Latest news with #robotics
Fast Company
42 minutes ago
- Science
- Fast Company
These two game-changing breakthroughs advance us toward artificial general intelligence
The biggest technology game changers don't always grab the biggest headlines. Two emerging AI developments may not go viral on TikTok or YouTube, but they represent an inflection point that could radically accelerate the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI). That's AI that can function and learn like us. Coming to our senses: WildFusion As humans, we rely on all sorts of stimuli to navigate in the world, including our senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell. Until now, AI devices have been solely reliant on a single sense—visual impressions. Brand-new research from Duke University goes beyond reliance only on visual perception. It's called WildFusion, combining vision with touch and vibration. The four-legged robot used by the research team includes microphones and tactile sensors in addition to the standard cameras commonly found in state-of-the-art robots. The WildFusion robot can use sound to assess the quality of a surface (dry leaves, wet sand) as well as pressure and resistance to calibrate its balance and stability. All of this data is gathered and combined or fused, into a single data representation that improves over time with experience. The research team plans enhance the robot's capabilities by enabling it to gauge things like heat and humidity. As the types of data used to interact with the environment become richer and more integrated, AI moves inexorably closer to true AGI. Learning to learn The second underreported AI technology game changer comes from researchers at the universities of Surrey and Hamburg. While still in the early stages of development, this breakthrough allows robots that interact socially with humans (social robots) to train themselves with minimal human intervention. It achieves this by replicating what humans would visually focus on in complex social situations. For example, we learn over time as humans to look at a person's face when talking to them or to look at what they are pointing to rather than at their feet or off into space. But robots won't do that without being specifically trained. Until now, the training to refine behavior in robots was primarily reliant on constant human monitoring and supervision. This new innovative approach uses robotic simulations to track, monitor, and importantly, improve the quality of the robot interactions with minimal human involvement. Robots learn social skills without constant human oversight. This marks an important step forward in the overall advancement of social robotics and could prove to be a huge AGI accelerator. Self-teaching AI could lead to advancements at an exponential rate, a prospect some of us view as thrilling, others as chilling. AI signal over noise Amazing as they may be to watch, dancing humanoid robots and mechanical dogs can be characterized as narrow AI—AI designed only for a specific task or purpose. The feats of these purpose-built tools are impressive. But these two new developments advance how AI experiences the world and how it learns from those experiences. They will dramatically change how technology exists (and coexists with us) in the world. Taken together, these breakthroughs and the work of other researchers and entrepreneurs along similar paths are resetting the trajectory and the timetable for achieving AGI. This could mark the tipping point that turns the slow march toward AGI into an all-out run.
Wall Street Journal
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
It's Bulletproof, Fire-Resistant and Stronger Than Steel. It's Superwood.
FREDERICK, Md.—Inside a cavernous warehouse, in the midst of a half-finished industrial park not far from a Civil War battleground, robot arms the size of Cadillac Escalades are rehearsing their moves for a tightly choreographed dance that will commence later this summer. A strange new substance will begin rolling off the assembly line: soft wood transformed at the molecular level into something stronger than steel yet one-sixth the weight.
