With the digital medicine revolution in full swing, just about every specialty will experience some form of health care technology impact. AI algorithms, deep learning systems, and neural networks are already being used to detect lung cancer, screen skin lesions, and predict acute kidney injury. In the surgical realm, technological advancements previously involved the use of computer-assisted surgery (CAS) to improve precision and facilitate minimally invasive approaches. The da Vinci Surgical System obtained FDA approval in 2000 and, according to the company website, has been used in more than 6 million procedures world-wide. In orthopedics, CAS was introduced in the 1990s with perhaps joint replacement surgery as its most popular and widespread application.

Dr Sue Keay may love robotics, but there's nothing mechanical about her trailblazing vision for Australia's technology future. Not only did she set up the world's first robotic vision research centre, she is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and judges the James Dyson Awards and the Australian Museum Prizes. At present, she leads the Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Research Organization's (CSIRO) Data61 Cyber-Physical Systems program. We recently spoke with Dr Keay about CSIRO, blending science and business, and where the future may lead. "CSIRO, Australia's national science research agency has been in existence for over 100 years," she told VENTURE.

The UK's Department for International Trade (DIT) are proud to be the Lead Partner Country at CEBIT Australia 2019 in Sydney from 29 - 31 October 2019. Visit the UK Pavilion at stand F45 to find out more about UK's capability in technology or to meet with innovative British technology companies. DIT are running a series of activities throughout the week. More details to be announced shortly. DIT will be bringing 10 innovative UK tech companies to showcase on the UK pavilion.

So far, however, Domino's has stopped short of the latest McDonald's play: acquiring entire tech start-ups. In March, McDonald's spent more than $300 million to buy Dynamic Yield, the Tel Aviv-based company that developed the artificial intelligence tools now used at thousands of McDonald's drive-throughs. The deal "has changed the way the high-tech industry thinks about potential M&A," said Liad Agmon, a former Israeli intelligence official who co-founded Dynamic Yield. "We'll see more nontraditional tech companies buying tech companies as an accelerator for their digital efforts. It was genius on McDonald's side."

The New Zealand Government has awarded NZ$13 million ($12.1 million) in funding to the University of Waikato for a new research project aimed at helping New Zealanders solve the nation's critical environmental problems. The funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Strategic Science Investment Fund will be spread over seven years. It will be used to support the university's Time-Evolving Data Science/Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Open Environmental Science (TAIAO) project. The TAIAO project will involve the development of new machine learning methods for time series and data streams tailored to processing large quantities of data collected on the New Zealand environment. It is being conducted as part of a collaboration between the Universities of Waikato, Auckland and Canterbury, Beca and MetService. It has the participation of highly qualified data scientists, data engineers and environmental scientists.

Dhalia is launching an online valuation tool based on artificial intelligence. The technology works by applying an artificial intelligence model to Dhalia's large database of property values and other local market data. The algorithm scans all data and applies filters to generate an approximate valuation. This valuation is based on various factors including similar properties in the locality and takes into considera tion the size of the property and the number of bedrooms. If the system doesn't find enough data to provide a confident estimate, then clients can request a human valuation which will be provided within 24 hours. This information is then retained within the system and applied to future requests, allowing the AI model to learn from experience.

SR: There is no significant adoption of AI and there is a long way to go. One of the reasons is the ill-founded fear that AI will take away jobs. A lot of effort needs to go into educating people and managing their expectations about AI. It will take a few years before doctors and people are comfortable about AI. there is a popular practice in medicine called the master-apprentice relationship, where trainee radiologists create the first report which is then finalised by a specialist. There is a similar relationship between an AI and the doctor.

The Software Engineering Institute is creating a movement to mature the discipline of AI Engineering for Defense and National Security. As our government customers adopt artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide leap-ahead mission capabilities, we are working to provide the processes, practices, and tools to support operationalizing AI for robust and trustworthy mission capabilities. Our work includes scalable AI and ML; the tailoring of modern software practices for AI-enabled systems; architectures, design patterns, modeling, and representations; building tools and processes for trustworthy development of AI-enabled capabilities; and test, evaluation, verification, and validation of AI systems. Of course, building and maturing the discipline of AI Engineering also requires applying AI technologies to build real-world, mission-scale capabilities through envisioning creative solutions, solving practical engineering problems, and learning from those experiences. Are you creative, curious, energetic, collaborative, technology-focused, and hard-working?

ICIPRob2020 (International Conference on Image Processing and Robotics) will take place in Negombo, Sri Lanka on 6th-8th March, 2020. ICIPRob 2020 is a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, scholars and engineers to discuss their latest research findings related to image processing, robotics and their connected disciplines.

If you're still emotionally wiped out by Avengers Endgame, The Void and ILMxLAB's latest VR entry might soothe your geeky soul. Avengers Damage Control is more than just a mere virtual reality game, like the upcoming Iron Man title for the PlayStation VR. Instead, it's a prime example of what The Void does best: Building large-scale multi-player VR experiences mapped to physical sets. It's a dream come true for anyone who's ever wanted to fight alongside their favorite Marvel superheroes -- just be prepared to shell out $40 to experience it. Suiting up for Damage Control involves strapping on one of The Void's backpack computers, as well as a huge VR headset.