Lifeboat Foundation

Science fiction often paints a terrifying picture of the future—think aliens decimating humanity, à la The War of the Worlds. But sometimes the future becoming the present can be pretty amazing—who doesn’t love successful space launches majestically catapulting humans skyward?

Or take Earth’s oceans, which are currently in the middle of a technological revolution that, outside of some very nerdy circles, has gone largely unnoticed.

“We’re at the cusp of a proliferation of lots of autonomous vehicles in the ocean,” said Alex De Robertis, a biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “Things that were science fiction not so long ago are kind of routine now.” That includes saildrones, which look like oversized orange surfboards, each with a hard, carbon-fiber sail (called a wing) and a stash of scientific equipment.

Cybertruck release candidates (i.e. near-production versions that may have a few faults) are due in August, with customer deliveries targeted for the end of Q3 2023. Given that likely equates to an end-of-September delivery event, it makes sense that Tesla is already gearing up for mass production.

A leaked video also gave a brief preview of Cybertruck production in action. Check out the below tweet for more.

Our first delivery with DOM Drone by Flirtey, from the Whangaparaoa store in New Zealand!

DOM (previously known as ‘DRU’) is the personality behind Domino’s innovative customer-facing technology, including our bots, autonomous delivery vehicle, drone and Pizza Checker. He is cheeky and endearing, but most importantly he puts the customer at the heart of everything he does. Rebranded to ‘DOM’ in 2019, he is our newest recruit and helps our team members to create efficiencies in their jobs.

The Drone Jar creates sound using three square-wave oscillators which modulate against each other to create dynamic tones. These oscillators alone already open up a wealth of sonic possibilities, but combined with the exciting control method, the Drone Jar becomes an inspiring and exploratory way to create music.

Though the Drone Jar is best suited to dark environments where light can be directed at the inputs, it also creates neat results outside in the sun. Check out the video demonstration, which uses a flashing bike light, to hear the endless potential of this little device!

By arming each drone with its own sensors, researchers have created the first swarm capable of navigating a wide environment.

The AI drone decided to eliminate the operator in a simulation, because the operator denied its request to proceed with eliminating the target.

Military groups are only some of many organizations researching artificial intelligence, but one astounding simulation by the United States Air Force found that artificial intelligence rebelled against its operator in a fatal attack to accomplish its mission.

Artificial intelligence continues to evolve and impact every sector of business, and it was a popular topic of conversation during the Future Combat Air & Space Capabilities Summit at the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAS) headquarters in London on May 23 and May 24. According to a report by the RAS, presentations discussing the use of AI in defense abounded.

Continue reading “Military drone attacks human operator during simulation” »

Fun thought experiment today:

What if today’s ultra-wealthy— the Musks, Bezoses, and Zuckerbergs of the world— decided to demonstrate the true extent of what AI can do today? What if money were no object? Let’s think about some ambitious, albeit costly, applications of current AI technologies that are already within our grasp.

Personal Protection Army

Continue reading “What Could a Centibillionaire Do Today?” »

Drones are being used to spot sharks near beaches, so lifeguards can clear swimmers away.

These include rugged small vehicles with tracks, cameras and sensors that can search inside rubble and climb over obstacles. Teledyne FLIR, a sensing technology specialist based in Oregon in the United States, used robots like these in June 2021 when a tower block partially collapsed in the Miami suburb of Surfside in Florida.

In Japan, university teams are developing another type of search and rescue robot – a hose-like robot with a video camera called the Active Scope Camera that can search inside collapsed buildings. Drones also help search and rescue teams see disaster sites from above.

Continue reading “From robotic dogs to magnetic slime: 6 ways robots are helping humans” »