June 2021 show notes
Story 1: Brain implants turn imagined handwriting into text on a screen
Source: ScienceNews.com Story by Anushree Dave
Link: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-implants-translate-handwriting-text
A team of researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University reported in the May 12th edition of the journal Nature that electrodes placed in a paralyzed man’s brain turned his imagined handwriting into words displayed on a computer monitor screen.
A 65-year-old man had two grids of tiny electrodes implanted on the surface of his brain.
The electrodes read electrical activity in the part of the brain that controls hand and finger movements.
Although the man was paralyzed from the neck down, he imagined writing letters with his hand.
Using a remarkable algorithm, the researchers then figured out the neural brain patterns that went with each imagined letter and transformed those patterns into text on a computer screen.
From his brain activity alone, the participant produced 15 words per minute.
That’s about the average typing rate on smartphones for people around the participant’s age.
The translation from brain to text may ultimately point to ways to help people with disabilities like paralysis communicate using only their thoughts.
Story 2: University of Central Florida and DARPA Researchers Demonstrate Sarcasm Detector for Online Social Media and Text Messaging Communications
Source: DARPA press release
Link: https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2021-05-06
For businesses, understanding the sentiment of online social media text communications can help process customer feedback and gather insights to improve marketing efforts.
From a military defense perspective, sentiment can be an important signal to help online information operations identify topics of concern or the possible actions of bad actors.
To help quickly evaluate large volumes of social media text messages, researchers from the University of Central Florida worked with DARPA to develop an artificial intelligence-enabled “sarcasm detector.”
The sarcasm detector works by identifying words from Tweets and other online text messages that exhibit crucial cues for sarcasm, including sarcastic connotations or negative emotions.
The artificial intelligence-based model then tracks dependencies between the crucial cue-words and generates a classification score, indicating whether or not sarcasm is present.
Story 3: Army strengthens future tech with muscle-bound robots
Source: TechXplore.com Story by Army Research Laboratory
Link: https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-army-future-tech-muscle-bound-robots.html
And see the Army link: https://www.army.mil/article/241701/army_strengthens_future_tech_with_muscle_bound_robots
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9ZY4DeIdW4
In new research from a team of scientists with the combat capabilities development command army research laboratory, living muscle tissue will be added to army mechanical systems like four-legged, dog-like robots.
The Army Research Laboratory is teaming up with collaborators at Duke University and the University of North Carolina on studies in what is called biohybrid robotics.
Researchers envision future where four-legged robots with muscle tissue added to robotic joints in place of traditional electronic actuators.
Muscle at its core can accommodate unpredictable needs because it stretches.
Embedding muscle tissue in future robots is expected to produce never seen before agility and versatility.
This, in turn, they hope will open new opportunities for robots to venture into spaces highly risky for warfighters.
Their research is expected to inform the biohybrid engineering community on how to culture strong muscle tissue.
Note: Cultured tissue may consist of a single cell, a population of cells, or a whole or part of an organ. Cells in culture may multiply; change size, form, or function; exhibit specialized activity (muscle cells, for example, may contract); or interact with other cells.
Story 4: An IBM survey finds that one-third of business organizations are using artificial intelligence
Source: VentureBeat Story by Kyle Wiggers
Link: https://bit.ly/2QsUev4
IBM’s recently released Global AI Adoption Index study found that a third of companies surveyed are now using artificial intelligence, and are planning “significant investments” in AI throughout the coming year and beyond.
Adoption is being driven by both pressures and opportunities, from the pandemic to technological advances that make artificial intelligence more accessible.
Of the categories of artificial intelligence businesses are adopting, natural language processing is at the forefront.
Natural language processing is all about giving computers the ability to understand text and spoken words.
Almost half of the businesses surveyed said they are now using apps powered by AI-enabled natural language processing.
And 52% of companies reported deploying or considering the deployment of natural language processing for customer service.
Story 5: A New All-Electric Seaplane Glides Above the Water Like a Hovercraft
Source: Robb Report Story by DANIEL BACHMANN
Link: https://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/regent-seaglider-hovercraft-1234612442/
There is a new all-electric water-taxi aircraft that takes off and lands on water the same way a floatplane does, but flies at 180 mph just above the water’s surface.
Designed by two MIT aerospace engineers, the new Regent [that’s R E G E N T] sea glider will serve as a very fast commuter taxi between urban centers and coastal areas.
The team at Regent says their all electric, 8 engine sea glider will offer a 180-mile range before needing to be recharged — and it will travel six times faster than a conventional water taxi ferry.
As the sea glider lands on the water, it switches to using hydrofoils attached to the hull of the craft as it taxis to a dock.
