| Ohio Northern Univ team wins National Robotics Challenge
Clinton Township, Michigan March 26, 2007 KUKA Robotics announced an injection molding cell using its KUKA KR3 robot won the Gold award in its division and was named the 2007 Robot of the Year at the National Robotics Challenge held March 9-10, 2007 in Marion, OH. The cell was designed, built, programmed and entered into the competition by the robotics team at Ohio Northern Universitys (ONU). The KUKA robot is one of seven robots that KUKA Robotics recently announced it had provided to ONUs Robotics Technology Center of Excellence. We are delighted to be a part of ONUs winning cell as the National Robotics Challenge is one of the premier robotics and engineering events in the nation featuring real world categories including best manufacturing robotic work cell and robotic problem solving," said Stuart Shepherd president of KUKA Robotics.
A Little Friendly Cooperative Competition
It's good to see the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) growing and progressing at a fair pace. Recent announcements include a slew of new faces in new positions, including Ray Kurzweil for their board of directors, and a $400,000 matching challenge funded by Peter Thiel: In the coming decades, humanity will likely create a powerful artificial intelligence. SIAI exists to confront this urgent challenge - the opportunity and the risk. We have built the infrastructure to expand our research, education, and outreach initiatives in 2007. Thanks to the generous support of our matching fund donors, we are announcing the $400,000 Matching Challenge, which, if successful, will help underwrite our expansion this year. ... The ideas of a singularity scenario and Friendly AI are powerful, but more importantly, relevant now.
Boeing-Insitu ScanEagle UAV logs 1000 combat flight hours with ...
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, April 20, 2007 -- ScanEagle, a fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Insitu, Inc., has surpassed 1,000 flight hours in support of Australian Army operations in southern Iraq. Operating with the Overwatch Battle Group (West)-2 on Operation Catalyst, ScanEagle has successfully completed 172 sorties in less than five months. ScanEagle provides live imagery to Australian soldiers operating from Camp Terendak, Ali Air Base in the Dhi Qar province. This imagery is a key force protection asset for soldiers as they support Iraqi Security Force efforts in restoring security and stability in the region. "This important combat milestone is a testament to the reliability of the long-endurance and stealthy operation of the ScanEagle UAV platform," said Boeing Australia Limited President David Withers.
Discord in Boston after Delp suicide
CONCORD, N.H. - The band Boston spoke to people's souls during the 1970s with smash hits like "More Than a Feeling" and "Peace of Mind." But two weeks after lead singer Brad Delp's suicide at his New Hampshire home, bad feelings abound. Current members of the band, including the chief songwriter and founder, Tom Scholz, were not informed about or invited to Delp's funeral, which was attended by early band members who opposed Scholz in a 1980s legal battle. Last week, Delp's ex-wife Micki was quoted on a radio station saying Delp was distressed about the conflicts in his professional life and became despondent after a longtime friend, Fran Cosmo, was cut from Boston's summer concert lineup. The story spread online, where fans trying to figure out the reason for Delp's suicide took up the cudgels.
Animals and machines can engage in self-reflection: study
New York, April 17. (PTI): The new finding that animals and machines can engage in self-reflection are bound to shock humans and hurt their ego as it was until now thought that this is the quality which they exclusively possess, a study claimed. It is called "metacognition" -- the ability to think, to engage in self-reflection, to introspect. It was long thought to be not just something that we have more of or do better than machines or animals, but that we have and they lack. But Newsweek reports that this barrier of exceptionalism too now is on the rocks as both animals and machines show signs that they can engage in self-reflection. In the latest study, scientists tested for introspection in rats. Jonathon Crystal and Allison Foote of the University of Georgia trained rats to push one lever when they heard a short burst of static, and a second lever when they heard a long burst.
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