Lifeboat Foundation

In recent years, engineers have developed a wide range of robotic systems that could soon assist humans with various everyday tasks. Rather than assisting with chores or other manual jobs, some of these robots could merely act as companions, helping older adults or individuals with different disabilities to practice skills that typically entail interacting with another human.

Researchers at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan recently developed a new robot that can play video games with a human user. This robot, introduced in a paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction, can play games with users while communicating with them.

“We have been developing robots that can chat while watching TV together, and interaction technology that creates empathy, in order to realize a partner robot that can live together with people in their daily life,” Masayuki Kanbara, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Tech Xplore. “In this paper, we developed a robot that plays TV games together to provide opportunities for people to interact with the robot in their daily lives.”

When it comes to virtual worlds, one of the most challenging things to create (rivaling real trees, which Eric Ramberg, Chief Content Officer at Quixel, wrote is “the most requested type of asset”) is realistic human characters — especially their faces.

But Epic Games may have created the best solution so far. They have released a new character creation tool in Unreal Engine, called Creator, that helps you render an almost endless selection of near-photorealistic digital people.

Continue reading “Metahuman lets you create photorealistic, animated digital humans” »

Hackernews #1 @Rosebud_AI We’re building a platform to help users go from description to code to game. We aim to make game creation accessible to non-technical creators, so our UI provides explanations alongside the generated code.

Users have created a diverse range of games on Rosebud, including top-down RPGs, AI companions, and 3D obstacle courses, all within a few hours and sometimes minutes. Here are some examples you can play and clone (to start your own project).

* Anime Jester Companion: https://play.rosebud.ai/games/ba438cc4-246e-432e-b170-4e16948cd571 * Chat and Care for your Digital Puppy: https://play.rosebud.ai/games/f32a8159-7acf-4db6-a82c-70296f90bbf1 * Sphere Sync (3D game: align the sphere with the right color): https://play.rosebud.ai/games/96dfd5e1-62d4-47d8-a3e9-11038c8bb5cf * Basketball: https://play.rosebud.ai/games/a0e70622-e923-4517-8c1f-728dcf0db486 * Neon Waltz Generative Art: https://play.rosebud.ai/games/e32bd12b-7cc9-4f9a-b385-42ae0b096466 * Chat with Deku from My Hero Academia: https://play.rosebud.ai/games/716fd998-aab6-4185-8375-85d9eeb2adca

A simple way to think about Rosebud is ChatGPT + Midjourney + Replit. ChatGPT, because we give users a chat interface for this code editor so they can describe the game they want to make and generate game code; Midjourney, because we let users generate assets inside Rosebud, 2D and 3D, to be used in their games; And Replit, because Rosebud includes a browser based code editor that lets you deploy your game instantly.

There is more to Saudi Arabia than just oil.

Populous unveils their design for the Qiddiya City Esports Arena in Saudi Arabia, aimed to make the country a global hub for gaming.

Explore the potential impact of storytelling, immersive gameplay, and the evolving role of game developers in this technological revolution.

Dive into a new frontier of gaming, where AI’s integration transforms NPCs into dynamic, adaptable characters within video games.

Microsoft has big plans for generative AI in gaming, and its recent Xbox partnership with Inworld AI is a key example.

Non-playable characters in video games play key roles but stick to stiff scripts. Gen AI should open up their minds and your gaming world experience.

Scenes of a movie based on a story written by George Lucas.

Peter Gabriel song “I Have The Touch” and the video is from the movie THX-1138. This was edited back in 1990.

Claim: reinforcement learning AI beats humans in physical domain, playing the “labyrinth” game.

In six hours of training, it solves faster than any human.

Continue reading “AI breaks physical boundaries: CyberRunner, the superhuman AI robot” »

The deal comes a week after a jury found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws in a similar case brought by Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite game.

As part of the settlement, Google will pay $630 million to refund US consumers overcharged for in-app purchases made through the Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023. The estimated 102 million eligible consumers will receive at least $2 each and may get more depending on their spending. They will be automatically notified about how to claim their money.

Google will also pay $70 million in penalties and other costs to the states involved in the lawsuit.

Continue reading “Google will pay $700 million to US states, users in Play Store settlement” »