Technological Singularity is based on the prediction that the development of AI powerful enough to surpass human intelligence will change the world as we know it, leading either to a catastrophic end of the human kind or to its miraculous ascent.
In a recent article in the Guardian, Alan Winfield, professor of electronic engineering at the University of the West of England, Bristol, discusses the pitfalls of being overly pessimistic or optimistic about the Technological Singularity.
The 3rd Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems will be held this year from 30 July to 1 August in Milan. As has become a tradition, the three-day event, organised by the Convergent Science Network, will be hosted at a fantastic venue consistent with the spirit of the conference: the Da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology, one of the largest technology museums in Europe.
Credit: Aldebaran Robotics
Pepper, a new humanoid robot introduced earlier this month in Japan, may herald the beginning of a new era in personal robotics. Unlike its ancestors, such as Mitsubishi’s Wakamaru and Sony’s QRIO, who had to join the halls of robot extinction, Pepper, developed jointly by the French robotics company Aldebaran and the Japanese telecom giant SoftBank, is here to stay.
Now you can follow the CSN project on Twitter! Join us and stay up-to-date with all the project news and more exciting content on biomimetics, robotics and neurotechnology!
New to Twitter? Go to twitter.com, set up your account, then search for CSN_eu and press follow. It’s that easy! See you there!
Source: Aldebaran Robotics
Five years have passed since Aldebaran Robotics announced an ambitious joint project with over a dozen leading French research centres to make France one of the few countries to have developed an advanced humanoid robot. Finally, the robot, named Romeo, made its long-awaited debut at the Innorobo robotics fair, which was held earlier last month in Lyon.
What do a bat, a jellyfish and a humpback whale have in common? For one thing, these animals use their natural propulsors, such as wings, bells and flukes, to move through their environment, be it air or water. Last week a group of researchers published a study in Nature Communications that indicates that these and many other animals from distantly related groups seem to have attended the same school of propulsion. And one of the subjects they studied there was all about being flexible.
The Convergent Science Network blog wishes you Happy Holidays!
We will be back soon with more exciting blogs in 2014!
Roboticists from across Europe showcased the most advanced biomimetic robots so far at the Robot SafariEU, an event organized by the Science Museum of London. The Robot SafariEU offered its visitors a special experience with a unique landscape of synthetic creatures able to run very fast like robot cheetah, stretch their wings like the rob-bat, crawl like the robot salamander, swim like a fish or like the robotic turtle U-CAT that is built to explore the deep seas. Continue reading
Have a great summer…
We’ll be back with more this fall!
