The ortho giant's purchase of French surgical robotics firm Medtech could give competitor Mazor Robotics a run for its money, according to one analyst. Zimmer Biomet has officially entered the surgical robotics market with its acquisition of a majority of shares in the French firm Medtech, maker of a robotics platform for neurological and spine procedures. The Warsaw, IN-based company, a leader in the musculoskeletal space, announced July 18 that it had purchased almost 59% of shares in Medtech and also intends to mount an all-cash simplified tender offer to acquire the remaining shares. Zimmer Biomet will continue to operate Medtech out of its current headquarters in Montepellier, France, which will also serve as a "center of excellence" for Zimmer Biomet's surgical robotics development efforts, according to a joint press release from the companies. With the Medtech acquisition, Zimmer Biomet gains the Rosa platform, which is currently used in 20 hospitals in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East, according to the company's website.

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration, Technology Solutions-Advanced Information Technologies, Burlington, Massachusetts, has been awarded a 9,402,650 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for software and reports. The contractor will provide development and integration of the latest advancements in machine learning that benefit this effort as well as architectural enhancements that increase the flexibility and agility of applying analytics to solve space situational awareness problems and take full advantage of high-performance computing capabilities and multiple forms of visualization of the reasoning performed by the analytics involved in this effort. This includes demonstration of new capabilities over three-year spirals that progressively demonstrate detection of increasingly complex scenarios and improved detection and prediction capabilities. Work will be performed in Burlington, Massachusetts, and Arlington, Virginia, and is expected to be complete by July 15, 2019. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, with two offers received.

Tesla's Gigafactory in the Nevada Desert is finally nearing completion. Set to open on July 29th, it will have the largest footprint of any building in the world. The 5 billion structure will produce 500,000 lithium ion batteries each year to meet demand. When it's complete, Tesla's Gigafactory in the Nevada Desert will have the largest footprint of any building in the world. At the Model 3 launch yesterday, founder Elon Musk said the 5 billion structure will produce 500,000 lithium ion batteries annually to meet demand.

This annual gathering sees robotics experts from all over the planet fielding teams of battling soccerbots in a bid for robot football supremacy. In this CNET special feature, we take you inside the tournament, revealing the goals, dives and cutting-edge technology deployed in this quirky footie-fest. This year's tournament took place in Leipzig, Germany, where robots across both humanoid and non-humanoid leagues went head-to-head. Meet the Australian team out to defend their title, see why a change to the regulation ball has scores of robots baffled, and enjoy the sight of extremely adorable robots falling over -- then hopping right back up again. Hit play on the video above to check it out, and see more videos from RoboCup below. The pace of artificial intelligence is relentless, so it's not surprising that robot competitors are frequently retired from the game.

IBM has given its investors a sign that Big Blue may finally be turning things around. Revenue increased for the first time in a key unit -- cognitive solutions, including its Watson artificial intelligence platform -- that the company has been touting as crucial to future growth. The results may signal that Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty is making good on her promise to shift IBM's software and services offerings to match customers' increasing appetite for cloud-based solutions. It's been an uphill battle. Overall, sales have declined for 17 quarters in a row, while margins have also narrowed.

AT&T uses artificial intelligence to tell if things are going wrong in its network. Soon, AI may know it before it happens. The carrier says it's been using AI for decades in areas like call-center automation but developed it for each use as they came along. Now AT&T is pouring its AI smarts into a one platform that can be used with multiple applications. "I can't just keep doing this once at a time. We need a foundation," said Mazin Gilbert, assistant vice president of the company's Inventive Sciences division, in an interview last week at the AT&T Shape conference in San Francisco.

The fear of intelligence in something other than the human mind has long been feared by scientists, conspiracy theorists and tech-minded people since the very notion it was possible was thought of. The argument that artificial intelligence could be the best or worst thing for humanity is a divisive battle, one with many good points on either side. Since the dawn of the artificial intelligence field people have been warning of a machine-revolt, over throwing human power in one sweep as the conscious machines take over the world. Some scientists believe that humanity is not doing enough to prepare for the inevitable rise of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is a broad and active area of research, but it's no longer solely thought of in academics.

For their study, researchers from New York University Shanghai and University of Hong Kong had 80 students and faculty from the University of Hong Kong participate in several experiments involving different video games. Action-based video games, for example, force the gamer to respond to visual cues. Think driving-centric games, like "Mario Kart," or first-person shooter games, such as "Unreal Tournament." Non-action games, on the other hand, include those like "Sims 2" and "Roller Coaster Tycoon," where the gamer is responsible for directing the action. In one experiment, subjects with no action-based video game experience were asked to played "Mario Kart" or a first-person shooter game.

On Thursday, June 23, 51.9% of the over 33 million who voted opted for the UK to leave the EU. By June 27, the pound had fallen to a 31 year low against the dollar. On the same day, Ireland's foreign minister was forced to issue a plea asking UK nationals to "stop rushing for Irish passports", as post offices in Belfast ran out of application forms. Up to 7% of those who had voted to leave now regretted their decision, according to media reports. Regardless of the turnout, two commonly known economic principles ensure that referenda will always be inherently flawed policy instruments.

By John Markoff For more than a decade, Silicon Valley's technology investors and entrepreneurs obsessed over social media and mobile apps that helped people do things like find new friends, fetch a ride home or crowdsource a review of a product or a movie. Now Silicon Valley has found its next shiny new thing. And it does not have a "Like" button. The new era in Silicon Valley centers on artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, a transformation that many believe will have a payoff on the scale of the personal computing industry or the commercial internet, two previous generations that spread computing globally. Computers have begun to speak, listen and see, as well as sprout legs, wings and wheels to move unfettered in the world.