Globe and Mail
14 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Lucintel Forecasts the Professional Service Robot Market in Australia Market is expected to reach an estimated $69.4 billion by 2031
"According to a market report by Lucintel, the future of the professional service robot market looks promising with opportunities in the construction, agriculture, healthcare, education, industrial & commercial, military & law, and entertainment markets. The professional service robot market is expected to reach an estimated $69.4 billion by 2031 with a CAGR of 21.2% from 2025 to 2031." According to a market report by Lucintel, the future of the professional service robot market looks promising with opportunities in the construction, agriculture, healthcare, education, industrial & commercial, military & law, and entertainment markets. The professional service robot market is expected to reach an estimated $69.4 billion by 2031 with a CAGR of 21.2% from 2025 to 2031. According to a market report by Lucintel, the future of the professional service robot market looks promising with opportunities in the construction, agriculture, healthcare, education, industrial & commercial, military & law, and entertainment markets. The professional service robot market is expected to reach an estimated $69.4 billion by 2031 with a CAGR of 21.2% from 2025 to 2031. The major drivers for this market are the growing use of robots in healthcare, rising improvements in robotics technology, and the increasing utilization of these robots across various industries, such as healthcare, defense, agriculture, logistics, and manufacturing. A more than 150-page report to understand trends, opportunity and forecast in professional service robot market to 2031 by type (medical robots, field robots, defense & security robots, inspection & maintenance robots, entertainment robots, and dome. Lucintel forecasts that, within the type category, the domestic robot segment is expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period. Download sample by clicking on professional service robot market Within the end use category, the industrial & commercial is expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period. This unique research report will enable you to make confident business decisions in this globally competitive marketplace. For a detailed table of contents, contact Lucintel at +1-972-636-5056 or write us at helpdesk@ To get access of more than 1000 reports at fraction of cost visit Lucintel's Analytics Dashboard. About Lucintel At Lucintel, we offer solutions for you growth through game changer ideas and robust market & unmet needs analysis. We are based in Dallas, TX and have been a trusted advisor for 1,000+ clients for over 20 years. We are quoted in several publications like the Wall Street Journal, ZACKS, and the Financial Times. Contact: Roy Almaguer Lucintel Dallas, Texas, USA Email: Tel. +1-972-636-5056 Explore Our Latest Publications Professional Service Robot Market in Brazil Professional Service Robot Market in Canada Professional Service Robot Market in Germany Professional Service Robot Market In India Professional Service Robot Market in South Africa Media Contact Company Name: Lucintel Contact Person: Roy Almaguer Email: Send Email Phone: 972.636.5056 Address: 8951 Cypress Waters Blvd., Suite 160 City: Dallas State: TEXAS Country: United States Website:
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia Reclaims Top Spot in Tech
Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock hit a fresh peaktopping $154.97driven by Jensen Huang's bullish vision for AI and robotics, and a rally that pushed its market cap above $3.7 trillion, briefly reclaiming the title of the world's most valuable company. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with MSFT. On Wednesday, NVDA shares climbed about 4.3% to close at $154.31, marking an all-time high after CEO Jensen Huang outlined multitrillion-dollar opportunities in AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and smart factories. That optimism was bolstered by Loop Capital's Ananda Baruah, who boosted his price target from $175 to $250, citing an anticipated $2 trillion spend by hyperscalers on AI infrastructure by 2028. Nvidia's latest quarterly results already showcased a 69% year-over-year revenue surge, led by a 73% gain in its data-center business. Nvidia's rally isn't just a stock storyit reflects a broader tech leadership battle. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have each held the top market-cap slot this year, but Nvidia's AI-driven momentum underlines how critical specialized processors have become to cloud services, autonomous systems, and next-gen manufacturing. With NVDA up over 12% in June aloneand outpacing the ~2.6% gain in the broader Nasdaqthe chipmaker's AI-first strategy continues to captivate investors. All eyes now turn to whether Nvidia can sustain this pace, as valuation debates swirl around its lofty growth expectations. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
ABC News
15 hours ago
- Science
- ABC News
China's humanoid robots compete with United States in 'space race of our time'
Two humanoid robots face off in a ring in the world's first humanoid robot kick-boxing competition. The high-tech robots from a Chinese robotics firm jab and kick each other, and spring back onto their feet after being knocked down. While not exactly on par with professional human kickboxers, it's an impressive display of agility and balance. The show in May came after yet another "world first", as Chinese state media called it, when humanoid robots jogged alongside thousands of half-marathon runners in Beijing in April. Then there was the humanoid robot display during a Spring Festival Gala event, when a group of bots dressed in red and white costume vests performed a routine alongside dancers on stage. State-run media and robotics companies in China have been celebrating advances in the capabilities of humanoid robots — robots that look human with arms and legs — as companies from China compete with robot developers from the United States. Humanoid robots were seen to have so much potential in part because they could adapt to the world as it was, said Alan Burden, a PhD in design robotics. "There's also a cultural element which is very evident in a lot of science fiction — humanoids are compelling because they remind us of ourselves, which makes