Bots on stage

Flying Iron Simulations and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby have collaborated in using Microsoft Flight Simulator and 3D printed controls to provide pilots with emergency procedure training.  In a video published by Authentikit, Squadron Leader Mark ‘Disco’ Discombe MBE shares his decision-making process during the simulated failure.

An AI-generated woman named Claudia has successfully sold lewd photographs to unsuspecting Reddit users. Claudia is a 100-percent AI creation who was posted on several subreddits. Claudia’s post prompted a firestorm of users reporting it, leading a moderator for the group to post a disclaimer clarifying that AI-generated photos are not against the subreddit’s rules. The creators behind Claudia say that the onus should be on the consumer to discern whether a model is real or synthetic.

Just one year after returning from its unscheduled break, automatica, the exhibition for smart automation and robotics, will be held again from June 27 to 30, 2023. This is due to a change in its rhythm. From now on, the international automation industry will meet at the Munich exhibition center in odd years, side by side with LASER World of PHOTONICS—World’s Leading Trade Fair with Congress for Photonics Components, Systems and Applications.

Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute has a new artist-in-residence. FRIDA, a robotic arm with a paintbrush taped to it, uses artificial intelligence to collaborate with humans on works of art. Ask FRIDA to paint a picture, and it gets to work putting brush to canvas.

The physical skills of Atlas, one of the robots being developed by Boston Dynamics, have again increased significantly. To show what the robot is capable of, Boston Dynamics has posted a new video.

Miko, an AI robot for kids, gets its own streaming series. Produced by Moonbug Entertainment and available on YouTube, Miko: The Animated Series follows six-year-old Liza and her companions Red and Blue — two robot characters based on the Miko 3 robot.

Belgian developer Chris Umé (33) has created a 3D-deepfake version of Elvis Presley performing. The AR-installation was shown during the show America’s Got Talent. Members of the jury Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum en Simon Cowell were also programmed to take part in the performance. Umé says he has worked six weeks for 20 hours a day to get this result.

Robotics, 5G and art: during the month of May visitors to the Turin’s art museums, Turin Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art (GAM) and Turin City Museum of Ancient Art (Palazzo Madama), had the opportunity to be part of various experiments based on 5G-network technology. Interactive technologies and robots were the focus of an innovative enjoyment of the art collections, with a great appreciation from the public.

TUM Autonomous Motorsport from the Technische Universität München (TUM), has won the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC), the first autonomous racecar competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). TUM competed in a field of 9 teams from 21 universities to win the $1 million grand prize.

Robot combat competition BattleBots presented the official BattleBots casino slot games. Developed by Konami Gaming at Caesars Entertainment Studios during the new season taping of the 2021 World Championship. This game includes some of BattleBots’ most well known robot competitors like Tombstone, Witch Doctor, HyperShock, and more. BattleBots slots take players on a combat to cash as robots strike, swing, shove, slice, and smash with each spin.