The robot that staves off loneliness for chronically ill children

A Norwegian startup company has created an automaton that helps children with long-term sickness be part of normal life againAs a rule of thumb, the best ideas are the simplest. That’s easy to forget in an age of rapid technological innovation, when the tendency is to be led by capability rather than need.For as Karen Dolva, co-founder of the Norwegian startup No Isolation, says: “There are a lot of engineers who don’t want to make something useful – they want to make som

Tech firm released early versions of its latest large language model and a real-time image generator as it tries to catch up to OpenAIMeta Platforms on Thursday released early versions of its latest large language model, Llama 3, and an image generator that updates pictures in real time while users type prompts, as it races to catch up to generative AI market leader OpenAI.The models will be integrated into virtual assistant Meta AI, which the company is pitching as the most sophisticated of its

The paper delves into the significance of Secure Runtime Assurance (SRTA) for the operational integrity and safety of autonomous robotics groups, with a focus on drones. It presents a comprehensive view of how SRTA has evolved from traditional runtime assurance methods to address the dynamic and complex nature of autonomous systems. Through integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning, SRTA seeks to tackle the multifaceted challenges autonomous systems face, highlighting the need for

Stephen Cass: Hello and welcome to Fixing the Future, an IEEE Spectrum podcast where we look at concrete solutions to tough problems. I’m your host, Stephen Cass, a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. And before I start, I just want to tell you that you can get the latest coverage of some of Spectrum’s most important beats, including AI, climate change, and robotics, by signing up for one of our free newsletters. Just go to spectrum.ieee.org/newsletters to subscribe. We’ve been co

Yesterday, Boston Dynamics bid farewell to the iconic Atlas humanoid robot. Or, the hydraulically-powered version of Atlas, anyway—if you read between the lines of the video description (or even just read the actual lines of the video description), it was pretty clear that although hydraulic Atlas was retiring, it wasn’t the end of the Atlas humanoid program at Boston Dynamics. In fact, Atlas is already back, and better than ever.Today, Boston Dynamics is introducing a new version of

Boston Dynamics has just introduced a new Atlas humanoid robot, replacing the legendary hydraulic Atlas and intended to be a commercial product. This is huge news from the company that has spent the last decade building the most dynamic humanoids that the world has ever seen, and if you haven’t read our article about the announcement (and seen the video!), you should do that right now. We’ve had about a decade of pent-up questions about an all-electric productized version of Atlas, a

According to an automated missive, I have the perfect set of skills to help write the first draft of AI history. It’s not a job for life, thoughSay what you like about the Germans, you can always count on them to find just the right word for anything. Take “weltschmerz”, for example, which roughly translates to “world pain”. It signifies despair at the suffering in the world – and a deep anguish that stems from knowing that a better world is possible. Is there

Lois Gibson, whose sketches have helped to identify more than 1,300 suspects, says technology can not do the job as effectivelyThe holder of the Guinness World Records mark for the composite sketch artist with the most positively identified criminals has expressed doubts that artificial intelligence programs will ever be able to perform her kind of work as well as the human hand can.In an interview with the organization, known for curating a database of more than 40,000 world records, the retire

Hi-tech ‘golden triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London risks deeper regional inequalities, says thinktankInvestments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are “profoundly skewed” towards the “golden triangle” of Oxford, Cambridge and London, and risk deepening existing regional inequalities in England, according to research.Ministers have promised to level up the country, narrowing the gap between the best- and worst-performing areas, but

While AI tools have been used by some translators to support their work, three-quarters of those surveyed believe the emerging technology will negatively impact their future incomeMore than a third of translators have lost work due to generative AI, a survey by the Society of Authors (SoA) has found. More than four in 10 translators said that their income has decreased because of generative AI, while more than three-quarters believe the emerging technology will negatively affect their future inc

In a new video posted today, Boston Dynamics is sending off its hydraulic Atlas humanoid robot. “For almost a decade,” the video description reads, “Atlas has sparked our imagination, inspired the next generations of roboticists, and leapt over technical barriers in the field. Now it’s time for our hydraulic Atlas robot to kick back and relax.”Hydraulic Atlas has certainly earned some relaxation; Boston Dynamics has been absolutely merciless with its humanoid resear

