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Computer games giant Nintendo’s profits skyrocket by more than 500 per cent

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Nintendo, one of the original games companies and still one of the biggest despite the “casual” gaming revolution brought about by smartphones, is reporting an astounding increase in profits. 

According to the Financial Times, Nintendo’s net profits “soared by 541 percent” at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequential lockdowns, when most people in most countries stayed home.

Nintendo often suffers from too much demand for its consoles, as it did when its Switch handheld console – which looks rather like a smartphone, as shown in the main image – sold out around the world with many millions still searching for it. [Read more…] about Computer games giant Nintendo’s profits skyrocket by more than 500 per cent

Husqvarna launches virtual reality game for lumberjacks

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husqvarna limberjack

Husqvarna, which makes robotic lawn mowers and demolition robots among other things, has launched a virtual reality game for lumberjacks.

Probably intended to test the market for future products such as smart glasses featuring augmented reality, aimed perhaps at the forestry and logging industry, the game is called Limberjack and is available through Steam.

The company says the game is aimed at anyone who wants to test their chainsaw skills or, to be precise, “limbing” skills. Limbing is the process of removing branches from the stem of a fallen tree.  [Read more…] about Husqvarna launches virtual reality game for lumberjacks

Anki Overdrive launches toy robotic supertrucks

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Company regarded as one of the most innovative startups extends range of robotic autonomous toy vehicles 

Anki Overdrive, a robotics and artificial intelligence company, has launched a new range of toy autonomous vehicles which the company says takes its hit battle-racing game “to the next level”.

The company already had an array of toy autonomous cars in its line-up, but now it has added what it calls “robotic Supertrucks” to the mix.

The new “battle rigs”, as the company calls them, Freewheel and X52, supersize the racing experience with an “intimidating frame that’s nearly triple the size of other Anki Overdrive Supercars, commanding a big presence on the battlefield”.  [Read more…] about Anki Overdrive launches toy robotic supertrucks

Kuka wins competition to find the most obscure board game ever invented

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Professor Dr Martin Weiss (left) and Markus Webert working with the Kuka small robot KR Agilus. Source: Kuka Robotics
Professor Dr Martin Weiss (left) and Markus Webert working with the Kuka small robot KR Agilus. Source: Kuka Robotics

Becoming one of the world’s largest industrial robot companies takes time and a lot of dedication. Work, work, work. No time for play. And having got to the top, the most annoying thing for a company, like Kuka, must be to see a startup company, like DeepMind, which has yet to deliver a single commercial product, make worldwide headlines for building an artificially intelligent computer that plays an ancient Chinese board game no one understands.

So what does Kuka do to make its own headlines? Of course: find another obscure board game no one understands and teach one of its robots how to play that, and get students at a local university to do all the programming.

The board game in question is Settlers of Catan. While at least spome people had heard of Go, Settlers of Catan sounds like an old cowboy movie that no one saw because it was terrible.  [Read more…] about Kuka wins competition to find the most obscure board game ever invented

Humanity’s loss at the hands of artificial intelligence is no big deal, says top robotics expert

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The current struggles human player Lee Seedol is facing while playing the ancient Chinese board game Go against an artificially intelligent machine learning program is being watched with interest by the world’s media as well as computer scientists everywhere, probably.

One of those computer scientists, however, says he’s not that bothered. Professor Alois Knoll, co-ordinator of the European Clearing House for Open Robotics Development (Echord), says Google DeepMind AlphaGo is essentially just a software program inside a computer, which is much easier to develop than a mechatronics system.

“A machine or helper that can only help you play Go probably not something on which you’d spend much money,” says Knoll, who is one of the key scientists involved in the $1.5 billion-dollar Human Brain Project.  [Read more…] about Humanity’s loss at the hands of artificial intelligence is no big deal, says top robotics expert

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