The phenomenon then spread to popular culture abroad with cartoons like "Voltron" -- originally from Japan but a hit in the U.S. -- and movies such as 2013's "Pacific Rim." "With robotic designs for the newer films I worked on, I was trying to bring more realism in terms of how a fictional design functions mechanically; whether it's believable enough, how it's structurally built," he says. Bulgarov's other recent projects include designing the Lamborghini Transformer "Lockdown" and the robotic body suit for the latest "Robocop" reboot. However, unlike these fictional enterprises, Method-2 has some very real aspirations. Built by South Korean company Hankook Mirae Technology, which translates to Korea Future Technology in English, the company says its goal with the Method-2 prototype is to develop technology that can be put to use in a variety of real-world scenarios. "Media don't usually mention is that for the past few years I have been less involved with films and more with real-world products," says designer Bulgarov.

In a series of unofficial online games, an updated version of Google's AlphaGo artificial intelligence has compiled a 60-0 record against some of the game's premier players. Among the defeated, according to the Wall Street Journal, were China's Ke Jie, reigning world Go champion. The run follows AlphaGo's defeat of South Korea's Lee Se-dol in March of 2016, in a more official setting and using a previous version of the program. The games were played by the computer through online accounts dubbed Magister and Master--names that proved prophetic. As described by the Journal, the AI's strategies were unconventional and unpredictable, including moves that only revealed their full implications many turns later.

Nancy Brinker is a cancer advocate, a global consultant and founder of Susan G. Komen. Her opinions expressed in this article are her own. Elad Gil, Ph.D. is the chairman and co-founder of Color Genomics. The complexity of seeking a cure for cancer has vexed researchers for decades. While they've made remarkable progress, they are still waging a battle uphill as cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

The biggest debate going on this year at the Consumer Electronics Show is, what exactly was really new, inventive, breakthrough? Walking the floor of the show brought close-ups of a lot of connected gadgets for smart everything - homes, cities, cars, lights, weights, watches, clothes, appliances, energy, health and so on. The smartest of these Internet of things leveraged artificial intelligence to make them more useful. But while these and all the Alexi and Siri-powered gadgets sound like must haves in a new age for electronics, you have to wonder how many of these odd devices are really necessary, or just another digital nuisance or toy. Do we really need a digitally connected, data intensive toothbrush, lawn mower, cat pop scooper or dumbbell, just to name a few examples.

Artificial Intelligence seems to have replaced space as the final frontier for man in this century. Toyota unveiled'Yui', the AI agent for a car, at the Consumer Electronics Show held in the US this week. Yui will not just understand driving habits and the roads that the car has travelled; it also plays the role of a Jarvis-like assistant (think the Iron Man movies), offering you information and analyses. The Toyota Research Institute, which has built this technology, thinks these platforms can go live in car models by the end of the decade. However, such modules will not come to Indian markets for another decade, as we lack the telecom infrastructure to support these AI agents with information.

Thanks to its many business benefits, cloud computing is becoming commonplace within organizations of all sizes. Historically, companies have struggled to determine which model - public or private - best met their needs. But of late, IT professionals are increasingly starting to realize that both public and private clouds can exist harmoniously within the same organization, and that, in many instances, a hybrid cloud model can actually be the most effective approach. RightScale's "2016 State of the Cloud Survey" found that hybrid cloud adoption increased from 58 percent to 71 percent year-over-year. The uptick in hybrid cloud computing has not been overlooked by cybercriminals, who have been busy adapting traditional attack methods and devising new ways to target threat surfaces and vulnerabilities in the cloud.

At this year's CES Show, an event now more synonymous with cars than consumer electronics, keynote speaker and Renault Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn spoke with Frost & Sullivan about his vision on the Future of the Car Industry, the pressures and challenges he is expecting, as well as insight on key announcements Nissan made at the event. Ghosn highlighted three key mega trends that will define the future of the automotive industry. The first was the drive for zero emissions, in which he predicted that 25 percent of all cars sold in urban areas will be electric by 2030. The second trend focused on the customer's need for autonomous and driverless vehicles, in particular in commercial applications (taxi, logistics, etc.) . Lastly, he highlighted Connected Cars & Services. Ghosn predicts 100 percent of all cars, globally, will be connected by 2025, with connected services around sharedservices (car sharing, ride sharing, etc.) becoming hugely prominent.

Machine learning has become the topic de jour for hedge funds, but while Tim Wong, chairman of Man AHL and Man Group Asia, says they have had some success using such techniques, he doesn't expect to put his feet up and leave all the decision making to machines just yet. What's more, he warns that there are dangers that come from leaving humans totally out of the picture. The term machine learning is a broad one, but generally refers to a range of algorithms that can identify repeatable patterns and relationships within data, and which, more importantly, can do so without having to be told explicitly what kind of patterns and relationships to look for. Once they have been "taught" what is the right kind of answer, they are able to find the best way of getting there themselves. When it comes to hedge funds, the idea is that with a vast quantity of historic data available, algorithms are better able than humans to find patterns of behaviour in markets that offer investing opportunities.

In the year 1820, a person could expect to live less than 35 years, 94% of the global population lived in extreme poverty, and less that 20% of the population was literate. Today, human life expectancy is over 70 years, less that 10% of the global population lives in extreme poverty, and over 80% of people are literate. These improvements are due mainly to advances in technology, beginning in the industrial age and continuing today in the information age. There are many exciting new technologies that will continue to transform the world and improve human welfare. Here are eleven of them.

Jordan Jacobs and Tomi Poutanen are co-founders and co-CEOs of Layer 6 AI. Richard Zemel is a machine learning professor at the University of Toronto. Geoffrey Hinton is a University of Toronto professor emeritus and VP engineering fellow at Google. Ed Clark is a former TD Bank CEO and is business adviser to the Premier of Ontario.Jordan Jacobs and Tomi Poutanen are co-founders and co-CEOs of Layer 6 AI. Richard Zemel is a machine learning professor at the University of Toronto.