RF-Pose, uses a neural network and radio signals to track people through an environment and generate wireframe models in real time. It doesn’t even need to have a direct line of sight to know how someone is walking, sitting, or waving their arms on the other side of a wall . Neural networks have shown up in a lot of research lately when researchers need to create a better speech synthesis model, smarter computer vision, or an AI psychopath . […] […]
Category: Futurewatch
Robots Won’t Take Your Job—But They Might Make It Boring
Robert Deyrail/Getty Images Whether they believe robots are going to create or destroy jobs, most experts say that robots are particularly useful for handling “dirty, dangerous and dull” work. They point to jobs like shutting down a leaky nuclear reactor , cleaning sewers , or inspecting electronic components to really drive the point home. Robots don’t get offended, they are cheap to repair when they get “hurt,” and they don’t get bored. It’s hard to disagree: What could possibly be wrong about automating jobs that are disgusting, mangle people, or make them act like robots? The problem is that […] […]
With its new in-car operating system, BMW slowly breaks with tradition
When you spend time with a lot of BMW folks, as I did during a trip to Germany earlier this month, you’ll regularly hear the word “ heritage .” Maybe that’s no surprise, given that the company is now well over 100 years old. But in a time of rapid transformation that’s hitting every car manufacturer, engineers and designers have to strike a balance between honoring that history and looking forward. With the latest version of its BMW OS in-car operating system and its accompanying design language, BMW is breaking with some traditions to allow it to look into […] […]
China’s ambition to power the world’s electric cars took a huge leap forward this week
China’s grand designs to dominate the future of clean energy paid off spectacularly this week. In a public offering on June 11 in Shenzhen, battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL) raised nearly $1 billion to fund ambitious expansion plans, and its stock has been shooting up every day since. Thanks largely to the company’s new plants, China will be making 70 percent of the world’s electric-vehicle batteries by 2021, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The rapid rise of CATL is arguably the clearest, though certainly not the only , payoff from China’s calculated efforts to bolster […] […]
University of Leeds project is developing tarmac 3D printing robots to repair roads
The University of Leeds is pioneering a £4.2 million national infrastructure research project that will use tarmac 3D printing robots to repair potholes and cracks. These robots will be both aerial and ground-based in order to thoroughly inspect and identify damaged areas on roads in the UK. As part of a visionary project to create “ Self Repairing Cities ”, the University of Leeds has formed a research consortium for the project which includes engineers and faculty from University College London (UCL), the University of Southampton and the University of Birmingham . The project’s teams are currently halfway through […] […]
3D printing in construction, architecture and the built-environment
The use of 3D printing for construction and architecture is a rapidly developing area. Additive manufacturing is used not only in the design stages of construction projects, but is also bringing remarkable full-scale structures to life. This article highlights some of the possibilities that 3D printing brings to the built-environment. These include 3D printed houses, buildings, bridges and infrastructure. The 3D printed Housing 05 Project by CLS Architetti The 3D Housing 05 project from CLS Architetti , an Italian architecture firm, is a sustainable, 3D printed house. The project was showcased at Milan Design Week 2018 . Massimiliano Locatelli, […] […]
WhatsApp Group Video Call and Instagram Video Chat Are Coming Soon
Facebook announced a whole lot of new features at its 2018 Facebook F8 developers conference, including Dating on Facebook, letting users clear their web browsing history, real-time language translation within Messenger, and many more. Besides announcing exciting features for its social media platform, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also gave us a quick look at the features Facebook introduced for companies that it owns, like WhatsApp and Instagram. During Facebook’s F8 conference on Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced a long-awaited feature for WhatsApp— Group Video Calling . AdChoices Dating Whatsapp Videochat Instagram Spy Whatsapp Yes, you heard that right. WhatsApp would soon […] […]
Mercedes-Benz’s Plan for Surviving the Auto Revolution
“Who’s afraid of defining the future?” asks Wilko Stark, the man tasked with pulling Daimler and its flagship brand, Mercedes-Benz, into the future. If you’re the guy in charge of leading Daimler —you know, the world’s largest luxury carmaker, one of Europe’s most important tech companies, and the inventor […] .
New MRAM Breakthrough Could Revolutionize CPU Designs
Historically, covering changes to the mainstream memory market (loosely defined as SRAM for CPU caches, DRAM for volatile RAM, and a mixture of SSDs and HDDs for non-volatile storage) has been a bit of a letdown. It’s interesting, on the one hand, to see how various niche approaches have […] .
Gaia Spacecraft Creates Map of More Than 1 Billion Stars in Our Galaxy
The ESA’s Gaia spacecraft has already been studying the Milky Way galaxy for several years, and the first release of data included the precise location of more than 2 million stars. Now, the second major dataset from Gaia has pinpointed the position and brightness of 1.7 billion stars in […] .
Chinese Firm Claims It Scans Workers’ Brainwaves to Boost Earnings
China has been pushing the dystopian aspects of its society fairly aggressively of late. The country has rolled out a social “credit” monitoring system, in which citizens are rated based on the social media posts and actions of both themselves and their friends and family. Those with low social […] .
System76 just announced a major update to its developer-focused Linux OS
System76 is primarily known for its Linux-based laptops and desktops, but it’s also the architect of the ambitious Pop!_OS project. This is System76’s attempt to create the perfect Linux-based developer operating system , and today the company is announcing some pretty major updates to it. Pop!_OS 18:04LTS now comes […] .
First Robot Delivery Drivers Start Work In Silicon Valley
Six-wheeled robots will deliver food and coffee across a Silicon Valley office park in the first commercial use of the technology—and whole cities could be next This article titled “First robot delivery drivers start work at Silicon Valley campus” was written by Alex Hern, for theguardian.com on Monday 30th […] .
pCloud is the unhackable cloud storage service that is cheaper than Dropbox
Save more than $60 and get more than you would with Dropbox. Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. We all need to rethink our approach to […] .
New York City is launching public cybersecurity tools to keep residents from getting hacked
In a week of harrowing city-level cyber attacks , New York is taking some precautions. While the timing is coincidental, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio just announced that the city will introduce the first tools in its suite of cybersecurity offerings to protect residents against malicious online […] .
AI can invent new ways to create complex molecules
A new algorithm trained on millions of reactions can tell scientists the steps required to build organic compounds. How it works: Researchers at the University of Manchester trained a neural network on the 12.4 million single-step organic-chemistry reactions currently known to science. That data set lets the network predict […] .
A robotic camera system films sports like a human does
New AI software can move and focus a camera to frame shots that look incredibly natural for viewers. How it works: A robotic camera system, called Polycam Player and made by Nikon company MRMC , uses image recognition to track players on the field . Instead of panning and […] .
Forget Self Driving. The Future is in Self Parking
Up to a third of the cars clogging the roads in a given downtown area are people looking for parking. Up to a third of the cars clogging the roads in a given downtown area are people looking for parking. You’ve done it yourself, circling the block four times, […] .
Aging Japan: Robots may have role in future of elder care
TOKYO (Reuters) – Paro the furry seal cries softly while an elderly woman pets it. Pepper, a humanoid, waves while leading a group of senior citizens in exercises. The upright Tree guides a disabled man taking shaky steps, saying in a gentle feminine voice, “right, left, well done!” Residents […] .
Facebook to block data brokers from its ad network
In light of Facebook’s recent privacy woes, the company today pledged to take a meaningful step in writing past wrongs by shutting data brokers out of its multi-billion dollar ad platform. Facebook’s product marketing director Graham Mudd had this to say: We want to let advertisers know that we […] .