Intelligent Machines

Nerd alert: sci-fi has finally found a place in our lives; it looks like we’re going back to the future!

Imagine a classroom where a robot stands in front of a group of students, setting them individualised tasks and making sure each student completes this to the best of their ability. A human teacher is on hand to check on students’ work and to maintain discipline if necessary, but it’s the robot which will be responsible for creating learning plans for each student as well as monitoring their progress both within a lesson and over the course of an academic year.

Toys are an inseparable part of our childhood years, no matter where on the Earth we live or how poor or rich we are. The difference comes in the materials used to make the toys, and whether they are especially designed to be used as a toy with an educational purpose, or an ordinary object turned into a toy through the imagination of a child. Many of us remember folding an ordinary piece of paper into an intricate airplane and watching with delight as it flies through the sky.

The flying car is not a thing – although technology enthusiasts born in the 1980s or later may be disappointed by that fact. Many of us may be secretly dissatisfied that having the choice between taking to the roads or the air is not an everyday amenity as yet. The technology that makes the personal or family flying vehicle is still in its very early stages.

A group of leading robotics and Artificial Intelligence experts have become so concerned about the potential dangers relating to the use of lethal autonomous weapons in the future that they have written an open letter to the United Nations (UN), asking them to ban the developm

In a scenario which could easily be out of a science-fiction movie, two Facebook chatbots powered by Artificial Intelligence have been shut down, after they started to communicate in their own language, which researchers working on them could not translate.

Recent joint research efforts in the fields of intelligent robotics and autonomous agents has focused not only on the emergent intelligence of a single device, but also on their capability to work together, and coordinate activity in specific contexts.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield claim that it’s possible for machines to learn how natural or artificial systems function simply by observing them, without being told what to look for.

Scientists are constantly looking for inspiration when it comes to revolutionary ideas. For decades, Hollywood movies provided original and innovative material for technology industries. A San Francisco-based company named Anki, tried to steal a little bit of that Hollywood magic and bring it into our everyday lives. As a result, a tiny robot with a big brain and an even bigger personality was created.

Scientists at Harvard University have demonstrated the first autonomous, untethered, soft robot. It is named “Octobot” and is a revolutionary idea in the field of robotics. It was named after the octopus, an animal that inspires scientists working on soft robotics, since it can use its arms with strength and dexterity despite having no internal skeleton.

There is always room for improvement! Using this motto, roboticists have taken on the challenge of producing advanced robots with unique characteristics and functionalities. In order to achieve this aim, researchers are employing specialized tools, and building models specially to benefit areas of healthcare, medicine and the rescue operation domain.

It’s estimated that there is 285 million visually impaired people around the globe, with 39 million of these classed as legally blind. Smart technology catering for their needs has been somewhat limited. Led by Eric Ju Yoon Kim, the South Korean tech company Dot wants to change all that.