From Mexican immigrant to MIT, from Girl Power in Latin America to robotics entrepreneurs in Africa and India, the 2019 annual "women in robotics you need to know about" list is here! We've featured 150 women so far, from 2013 to 2018, and this time we're not stopping at 25. We're featuring 30 inspiring #womeninrobotics because robotics is growing and there are many new stories to be told. So, without further ado, here are the 30 Women In Robotics you need to know about – 2019 edition! There are 150 more stories on our 2013 to 2018 lists. Why not nominate someone for inclusion next year!

In developing artificial intelligence for use on the battlefield and throughout the defense enterprise, the U.S. military is challenging China and other adversaries to a multigenerational contest. At stake is nothing less than global dominance in the fast-arriving digital future. "We are in a contest for the character of the international order in the digital age," Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, director of the Pentagon's new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, told reporters at a recent briefing. "Our potential adversaries are moving very deliberately towards a future of artificial intelligence." To get an edge on the competition, the U.S. military plans to "democratize" access to AI development tools across the Defense Department, through a collaborative, cloud-based platform called the Joint Common Foundation.

Academics and startups from Imperial College London and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology presented their innovative ideas at a conference. Co-organised by Imperial Business Partners and MIT, the Innovation Journeys Conference brought together industry leaders, academics and startups from both universities to explore and share the latest technological innovations and research. Imperial Business Partners offers a unique approach to problem-solving for research-driven industries via accelerated access to Imperial's expertise, talent and facilities. Imperial's Director of Enterprise Simon Hepworth discussed the university's role in the entrepreneurial journey, saying it is present at all stages, whether that's for students or staff. The College's enterprising ecosystem is vast, ranging from academic ventures, entrepreneurship competitions and programmes such as WeInnovate and the Enterprise Lab, which supports student innovation.

From Mexican immigrant to MIT, from Girl Power in Latin America to robotics entrepreneurs in Africa and India, the 2019 annual "women in robotics you need to know about" list is here! We've featured 150 women so far, from 2013 to 2018, and this time we're not stopping at 25. We're featuring 30 badass #womeninrobotics because robotics is growing and there are many new stories to be told. So, without further ado, here are the 30 Women In Robotics you need to know about – 2019 edition! There are 150 more stories on our 2013 to 2018 lists. Why not nominate someone for inclusion next year!

For mobile robots to operate autonomously in general environments, perception is required in the form of a dense metric map. For this purpose, we present the stochastic triangular mesh (STM) mapping technique: a 2.5-D representation of the surface of the environment using a continuous mesh of triangular surface elements, where each surface element models the mean plane and roughness of the underlying surface. In contrast to existing mapping techniques, a STM map models the structure of the environment by ensuring a continuous model, while also being able to be incrementally updated with linear computational cost in the number of measurements. We reduce the effect of uncertainty in the robot pose (position and orientation) by using landmark-relative submaps. The uncertainty in the measurements and robot pose are accounted for by the use of Bayesian inference techniques during the map update. We demonstrate that a STM map can be used with sensors that generate point measurements, such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors and stereo cameras. We show that a STM map is a more accurate model than the only comparable online surface mapping technique$\unicode{x2014}$a standard elevation map$\unicode{x2014}$and we also provide qualitative results on practical datasets.

An app uses a smart phone camera to detect leukocoria, a pale reflection from the back of the eye. It can be an early sign of disease. Here it appears light brown compared the healthy eye. An app uses a smart phone camera to detect leukocoria, a pale reflection from the back of the eye. It can be an early sign of disease.

It's karaoke-rehearsal time at Knollwood Military Retirement Community, a 300-bed facility tucked away in a leafy corner of northwest Washington, D.C. Knollwood resident and retired U.S. Army Colonel Phil Soriano, 86, has hosted the facility's semi-monthly singalongs since their debut during a boozy snowstorm happy hour in 2016. For the late August 2019 show, he'll share emcee duties with a special guest: Stevie, a petite and personable figure who's been living at Knollwood for the last six weeks. Soriano wants to sing the crowd-pleasing hit "YMCA" while Stevie leads the crowd through the song's signature dance moves. But Stevie is a robot, and this is harder than it sounds. "We could try to make him dance," says Niamh Donnelly, the robot's lead AI engineer, though she sounds dubious. She enters commands on a laptop.

On February 6, 2018, Elon Musk's SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket, the largest ever, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Its cargo was a Tesla Roadster, which is now orbiting the sun somewhere between Mars and the asteroid belt. Between Elon Musk's numerous companies and passion projects (SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City, the Hyperloop, the Boring Company), and the quickly proceeding advances in VR/AR/MR, genetics/cloning, blockchain, AI, 3D printing, and other fields, someone who was in a coma since 1998 and just woke up yesterday would be forgiven for thinking they had jumped a hundred years into the future instead of a mere 20. But then this person would actually get up and go out into the real world and see that mostly everything else is the same, aside from more traffic on the roads, more people in general, most of whom now carry miniature computers with them wherever they go that are more powerful than any desktop from the 20th century. Born in apartheid-era South Africa, he lived the first 16 years of his life in various towns, including Pretoria, moving back and forth between divorced parents.

The pace and scale of medical and scientific innovation is transforming the biopharma industry. The need for better patient engagement and experience is spurring new business models. Data generated, captured, analysed and used in real time by innovative medical devices is biopharma's new currency. A key differentiator for companies is the extent to which they are able to generate insights and evidence from multiple data sources. Consequently, digital transformation is a strategic imperative. This report outlines how artificial intelligence-enabled technologies will impact the biopharma value chain and accelerate biopharma's digital transformation. Although there is a high level of innovation in the industry, biopharma companies are facing a complex and challenging environment due to increased competition and R&D cycle times, shorter time in market, expiring patents, declining peak sales, pressure around reimbursement and mounting regulatory scrutiny. As we have shown in our series of reports on'Measuring the return from pharmaceutical innovation', these factors are contributing to an alarming decline in the projected return on investment that large biopharma companies might expect to achieve from their late-stage pipelines, threatening their long-term futures.1 Digital transformation could provide a lifeline to biopharma research and development (R&D) and help reverse this trend. Digital transformation will also impact beyond R&D, as companies look to improve their operational performance, productivity, efficiency and cost-effectiveness across the entire biopharma value chain (see figure 1). Digital transformation will also impact business models, the development of new products and services, and how companies engage with health care professionals, patients and other customers. Ultimately, digital transformation is the next step in the evolution of biopharma companies.

The energy industry can free up more time for high value activities and improve safety performance by adopting data-driven digitisation, according to a world-leading artificial intelligence (AI) expert. In a keynote speech at this year's OPITO Global Conference on 6th November in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Ayesha Khanna, founder and CEO of Singapore headquartered ADDO AI will describe how AI and machine learning are delivering huge benefits in other sectors. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, OPITO Global is the only international event focusing on energy industry safety and competency. Industry leaders and experts will share their insights on Safety 4.0, exploring how technology is helping to improve safety, health and wellbeing. Dr Khanna has provided strategic advice to international corporations and governments and last year she was described by Forbes magazine as one of South East Asia's most ground-breaking female entrepreneurs.