According to the company’s website, the innovative design offers an edge over
other electric and conventional seaplanes as it doesn’t need any special infrastructure — it can use existing docks.
And the Regent team claims their Sea glider can be operated at half the cost of traditional seaplanes, and with much less noise and zero emissions.
To date, Regent has received $465 million in provisional orders from commercial airlines and ferry companies.
Story 6: Scientists partially restore blind man’s vision with breakthrough gene therapy
Source: CBS News Story by Sophie Lewis
Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gene-therapy-treatment-blindness-retinitis-pigmentosa/
For the first time scientists have partially restored the vision of a blind man.
According to a study authored by a scientist from the University of Basel in Switzerland and published in the journal Nature Medicine, the blind man was treated with optogenetics therapy, which used algae proteins to control cells in the eyes.
Forty years ago, the man was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. Which is a
rare genetic disorder that breaks down fragile photoreceptors, or light-sensing cells, in the retina.
Optogenetics is traditionally used by neuroscientists and involves manipulating cells to make them sensitive to light.
In this case, scientists used optogenetics to partially restore the man’s ability to detect light in one of his eyes.
The technique used involved algae proteins that respond to light sources with movement.
This is geeky, but here is what they did – scientists took the algae protein genes and injected them into the remaining functioning ganglion [gang glee un] cells in the retina to make them produce the light-sensitive protein ChrimsonR.
Once formed, the ChrimsonR proteins could then respond to light and send image signals to the man’s brain.
Story 7: Artificial Intelligence Makes Robert De Niro Perform Lines in Flawless German
Source: Wired Story by Will Knight
Link: https://www.wired.com/story/ai-makes-de-niro-perform-lines-flawless-german/
You must see the video embedded in the article and this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owRp_LbV–E&t=26s
A new artificial intelligence based deepfake technology can now allow Robert De Niro to deliver his famous line from Taxi Driver [‘You talkin’ to me?’] in flawless German, and other languages —with realistic lip movements and facial expressions.
The AI dubbing technology was developed by Flawless, a company cofounded by British film director Scott Mann, who says he became tired of seeing poor foreign language dubbing in his films.
The new artificial intelligence software manipulates an actor’s lips and facial expressions to make them convincingly match the speech of someone speaking the same lines in a different language.
The technology is related to deep faking, which, for example can use AI software to paste one person’s face onto a photo or video of someone else.
The new technology promises to allow film makers to effectively reproduce movies in different languages and, at the same time, remain more faithful to the original.
Story 8: New MIT Algorithm Helps Robots Collaborate and Work as a Team to
Accomplish Complex Tasks
Source: ScienceDaily.com Story by Daniel Ackerman, MIT
Link: https://scitechdaily.com/new-mit-algorithm-helps-robots-collaborate-to-get-the-job-done/
Okay, consider this scenario: Wouldn’t it be great if search-and-rescue teams could work collaboratively with a team of ground and/or flying drone robots?
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology decided to fully explore this possibility — but realized from the outset that orchestrating a team of robots is no simple matter.
How do you ensure that a group of robots deployed to help search a complex environment such as a forest or collapsed building aren’t duplicating each other’s efforts?
To tackle this challenge MIT researchers designed what they call an “objective function” algorithm to determine the value of a proposed task for each individual robot working as part of a team of robots.
For example, their new ultra-smart algorithm eliminates the chance that a robot might execute a wasteful battery draining maneuver just to gain a smidgeon of information.
And, unlike previous robot team programming, which just assigns tasks to robots sequentially [or in a linear fashion], the new MIT approach creates a more collaborative effort.
In fact, the smart robots or drones MIT envisions using their algorithm will be able, as needed, to come up with a robot team plan of action themselves, on-the-fly in real time!
Story 9: First-Quarter 2021 Robot Sales Increase 20% Over Q1 2020
Source: Robotics247.com Story by Eugene Demaitre
Link: https://www.robotics247.com/article/first_quarter_robot_sales_increase_20_over_q1_2020_reports_a3
The Association for Advancing Automation recently announced that robot orders in the first quarter of 2021 were 19.6% higher than in the same period last year.
North American companies purchased 9,098 units valued at $466 million in Q1.
Robot purchases by car makers and their component suppliers combined saw a 12% increase year over year.
The announcement also noted that in 2020 orders of robots from non-automotive sectors surpassed automotive robot orders for the first time.
And that trend continues – for example, robotics purchased by the life sciences, pharmaceutical and biomedical sectors increased by 72%, and 32% in the food and consumer goods sectors.
