Robots are still limited to controlled conditions, that the robot designer knows with enough details to endow the robot with the appropriate models or behaviors. Learning algorithms add some flexibility with the ability to discover the appropriate behavior given either some demonstrations or a reward to guide its exploration with a reinforcement learning algorithm. Reinforcement learning algorithms rely on the definition of state and action spaces that define reachable behaviors. Their adaptation capability critically depends on the representations of these spaces: small and discrete spaces result in fast learning while large and continuous spaces are challenging and either require a long training period or prevent the robot from converging to an appropriate behavior. Beside the operational cycle of policy execution and the learning cycle, which works at a slower time scale to acquire new policies, we introduce the redescription cycle, a third cycle working at an even slower time scale to generate or adapt the required representations to the robot, its environment and the task. We introduce the challenges raised by this cycle and we present DREAM (Deferred Restructuring of Experience in Autonomous Machines), a developmental cognitive architecture to bootstrap this redescription process stage by stage, build new state representations with appropriate motivations, and transfer the acquired knowledge across domains or tasks or even across robots. We describe results obtained so far with this approach and end up with a discussion of the questions it raises in Neuroscience.

Citizen scientists searching aerial images while on coronavirus lockdown have uncovered dozens of previously-hidden Roman, prehistoric and medieval sites. Archaeological digs are currently on hold due to the pandemic but researchers have found roads, burial mounds and settlements - all while working from home. Researchers from the University of Exeter asked teams of volunteers to search through LiDAR images and aerial surveys to hunt for signs of ancient sites. Volunteer amateur archaeologists cross-referenced these topographical images of the Tamar Valley that highlight hidden features with historic maps of the area. Lead researchers Dr Chris Smart said they were'redrawing the archeological map of the South West' and getting a better idea of how areas developed over millennia.

Carnegie Mellon University students who designed and built a small, boxy robot, called Iris, have achieved a major milestone: their robot passed its critical design review by NASA and is on track to land on the moon in the fall of 2021. "We are moving forward … we're going to the moon," a triumphant project manager, Raewyn Duvall, told Iris team members during a Zoom meeting following the review. Officials at NASA and Astrobotic Inc., whose Peregrine lander will deliver the robot to the lunar surface, performed the review. Duvall, a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, said the process resulted in a few small design revisions, which the team is now incorporating. The team will replace prototype parts with flight components this summer, as they test the robot to prove that it can withstand the trip to the moon without causing problems for Peregrine or other payloads aboard the lunar lander.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Microsoft has made Minecraft Earth easier and more appealing to play at home. It introduced "adventure crystals" that spawn where you are, and it improved access to "tappables" that spawn more often and closer to you. Now, Microsoft is making it easier to share Minecraft Earth builds with just a link. When you're ready to share, you can simply navigate to your build of choice and click the share button. The change should allow players to get a bit more social, while staying safe at home.

RIA's research editor and communications manager, Fazila Farouk, talked to Caledon FM's Annette Jahnel on her Future Perfect show about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence and its impact on white collar workers in South Africa. A major challenge she highlights is the fact that the jobs, which have traditionally allowed people entry into the middle class, are now disappearing. This is a major setback for a country ravaged by economic inequality.

After hovering at around $10 consistently, the price of a five-pound bag of Nishiki medium grain rice shot up to $30 on Amazon.com in March and hit a peak of $59.99 at 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, according to the Amazon price tracker Keepa. As of Friday, April 24, the bag of rice was priced at around $20. Prices on Amazon have been volatile since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. By the end of March, Keepa's data revealed, an eight-pack of Barilla spaghetti, whose price normally hovers around $10, shot up to $49.25. The cost of an eight-pack of Skippy Superchunk Peanut Butter nearly quadrupled, from $12.52 to $45. COVID-19 has made the public more aware of price fluctuations on basics like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and dried goods, as demand for those products surged beyond expectations.

Before COVID-19, most people had some degree of apprehension about robots and artificial intelligence. Though their beliefs may have been initially shaped by dystopian depictions of the technology in science fiction, their discomfort was reinforced by legitimate concerns. Some of AI's business applications were indeed leading to the loss of jobs, the reinforcement of biases, and infringements on data privacy. Those worries appear to have been set aside since the onset of the pandemic as AI-infused technologies have been employed to mitigate the spread of the virus. We've seen an acceleration of the use of robotics to do the jobs of humans who have been ordered to stay at home or who have been redeployed within the workplace.

Artificial intelligence-focused health care companies raised nearly $1 billion in funding in the first quarter of 2020, according to a new report from data analytics firm CB Insights, reflecting a growing trend in health tech: As much of the world braces for a probable pandemic-era recession, some health startups are nailing crucial, if eleventh-hour, funding. But it was a welcome uptick from the final quarter of last year, when funding dipped for the first time all year. Unlock this article by subscribing to STAT Plus and enjoy your first 30 days free! STAT Plus is STAT's premium subscription service for in-depth biotech, pharma, policy, and life science coverage and analysis. Our award-winning team covers news on Wall Street, policy developments in Washington, early science breakthroughs and clinical trial results, and health care disruption in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Inspired by the biomechanics of cheetahs, researchers have developed a new type of soft robot that is capable of moving more quickly on solid surfaces or in the water than previous generations of soft robots. The new soft robotics are also capable of grabbing objects delicately--or with sufficient strength to lift heavy objects. "Cheetahs are the fastest creatures on land, and they derive their speed and power from the flexing of their spines," says Jie Yin, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of a paper on the new soft robots. "We were inspired by the cheetah to create a type of soft robot that has a spring-powered, 'bistable' spine, meaning that the robot has two stable states," Yin says. "We can switch between these stable states rapidly by pumping air into channels that line the soft, silicone robot. Switching between the two states releases a significant amount of energy, allowing the robot to quickly exert force against the ground. This enables the robot to gallop across the surface, meaning that its feet leave the ground. "Previous soft robots were crawlers, remaining in contact with the ground at all times.

The retirement wars are heating up. As millions of baby boomers leave their jobs in the coming years and transition into retirement, there is a huge competition for who will manage their savings. On one hand are traditional wealth managers, firms like Edward Jones, who either employ full-time human financial advisors or empower independent contractors to help clients plan through their finances. On the other side has been the rise of "roboadvisors" like Wealthfront that use algorithms and simple financial products like ETFs to advise people at lower cost. VCs have been bullish on roboadvisors -- startups like Wealthfront and Personal Capital have each raised more than $200 million according to Crunchbase -- but there has been less investment activity trying to help the financial advisors themselves.