A woman who lost her arm over 20 years ago has received the first portable bionic hand, which through a series of tiny electrodes and sophisticated sensors, has restored her sense of touch. The technology unites the portable bionic hand with a computer that translates the information coming from the artificial fingers into a language the brain can understand, which it then sends back to the body through the electrodes. This breakthrough is the result of many years of robotic research carried out by teams in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. Even though she's central to this amazing innovation, Almerina Mascarello, who was chosen to test the prototype for six months, doesn't feel like a superhuman. Instead, she told BBC that the prosthetic limb gave her back some of life's simple pleasures, such as getting dressed or tying her shoes with no help.

What will be the biggest and most disruptive technology trends of 2018? We talk to industry experts to find out. We expect 2018 to be a big year for the development and roll-out of second generation hardware for VR/AR such as the Oculus Go and Magic Leap's Mixed Reality headset – set to be better, lighter and cheaper than ever before," says Aurelien Simon, Head of Immersive, Digital Catapult. Just as importantly, however, there will also be increased buy-in from the creative industries in terms of immersive content production: "We've seen huge strides in creative content over 2017 and I expect this push for quality over quantity to continue next year. Big production studios are likely to increase their interest and presence in the VR space, while VR games production looks to take a step forward with hotly anticipated games like Doom and Fallout 4 released in VR." Trisa Thompson, Chief Responsibility Officer at Dell Technologies also believes that we'll be donning our AR headsets in 2018 as the technology becomes ubiquitous and increasingly integrates with our daily routines. But over the next year, VR and AR will cogently bring world issues into our personal reality. Time, money, and geography will no longer be inhibitors to experiencing a different environment, community or perspective."

Sex robots could make men not women obsolete, according to a top mathematician. Dr Cathy O'Neil from Harvard University claims females of the future could get spoiled by'dashing menbots' who also do the dishes. It's a basic human need to want someone to love and have sex with but most women also look for someone who does their fair share of chores around the house. The mathematician says it is'entirely possible' that robots will outperform men and women of the future could choose to live with menbots instead. Dr Cathy O'Neil from Harvard University claims females of the future could get spoiled by'dashing menbots' who also do the dishes (stock image) There are around five makers of sex robots worldwide, with prices ranging from around £4,000 ($5,400) to more than £11,600 ($15,700) for a'deluxe' model.

The startup scene in the UK is booming and sometimes it's hard to keep track of all the exciting companies and understand what they're working on. Here we present 10 of the startups we think you might want to follow over the next year and maybe even try out what they're working on for yourself. Graphcore is building a new type of processor for machine intelligence to try and speed up machine learning and AI applications. Nigel Toon, Graphcore's CEO & co-founder, says the startup's products will be available very soon. "Graphcore's first Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) products, which are designed from the ground up specifically for artificial intelligence, will be with early access customers at the beginning of the year and we will be shipping in volume swiftly afterwards," says Toon.

If you grew up playing computer games like The Sims, in which you would build houses and watch as the'sims' you created carry on with their lives, you may be irked by this story. In later versions of the game - genetics and DNA advanced and your'families' could create descendants. Your'sims' would have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other family members all over town.

In an age of self-driving cars, 'robot surgery' and computers capable of trouncing human players in hugely-complex games such as Chess or Go, it seems obvious to many that the automation of Wall Street, the City of London, Frankfurt and other financial centres must be imminent. It is assumed that Artificial intelligence (AI) will shortly consign the stock picker and fund manager to the same historical oblivion as the textile weaver. Now it is quite true that AI has great potential in financial services, of which more in a moment. But in the here and now, the exaggerated expectations of technophile observers have, alas, to be gently let down. When this happens, the reaction of these observers is frequently to swing to the other extreme, and complain that the financial services industry is failing to take advantage of AI and is stuck in a technological dark age.

The UK is first in our rankings, reflecting its world-leading centres for AI research and strong technology industry. Although the UK has great starting conditions for AI development, it faces stiff competition from other countries seeking to be top of the global rankings. China, the US, Russia and Canada have all announced plans to be world leaders in AI. If the UK wishes to retain its high ranking in our capacity index, the government will need to continue to invest in order to remain competitive in future years. The US lags behind the UK on measures including digital skills and data quality.

Artificial intelligence (AI) frequently made tech headlines in 2017, often for innovative new products and growth in the workplace. Multiple reports examined the technology's future and implications. An October Gartner report predicted that AI will create 2.3 million jobs by 2020. And China is now racing to AI world dominance, which may mean a global power shift. Experts predicted AI's growth and potential moral issues for business users and consumers.

Fabian is the founder and CEO of Asgard. He is an international expert on Artificial Intelligence, an author, entrepreneur and investor. He advises the German parliament, Fortune 500 companies and think tanks on Artificial Intelligence.In 2014 he launched the Rise of AI conference, establishing the leading AI event in Europe. Prior to creating Asgard, Fabian joined the company builder Team Europe, where he was involved in the early days of Delivery Hero (IPO 2017). He went on to become a founding employee of the Venture Capital firm Point Nine Capital.He then started Wunsch-Brautkleid, Europe's largest marketplace for new and used wedding dresses, which he sold in 2015.Fabian is a SciFi lover, VR and paintball gamer.

In less than five years, artificial intelligence -- AI, as it's commonly known -- has gone from the stuff of science fiction to the forefront of the news, from scientific journals to the strategic plans of the world's biggest companies. It's a coming sea change, one that will disrupt entire parts of our lives by competing with what, until now, was seen as a fundamentally human characteristic: our intelligence. At the same time, he acknowledges that AI -- at least for now -- is "still utterly unintelligent." Recognizing a cat in a picture, a sentence dictated to a smartphone or even a tumor in MRI images is an impressive feat. But the prowess is still limited to very specific uses, Alexandre argues. The real novelty that deep learning had promised to bring about, the futurologist explains, is that machines have now started to learn.