IBM Aims Watson at Embodied Cognition By Darryl K. Taft Posted 2016-11-05 Print Q&A: IBM is focusing its Watson cognitive computing technology on the area of embodied cognition, according to Grady Booch, chief scientist of Watson/M. At the close of IBM's recent World of Watson conference in Las Vegas, eWEEK interviewed Grady Booch, Big Blue's chief scientist of Watson/M about the future of IBM's Watson cognitive computing platform and where IBM is taking the technology to benefit enterprise customers, consumers and developers alike. Among other areas, IBM is applying Watson to embodied cognition or putting artificial intelligence (AI) into the physical world. "This is embodied cognition: By placing the cognitive power of Watson in a robot, in an avatar, an object in your hand or even in the walls of an operating room, conference room or spacecraft, we take Watson's ability to understand and reason and draw it closer to the natural ways in which humans live and work," Booch said in a talk. "In so doing, we augment individual human senses and abilities, giving Watson the ability to see a patient's complete medical condition, feel the flow of a supply chain or drive a factory like a maestro before an orchestra."

You might expect the operating theatre to be one of the last places you'd find robotics in action but, increasingly, you'd be wrong. The OT is typically the most labour-intensive and expensive part of a hospital -- which, in this age of spiraling health costs, makes it a priority for any cost-savings that can be achieved through systemisation and standardisation. Robotic surgery, or robot-assisted surgery, has the advantage that it allows doctors to perform many types of complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than they could with conventional techniques. Given the speed at which robotics is advancing, how long will it be before robots start making all the decisions on surgery without the need for human control or intervention? OK, you say, that's fine where standard and predictable procedures are required.

Another big part of the food supply comes from ranches and farms that raise and slaughter various livestock. While ranching is sometimes bundled with agriculture, I discussed farming in Big Data in Agriculture, so we'll focus on ranching this time around. Somewhat surprising is that big data usage in ranching appears more limited than in farming. That said, there are a number of novel uses of technology and data in animal husbandry. At a high level, the goals of ranching and farming are the same as any business: increase yields and lower costs.

The Carnival Vista is the newest ship in the Carnival Corp. fleet and has the latest tech on board. Ocean cruises are no longer about going off the grid to enjoy leisurely days at sea and on-board entertainment. Cruise ships are installing better Wi-Fi, adding tech-enabled wristbands and luggage tags, and even having robots greet passengers as they board the ship, all in an attempt to create a tech-rich environment. As times have changed and tech becomes a part of everyone's daily lives, passengers have become increasingly interested in staying connected to the outside world and for their lives to continue unabated on the high seas. Passengers also expect more than just a second-run version of a Broadway show--they want the outside world and a lot more.

So, began Kimberly Nevala, Director of the SAS Business Strategies, Best Practices and Advisory, and Business Solutions who was in Australia for a flying visit. We caught up following an interview in April this year at the SAS Global Forum. Nevala is a well-published expert on most things "Big Data" and she is not afraid to broach the big issues like Big Data for good or evil. Today we mainly chatted about Big Data and machine learning to get her unique perspective on what is a reasonably controversial subject – big data, machine learning, and the insights and patterns relentless machines can uncover. The interview took the form of a chat, so it is all paraphrased and attributed to Nevala.

An Australian man acquitted of murder last month after his Tinder date plummeted off a balcony to her death faced new criticism after he acknowledged in a TV interview that the woman had screamed "no" a reported 33 times before she fell. "Yeah, she was certainly trying to make a lot of noise," Gable Tostee commented in the interview, which aired on the Nine Network's "60 Minutes." Critics also lashed out after The Courier Mail claimed Tostee was paid a six-figure sum for the interview. A senior detective called it "disgusting". The detective continued, "There's a lot of anger among police about this. Of course we respect the court's decision to find him not guilty but for him to now do a paid interview after everything this poor girl's family has been through, is horrific."

Following his acquittal of murder in the death of his Tinder date Warriena Wright, Australian man Gable Tostee has managed to offend several people. Tostee, 30, is scheduled to appear on an episode of "60-Minutes on the Nine Network" set to air Sunday in which he shares details about the woman's death, BBC News reported Monday. Tostee and Wright, 26, met through the popular dating app while the woman was in New Zealand for vacation. The two returned to his apartment where their argument turned physical. Tostee reportedly locked the woman on the balcony, where she later fell to her death. Following a week-long trial that took place in October, Tostee was found not guilty of manslaughter and murder in Wright's death.

Binary is the story of a man who must decide between saving his artificially intelligent girlfriend or a human woman during a crucial space voyage, causing him to question what love really means. Binary will be a 20-minute, live-action short film. Ryker - Loyal and naive, Ryker grew up in the working class. When he falls in love with an artificially intelligent woman, Seline, he struggles with whether to prioritize his love or his fellow human. Seline - An advanced form of artificial intelligence, appearing human, Seline has been programmed with the capacity to love. She must convince Ryker and Natalie her love is as valuable as human love.

The artificial intelligence (AI) currently being developed is largely benevolent. It can mimic the way humans think, complete menial and repetitive tasks, and more. But that doesn't prevent people from being afraid of AI, thinking it will take away jobs or eventually turn Terminator into a documentary. Somebody thought AI wasn't scary enough, and did something to change that. Researchers from MIT and Australia's CSIRO have created AI that actively warps pictures into scary nightmare fuel.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has signed on for a pair of Nvidia DGX-1 3U boxes to serve as a platform for applying machine learning to its science. Angus Macoustra, acting deputy CIO and executive manager for Scientific Computing at CSIRO, said the boxes would be used for medical image analysis, nano-material modelling, genome analysis, astronomy, and space science. In the realm of space science, Macoustra said machine learning can help with hunting for the signature of pulsars. "Two thirds of all known pulsars discovered in the world have actually been observed on the Parkes radio telescope, and CSIRO holds close to 40 years of data collected from that instrument," Macoustra said during the GTCx Australia conference on Tuesday. "Machine learning gives us mechanisms to interrogate that data and it is the belief of our scientists that there are still a number of unknown pulsars locked up in these data sets that span the past 40 years."