Robot Wars has been axed by the BBC for a second time. The show featuring duelling robots was rebooted on BBC Two in 2016 and ran for three series. Presented by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon since its return, it is to be scrapped to "make room for new shows", the BBC said. Soon after the announcement the hashtag #BringBackRobotWars started trending on social media. Sad to confirm the BBC's decision to de-activate our House Robots.

Amazon's popular Echo family of devices keeps growing. From the first can-shaped Echo, to the big-screen Echo Show, and even the cute Echo Dot, you can get Alexa into your home any number of ways. These Echo products can answer your questions, help you order essentials for your home, play all sorts of audio content, and even function as the control hub for your burgeoning smart home. These are our favorite Amazon Echos for every home and every budget. The Echo Plus is the best-sounding Echo.

Californian company Skycatch is building drones that will use machine learning to map sites, plan work, and even guide autonomous construction vehicles on building sites. Clear for takeoff: According to New Scientist, over 5,000 Japanese building sites have used Skycatch drones over the past three years to map construction sites. It takes the drones 15 minutes to scan a site and make a map of its terrain--a process that takes a team of humans several days. A flying foreman: The drones use AI that has been trained on data like labeled aerial YouTube footage depicting different kinds of industrial equipment. That enables them to study footage of a building site as they fly overhead, determine where vehicles are, and suggest how they should be moved.

Earlier this decade, as the economy and auto sales rebounded, Ford executives were quick to note consumers' waning preference for midsize cars and growing attraction to S.U.V.s and lighter, more fuel-efficient versions called crossovers. But Ford was slow to introduce new variations and redesign existing models, while General Motors and Fiat Chrysler's Jeep brand zoomed ahead. The push toward S.U.V.s signals a shift in emphasis for Ford. Before Mr. Hackett's arrival last May, the company had focused much of its long-term strategy on self-driving cars, and had vowed to have a car with no steering wheel in mass-production by 2021. Ford is pressing on with self-driving vehicles, but executives barely mentioned them as part of the new vehicle strategy they presented on Thursday.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is solving problems that seemed well beyond our reach just a few years back. Using deep learning, the fastest growing segment of AI, computers are now able to learn and recognize patterns from data that were considered too complex for expert written software. Today, deep learning is transforming every industry, including automotive, healthcare, retail and financial services. Enterprises, and their leaders, looking to get started should first get familiar with the fundamentals of deep learning, and as well as understand the current challenges and how to address them. This crash course provides a starting point, as well as practical guidance on next steps.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Russia's involvement is "highly likely," and she gave the country a deadline of midnight Tuesday to explain its actions in the case. She is reviewing a range of economic and diplomatic measures in retaliation for the assault with what she identified as the military-grade nerve agent Novichok.

Instead of simply prompting "dial one to speak with a sales associate," a chatbot can direct potential customers and extract details in less time and with greater insight, all while allowing the user to communicate naturally, on their own terms. Working alongside human employees, conversational chatbots can serve as front-line engagement tools that help drive customer interactions and funnel prospects to the appropriate channel where a human resource can truly add value.

The British chip design firm ARM came up with the processors used in virtually all the world's smartphones. Now it plans to add the hardware that will let them run artificial-intelligence algorithms, too. ARM announced today that it has created its first dedicated machine-learning chips, which are meant for use in mobile and smart-home devices. The company says it's sharing the plans with its hardware partners, including smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm, and expects to see devices packing the hardware by early 2019. Currently, most small or portable devices that use machine learning lack the horsepower to run AI algorithms, so they enlist the help of big servers in the cloud.

At CaliBurger in Pasadena, Calif., the plug has been temporarily pulled on Flippy, a robot that can grill as many as 2,000 burgers a day.

The HQ-40 drone, made by Tuscon, Ariz.-based Latitude Engineering, can carry samples for medical testing in a refrigerated container. The HQ-40 drone, made by Tuscon, Ariz.-based Latitude Engineering, can carry samples for medical testing in a refrigerated container. One shred of solace that surfaced as hurricanes and tropical storms pummeled Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico last fall was the opportunity to see drones realize some of their life-saving potential. During those disasters unmanned aircraft surveyed wrecked roads, bridges and rail lines. They spotted oil and gas leaks.