Story 10: Lightning may be an important source of air-cleaning chemicals
Source: Science News
Link: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lightning-storm-chemicals-air-clean-atmosphere-pollution
Science researchers at Pennsylvania State University reported recently in the journal Science that observations from a storm-chasing airplane revealed that lightning can forge lots of air-cleansing chemicals called oxidants.
Oxidants help clear the air by reacting with contaminants like methane to form molecules that are more water soluble or stickier, allowing them to more easily rain out of Earth’s atmosphere or stick to its surface.
Researchers knew lightning produces nitric oxide, which can lead to the formation of oxidants such as hydroxyl radicals.
But no one had seen lightning directly create lots of these oxidants.
Story 11: GM announces its next electric vehicle: a new Moon rover
Source: Electrek.com Story by Scooter Doll
Link: https://electrek.co/2021/05/27/gm-announces-its-next-electric-vehicle-a-new-moon-rover/
GM and Lockheed Martin recently announced their involvement in the upcoming Artemis Moon missions and their plans to deliver a highly advanced Lunar Terrain Vehicle [a.k.a. Rover].
The new Rover will be the first of several vehicles for NASA’s newest lunar program.
The goal is to dramatically extend the range of astronauts as they perform high-priority science investigation on the Moon.
GM plans to use its experience in propulsion and battery electric technologies to develop a rover that can go further than ever before while providing the crew with advanced technologies, including autonomous driving technology.
According to GM, the next-generation Lunar Terrain Vehicles are being designed to support the first-ever excursions of the Moon’s south pole, a more frigid, rugged terrain.
Furthermore, the autonomous, self-driving systems will allow the rovers to prepare for human landings, provide commercial payload services, and enhance the range and utility of scientific payloads and experiments.
Story 12: Engineers are building a refrigerator for astronauts that works in zero gravity – and upside down
Source: Purdue University news release
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVgfS_zcYPI
For astronauts to go on long term missions to the moon or Mars, they need a refrigerator for food storage. But today’s fridges aren’t designed to work in zero gravity – or upside down if oriented that way when a spacecraft lands on another planet.
In a typical fridge, gravity helps to keep liquid and vapor where they are supposed to be. Similarly, the oil lubrication system inside of a fridge’s
compressor is gravity-based.
A team of engineers from Purdue University, Air Squared Inc., and Whirlpool Corporation is working on building a fridge for zero gravity that operates using an oil-free compressor.
The oil free compressor will allow the frig to work in zero gravity and in different orientations.
The canned and dried food that astronauts currently eat during missions have a shelf life of only about three years. The team’s project aims to give astronauts a supply of food that could last five to six years.
And here’s an interesting twist – The team is aiming to design a fridge that could be sent into space ahead of a mission.
In development for two years, the team was able in April to test it in microgravity simulated in a parabolic plane flight.
Story 13: Rock grabbing robot add-on for farm tractors will be available next year
Source: TechCrunch.com
Link: https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/27/between-a-rock-and-a-farm-raise/
See video here: https://youtu.be/S1ELdkR1Bbo
Last month we talked about a fascinating autonomous weeding robot for farmers. Now there’s a new robot attachment for tractors that will help farmers clear rocks from a field ranging in size from 6 to 24 inches.
A company called TerraClear developed a remarkable robotic device called “AutoPick” that attaches to the front-end loader of a utility tractor or the mount-plate on a skid steer using a universal skid steer mount attachment.
The system, which ships next year, will be able to grab up to 400 rocks an hour — individual rocks weighing up to 300 pounds.
According to the announcement, the AutoPick add-on device uses computer vision and automated hydraulic controls to pick up rocks efficiently and effectively.
Story 14: Sony launches motion-sensing music effects controller
Source: The Verge Story by Sam Byford
Link: https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/28/22458023/sony-motion-sonic-launches-music-indiegogo-price-date
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjOHyTyuyW0&t=85s
There’s a new Sony product for musicians that makes their arm and hand movements create sound effects as they play piano, guitar, you name it.
Called Motion Sonic it is, in the words of Sony’s campaign, “effects gear to control sound in sync with your motion for playing music.”
The Motion Sonic device itself is a small capsule that can slot into differently shaped rubber wristbands, sort of like a Fitbit.
There’s a band that attaches to your wrist for use cases like playing guitar, and another wraps around the back of your hand and is better suited to playing keys.
What it actually does is allow you to link hand motions to specific musical effects.
For example, you could set it to add a delay effect when you move fingers from left to right, or to bend pitch as you roll your wrist.
These effects are all created and saved on an iOS app, then you need to connect your iPhone to your instrument with an audio interface. (It’s not compatible with Android.)
The product is scheduled to ship in March next year, and will sell for $248.