them easier to imagine in daily life, even if the technical reality is still catching up," said Dr Burden. Jeff Cardenas, chief executive of US robotics company Apptronik, called it "the space race of our time". While it's a race the US has been leading, China has been catching up. Beijing unveiled a national plan in 2023 to build a world-class humanoid robotics industry by 2027, part of President Xi Jinping's tech-led vision for the economy that includes electric vehicles, renewable energy and artificial intelligence. In March, the Chinese government announced it would set up a one trillion yuan ($214 billion) fund to support startups in areas such as AI and robotics. Experts say advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology are helping take the technology to the next level. Chinese humanoid robot startup MagicLab chief executive Wu Changzheng told Reuters it was using new home-grown AI models like DeepSeek, Qwen and ByteDance's Doubao. "DeepSeek has been helpful in task reasoning and comprehension, contributing to the development of our robots' 'brains,'" Mr Wu told Reuters. This is despite the US attempting to restrict China's access to the best computer chips essential to training AI models. Claude Sammut, a computer science and engineering professor from the University of New South Wales, said China's clearest advantage was its domination of the manufacturing supply chain that makes the hardware. "You can find everything you need in certain industrial hubs, so that's why they've been able to drive the cost down," said Professor Sammut. In 2024, 31 Chinese companies unveiled 36 new humanoid models, versus only eight released by US companies that same year, according to a Morgan Stanley report published this year. "Our research suggests China continues to show the most impressive progress in humanoid robotics where startups are benefiting from established supply chains, local adoption opportunities, and strong degrees of national government support," said the report. The potential of humanoid robots to transform economies and societies is expected to be huge. Beijing is aiming for a new industrial revolution where many factory tasks would be performed by humanoid robots. Despite concerns about the impact on jobs, Beijing sees the technology as key to plugging labour shortages in other areas as well. They include elderly care where demand is increasing as China's 1.4 billion population ages. In Australia, robotics company Andromeda Robotics has created a humanoid robot called Abi to work in aged care facilities. Andromeda co-founder mechatronics engineer Grace Brown started Abi during the pandemic, when she found herself isolated and lonely during lockdowns in Melbourne and watching lots of Disney and Pixar movies. "At the time I wanted to build something that was very much like a Pixar character, one that's warm and friendly and approachable. "That was the inception for Abi." Ms Brown believes humanoid robots, companion robots like Abi, will redefine relationships in future. "The vision that we've always believed that was inevitable is that in the future, every single person, in every single continent, is going to have access to their own personal, home companion robot." And it's not long until humanoid robots have a breakthrough moment. "That's going to be like the iPhone or a ChatGPT moment for humanoid robots. "And it's very near." Despite the predictions, some believe humanoid robots still have a long way to go before they become part of everyday life. While robots have demonstrated multiple skills such as sorting objects, cleaning, lifting, and recent advances in artificial intelligence have improved the degree of autonomy in humanoid robots, there is a lot robots still can't do. Even basic physical tasks have yet to be mastered by some of the most advanced humanoids, like Tesla's Optimus. "For example, it takes Optimus almost 10 seconds to put an egg into an egg cooker," explained a US government report from October 2024. Professor Sammut said the robot demonstrations in China had mostly been "flashy demos to show off the hardware". He said the biggest recent improvements in humanoid robots had been in "reinforcement learning". In the past it had been difficult to hand program robots to do "fancy" things like boxing, but now robots could be taught, he explained. This would make humanoid robots useful in the home because robots could learn by themselves. US tech billionaire Brett Adcock has said the aim for humanoid robot developers is for people to be able to talk to robots who can then implement requested tasks. "The end-state for this is you really want the default UI [user interface] to be speech," said Mr Adcock, founder of robotics company Figure AI, which is building a general-purpose humanoid robot. Developers were also using generative AI to enable humanoid robots to better understand requests, then create plans to complete tasks, explained Professor Sammut. "There's still a fair bit of work to do on that because the generative models can produce stuff that isn't necessarily true," he added. Professor Sammut said economics and cost was another major barrier. "Right now, I don't see robots coming down to, like, the price of a phone," he said. "So it's more like buying a car than buying a phone." Despite investments from China, Robert Potter, a visiting fellow with Australian National University and a cyber security expert, said there were good reasons the democratic world "has the edge" in the humanoid robot race. Mr Potter, co-founder of an advisory firm which worked with the United States Defense Department, said China mostly copied innovations. "Areas where they have done well such as camera-based AI and surveillance are areas where the state is a larger market in China than in the democratic world," he added. Professor Sammut questioned whether humanoid robots more broadly would ever fulfil their promise. "Really the big question is, how useful are they going to be?" he asked. "It's really not quite clear what the end goal is, because [industry] is producing this great looking technology but exactly how they can be deployed, people are still working it out." Dr Burden said humanoid robots were probably at the peak of inflated expectations in the "hype cycle". "The next few years will show whether that hype turns into usefulness or evolves into another type of emerging technology," he said. ABC/Reuters
