Video Friday: Monocycle Robot With Legs

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.
Cybathlon Challenges: 02 February 2024, ZURICHHRI 2024: 11–15 March 2024, BOULDER, COLO.Eurobot Open 2024: 8–11 May 2024, LA ROCHE-SUR-YON, FRANCEICRA 2024: 13–17 May 2024, YOKOHAMA, JAPANEnjoy today’s videos! In this video, we pre

Consulting firm keen to increase uptake of technology and is reportedly monitoring adoption by workforceAccenture has reportedly started tracking staff use of its AI tools and will take this into consideration when deciding on top promotions, as the consulting company tries to increase uptake of the technology by its workforce.The company told senior managers and associate directors that being promoted to leadership roles would require “regular adoption” of artificial intelligence, a

French president rejects US criticism as António Guterres and Narendra Modi warn on child safety and AI monopoliesEmmanuel Macron has hit back at US criticism of Europe’s efforts to regulate AI, vowing to protect children from “digital abuse” during France’s presidency of the G7.Speaking at the AI Impact summit in Delhi, the French president called for tougher safeguards after global outrage over Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot being used to generate tens of thousan

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder pulls out of India’s AI Impact Summit to ‘ensure the focus’ remains on event’s ‘key priorities’Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote address at the AI Impact Summit in India as he continues to face questions over his relationship with the deceased child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The billionaire Microsoft co-founder travelled to India, where his foundation works with the government on delivering AI for social good, earlier t

BRC survey finds finance bosses expect technology to improve productivity, with 69% pessimistic about the economyUK retailers are planning to cut staff hours and jobs amid rising employment costs and pessimism about the economy.Almost two-thirds (61%) of finance bosses at retail companies said they planned to reduce working hours or cut overtime, according to the latest survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body that represents most big retailers. More than half (55%) said t

PM says measure, also applied to deepfake nudes, is needed owing to a ‘national emergency’ of online misogynyDeepfake nudes and “revenge porn” must be removed from the internet within 48 hours or technology firms risk being blocked in the UK, Keir Starmer has said, calling it a “national emergency” that the government must confront.Companies could be fined millions or even blocked altogether if they allow the images to spread or be reposted after victims give

Pritzker’s move reflects increasing public pushback against resource-hungry facilities used to power the AI boomThe Illinois governor JB Pritzker proposed a two-year break from offering tax incentives for datacenters, a reflection of increasing public pushback against the massive, resource-hungry facilities used to power the modern AI boom.Pritzker made the proposal, which will need the backing of state lawmakers, during his annual state of the state address, which covers Illinois budget a

Pritzker’s move reflects increasing public pushback against resource-hungry facilities used to power the AI boomThe Illinois governor JB Pritzker proposed a two-year break from offering tax incentives for datacenters, a reflection of increasing public pushback against the massive, resource-hungry facilities used to power the modern AI boom.Pritzker made the proposal, which will need the backing of state lawmakers, during his annual state of the state address, which covers Illinois budget a

Without AI you will be a ‘weaker and poorer nation’, warns former UK chancellor two months into job at US firmThe former chancellor George Osborne has warned that countries that do not embrace the kind of powerful AI systems made by his new employer, OpenAI, risked “Fomo” and could be left weaker and poorer.Osborne, who is two months into a job as head of the $500bn San Francisco AI company’s “for countries” programme, told leaders gathered for the AI Im

At this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, the controversy began with a fingertip.A disputed double-touch—whether a curler had brushed a moving stone twice—sparked protests, profanity-laced exchanges, and heated debate about sportsmanship. In a game that prides itself on mutual trust and the idea of competition as a shared test of skill, even the suggestion of impropriety can ripple far beyond a single end.But if a double-touch can shake the sport, what happens when the controver

Business leaders tout AI as a path to shorter weeks and better balance. But without power, workers are unlikely to share the gainsThe front-page headline in a recent Washington Post was breathless: “These companies say AI is key to their four-day workweeks.” The subhead was euphoric: “Some companies are giving workers back more time as artificial intelligence takes over more tasks.”As the Post explained: “more companies may move toward a shortened workweek, several

