Robots and artificial intelligence have opened doors in the fields of manufacturing and machine learning, but now they have gone where few expected them to go: deep sea diving. Stanford University professor of computer science Oussama Khatib developed his new deep ocean avatar in response to a need to dive deeper than humans can comfortably go. The robot he created, named OceanOne, is so revolutionary that it could change the field of deep sea diving, forever. "OceanOne will be your avatar," Dr. Khatib said in a Stanford press release. "The intent here is to have a human diving virtually, to put the human out of harm's way. Having a machine that has human characteristics that can project the human diver's embodiment at depth is going to be amazing."

An autonomous robot security guard equipped with weapons and intelligent video analysis equipment has been unveiled in China. The AnBot is China's first "intelligent security robot," according to state newspaper People's Daily, and was developed by the National Defense University. The 1.49m, 78kg machine has a top speed of 11mph (18km/h), as well as "sensors that mimic the human brain, eyes and ears," the article stated. The droid was on show at the Chongqing Hi-Tech Fair last week and is expected to be used to patrol areas prone to civil unrest or violence. "AnBot has a high degree of autonomy," Xiao Xiangjiang from the National Defense University said at the event.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now weighed in on what is important to him and the future of the company that he founded over a decade ago. One thing that was of particular interest was what he had to say about artificial intelligence and what it means to Facebook, and the internet, moving forward. What Mark Zuckerberg is currently doing with artificial intelligence is what most people would see as the technology of the future. A.I. has long been considered an inevitable form of technology that was bound to make its way to the public in one way or another at some point. The fact that Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have set their sights on it means they are clearly focusing on the future.

In a four-story Bauhaus-style building west of Shanghai, nearly 500 engineers are working to put what they hope will be China's answer to a Tesla Motors Inc. TSLA -0.00 % electric car on the road. Their company, NextEV, currently doesn't have anything to sell. It plans to unveil its first electric car in 2017. "Our goal is to build a high-end, high-performance electric car for half the price of a Tesla car," said Li Bin, co-founder and chairman of NextEV. Counting Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. TCEHY -0.05 % as an investor, NextEV is part of an increasingly crowded industry as the world's biggest auto market welcomes a wave of new entrants--China's deep-pocketed Internet giants.

"Industry 4.0," or the fourth industrial revolution, can offer both opportunities and risks for the Japanese economy. It is a term to describe the future state of the economy, particularly manufacturing, based on the connectivity of everything, or the "Internet of Things" (IoT). This connectivity includes not only PCs and mobile phones, but also cars, manufacturing equipment and other devices. Although Japan is said to lag behind other developed nations, a recent gathering discussed whether the country could thrive in this new economy. A consultant, an IT service company president, an employee of the same company and a university professor, all of whom are Japanese, delivered presentations and discussed related issues at a symposium organized by the Keizai Koho Center, titled "The Future of Industry (Industry 4.0) and Japan's Economic Growth," in Tokyo on March 18.

A professor at Stanford University has designed a robotic humanoid diver with articulated hands that is designed to be an underwater avatar, exploring the way a human would-- while its driver remains safely up at the surface. The robot, which measures about five feet long, uses artificial intelligence and also a haptic feedback system to provide its controller with a feel for what the robot is holding. While the front part of the submersible resembles a human, the back part features computers, batteries, and thrusters. The machine, called OceanOne, was designed by Stanford computer science professor Oussama Khatib, who researches autonomous robots. "OceanOne is aimed at bringing a new capability for underwater exploration," Khatib said in a video showcasing the robot's abilities, in which it manipulates objects like a red basket.

And they will soon be doing everything, from taking your pizza orders to scheduling your meetings. This is the future and it's going to be terrible. The rise of the chatbot has been foretold for some time but only in the past few weeks with Facebook's Messenger bots, chat app Kik's bot store and the rise of subversive artbots have they really hit the public consciousness. So how did we get here? At this stage, four months after launch, it seems unlikely that even Peach's developers remember Peach.

Microsoft had to face an embarrassing moment when'Tay' an automated chatbox malfunctioned and lead to racist and unpleasant tweets. It was within 24 hours of the launch of Tay when a bulk of offensive tweets were reported. Tay's misbehavior and hurtful tweets were accidental. Tay has the ability to get smarter when people talk. It gets inspired by the language and words used by the people. Tay was in most of such conversations, only repeating what other's wanted it to say.

Our eyes are wonderful organs, but even they are not able to see around corners – yet. The US's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing technology that aims to use holograms to allow soldiers to see what lies behind a wall or around the next bend. They have asked researchers to develop a computer program that can unscramble the light that bounces off irregular surfaces to create a holographic image of hidden objects. Engineers are developing new technology that will build up a holographic image of objects that are hidden out of sight behind obstacles or around corners. The system works by looking for the faint photons of light that are scattered by uneven surfaces.

North Korea on Friday accused U.S. soldiers of trying to provoke its frontline troops with "disgusting" acts and encouraging South Korean soldiers to aim their guns at the North. A North Korean military statement warned U.S. soldiers to stop what it called "hooliganism" at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom or they'll meet a "dog's death any time and any place." "GIs hurled fully armed MPs of the South Korean puppet army into perpetrating such dangerous provocations as aiming at" the North Korean military side last week, said the statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. It said U.S. troops pointed their fingers at North Korean soldiers and made strange noises and unspecified "disgusting" facial expressions. North Korea occasionally accuses South Korean and U.S. troops of trying to provoke its border troops and vice versa.