Workers in Africa have been exploited first by being paid a pittance to help make chatbots, then by having their own words become AI-ese. Plus, new AI gadgets are coming for your smartphones• Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereWe’re witnessing the birth of AI-ese, and it’s not what anyone could have guessed. Let’s delve deeper.If you’ve spent enough time using AI assistants, you’ll have noticed a certain quality

Workers in Africa have been exploited first by being paid a pittance to help make chatbots, then by having their own words become AI-ese. Plus, new AI gadgets are coming for your smartphones• Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereWe’re witnessing the birth of AI-ese, and it’s not what anyone could have guessed. Let’s delve deeper.If you’ve spent enough time using AI assistants, you’ll have noticed a certain quality

Firms such as Serco and Virgin Active pull facial recognition and fingerprint scan systems used to monitor staff attendanceDozens of companies including national leisure centre chains are reviewing or pulling facial recognition technology and fingerprint scanning used to monitor staff attendance after a clampdown by the UK’s data watchdog.In February, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ordered a Serco subsidiary to stop using biometrics to monitor the attendance of staff at

If the experience of robot-served fast food dining is any indication, the future of sex robots is going to be very unpleasantOn 1 April, the same day California’s new $20 hourly minimum wage for fast food workers went into effect, a new restaurant opened in north-east Los Angeles that was conspicuously light on human staff.CaliExpress by Flippy claims to be the world’s first fully autonomous restaurant, using a system of AI-powered robots to churn out fast food burgers and fries. A s

No one should be surprised that artificial intelligence is following a well-worn and entirely predictable financial arc “Are we really in an AI bubble,” asked a reader of last month’s column about the apparently unstoppable rise of Nvidia, “and how would we know?” Good question, so I asked an AI about it and was pointed to Investopedia, which is written by humans who know about this stuff. It told me that a bubble goes through five stages – rather as Elisabeth

Scientists say an overreliance on sight and sound is having a detrimental effect on people’s wellbeing and that our devices should deliver a multisensory experience“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet.” So went the first line of audible dialogue in a feature film, 1927’s The Jazz Singer. It was one of the first times that mass media had conveyed the sight and sound of a scene together, and the audience was enthralled.There have been improvement

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
RoboCup German Open: 17–21 April 2024, KASSEL, GERMANYAUVSI XPONENTIAL 2024: 22–25 April 2024, SAN DIEGOEurobot Open 2024: 8–11 May 2024, LA ROCHE-SUR-YON, FRANCEICRA 2024: 13–17 May 2024, YOKOHAMA, JAPANRoboCup 2024: 17–22 J

Plug in some prompts and the ‘ChatGPT for music’ whips up a song in seconds – if you don’t mind slightly silly lyricsHeralded as the ChatGPT for music, Suno AI is the latest iteration of generative artificial intelligence to flood social feeds, wowing users with its (ahem) lyrical prowess.Plug in the musical style you want, a genre and a prompt for lyrics and Suno can spit out a full song for you in a matter of seconds.Coffee, you’re my fuel for the soul (oh-oh)
Wit

We tend to think about hopping robots from the ground up. That is, they start on the ground, and then, by hopping, incorporate a aerial phase into their locomotion. But there’s no reason why aerial robots can’t approach hopping from the other direction, by adding a hopping ground phase to flight. Hopcopter is the first robot that I’ve ever seen give this a try, and it’s remarkably effective, combining a tiny quadrotor with a springy leg to hop hop hop all over the place.S

Last December, the AI Institute announced that it was opening an office in Zurich as a European counterpart to its Boston headquarters and recruited Marco Hutter to helm the office. Hutter also runs the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, arguably best known as the origin of the ANYmal quadruped robot (but it also does tons of other cool stuff).We’re doing our best to keep close tabs on the institute, because it’s one of a vanishingly small number of places that currently exist where

Last December, the AI Institute announced that it was opening an office in Zurich as a European counterpart to its Boston headquarters, and recruited Marco Hutter to helm the office. Hutter also runs the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, arguably best known as the origin of the ANYmal quadruped robot (but they also do tons of other cool stuff).We’re doing our best to keep close tabs on the institute, because it’s one of a vanishingly small number of places that currently exist where