Eye-catching martial arts performance at China gala had viewers and experts wondering what else humanoids can doDancing humanoid robots took centre stage on Monday during the annual China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged and backflipped (landing on their knees), they spun around and jumped. Not one fell over.The display was impressive, but prompted some to wonder: if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what

Google, Anthropic and OpenAI bosses to mingle with global south leaders wrestling for control over technologySilicon Valley tech billionaires will land in Delhi this week for an AI summit hosted by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, where leaders of the global south will wrestle for control over the fast-developing technology.During the week-long AI Impact Summit, attended by thousands of tech executives, government officials and AI safety experts, tech companies valued at trillions of

Exclusive: ICE more than tripled the amount of data stored in Microsoft’s cloud at the same time that its arsenal of surveillance technology balloonedImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deepened its reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology last year as the agency ramped up arrest and deportation operations, leaked documents reveal.ICE more than tripled the amount of data it stored in Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform in the six months leading up to January 2026, a period i

Prof Michael Wooldridge says scenario such as deadly self-driving car update or AI hack could destroy global interestThe race to get artificial intelligence to market has raised the risk of a Hindenburg-style disaster that shatters global confidence in the technology, a leading researcher has warned.Michael Wooldridge, a professor of AI at Oxford University, said the danger arose from the immense commercial pressures that technology firms were under to release new AI tools, with companies desper

New US-led series, Reworked, centers workers’ experiences as artificial intelligence reshapes the workplaceThe Guardian launched a sweeping new editorial series on Tuesday examining how artificial intelligence is transforming work and power across the United States and around the world. The year-long reporting project, Reworked, will place workers – not tech executives or abstract forecasts – at the center of one of the defining economic shifts of our time.Building on the Guard

PM says action is looking at potential criminal liability in order to protect children and end ‘impunity’ of online platformsThe Spanish government will ask prosecutors to investigate the social media companies X, Meta and TikTok to determine whether they have committed criminal offences by allegedly allowing their AI to generate and disseminate child sexual abuse material.Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said his government had taken the decision in orde

San Francisco’s AI startups are pushing workers to grind endlessly, hinting at pressures soon hitting other sectorsNot long after the terms “996” and “grindcore” entered the popular lexicon, people started telling me stories about what was happening at startups in San Francisco, ground zero for the artificial intelligence economy. There was the one about the founder who hadn’t taken a weekend off in more than six months. The woman who joked that she’d gi

By trusting the US, we handed Trump a kill switch. Yet Europe’s digital sovereignty is an achievable goalThe French judge Nicolas Guillou knows exactly how deep Europe’s dependence on US tech is. Guillou and his colleagues at the international criminal court are under US sanctions. They can no longer use e-commerce, book hotels online or hire a car. Their home smart devices ignore them. Credit cards from European banks no longer function, because Europe has still not developed its ow

Industry using ‘diversionary’ tactics, says analyst, as energy-hungry complex functions such as video generation and deep research proliferateTech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.Most claims that AI can help avert climate breakdown refer to machine learning and not the energy-hungry chatbots and image generation tools driving the sector&

Before consultation on under-16s ban, government to crack down on AI chatbots and get powers to act more quicklyUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has not yet given his full backing to a social media ban for under-16s. But on Monday the prime minister announced a series of measures to restrict the harms ministers believe online platforms are causing to children who use them.“As a dad of two teenagers, I know the challenges and the worries that parents face making sure thei

Firm says person fined A$10,000 is one of over two dozen staff in Australia caught using AI in exams since JulyBusiness live – latest updatesA partner at the consultancy KPMG has been fined for using artificial intelligence to cheat during an internal training course on AI.The unnamed partner was fined A$10,000 (£5,200) for using the technology to cheat, one of a number of staff reportedly using the tactic. Continue reading...

The UK prime minister has announced a crackdown on artificial intelligence bots that pose a risk to children, denouncing Grok for allowing its users to create images that digitally undress people. Speaking during a visit to a community centre in south-west London, Keir Starmer also said the government is planning to accelerate new restrictions on social media use by children, if they are agreed to by MPs after a public consultation into a possible under-16 ban. It means that any changes to child