While robots have already been taking human jobs in many industries such as car manufacturing, as they become increasingly sophisticated there are growing fears they will put more employees at risk. Now a major electronics company that supplies Apple and Samsung has announced it is to replace 60,000 staff with robots. Foxconn, the Taiwanese company which assembles iPhones and iPads, has brought in machines to perform repetitive tasks and axed more than half its 110,000-strong workforce at a factory in Southern China. In a statement the company said: 'We are applying robotics engineering and other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace repetitive tasks previously done by employees.' As robots increasingly make their way into the workforce, some have argued that they will soon be taking over many traditionally human jobs.

Robots are moving out of the factory and into the office. The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has changed all this. Automated systems can now be used to carry out tasks that previously required human intelligence, such as providing advice and analysing documents. IBM's Watson computer is already being used for complex data analysis outside the legal sector, such as the medical profession. For example, US-based health insurer WellPoint uses Watson to support decisions on some patient procedures.

American airport security has never been something to look forward to, but in the past few weeks, it's attained new levels of misery. The busy summer travel season is only just starting, and already the public's been warned to expect the worst. Understaffed Transport Security Administration checkpoints mean lines spilling out of airport doors. Hauled before Congress for a ritual grilling, TSA chief Peter Neffenger pledged to increase staffing (including sniffer dogs) and encourage more people to enroll in the TSA Pre-Check program, in which trusted travelers (who've undergone background checks and paid a fee) pass through a quicker, less rigorous screening. He sacked his head of security.

The imminent domination of robots is quickly approaching. It's said to happen in Kunshan, inside Jiangsu province – the electronics industry manufacturing hub in China. A total of 4 billion yuan ( 609 million USD) was spent by 35 Taiwanese companies on artificial intelligence research and development last year. According to a survey conducted by the government, 600 more firms are interested to follow suit. Manufacturers are strongly considering the idea of replacing employees with robots to save money, boost in efficiency, and increase profit.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

The foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan's prime minister says "all indicators" confirm that Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the country's southwest while travelling under a false name with a fake Pakistani identity document.

The first guidelines on public road tests of self-driving vehicles, released Thursday by the National Police Agency, exclude fully automated cars without a steering wheel or driver. The NPA's recommendations say tests should be conducted with cars that have a driver behind the wheel to ensure safety and compliance with the road traffic law. The government sees promoting the technology used in self-driving cars as a key to economic growth. The police agency's guidelines call for using "black boxes" on test cars to record all data and, in case of an accident, ascertaining the cause and taking corrective measures before test drives are resumed. The NPA is expected to set up a panel of experts this summer to examine issues surrounding possible legislative reforms for this new technology, such as who would be legally responsible in case of an accident, the need to adapt the driver's license system for self-driving cars and how to take measures against hacking cars.

From self-driving cars to robot lorries, autonomous vehicles are the future of road transportation. But who's in pole position, who's stuck in the pit lane and how far away is the starting grid? Autonomous vehicles are already on our roads. At the cutting edge there are self-driving cars being tested in pilot programmes, and they are proving perfectly capable of motoring alongside human drivers. But beyond robotic cars, many high-end vehicles available today are already practically capable of driving themselves either under the guise of passenger safety or driver convenience.

There is a difference between knowledge and understanding. Knowledge typically comes down to knowing facts while understanding is the application of knowledge to the mastery of systems. You can know a lot while understanding very little. Just as an example, IBM's Watson artificial intelligence system that defeated the TV Jeopardy champs a few years ago knew all there was to know about Jeopardy questions but didn't really understand anything. Ask Watson to apply to removing your appendix its knowledge of hundreds of medical questions and you'd be disappointed and probably dead.

The first wave of robots taking over human jobs is upon us. Apple Inc. AAPL, 1.76% supplier Foxconn Technology Co. 2354, -0.41% has replaced 60,000 human workers with robots in a single factory, according to a report in the South China Morning Post, initially published over the weekend. This is part of a massive reduction in headcount across the entire Kunshan region in China's Jiangsu province, in which many Taiwanese manufacturers base their Chinese operations. Roughly 600 companies are reportedly looking to reduce headcount with robots, as part of an effort to accelerate growth and reduce costs, according to the Chinese newspaper, which cited data from the Kunshan government. Last year, 35 Taiwanese companies, including Foxconn, spent a total of 4 billion yuan ( 610 million) on artificial intelligence as part of this initiative, according to the report.