Would you let a drone walk your dog? (Photo: Todd Plitt, USA TODAY) There's a drone for everything, including one to walk your dog thanks to a U.K. company. Drones Direct, based in West Yorkshire, England, is telling customers: "Give the dog a drone." The company's DJI's Phantom 4 Proflight Walkies Dog Drone has a built-in retractable leash, hands-free piloting and runs at an "auto altitude" (we're guessing that means high enough to avoid a dog attack). It promises to walk your dog for up to 30 minutes along a GPS route of your choosing, while avoiding obstacles with "built-in collision avoidance technology," according to its product description. Plus, the drone's camera will help you keep an eye on your pup using a smartphone. "They'll be days when you just can't find time to walk little rover and have to unfortunately miss a day," the site says.

If you are involved in the UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) sector, we'd love to hear from you. Please fill in this survey. In it is set an'open door' challenge to industry to come to the Government with proposals to transform and upgrade their sector through'Sector Deals'. Businesses rather than the Government are being encouraged to identify what companies need in order to enhance their competitiveness as a sector. This is not about the Government providing additional funding; rather, it is an open call to business to organise behind strong leadership, like the automotive and aerospace sectors, to address shared challenges and opportunities.

The AI (artificial intelligence) revolution is well and truly upon us, and we are at a significant watershed moment in our lives where AI could become the new electricity – pervasive and touching every aspect of our life. While many industries including healthcare, education, retail and banks have already started adopting AI in key business aspects, there are also new business models which are predicated on AI. With the global market of AI expected to grow at 36% annually, reaching a valuation of $3 trillion by 2025 from $126 bn in 2015, new age disruption is not only redefining the way traditional businesses are run, but is also unfolding as a new'factor of production'. However, the fear of what might happen once AI evolves into artificial general intelligence – which can perform any intellectual task that a human can do – has now taken centre stage with the ongoing debate between two tech titans – Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Similarly, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had also voiced his views that in a few years, AI would have evolved enough to warrant wide attention, while Facebook has ended up shutting down one of its AI projects as chatbots had developed their own language (unintelligible to humans) to communicate.

A Chrysler Pacifica hubrid minivan, decked out in Waymo's colors and self-driving technology. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is joining a partnership that includes German automaker BMW and U.S. tech giant Intel to develop self-driving car technology. The budding alliance offers the Italian-American automaker a clear route to putting self-driving vehicles on the road amid signs that global collaboration is increasingly key to the technology's future. Until now, the company's highest-profile involvement in self-driving vehicles has been to provide Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans to former Google self-driving car project Waymo. But facing the expensive demands of developing autonomous vehicle technology, the BMW-Intel alliance is appealing to Fiat Chrysler, which does not necessarily have the financial girth to justify developing its own self-driving cars from scratch.

On August 21, 2017, there's going to be a total eclipse of the Sun visible on a line across the US. But when exactly will the solar eclipse occur at a given location? Being able to predict astronomical events has historically been one of the great triumphs of exact science. But in 2017, how well can it actually be done? Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter. The answer, I think, is well enough that even though the edge of totality moves at just over 1000 miles per hour it should be possible to predict when it will arrive at a given location to within perhaps a second. And as a demonstration of this, we've created a website to let anyone enter their geo location (or address) and then immediately compute when the eclipse will reach them--as well as generate many pages of other information. These days it's easy to find out when the next solar eclipse will be; indeed built right into the Wolfram Language there's ...

When Benchmark Capital distributed a letter this week about its lawsuit against former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, it was addressed to Uber's employees. But make no mistake: It wasn't written primarily for them. The letter quickly became a scavenger hunt for analysts, journalists, and investors trying to decode its meaning. Buried within it were clues as to how Uber's future might play out. Is there more to the Holder Report?

Last year, Intel partnered with Lady Gaga on the Super Bowl Halftime Show to showcase its latest aerial technology called "Shooting Star." Intel did a reprise performance of its Shooting Star technology for Singapore's 52nd birthday this past week. Instead of fireworks, the tech-savvy country celebrated its National Day Parade with a swarm of 300 LED drones animating the night sky with shapes, logos, and even a map of the country. Intel's global drone chief, Anil Nanduri, explained, "There's considerably more operational complexity in handling a 300 drone fleet, compared with 100 drones in a show. You may be able to juggle three, but if you juggle nine, you may have to throw them higher and faster to get more time."

According to Facebook, chatbots were going to change the way we get things done. Users were meant to be able to to buy flowers, order fast food and check in with their bank without ever having to leave the Messenger app. The company quickly dialed back its enthusiasm, admitting that they were somewhat overhyped, but its core technology, M, still underpins Messenger today. Most of that functionality has been limited to the US, but this week Facebook has brought what it calls "M Suggestions" to the UK, allowing users to enjoy recommendations from its AI-powered personal assistant. Facebook's M assistant is designed to pop up when it feels it can deliver content or provide timesaving advice inside an open Messenger chat.

Nary a soul is in sight in this picture-perfect image of automation. The machines do all the heavy lifting at this plant run by Asahi Breweries, Japan's top brewer. The human job is to make sure the machines do the work right, and to check on the quality the sensors are monitoring. The lines are up and running 96 percent," said Shinichi Uno, a manager at the plant. "Although machines make things, human beings oversee the machines." The debate over machines snatching jobs from people is muted in a country where birth rates have been sinking for decades, raising fears of a labor shortage. It would be hard to find a culture that celebrates robots more, evident in the popularity of companion robots for consumers, sold by the internet company SoftBank and Toyota Motor Corp. among others. Japan, which forged a big push toward robotics starting in the 1990s, leads the world in robots per 10,000 workers in the automobile sector -- 1,562, compared with 1,091 in the U.S. and 1,133 in Germany, ...

She imagined herself, at least to some extent, as someone who would be spending her time doing something creative, something unique, sort of painting a masterpiece I guess. Instead, she ended up altogether different. It's fine when you do it for 3x5mins, but tough when you do it 12-14 hours per day. Another appropriate image to describe how her life turned out, would have been the lady from the Anvil ad. But then again, her headaches were a different kind, one that no pill would cure or give relief to.