Everyday robotics are challenged to deal with autonomous product handling in applications like logistics or retail, possibly causing damage on the items during manipulation. Traditionally, most approaches try to minimize physical interaction with goods. However, this paper proposes to take into account any unintended object motion and to learn damage-minimizing manipulation strategies in a self-supervised way. The presented approach consists of a simulation-based planning method for an optimal manipulation sequence with respect to possible damage. The planned manipulation sequences are generalized to new, unseen scenes in the same application scenario using machine learning. This learned manipulation strategy is continuously refined in a self-supervised, simulation-in-the-loop optimization cycle during load-free times of the system, commonly known as mental simulation. In parallel, the generated manipulation strategies can be deployed in near-real time in an anytime fashion. The approach is validated on an industrial container-unloading scenario and on a retail shelf-replenishment scenario.

DUBAI (Reuters) - China's Neolix has signed a preliminary agreement with Middle East e-commerce company noon to trial autonomous vehicles in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Neolix will build driverless vehicles customised to the region's weather conditions, where temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius in the summer, noon said in a statement on Tuesday. Noon, a joint venture between Saudi Arabia's sovereign Public Investment Fund and Dubai billionaire Mohamed Alabbar, will focus on'last mile delivery' of the vehicles in select areas of Abu Dhabi and Dubai over the next few weeks, the company added. It did not give trial dates for Saudi Arabia. Neolix and noon signed the agreement during the state visit of Emirati crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to China.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how technology has become the cure-all elixir, with its increasingly important, and sometimes problematic, role it plays in our lives. This line of thinking was in large part spurred by The Future of Digital Disruption event we co-hosted last month with Oxford University's Saïd Business School. The event was co-moderated by Professor Andrew Stephen from Oxford's Said Business School and Teradata's Martin Willcox, VP Technology (EMEA). Leaders from Audi, Barclays, Kantar, Sony Music, O2 Czech Republic, Facebook, MMA, WPP, Walmart, Teradata and others, as well as leading faculty and researcher's from Oxford's Said Business School Future of Marketing Initiative shared experiences and insights about some of the most complex issues facing leaders today, with a focus on challenges at the intersection of marketing and technology (e.g., analytics, AI, machine learning) and identifying new ways to achieve business growth enabled by technology. The keynote sessions and panel conversations were engaging and varied to encompass the dense topic of how digital disruption will shape the future.

In 2015, Microsoft began gathering data about its employees to see if it could use the information to make changes in human resource management. In early 2018, the data showed widespread dissatisfaction among the 700 or so employees in one division. These workers expressed more dissatisfaction than comparable divisions at the behemoth software company, according to The New York Times. Much was at stake--the unhappy employees included engineers with specialized skills and who would be difficult to replace. Microsoft had to figure out why employees were unhappy.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, has become quite the public buzzword. Companies and investors are pouring money into the field. Universities -- even high schools -- are rushing to start new degree programs or colleges dedicated to AI. Civil society organizations are scrambling to understand the impact of AI technology on humanity, and governments are competing to encourage or regulate AI research and deployment. One country, the United Arab Emirates, even boasts a minister for AI. At the same time, the world's militaries are developing AI-based weaponry to defeat their enemies, police agencies are experimenting with AI as a surveillance tool to identify or interrogate suspects, and companies are testing its ability to replace humans in menial or more meaningful jobs -- all of which may change the equation of life for all of the world's people.

CHICAGO & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arturo, the artificial intelligence and deep-learning property analytics start-up, today announces it has entered into a partnership with UK-based global specialty (re)insurer Canopius AG ("Canopius"). Arturo's deep-learning property analysis capability will be integrated into Canopius, providing physical property characteristic and predictive analytics, enabling more informed and differentiated pricing decisions at the point of underwriting Marek Shafer, chief digital officer, Canopius, said: "Arturo's, AI-powered image analytics capability is hugely impressive. Canopius is excited to be harnessing this pioneering technology, which will help to fine-tune our risk selection process and improve point-of-sale underwriting." John-Isaac Clark, CEO at Arturo said: "Arturo was built from the ground up within American Family Insurance and we deeply understand the specific challenges our insurance customers are trying to solve. We are incredibly excited to announce our relationship with Canopius and looking forward to working together to further enhance our product to meet their current and future needs."

Artificial intelligence or AI is becoming an asset that many businesses wouldn't want to overlook. This is due to the fact that AI is supposed to provide cost-effective and convenient solutions to businesses that want to use AI technology as potential leverage for growth. Indeed, experts are looking at how AI could cost the jobs of millions of workers. The fear of displacement has shaken up entire labor markets, especially in outsourcing centers across the Asia-Pacific region. Without a doubt, digital transformation is an unstoppable force and businesses will need to depend on AI for scaling their operations as they compete for a larger market share -- or should they?

Although it's still early days to truly gauge the immediate impact of 5G technology on businesses, you should all embrace for a shinier future. The role of 5G on the world's economy would be profound, especially in pushing the adoption rates of emerging technologies -- Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Augmented Reality (AR). These emerging techs are conspicuous with their far-reaching benefits and long-term economic potential. According to a study by Global Data, the intrinsic capacity of the fifth-generation cellular technology (5G) to connect the Internet's end systems with enhanced data flows and faster response times will unlock the full potential of emerging technologies. The buzz about 5G adoption has created a whirlwind interest among emerging tech innovators and vendors.

Managing stakeholders in the world of data science projects is a tricky prospect. I have seen a lot of executives and professionals get swept up in the hype around data science without properly understanding what a full-blown project entails. And I don't say this lightly – my career has been at the very cusp of machine learning and delivery. I hold a Ph.D. in Data Science and Machine Learning from one of the best institutions in the world and have several years of experience working with some of the top industry research labs. I moved to Yodlee, a FinTech organization, in 2016 to run the data sciences product delivery division.

Every day we come across a new tech buzzword - for some, it is AI (Artificial Intelligence), for others, it is IoT (Internet of Things) but how many actually understand the context of these concepts. Answer this – how are you able to read this article? That's exactly what IoT is about, connecting all devices to the internet. If loosely defined, IoT empowers all devices in the world to send and receive information, basically make them smart. Through an app, your phone is retrieving information, in this case, songs, from a source which is also connected to the internet and helping you enjoy any and every type of music in the world without having to store anything in your mobile device.