Instability and variability of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithms tend to adversely affect their performance. Averaged-DQN is a simple extension to the DQN algorithm, based on averaging previously learned Q-values estimates, which leads to a more stable training procedure and improved performance by reducing approximation error variance in the target values. To understand the effect of the algorithm, we examine the source of value function estimation errors and provide an analytical comparison within a simplified model. We further present experiments on the Arcade Learning Environment benchmark that demonstrate significantly improved stability and performance due to the proposed extension.

The operator of the disaster-struck Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant said Thursday it will attempt to examine the inside of reactor 1 next Tuesday using a remote-controlled robot. The move follows a botched attempt by another self-propelled robot to take a look inside reactor 2, which had also sustained a meltdown after the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. That robot became unable to move when it encountered debris and eventually could not be retrieved. These are the first attempts by Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. to examine the insides of the wrecked reactors since the nuclear disaster started. For the reactor 1 inspection, Tepco said the new robot will carry out a four-day probe inside the containment vessel.

The era where brands connect with consumers through direct selling and mass-market advertising is long gone. These days, no marketing strategy can adequately address the customer journey without addressing aspects such as social, mobility and multi-screen use. As we start this brand-new year, we look at two upcoming trends that savvy marketers need to watch out for. The role of data has been rising over the last few years, and no CMOs will oppose or question its relevance when it comes to marketing today. For one, wearables are set to become ubiquitous this year, if they are not already so. Elsewhere, the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is also expected to surge with an influx of new connected cameras, sensors and other networked devices.

With the CIA's ability to'breach almost anything connected to the internet' made public, many citizens have begun questioning their devices. A clip has surfaced showing an anonymous woman asking Amazon's Alexa a series of questions - starting with'would you lie to me' and finishing with'Alexa, are you connected to the CIA?' The virtual assistant swiftly responded to the first question, but shutdown after it was interrogated about its connections with the US government agency. A video appeared on Reddit that has people questioning their virtual assistants. A woman is seen asking Amazon's Alexa a series of questions. ' 'I am not always right, but I would never intentionally lie to you or anyone else,' responded Alexa. Alexa answered, 'The Unites States Central Intelligence Agency, CIA'.

People can find a hundred ways to say the same thing, which poses a challenge to robots that are expected to keep up their end of conversations. A Disney Research team's solution is to devise an automated method of crowdsourcing multiple lines of dialogue. After all, "hello" is a perfectly fine greeting, but not every time you see someone. The team developed a persistent interactive personality, or PIP, that can translate high-level goals and variables into simple narratives, effectively summarizing situations it will find itself in. PIP then autonomously presents the descriptions to crowd workers to elicit appropriate speech for the context.

Airbus and Italdesign have unveiled Pop.Up, a modular autonomous flying car concept that can operate on the ground and in the air. It comprises a capsule that can be attached to and detached from a wheeled base or drone-like rotors, both of which are electric, depending on the passenger's needs. Airbus believes it could also be used with hyperloop systems in the future, for super-fast transport. Pop.Up is just a concept, but Airbus envisages that the vehicles would form part of a wider ride-hailing system, much like Uber. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

HONG KONG Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is in talks with banks to raise $5 billion in new funding, sources told Thomson Reuters' Basis Point, amid a flurry of fund-raising by China's tech giants.

China has pledged to prioritise the development of artificial intelligence for the first time within the government's latest annual work report, underlining its ambition to lead what has fast become one of the hottest areas of global technological innovation. One analyst is now projecting the industry in China to grow by more than 50 per cent in value to 38 billion yuan (US$5.5 billion) by 2018. "We will implement a comprehensive plan to boost strategic emerging industries," said Premier Li Keqiang in his delivery at the annual parliamentary session in Beijing over the weekend. "We will accelerate research & development (R&D) on, and the commercialisation of new materials, artificial intelligence (AI), integrated circuits, bio-pharmacy, 5G mobile communications, and other technologies." Artificial intelligence, which focusses on creating machines that work and react like humans, will create the next industrial revolution and China and "should grab the opportunity to overtake other global competitors" in the field, added Zhou Hanmin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, during the "two sessions".

With the broad release of Google Assistant last week, the voice-assistant wars are in full swing, with Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and now Alphabet Inc's Google all offering electronic assistants to take your commands. Siri is the oldest of the bunch, and researchers including Oren Etzioni, chief executive officer of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle, said Apple has squandered its lead when it comes to understanding speech and answering questions. But there is at least one thing Siri can do that the other assistants cannot: speak 21 languages localized for 36 countries, a very important capability in a smartphone market where most sales are outside the United States. With the broad release of Google Assistant last week, the voice-assistant wars are in full swing, with Apple Inc, Amazon.com

In a short time, Viet Thanh Nguyen has encircled the American literary consciousness: first with his mind-bending 2015 novel "The Sympathizer," then last year's cultural history "Nothing Ever Dies" and now with eight short stories entitled "The Refugees." Nguyen, the Aerol Arnold Chair of English and professor of English and American studies and ethnicity at USC, has called refugees "the zombies of the world" because they are haunted, unwanted at home and abroad. In "Black-Eyed Women," the first tale in his new collection, his characters do share such qualities with the undead. The narrator is a 38-year-old Vietnamese refugee, working as a ghostwriter and living in near silence with her mother. She leads a denatured American life -- her gender unclear until the ninth page.