When six-foot-four inch Marty first rolled into Stop & Shop, the robot walked into history. Social robot experts say it is among the first instance of a robot deployed in a customer environment, namely supermarkets in the Northeast. Marty rolls around the store looking for spills with its three cameras. It does take the place of the human worker, called an associate, that did the same thing, but it means the associate can do something else. Doing the walk-around of the store is seen as a mundane task.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the process of teaching a computer to carry out tasks that typically only a human brain could do, but there is much more to it that trying to crunch numbers on a computer. Artificial intelligence is everywhere, from the robots manufacturing cars in factories to the smartphone in your pocket, and understanding what AI actually is will give you a better understanding of the technology that surrounds us. Professor Mark Lee is a computer scientist at Aberystwyth University. His new book, How to Grow a Robot, is all about how to design robots and artificial intelligence so that they are more social, more friendly, more playful – more human. Whether you're a beginner or deep into all things AI, as an expert in artificial intelligence, Mark's pick of science books about machine learning and intelligent algorithms will have you thinking in ones and zeros in no time.

Here's something you might not have expected to see Boston Dynamics' robot dog Spot doing any time soon: herding sheep on a rugged New Zealand mountainside. The slightly bizarre sequence is part of a promotional video demonstrating Spot's potential in the agricultural industry; it also includes footage of Spot checking on crops and clambering over rough terrain. The video was put together by robotics software firm Rocos, which is working with Boston Dynamics to explore how its collection of droids can be controlled remotely. The idea is that bots like Spot could be sent out on missions while a human operator sits on the other side of the world. For farmers, that could mean having a robot monitor fields around the clock, checking in on crop growth or fruit ripening, all while being remotely operated.

Is it OK to kill time? Machines used to find this question difficult to answer, but a new study reveals that artificial intelligence can be programmed to judge "right" from "wrong". Published in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, scientists have used books and news articles to "teach" a machine moral reasoning. Further, by limiting teaching materials to texts from different eras and societies, subtle differences in moral values are revealed. As AI becomes more ingrained in our lives, this research will help machines to make the right choice when confronted with difficult decisions.

While several Member States have or are in the process of developing their AI strategies, smart cities and communities could well be the main beneficiaries of AI. With the increasing use of digital devices, sensors and Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities have seen a tremendous growth in data generated, including real-time and Big Data. This wealth of data, combined with machine and deep learning, can recognise patterns, help predict events, allow for more personalised services, optimise the use of resources as well as strengthen evidence-based analytical capability for policy-making and implementation. In order however, to benefit from the possibilities of AI at local level, there is a need for large amounts of high quality data, with relevance in the urban context (economic, urban, geographical, technical, climatic, health, etc.). Smart cities and communities are however, not yet fully exploiting the value of data and AI.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 07: Mobileye CEO and Intel Senior Vice President Amon Shashua speaks ... [ ] during an Intel press event for CES 2019 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on January 7, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs from January 8-11 and features about 4,500 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 180,000 attendees. At the EcoMotion self-driving conference held (in cyberspace) from Israel this week, Amnon Shashua, founder and CEO of MobilEye, now a unit of Intel INTC, declared their intention to offer robotaxi service, with no safety drivers, in early 2022. They will begin in their headquarters town of Jerusalem, then move to Tel Aviv, then France, Korea and China. He makes this statement while many other companies, particularly car OEMs, are scaling back their plans and timelines on full robocar service.

SEOUL – When a man in Seoul tested positive for coronavirus in May, South Korean authorities were able to confirm his wide-ranging movements in and outside the city in minutes, including five bars and clubs he visited on a recent night out. The fast response -- well ahead of many other countries facing outbreaks -- was the result of merging South Korea's already advanced methods of collecting information and tracking the virus into a new data sharing system that patches together cellphone location data and credit card records. The Epidemic Investigation Support System (EISS), introduced in late March, effectively removed technological barriers to sharing that information between authorities, by building on the country's "Smart City" data system. That platform was originally designed to let local authorities share urban planning information, from population to traffic and pollution, by uploading data in Excel spreadsheets and other formats. Now it forms the foundation for a data clearinghouse that has turbocharged South Korea's response to the virus.

The language barrier is preventing many foreign residents in Hiroshima Prefecture from keeping abreast of the latest status of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the need for municipalities to provide essential information in multiple languages. "It was through social media that I came to know about the whole kyūgyō yōsei thing," Michelle Crothers, an Australian who runs an English conversation school in the city of Hiroshima, said, referring to the Japanese phrase for "request to suspend businesses." On April 18, when the prefecture issued the request in line with the state of emergency declared by the central government, Crothers stumbled upon a friend's social media post written in English about the prefecture's announcement. She then fumbled her way through official websites by the government and the prefecture in hopes of finding out whether her school will have to shut down in line with the request, but ended up giving up. As an extra precaution, she decided to close it for the time being.

After co-writing the best-selling adult novel of 2018, Bill Clinton and James Patterson have teamed up for another political thriller. "The President's Daughter" will be released in June 2021, the book's publishers announced Thursday. As with the million-selling "The President Is Missing," the new novel will be a rare joint release by rival companies: Alfred A. Knopf, which has released Clinton's "My Life" among other works, and Little, Brown and Co., Patterson's longtime publisher. "I never imagined I'd be writing a book with a master storyteller like Jim, much less two," Clinton said in a statement. "I was grateful for the success of the first book, and I believe readers will enjoy reading'The President's Daughter' as much as I'm enjoying working on it."

What do you picture when you think of a robot? That's the first question asked by "The Robot Doctor" -- a new series created by Carnegie Mellon University educators, RobotWits, the Pennsylvania Rural Robotics Initiative and WQED. Airing on PBS stations across Pennsylvania, the eight-episode program is geared toward high school students who may lack access to a computer during school closures, and who live in underresourced areas with limited STEM opportunities. "We're going to explore how robots solve the problems that allow them to be useful in the world. We'll do this with nothing more than the math concepts you may already know: geometry, trigonometry, basic algebra and a few concepts from physics," Jonathan Butzke says in the first episode. Butzke, an alumnus of CMU's Robotics Institute, hosts the show and is lead robotics researcher for RobotWits.