We present a large scale data set, OpenEDS: Open Eye Dataset, of eye-images captured using a virtual-reality (VR) head mounted display mounted with two synchronized eyefacing cameras at a frame rate of 200 Hz under controlled illumination. This dataset is compiled from video capture of the eye-region collected from 152 individual participants and is divided into four subsets: (i) 12,759 images with pixel-level annotations for key eye-regions: iris, pupil and sclera (ii) 252,690 unlabelled eye-images, (iii) 91,200 frames from randomly selected video sequence of 1.5 seconds in duration and (iv) 143 pairs of left and right point cloud data compiled from corneal topography of eye regions collected from a subset, 143 out of 152, participants in the study. A baseline experiment has been evaluated on OpenEDS for the task of semantic segmentation of pupil, iris, sclera and background, with the mean intersectionover-union (mIoU) of 98.3 %. We anticipate that OpenEDS will create opportunities to researchers in the eye tracking community and the broader machine learning and computer vision community to advance the state of eye-tracking for VR applications. The dataset is available for download upon request at https://research.fb.com/programs/openeds-challenge

A self-driving shuttle got pulled over by police on its first day carrying passengers on a new Rhode Island route. Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements says an officer pulled over the odd-looking autonomous vehicle because he had never seen one before. The bus-like vehicle operated by Michigan-based May Mobility was dropping off passengers Wednesday morning when a police cruiser arrived with blinking lights and a siren. It was just hours after the public launch of a state-funded pilot shuttle service. The shuttle offers free rides on a 12-stop urban loop.

It may be possible to spot if your relative, friend or colleague is ill just by looking at them, research suggests. Scientists injected volunteers with either E.coli or a placebo before asking others how sick they looked two hours later. The infected patients were judged to look'significantly worse', with people noticing their drooping eyelids and mouths. They also showed more negative facial expressions, which may be brought on by inflammation as the immune system fights off the infection. Researchers believe humans may have evolved the ability to pick up on subtle cues that suggest someone is contagious to avoid getting ill.

For 600 years it has steadfastly refused to give up its secrets and has beaten some of the world's most brilliant brains, including Alan Turing. Experts variously claimed that the Voynich manuscript - known as the'world's most mysterious text' - contained codes, magic spells, alien messages and even communist propaganda. Eventually most agreed that it was either impossible to solve or else written in gibberish as an elaborate practical joke. But a linguistics expert from the University of Bristol has now cracked it - and it took him just two weeks. Dr Gerard Cheshire worked out that it was written in a dead language - proto-Romance - and then by studying symbols and their descriptions he deciphered the meaning of the letters and words.

An advanced research arm of the U.S. government's intelligence community is looking to develop AI capable of tracking people across a vast surveillance network. As reported by Nextgov, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) has put out a call for more information on developing an algorithm that can be trained to identify targets by visually analyzing swaths of security camera footage. The goal, says the request, is to be able to identify and track subjects across areas as large as six miles in an effort to reconstruct crime scenes, protect military operations, and monitor critical infrastructure facilities. To develop the technology, IARPA will collect nearly 1,000 hours of video surveillance from at least 20 camera networks and then, using that sample, test various algorithms effectiveness. The agency's interest in AI-based surveillance technology mirrors a broader movement from governments and intelligence communities around the globe, many of whom have ramped up efforts to develop and scale systems.

San Francisco could become the first large city to bar police from using facial recognition software. They tried a facial recognition system for a time, but sources in the department say they gave up on it because it wasn't much good. But what is significant about this legislation is the way the city has now singled-out facial recognition going forward. AARON PESKIN: Facial recognition technology is uniquely dangerous and oppressive. KASTE: That's the legislation's author, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, explaining yesterday why his legislation allows for other kinds of surveillance tech but not facial recognition.

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND - A self-driving shuttle got pulled over by police on its first day carrying passengers on a new Rhode Island route. Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements said an officer pulled over the odd-looking autonomous vehicle because he had never seen one before. "It looked like an oversize golf cart," Clements said. The vehicle, operated by Michigan-based May Mobility, was dropping off passengers Wednesday morning at Providence's Olneyville Square when a police cruiser arrived with blinking lights and a siren. It was just hours after the public launch of a state-funded pilot for a shuttle service called "Little Roady."

Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games announced plans Wednesday to launch robots from the "Mobile Suit Gundam" anime series into space aboard a satellite that will broadcast messages of support to athletes. In the project, conducted in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the University of Tokyo, two 10-centimeter models depicting Gundam and Char's Zaku robots from the animation series will be sent into orbit on a 30-cm long, 10-cm wide microsatellite. The "G Satellite," with an electronic bulletin board for displaying messages, will be sent to the International Space Station aboard a supply ship next March and later launched from the ISS. After the satellite enters the Earth's orbit, it will deploy the robots and the bulletin board. The organizers of the project will then share images taken with an onboard camera, including congratulatory messages in multiple languages, with athletes through social media and other outlets.

DJI is treading on GoPro's turf with their new Osmo Action camera featuring their "rock steady" stabilization. How does it compare with the Hero 7? Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY And it acts like it as well, with a caveat: The company that makes it, Chinese drone-maker DJI, says video footage on its Osmo Action camera is smoother than on the GoPro. We tried the camera in a back-to-back shootout with the GoPro Hero 7 Black, and the "RockSteady" footage isn't steadier and is, in fact, barely as smooth as the GoPro. But it is less wild and saturated, meaning that if you use an action camera to shoot footage of human beings, as opposed to surfing, cycling, hiking and the like, your subjects are going to look better. My guess is, though, that you want the camera for action, not portraits.

Elizabeth Keatinge tells us about Tesla's Autonomy Investor Day where robotaxis were discussed. PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A self-driving shuttle got pulled over by police on its first day carrying passengers on a new Rhode Island route. Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements said an officer pulled over the odd-looking autonomous vehicle because he had never seen one before. "It looked like an oversize golf cart," Clements said. The vehicle, operated by Michigan-based May Mobility, was dropping off passengers Wednesday morning at Providence's Olneyville Square when a police cruiser arrived with blinking lights and a siren.