time travel, parallel universes, and other useful illusions
If we’re going to get Skynet up and running, we’ll need more than just breakthroughs in artificial intelligence – we’ll need passable robot clones covered in living tissue, so they’ll be able to travel back in time and mingle without being noticed. That’s just how things have to be.
On February 23, 2019, the Kodaiji temple in Kyoto, Japan unveiled Mindar, the Android Kannon. The robot, its head and hands covered in something resembling human skin but otherwise machine-like, was fashioned after Kannon, the Buddhist deity of mercy.
The above video from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology highlights a “particle robotics system,” which consists of many smaller robots working together to accomplish goals.
Robots might not be self aware yet, but given some recent headlines, I have a feeling that once they do wake up, they’re going to be a bit agitated. Consider the following…
In 1984, The Terminator promised me a robot apocalypse circa 2029. And yet, we haven’t quite reached our inevitable obliteration via some Skynet-esque artificial intelligence.
“What are your commands?” asks the spherical robot as it floats through space. Inch by little inch, we’re getting closer to the futures dreamt up in science fiction. In this video, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst introduces us to Cimon, a robot created to assist astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
China’s Xinhua News Agency, alongside the Chinese search engine Sogou.com, have revealed what they call the “world’s first artificial intelligence news anchor.” Its appearance, facial expressions, and voice were modeled after the real news anchor Zhang Zhao, using machine learning algorithms that essentially “taught” it to recreate his likeness. The final product, what you see …
Continue reading “Virtual News Anchors Hit Airwaves In China”
