Germany

Of course we've all watched – and very much enjoyed! Obviously, they achieved this through an extraordinary talented team, a surplus of technical skills and a philosophy of attractive creative play. But did you know that artificial intelligence also played a big role in this success? Curious to see what insurers can learn from this provocative combination of creative skills and AI we met with Max Reckers, performance technology expert at AFC Ajax, and before that at Bayern Munchen, Manchester United and the Dutch National Team. Max, just to set the stage; using data, algorithms, AI, performance technology … Why is Ajax doing all this?

Among the 16 winners is the project "REIF: Resource-efficient, Economic and Intelligent Foodchain", which aims to revolutionise the food industry in Germany to guarantee a supply that is as waste-free as possible. The CSCP is a partner of this research project which investigates the potential of AI to optimise the planning and control processes in the food industry. The CSCP will support the effective and efficient integration of all relevant stakeholders into the REIF ecosystem, both during and after the project. Also, it will contribute to enabling the participating companies to adapt operational processes and organisational learning through training and further education. By analysing the needs of manufacturers, retailers and end consumers, the requirements for AI-based services will be sharpened and the range of solutions and concepts improved to ensure connectivity and further use of the project results.

Here you can find all information about the Call for Papers for the QURATOR 2020 – Conference on Digital Curation Technologies. Paper submission: Nov. 4, 2019 (extended) All submissions will be handled via the EasyChair submission system at easychair.org/conferences/. Submissions for regular papers must be between 10-15 pages and submissions for short papers must be between 5-9 pages. Papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three members of the Scientific Program Committee. Accepted papers will be published in the CEUR-WS.org

Sensitive synthetic skin enables robots to sense their own bodies and surroundings--a crucial capability if they are to be in close contact with people. Inspired by human skin, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed a system combining artificial skin with control algorithms and used it to create the first autonomous humanoid robot with full-body artificial skin. The artificial skin developed by Prof. Gordon Cheng and his team consists of hexagonal cells about the size of a two-euro coin (i.e. about one inch in diameter). Each is equipped with a microprocessor and sensors to detect contact, acceleration, proximity and temperature. Such artificial skin enables robots to perceive their surroundings in much greater detail and with more sensitivity.

British healthcare workers are hostile to their robotic co-workers, committing "minor acts of sabotage" such as standing in their way, according to a recent study by De Montfort University, which chided the humans for "not playing along with" their automated peers. The researchers contrasted the "problematic" British attitude with that of Norwegian workers, who embraced their silicon colleagues, even giving them friendly nicknames. Some 30 percent of UK jobs will be lost to automation within 15 years if current trends continue apace, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. The percentage is even greater in the US (38 percent) as well as Germany and France (37 percent), but falls to 25 percent in Scandinavian countries like Norway and Finland. Perhaps this explains the difference in workplace interactions between the British and the Norwegians - the latter aren't as worried about losing their jobs to an electronic interloper.

Technical University of Munich researchers designed a system integrating artificial skin with control algorithms, which they used to create the first autonomous humanoid robot with full-body synthetic skin. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich in Germany have designed a system integrating artificial skin with control algorithms, which they used to create the first autonomous humanoid robot with full-body synthetic skin. The skin is composed of hexagonal cells about an inch in diameter, each with a microprocessor and sensors to measure pressure, acceleration, proximity, and temperature. The researchers use an event-based system to track the cells instead of continuous monitoring, with individual cells only sending data when values change; this cuts the processing load by up to 90%. Said the university's Gordon Cheng, "Our system is designed to work trouble-free and quickly with all kinds of robots. Now we're working to create smaller skin cells with the potential to be produced in larger numbers."

The gymnastics world championships in Germany, the biggest gymnastics meet outside the Olympics, for the first time used an artificial intelligence system to evaluate athletes' performance. The gymnastics world championships in Germany, the biggest gymnastics meet outside the Olympics, for the first time used an artificial intelligence (AI) system to evaluate athletes' performance by measuring and analyzing skeletal positions, speed, and angles via three-dimensional laser sensors. International Gymnastics Federation president Morinari Watanabe envisions such robot judges eliminating human error and subjectivity from gymnastics contests; "this is a step toward the challenge of justice through technology," Watanabe said. At the world championships, the AI system was a means for human judges to confirm scores when gymnasts either formally contested their score, or the score widely deviated between judges. International Gymnastics Federation sports director Steve Butcher said all athlete information collected at the competition would be discarded at a predetermined expiration date, to address privacy concerns.

Electronic skin that will allow robots to feel heat, cold and pain could be "life changing" for people with prostheses and paralysis, its creator has claimed. Professor Gordon Cheng led a project at the Technical University of Munich to cover a robot with 1,260 small hexagonal plates, giving it an electronic skin. Individual sensor cells placed in a honeycomb arrangement on the upper body, arms, legs and soles of the feet of the robot meant it could measure proximity, pressure, temperature and acceleration. This same technology could allow people with prosthetic limbs or paralysis recover feeling and use their sense of touch more easily, Prof Cheng claimed. He said: "We adapted it in the same...

Scanning and computer-assisted judging may safeguard against the pitfalls of human judging. On the eve of the 2019 gymnastics world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, the 527 participating athletes were asked to consent to a scan by multiple laser sensors to create a precise, three-dimensional image of their bodies. Those images, in turn, are being used to improve the accuracy of a so-called "judging support system," developed by Japanese IT giant Fujitsu, that's being used for the first time in the competition. The expectation, pending approval by the International Olympic Committee, is that the technology -- in which artificial intelligence helps human judges score gymnastics routines -- will be used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And it may presage the day when computers replace human judges entirely in the largely subjective sport, although that is not the plan "for now," officials said.

How do you defeat "deepfakes"? According to Google, you develop more of them. Google just released a large, free database of deepfake videos to help research develop detection tools. Google collaborated with "Jigsaw", a tech "incubator" founded by Google, and the FaceForesenics Benchmark Program at the Technical University of Munich and the University Federico II of Naples. They worked with several paid actors to create hundreds of real videos and then used popular deepfake technologies to generate thousands of fake videos.