Fully convolutional neural networks (FCNs) have shown outstanding performance in many computer vision tasks including salient object detection. However, there still remains two issues needed to be addressed in deep learning based saliency detection. One is the lack of tremendous amount of annotated data to train a network. The other is the lack of robustness for extracting salient objects in images containing complex scenes. In this paper, we present a new architecture$ - $PDNet, a robust prior-model guided depth-enhanced network for RGB-D salient object detection. In contrast to existing works, in which RGB-D values of image pixels are fed directly to a network, the proposed architecture is composed of a master network for processing RGB values, and a sub-network making full use of depth cues and incorporate depth-based features into the master network. To overcome the limited size of the labeled RGB-D dataset for training, we employ a large conventional RGB dataset to pre-train the master network, which proves to contribute largely to the final accuracy. Extensive evaluations over five benchmark datasets demonstrate that our proposed method performs favorably against the state-of-the-art approaches.

China is moving towards merging AI with humans, and the United States Defense Intelligence Agency sees this as a major concern for the future of warfare. Lt. General Ashley begins his talk at 32:20 in the above video by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service Speaking at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting on October 8, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director Lieutenant General Robert P. Ashley, Jr. said that one of the biggest decisions that the United States military will have to make is how to deal with the "integration of humans and machines" that China is pursuing. "China is progressively pursuing a 2025 strategy where they want to be the main driver of AI, not only for their economic but for their industrial transformation," said Ashley. "Whoever leads in AI will rule the world." "The character of war is constantly changing, and we see AI as we see some of these disruptive technologies that continue to change the character of war -- the complexity and the speed of human interaction. Our task is to understand how they operate," said the DIA director.

Boston Dynamics has released a new video of its robot dog, Spot, walking around construction sites in Tokyo as the company starts to test it "for commercial usage around the world." The company, owned by Japanese internet conglomerate Softbank, gave Spot a "specialized payload for surveying work progress," while adding another camera in its hand to let it do "detailed inspection work on site." The company doesn't say what Spot's use cases could be, but it's not hard to imagine it as a security guard on a construction site; or making sure workers have what they need. The video of Spot being a creepy, but overall good boy, comes after Boston Dynamics showed its significantly scarier humanoid robot, Atlas, performing parkour, a training discipline that allows people to get from one point to another with little-wasted movement. 'NIGHTMARE-INDUCING' ROBOTS ARE NOW ABLE TO DO BACKFLIPS In that video, posted Thursday, Boston Dynamics said that Atlas has control software that "uses the whole body including legs, arms and torso, to marshal the energy and strength for jumping over the log and leaping up the steps without breaking its pace."

The two astronauts involved in a crash landing after a Russian launch when wrong will head back up to space in the same rocket. The head of Russia's space agency said that the pair have been provisionally scheduled to fly back to the International Space Station in spring of next year. And his equivalent at Nasa said he had full confidence in the Soyuz rocket, despite the potentially catastrophic failure observed during the latest launch. From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station.

Some 30 million user accounts were stolen in a huge hack of Facebook, the company has confirmed. The breach – the worst in the company's history – appears to have been carried out by an unnamed attacker, Facebook suggested. It said the FBI was "actively investigating" the hacker, and that it had "asked us not to discuss who may be behind this attack". The company had already announced that around 50 million users' data had been exposed when hackers stole login keys that allowed them to access profiles. But it wasn't clear how many of them had actually been used.

Her dance partner is 9 feet tall and weighs nearly two-tons: an ABB IRB 6700 robot typically used for the "three Ds" of industrial labor -- tasks that are dull, dirty and dangerous. The robot's movements have been programmed then visualized, which Cuan riffs off. The topic of the piece she is assembling -- called "OUTPUT" -- is where one derives aesthetic value from; how artistic inspiration can strike from a cold, imposing robotic arm. It also points to an urgent question in technology's development: why machine movement matters. As we see increasingly coexist with robots -- in nursing homes and operating rooms -- we also need to figure out how to interact with them.

People have been dreaming about Artificial Intelligence for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Well, it's starting to feel like the future is actually here, and AI can be seen almost everyone nowadays. So how should you feel about it? Here are 42 facts about the past, present and future of artificial intelligence to help you decide for yourself. In Ancient Greek mythology, the blacksmith god Hephaestus was believed to have built what were essentially robots. His "automatons," as they were called, were crafted from metal and designed to perform different tasks for him or other gods. They took many forms, including men, women, eagles, and horses.

A Japanese probe sent to examine an asteroid will now land several months later than planned, officials have confirmed. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) says the high-profile Hayabusa2 is expected to touch down on Ryugu at least three months behind schedule. Specifically, they cite'late January' as the earliest possible opportunity, rather than the end of this month - which was the original time-frame. JAXA project manager Yuichi Tsuda said they needed more time to prepare the landing as data showed the asteroid surface was more rugged than expected. A Japanese probe sent to examine an asteroid will now land several months later than planned, officials have confirmed.

Tech can be a force for good, and we need to have strong collaboration between government and the tech business. AI and blockchain are strong enablers, they will significantly change how we interact with the world. There is a strong belief in that humankind can solve it's big problems. The number of good people vastly exceeds the number of bad ones, so we just have to keep in mind our violent history and build on the strong foundations of peace and prosperity to build a great future. We get 3% higher IQ for each decade (the Flynn effect), education is rising fast, and we become both awake and concious.

Robotics firm Boston Dynamics has unveiled the latest version of its highly-advanced Atlas robot, showing the machine performing parkour tricks over obstacles. Boston Dynamics describes Atlas as the "world's most dynamic humanoid," with previous videos showing the robot performing backflips. "The control software uses the whole body including legs, arms and torso, to marshal the energy and strength for jumping over the log and leaping up the steps without breaking its pace," the video's description states. A caretaker wearing a'HAL for care support' robot suit pushes a wheelchair at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo. Residents follow moves made by humanoid robot'Pepper' during an afternoon exercise routine at Shin-tomi nursing home in Tokyo.