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Russia’s Sber Bank establishes new science award with $820,000 prize money

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Sber, Russia’s largest banking group, has created a competition to find innovative startup companies in the country, pledging to give approximately $270,000 in prize money to the winners.

It’s officially the “Year of Science and Technology” in Russia, so Sber decided to mark it by establishing the Sber Science Award, which is planned to be an annual science award to support the research and development efforts that have a considerable potential to impact the progress of science and technology.

Three winners will receive 20 million roubles (approximately $270,000) in prizes. The total prize pool of the science award reaches 60 million roubles (approximately $820,000). [Read more…] about Russia’s Sber Bank establishes new science award with $820,000 prize money

Cleveland Clinic develops bionic arm that restores ‘natural behaviors’

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Cleveland Clinic researchers have engineered a “first-of-its-kind bionic arm” for patients with upper-limb amputations that allows wearers to think, behave and function like a person without an amputation, according to new findings published in Science Robotics.

The Cleveland Clinic-led international research team developed the bionic system that combines three important functions – intuitive motor control, touch and grip kinesthesia, the intuitive feeling of opening and closing the hand.

Collaborators included University of Alberta and University of New Brunswick. [Read more…] about Cleveland Clinic develops bionic arm that restores ‘natural behaviors’

Scientists research ‘matter waves’ to shine light on post electronics future

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Most modern technologies owe their success to advances in electronics. These devices harness the flow of electrons in different ways to create computers, charge batteries, light-up displays, and move motors.

Now researchers are starting to explore ways to harness the flow of waves of whole atoms, called matter waves, to enable new kinds of sensors, computers, and scientific research.

This new field has been named atomtronics, owing to the focus on finding ways to move whole atoms rather than electrons in traditional electronics devices. [Read more…] about Scientists research ‘matter waves’ to shine light on post electronics future

Autonomous excavators ready for around the clock real-world application

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Researchers from Baidu Research and the University of Maryland have developed a robotic excavator system that integrates perception, planning, and control capabilities to enable material loading over a long duration with no human intervention

Researchers from Baidu Research Robotics and Auto-Driving Lab (RAL) and the University of Maryland, College Park, have introduced an autonomous excavator system (AES) that can perform material loading tasks for a long duration without any human intervention while offering performance closely equivalent to that of an experienced human operator.

AES is among the world’s first uncrewed excavation systems to have been deployed in real-world scenarios and continuously operating for over 24 hours, bringing about industry-leading benefits in terms of enhanced safety and productivity.

The researchers described their methodology in a research paper published on June 30, 2021, in Science Robotics. [Read more…] about Autonomous excavators ready for around the clock real-world application

Deep learning networks prefer the human voice – just like we do

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Columbia engineers demonstrate that AI systems might reach higher performance if programmed with sound files of human language rather than with binary data labels. (See video below.)

The digital revolution is built on a foundation of invisible 1s and 0s called bits.

As decades pass, and more and more of the world’s information and knowledge morph into streams of 1s and 0s, the notion that computers prefer to “speak” in binary numbers is rarely questioned.

According to new research from Columbia Engineering, this could be about to change. [Read more…] about Deep learning networks prefer the human voice – just like we do

MIT CSAIL’s robo-starfish enables closer study of aquatic life

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Scientists have invented a ‘robo-starfish’ which give us more insights into aquatic life, as Adam Conner-Simons, or MIT CSAIL, reports. (See video below.)

Biologists have long experienced the challenges of documenting ocean life, with many species of fish proving quite sensitive to the underwater movements of humans.

As a possible solution, computer scientists have been developing special marine robots that can stealthily move among their carbon-based counterparts. In 2018, for example, a team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) fabricated a soft robotic fish that autonomously swam with real fish along the coral reefs of Fiji.

However, the complex dynamics of how water moves – and its ability to quickly ruin some perfectly good electronics systems – have made underwater robots especially difficult to develop compared to ones for air or land. [Read more…] about MIT CSAIL’s robo-starfish enables closer study of aquatic life

Artificial skin brings robots closer to ‘touching’ human lives

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Modern-day robots are often required to interact with humans intelligently and efficiently, which can be enabled by providing them the ability to perceive touch.

However, previous attempts at mimicking human skin have involved bulky and complex electronics, wiring, and a risk of damage.

In a recent study, researchers from Japan sidestep these difficulties by constructing a 3D vision-guided artificial skin that enables tactile sensing with high performance, opening doors to innumerable applications in medicine, healthcare, and industry. [Read more…] about Artificial skin brings robots closer to ‘touching’ human lives

Swiss university developing mobile robot that learns on the job

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A team from the Autonomous Systems Lab at the public research university ETH Zurich in Switzerland is creating robots and intelligent systems that are able to learn on the job. (See video below.)

The team’s machine – which consists of a robotic arm mounted on a mobile platform – can “autonomously operate in complex and diverse environments”, says an article on Clearpath Robotics’ website.

Using a Clearpath Ridgeback as a base and equipped with a Franka Emika Panda manipulator arm (called RoyalPanda, that is Ridgeback + Panda), the team is experimenting with a series of different scenarios to develop best practices of how a robot could “learn”. [Read more…] about Swiss university developing mobile robot that learns on the job

Showing robots how to drive a car… in just a few easy lessons

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USC researchers have developed a method that could allow robots to learn new tasks, like setting a table or driving a car, from observing a small number of demonstrations.

Imagine if robots could learn from watching demonstrations: you could show a domestic robot how to do routine chores or set a dinner table. In the workplace, you could train robots like new employees, showing them how to perform many duties. On the road, your self-driving car could learn how to drive safely by watching you drive around your neighborhood.

Making progress on that vision, USC researchers have designed a system that lets robots autonomously learn complicated tasks from a very small number of demonstrations – even imperfect ones. The paper, titled Learning from Demonstrations Using Signal Temporal Logic, was presented at the Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL). [Read more…] about Showing robots how to drive a car… in just a few easy lessons

IBM launches new industrial chemistry robot to enable lab automation

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IBM has launched a new industrial chemistry lab robot called RoboRXN, describing it as “the first remotely accessible, autonomous chemical laboratory”. (See video below.)

The computing giant says the RXN machine is “revolutionizing industrial chemistry, by transforming it into a high tech business”.

RXN uses a combination of artificial intelligence, automation and cloud computing to relieve the chemist from tedious repetitive tasks, allowing more time and space for design and innovation. [Read more…] about IBM launches new industrial chemistry robot to enable lab automation