UK engineers will design a robot that can retrieve rock samples on Mars so they can be sent to Earth for study. The European Space Agency is issuing contracts to industry to spec the technology needed for what will be a complex joint undertaking with the US. Aerospace giant Airbus will scope the concept for a surface "fetch rover" at its Stevenage centre north of London. Esa and the American space agency (Nasa) expect to send the sample-return equipment to the Red Planet in 2026. "It will be a relatively small rover - about 130kg; but the requirements are very demanding," said Ben Boyes who will lead the feasibility team at Airbus.

A new algorithm could dramatically slash the time it can take computers to recommend movies or route taxis. The new algorithm developed by Harvard University researchers solves optimization problems exponentially faster than previous algorithms by cutting the number of steps required. Surprisingly, this approach works "without sacrificing the quality of the resulting solution," says study senior author Yaron Singer at Harvard University. Optimization problems seek to find the best answer from all possible solutions, such as mapping the fastest route from point A to point B. Many algorithms designed to solve optimization problems have not changed since they were first described in the 1970s. Previous optimization algorithms generally worked in a step-by-step process, with the number of steps proportional to the amount of the data analyzed.

Bristol has ranked in the top 5 most innovate tech clusters in the UK, according to a new UK Tech Innovation Index published by The Data City. The report reveals that the cluster (grouping Bristol, Cardiff and Newport) accounts for 5% of the UK's tech innovation. The report sees Bristol outranking tech hotspots such as Nottingham and Leeds. This index is unique in its approach to evaluating innovation. It chooses to focus on innovation communities formed of'clusters', rather than standard pre-determined geographies, and evaluates relationships between neighbouring communities.

Hey, did my congressman really say that? Is that really President Donald Trump on that video, or am I being duped? New technology on the internet lets anyone make videos of real people appearing to say things they've never said. Republicans and Democrats predict this high-tech way of putting words in someone's mouth will become the latest weapon in disinformation wars against the United States and other Western democracies. This technology uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to produce videos that appear so genuine it's hard to spot the phonies.

At the beginning of 2017, Chinese tech company Baidu, the largest provider of Chinese language internet search as well as other digital products and services, committed to emerging business sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Since China has 731 million internet users, almost twice the U.S. population, Baidu's data set is capable of fueling AI algorithms to make them even better. With this focus on artificial intelligence, Baidu is exploring some very intriguing applications for artificial intelligence and machine learning including in their offices where facial recognition technology makes standard ID cards unnecessary and allows you to order tea from a vending machine. They have also recruited top AI talent including one of the world's most notable AI pioneers Lu Qi, who was previously a Microsoft executive before he became Baidu's COO in January 2017. Qi will step down in July 2018 for personal reasons.

Children with autism spectrum conditions often have trouble recognizing the emotional states of people around them -- distinguishing a happy face from a fearful face, for instance. To remedy this, some therapists use a kid-friendly robot to demonstrate those emotions and to engage the children in imitating the emotions and responding to them in appropriate ways. This type of therapy works best, however, if the robot can smoothly interpret the child's own behavior -- whether he or she is interested and excited or paying attention -- during the therapy. Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have now developed a type of personalized machine learning that helps robots estimate the engagement and interest of each child during these interactions, using data that are unique to that child. Armed with this personalized "deep learning" network, the robots' perception of the children's responses agreed with assessments by human experts, with a correlation score of 60 percent, the scientists report June 27 in Science Robotics.

LAHORE: The launch of Consortium for Applied Data Science (CADS) will help the researchers at Information Technology University (ITU), Punjab, to analyse data about various sectors gathered by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) to find solutions through one platform for policy-makers and to make public sector efficient and transparent. The founding Vice-Chancellor of ITU Dr Umar Saif, who is also PITB Chairman, said this in his opening remarks at the launch of a Consortium for Applied Data Science supported by Alan Turing Institute, the National Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in the United Kingdom (UK), here Thursday. Dr Saif said that with the launch of the Consortium, Pakistan has taken a leap forward in the development of the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry, which being a tangible field with broad spectrum would enable the stakeholders to benefit from machine learning. This Consortium for Applied Data Science would be a key enabler in improving the prosperity of the nation as well as creating a regional hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence advancement, he stated. He also informed that stamping project generated revenue worth USD 100 million by cutting the fake or forged stamp papers in a year.

Autoblog recently went to Japan to drive cars, ride trains, and talk to carmakers about automotive history and the future of mobility. This video is part of a larger in a series of special reports from Japan. YOKOHAMA, Japan -- On our recent trip to Japan, we spent a day driving the new Nissan Leaf through some unfamiliar territory. Despite the challenges of driving in a foreign country on the opposite side of the road, the Leaf proved to be a calm and willing companion thanks to its smooth electric powertrain and ProPilot driver assistance system. Following our drive, we met up with Nissan's EV director, Nicholas Thomas, at the company headquarters to talk a bit about the future of electrification and automated driving, pillars of what the automaker calls "Nissan Intelligent Mobility." You can watch the interview in the video above, or, if you're more of a reader, scroll down to read the Q&A.

IMAGE: Insilico Medicine developed a novel deep-learning based model that predicts a biological age of a muscle. Thursday, July 5th, Rockville, MD - Insilico Medicine, a Rockville-based next-generation artificial intelligence company specializing in the application of deep learning for target identification, drug discovery and aging research announces the publication of a new research paper "Machine learning on human muscle transcriptomic data for biomarker discovery and tissue-specific drug target identification" in Frontiers in Genetics journal. Sarcopenia (from Greek "flesh poverty"), is one of the major age-related processes and involves the loss of skeletal muscle and its function. Age-associated muscle wasting remains an important clinical challenge that impacts hundreds of millions of older adults. It is associated with serious negative health outcomes such as falls, impaired standing balance, physical disability, and mortality.

I was pleased to be part of the discussion, given that data Artisans has worked extensively in developing platforms and frameworks based on which many machine learning and artificial intelligence applications are being built. As more and more businesses transform from a product-centric to a service and customer-oriented approach building a strong data infrastructure is fundamental in leveraging data and responding to market changes in real time. The roundtable discussion included such topics as how machine learning and artificial intelligence can move businesses and institutions in this direction, and specifically, how this technology can make them more responsive to data and thus become more competitive and service-oriented. The group also discussed current initiatives and future measures and agreed on setting a common national strategy for promoting the adoption of artificial intelligence in Germany and Europe.