Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. Some of China's most advanced legged robots were prancing around the World Robot Conference in Beijing, including a small quadruped called Laikago from Unitree Robotics that we wrote about last year and a big quadruped from the China North Vehicle Research Institute. They all look very Boston Dynamics-y, except for the one that has six legs, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Facebook is due to start hiding posts from people who spam users' news feed with clickbait, sensationalised and misinformative articles. In a statement, the social media giant said it was making the update "to reduce low quality links" in users' news feed. Facebook said it carried out research which showed that a small group of users were "routinely sharing vast amounts of public posts per day", which was effectively spamming people's feeds. Hackers can use brainwave signals to steal passwords Government warned of'serious consequences' of extreme internet plans Woman asked to shoot her boyfriend for fame tweeted before video Jean-Claude Juncker admits he doesn't own a smartphone Government warned of'serious consequences' of extreme internet plans The study showed that the same people, who were sharing vast amounts of public posts, were also sharing low quality content. As a result of the research, Facebook said it would "deprioritise" posts being shared from those accounts.

The maker of the world's most popular assault rifle is aiming to take on the maker of the world's most popular electric car with the launch of its own vehicle. Kalashnikov Concern, which is most famous for producing the AK47, unveiled the CV-1 "super car" at an event near Moscow on Thursday. "This technology will let us stand in the ranks of global electric car producers such as Tesla and be their competitor", a spokesperson for the Russian manufacturer said. The spokesperson said that Kalashnikov hoped its electric car was "at least able to keep up" with Tesla, though it is unclear what advantages the CV-1 has over Tesla. The CV-1 is based on the Soviet hatchback Izh, a popular vehicle in the 1970s that was noted for its durability and off-road capability.

Rankings of universities and specialized academic programs have a major influence on students deciding what university to attend, faculty deciding where to work, government bodies deciding where and how to invest education and research funding, and university leaders deciding how to grow their institutions.9 There is general agreement in scientometrics that the quality of a university or a program depends on many factors, and different ranking metrics might be appropriate for different types of users. However, major points of contention emerge when it comes to agreeing on ranking methodology.20 Given the increasing impact of rankings, there is a need to better understand the actors influencing rankings and come up with a justifiable, transparent formula that encourages high-quality education and research at universities.11 We aim to contribute toward achieving this objective by focusing on ranking of the U.S. doctoral programs in computer science. We broadly group quality measures into objective (such as average research funding per faculty member) and subjective (such as peer assessment). The influential U.S. News ranking of computer science doctoral programsa is based purely on peer assessment in which computer science department chairs are asked to score other computer science programs on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "marginal" and 5 being "outstanding," or enter "do not know" if not sufficiently familiar with the program. The final ranking is obtained by averaging the individual scores.

No exponential is forever: But'forever' can be delayed!

The recent explosion of interest, hype, and fear about artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning, and robotics has focused a spotlight on software engineers. The business magnate Elon Musk has called for regulation and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin has declared that world domination will result from mastering AI. Are software engineers responsible for these outcomes? Here, I argue that software engineers have less control over their designs than they likely realize. Instead, software technologies are evolving in a Darwinian way, or more precisely, they are co-evolving with human culture.

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be able learn to focus better by practising a video game that is controlled by their minds. Concentration problems are common among children with ADHD. Stimulant drugs like Ritalin and Adderall can help, but they sometimes cause side-effects like insomnia and moodiness. Helen Zhou at the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School and her colleagues wondered if video games could offer another way to improve focus in children with ADHD. To continue reading this premium article, subscribe for unlimited access.

Japanese farmers are testing a new drone that can hover above paddy fields and perform backbreaking tasks in a fraction of the time it takes a labourer. The drone applies pesticides and fertilizer to a rice field in 15 minutes - a job that takes more than an hour by hand and requires farmers to lug around heavy tanks. Developers of the new agricultural drone say it offers high-tech relief for rural communities facing a shortage of labour as young people leave for the cities. They plan to release the $36,000 (£28,000) Nile-T18, which farmers can control through an iPad app, next year. Japanese farmers are testing a new drone that can hover above paddy fields and perform backbreaking tasks in a fraction of the time it takes a labourer.

More than one million Hongkongers are at risk of losing their jobs to artificial intelligence over the next two decades, according to a new study by a local think tank. The One Country Two Systems Research Institute on Tuesday unveiled research which estimates about 28 per cent of the city's 3.7 million jobs are vulnerable to automation. These workers, which include secretaries, accountants and auditors, face a 70 per cent chance of being substituted for machines before 2038, the pro-Beijing research unit said. But Hong Kong employees face a lower risk of encroachment from AI compared to their counterparts in other advanced economies such as the United States, Britain and Japan. The brighter forecast for the city was due to its economic structure, which included a smaller manufacturing sector, research officer Kristine Yang said.

Whether it's robots coming to take your job or AI being used in military drones, there is no shortage of horror stories about artificial intelligence. Yet for all the potential it has to do harm, AI might have just as much potential to be a force for good in the world. Harnessing the power for good will require international cooperation, and a completely new approach to tackling difficult ethical questions, the authors of an editorial published in the journal Science argue. "From diagnosing cancer and understanding climate change to delivering risky and consuming jobs, AI is already showing its potential for good," says Mariarosaria Taddeo, deputy director of the Digital Ethics Lab at Oxford University and one of the authors of the commentary. "The question is how can harness this potential?"