Bots in Society

Surpassing the biological limitations of the brain and using one’s mind to interact with and control external electronic devices may sound like the distant cyborg future, but it could come sooner than we think. Researchers warn of the potential social, ethical, and legal consequences of technologies interacting heavily with human brains. 

Unmanned Valley and KPN have jointly created an environment for developing new drone applications in the Netherlands. The collaboration between the field lab for sensor-based technologies – located just north of The Hague in the Netherlands – and the leading provider of telecommunications and IT services in the Netherlands, allows companies to easily test innovations and demonstrate applications that use the commercially available KPN networks.

A new model that applies artificial intelligence to carbohydrates improves the understanding of the infection process and could help predict which viruses are likely to spread from animals to humans. This is reported in a recent study led by researchers at the University of Gothenburg.

Humans expect that AI is Benevolent and trustworthy. A new study reveals that at the same time humans are unwilling to cooperate and compromise with machines. They even exploit them.

Gaming company Razer aids upcoming startup ClearBot, to redesign its AI robot that cleans up marine plastics. The newly designed and fully automated robot is armed with AI and machine learning capabilities that can detect marine plastics within two meters in rough waters. The robot can collect up to 250 kg of plastics in just one cycle, while running on solar-powered energy.

Heathrow Airport has re-opened its Terminal 3 for the arrivals of travellers from red-list countries. Cleaning of the terminal is done by UVD Robots, supplied by Nesa Robotics, which operate at the airport   terminals as part of the heightened cleaning protocols during the first lockdown. Two additional robots have now been deployed into the terminal.

Artificial intelligence promises to be a powerful tool for improving the speed and accuracy of medical decision-making to improve patient outcomes. From diagnosing disease, to personalizing treatment, to predicting complications from surgery, AI could become as integral to patient care in the future as imaging and laboratory tests are today.

Communities benefit from sharing knowledge and experience among their members. Following a similar principle – called “swarm learning” – an international research team has trained artificial intelligence algorithms to detect blood cancer, lung diseases and COVID-19 in data stored in a decentralized fashion.

Two UK innovators have joined forces in a mission to develop a robotic solution for ensuring the integrity of the millions upon millions of bolts that hold wind turbines together, a move that is described as essential to the expansion of offshore wind – and the world’s net-zero future.

Artificial intelligence is providing new opportunities in a range of fields, from business to industrial design to entertainment. But how about civil engineering and city planning? How might machine- and deep-learning help us create safer, more sustainable, and resilient built environments?