Menu
Robotics Update
First dates can sometimes be awkward if you don't exactly click. You might try and make a sarcastic joke and it goes down like a lead balloon because the sarcasm wasn't accentuated enough and now you look like an idiot.
That's probably how Will Smith felt after going on a date with Sophia the AI robot.
People who know Will Smith's movies will know he's got a chequered past with things that aren't human. He wasn't the fondest of aliens in Independence Day and the Men in Black trilogy and he definitely didn't get along with Sonny the humanoid robot from I, Robot.
But he seems to have put all that aside and plucked up the courage to ask Sophia on a date. Look, I know she's an incredibly advanced piece of artificial intelligence, but can we, for a second, focus on her neck and how uncomfortable it looks. I also know that technically it wouldn't be 'uncomfortable' because she can't feel things but come on, it's just weird.
While the team behind Sophia has done well to make her look as human as possible, the clear head and sinister looking eyes are pretty creepy.
Smith says: "This is beautiful, I've wanted to meet you for a reply long time. Being here with you in the Cayman Islands, I've got to say, I'm feeling a little something." He tries to crack a robot joke but it goes way over Sophia's transparent head and she quips back that she likes 80s RnB - who doesn't. When Will explains that he might have made a hit song or two in that era and genre, Sophia says: "I have heard your songs. Not for me." Someone has Sophia's sass settings on way too high.
He also leans in for a kiss but she friend zones him faster than you can say the Three Laws of Robotics (which actually would take a few seconds to say in full).
Sophia was created by Hong Kong based company Hanson Robotics and she's capable of making more than 60 human facial expressions. Last year, she became the first robot in the world to be given a passport and was the first non-human to be given a United Nations title. Two months ago she was finally given legs so that she could become a walking nightmare for all technophobes. But before you grab your pitchforks, people within the AI realm say she's just a chatbot with a face. Her ability to read faces and convey her own expressions is cool, but she's certainly not going to go all I, Robot anytime soon. Featured Image Credit: Will Smith/YouTube
0 Comments
This won’t mark the first time Alexa has made it to headphones or watches — companies have tried this in the past — but it’s been rare. The promise here is that products using the toolkit should theoretically work better, too, since Amazon is handling the bulk of the integration.
Getting into headphones before other assistants take over
Amazon is specifically making this toolkit for lightweight gadgets that don’t have a lot of processing power. In fact, it’s designed for gadgets that are always connected to a phone: this toolkit works by sending voice requests back to the Alexa app on iOS or Android, which then processes the request. From a user’s standpoint, that should be mostly invisible if it works correctly and the connection holds up. But from a device standpoint, it means a lot less work; manufacturers basically just need to record and transfer some audio, which their gadgets can do already. The toolset isn’t supposed to come out until “later this year,” but Amazon says it already has a bunch of partners working with it. That includes Bose, Beyerdynamic, Jabra, and iHome, so you can probably expect to see Alexa-integrated headphones within the year.
It’s important that Amazon start to get these products out, too. Apple’s AirPods offer a direct connection to Siri, and Google has been starting to let companies build its Assistant directly into headphones as well. (Bose already launched a pair that supports it.) Amazon has been trying to get Alexa everywhere, and to be in those places early, so it makes sense that it’s jumping over to headphones and wearables.
What’s that up in the sky? It’s either a very large butterfly or a very small drone aircraft. Either way, it’s not the sort of thing you see everyday. Automation and robotics company Festo has designed a super-light drone aircraft that looks and moves like a butterfly, which is rather hypnotic to watch all by itself, but it gets better. You can unleash multiple butterfly drones and they flutter around as an interconnected group. The artificial insects (called eMotionButterflies) rely on a number of technologies to get airborne and stay there. First, there are the light plastic wings. Each one is controlled independently by a tiny servo. This allows the robot to maneuver in the air without any complicated fins of spinning blades. It’s not as precise as a quadrocopter, but it’s certainly more elegant. The hardware controlling the butterfly is also extremely compact. The robots can fly autonomously with the help of an indoor GPS system based on infrared cameras. The room seen in the video above is equipped with ten IR cameras, which watch the movement of the drones using infrared markers. The position of the drones is transmitted to a computer which then determines the drone’s location. This allows the drones to be directed around the room without running into each other. The eMotion Butterflies look almost real until you get a closer look at the ridge of naked circuit boards running down the middle. It’s an impressive piece of technology, and makes for a nice demo. That’s all it is right now, though. Festo isn’t really in the business of selling robots to consumers. These are research platforms that are part of the company’s Bionic Learning Network, which also includes artificial ants and a gripper modeled on a chameleon’s tongue.
|
Robotics Industries UpdateCorwin Electronics Archives
March 2018
Categories |