Hugging Face is launching an open robotics project

Hugging Face, the startup behind the popular open source machine learning codebase and ChatGPT rival Hugging Chat, is venturing into new territory with the launch of an open robotics project.

The ambitious expansion was announced by former Tesla staff scientist Remi Cadene in a post on X:

https://twitter.com/RemiCadene/status/1765715921388056904

In keeping with Hugging Face's ethos of open source, Cadene stated the robot project would be "open-source, not as in Open...

AUKUS trial advances AI for military operations 

The UK armed forces and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) recently collaborated with the militaries of Australia and the US as part of the AUKUS partnership in a landmark trial focused on AI and autonomous systems. 

The trial, called Trusted Operation of Robotic Vehicles in Contested Environments (TORVICE), was held in Australia under the AUKUS partnership formed last year between the three countries. It aimed to test robotic vehicles and sensors in situations...

Open X-Embodiment dataset and RT-X model aim to revolutionise robotics

In a collaboration between 33 academic labs worldwide, a consortium of researchers has unveiled a revolutionary approach to robotics.

Traditionally, robots have excelled in specific tasks but struggled with versatility, requiring individual training for each unique job. However, this limitation might soon be a thing of the past.

Open X-Embodiment: The gateway to generalist robots

At the heart of this transformation lies the Open X-Embodiment dataset, a monumental...

UK commits £13M to cutting-edge AI healthcare research

The UK has announced a £13 million investment in cutting-edge AI research within the healthcare sector.

The announcement, made by Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, marks a major step forward in harnessing the potential of AI in revolutionising healthcare. The investment will empower 22 winning projects across universities and NHS trusts, from Edinburgh to Surrey, to drive innovation and transform patient care.

Dr Antonio Espingardeiro, IEEE member and software and...

Tesla’s AI supercomputer tripped the power grid

Tesla’s purpose-built AI supercomputer ‘Dojo’ is so powerful that it tripped the power grid.

Dojo was unveiled at Tesla’s annual AI Day last year but the project was still in its infancy. At AI Day 2022, Tesla unveiled the progress it has made with Dojo over the course of the year.

The supercomputer has transitioned from just a chip and training tiles into a full cabinet. Tesla claims that it can replace six GPU boxes with a single Dojo tile, which it says is...

Chess robot breaks child’s finger after premature move

A robot went rogue at a Moscow chess tournament and broke a kid’s finger after he made a move prematurely. 

The robot, which uses AI to play three chess games at once, grabbed and pinched the child’s finger. Unfortunately, despite several people rushing to help, the robot broke the kid’s finger:

According to Moscow Chess Federation VP Sergey Smagin, the robot has been used for 15 years and this is the first time such an incident has occurred.

Reports...

National Robotarium pioneers AI and telepresence robotic tech for remote health consultations

The National Robotarium, hosted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, has unveiled an AI-powered telepresence robotic solution for remote health consultations.

Using the solution, health practitioners would be able to assess a person’s physical and cognitive health from anywhere in the world. Patients could access specialists no matter whether they’re based in the UK, India, the US, or anywhere else.

Iain Stewart, UK Government Minister for Scotland,...

AI Day: Elon Musk unveils ‘friendly’ humanoid robot Tesla Bot

During Tesla’s AI Day event, CEO Elon Musk unveiled a robot that is “intended to be friendly”.

Musk has been one of the most prominent figures to warn that AI is a “danger to the public” and potentially the “biggest risk we face as a civilisation”. In 2017, he even said there was just a “five to 10 percent chance of success [of making AI safe]”.

Speaking about London-based DeepMind in a New York Times interview last year, Musk said: “Just the nature...

Razer and ClearBot are using AI and robotics to clean the oceans

Razer has partnered with marine waste cleaning startup ClearBot to advance the use of AI and robotics to reduce ocean pollution.

The pair announced their partnership in celebration of World Oceans Day and is part of Razer’s 10-year #GoGreenWithRazer campaign that will see the company make green investments to support environment- and sustainability-focused startups.

Patricia Liu, Chief of Staff at Razer, said:

“We are extremely happy to have the...

Opinion: What is real intelligent automation?

Intelligent automation reduces costs, improves efficiency and allows businesses to initiate change through technology. When applied to business operations or customer services, it has proven to be an invaluable piece of technology as it improves productivity thus saving time in the process with quicker responses. With intelligent automation, manufacturing giant Siemens has driven 10 times faster processes at a tenth of the cost.

However, some software vendors place commodity...