The International Academy of Astronautics organized its 6th Planetary Defence Conference from April 29 to May 3rd, 2019 in Washington DC, Area in the USA. The bi-annual conference brings together world experts to discuss the threat to Earth posed by asteroids and comets and actions that might be taken to deflect a threatening object. There were over 300 participants this year. Artash (Grade 7 student) submitted a paper to the conference on Using Machine Learning to predict the Risk Index of an Asteroid Colliding with Earth. It was accepted as a poster presentation for the conference and we were happy to attend the event. It was the first time for us to be participating in this conference.

And why do you need them to sustain your hotel direct booking strategy? Chatbots and hotel direct bookings have been much discussed in the past few months. This article defines briefly, the key aspects of hotel e-commerce chatbots (customer service and room reservation chatbots). Then, it shows you exactly where most hotels' direct sales strategy is flawed, and how artificial intelligence can help improve it. Chats are conversational interfaces (text or voice) where customers can ask their questions and usually expect a quick answer.

Energy Star was launched in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a voluntary labelling programme recognising the value of energy-efficiency in a broad range of computer-related products, from personal computers to air-conditioning systems. The programme's major success was the widespread adoption of the energy-saving "sleep mode" in consumer electronic devices. Energy Star's innovative breakthrough represents an important platform from which today's concept of computational sustainability was launched. Computational sustainability is defined as a field of interdisciplinary research that attempts to optimise societal, economic and environmental resources using advanced decision-making algorithms supported by the ever-increasing processing power of today's evolving computer systems. Computational sustainability's key goals include the development of computational models, methods and tools to assist in the management of the delicate balance between environmental, economic and societal needs. Advancements in AI and HCI have enabled combinations of robots and humans to carry out critical functions in the most hostile of environments.

He and his colleagues have built a device, about the size of a thin laptop, that emits sound at frequencies 10 times higher than the shrillest note a piccolo can sustain. The pitches it produces are inaudible to the human ear. When Guo's team aims the device at a person and fires an ultrasonic pitch, the gadget listens for the echo using its hundreds of embedded microphones. Then, employing artificial intelligence techniques, his team tries to decipher what the person is doing from the reflected sound alone. The technology is still in its infancy, but they've achieved some promising initial results.

Last-mile delivery is notoriously inefficient. In addition to the burden large volumes of parcels place on delivery chains, customizing drop-off routes between homes, apartment blocks, retail stores and offices can result in lost time, lower energy efficiency and more traffic congestion on busy streets. As package volumes and the popularity of two-day (or faster) shipping have skyrocketed over the last decade, shippers and 3PLs are looking for ways to increase the speed and efficiency of at-home deliveries. In recent years, drones, robots and autonomous vehicles have been hailed as potential solutions because they can be programmed to navigate environments that would otherwise be difficult or time consuming for an average delivery truck driver to reach. To make this pilot more feasible, Digit is designed to fold itself up for easy storage while in the back of a self-driving delivery vehicle.

The Walklake robot assists a schoolchild's morning health scan. More than 2,000 preschools in China are using a robot to check the health status of their students. Before children enter the classrooms each day, they stand in front of the robot--called Walklake--for a quick checkup by showing it their eyes, throats, and hands. Walklake is equipped with an infrared thermometer on its forehead, as well as cameras on its eyes, mouth, and chest. The system is designed to scan for disease symptoms, such as fever, hand blisters, throat sores, and red eyes.

The Diet passed into law Tuesday a bill allowing drivers to use their smartphones while their cars are traveling autonomously under certain circumstances and if they are able to shift to manual driving immediately during an emergency. The bill to amend the road traffic law, which includes rules on so-called Level 3 self-driving of vehicles under certain circumstances, passed the House of Representatives. The amended law will come into effect by May next year. In Level 3 situations, automated driving is permitted under conditions that have to do with the type of road, the vehicle speed and other factors. A Level 3 situation includes a traffic jam on an expressway.

A DJI Technology drone flies during a demonstration in Shenzhen, China, in 2014. DJI sells the majority of Chinese-made drones bought in the United States. A DJI Technology drone flies during a demonstration in Shenzhen, China, in 2014. DJI sells the majority of Chinese-made drones bought in the United States. Drones have become an increasingly popular tool for industry and government.

Similar to the growth in the number of vehicles in an urban area, the number of aircraft and the passengers they ferry, are in a phase of constant growth. Globally, the number of aircraft is expected to double from the base year of 2015 up to 2035. Since there are only limited number of airports and limited amount of space in each airport, this implies that each aircraft movement on the ground needs to be efficiently handled for faster turnaround. Faced with the pressure of managing multiple cost heads, airlines are now outsourcing their airport ground handling and cargo management services to specialist companies, and focusing on their core competence. While growth trends in passenger volumes tend to follow macroeconomic fundamentals, the growth in aircraft turnarounds are more immune to such highs and lows.

The ongoing battle for consumer dollars and attention sees brands embracing new technologies. In the world of fashion, it has led to a new trend in deploying virtual models. One such model is Lil Miquela, the virtual Instagram influencer who started it all. She was first created by Trevor McFedries and Sara Decou as a "digital art project" in April 2016. She currently has 1.5 million Instagram followers and has already collaborated with brands like Prada.