time travel, parallel universes, and other useful illusions
“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 …
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There was a time when you may have looked at Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot and thought, hey, I could outrun that. It was a lumbering hunk of metal, after all. Sure, it could open doors and go for quiet walks in the freshly fallen snow, even lift 10-pound boxes. But in a robot apocalypse scenario? …
Continue reading “Boston Dynamics Shows Off “Parkour Atlas” Robot”
There’s a hotel in Japan staffed by robots. But not just any kind of robots. As you walk up to the front desk, you might feel a bit confused when you see the two gesticulating robot dinosaurs greeting you in a handful of languages. Don’t worry; they’re wearing bellboy hats, so you’ll know they’re employees …
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Boston Dynamics are behind some of the most interesting robot videos we’ve seen on the Internet, from Big Dog tossing cinder blocks around to, more recently, the reveal of their sharp yellow SpotMini.
If you’ve ever dreamed of having a slender, cat-shaped robot that could spy on your friends from the comfort of your own home, believe it or not South Korean roboticists are happy to oblige.
During last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco, Epic Games revealed one of their latest projects: Siren, a “digital human.” It’s actually some fairly realistic CGI, streamed directly into Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. They worked alongside Tencent, Cubic Motion, and 3Lateral to bring Siren to life, as well as Vicon, who provided her “lifelike …
Continue reading “Meet Siren, The Digital Human Of Your (Uncanny) Dreams”