CHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS - The U.S. Army is looking for a few good robots. Not to fight -- not yet, at least -- but to help the men and women who do. These robots aren't taking up arms, but the companies making them have waged a different kind of battle. At stake is a contract worth almost half a billion dollars for 3,000 backpack-sized robots that can defuse bombs and scout enemy positions. Competition for the work has spilled over into Congress and federal court.

Topics like artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and machine learning are getting lots of hype, but digital twin technology might just be the real game-changer. Digital twin software uses aspects of all the trending tech mentioned (AI, IoT, ML) in a unique way that's changing the way businesses optimize production and investment, and the big boys are already heavily invested. A digital twin is a highly advanced simulation that's used in computer-aided engineering (CAE). It's a digital duplicate that represents a physical object or process, but it is not intended to replace a physical object; it is merely to inform its optimization. Other terms used to refer to digital twin technology include virtual prototyping, hybrid twin technology, and digital asset management, but digital twin is quickly winning out as the most popular name.

Billionaire Michael Dell Returns to the Public Market by ... the momentum in machine learning that is generated by millions of devices connected to the Internet knows as the Internet of Things (IoT).

In the past several years, I have prepared a "top 10" list of biomedical advances. For 2018, I am instead highlighting a few areas that are fast- moving, are attracting considerable attention, and have transformative potential. Those three areas are genome editing, artificial intelligence, and the gut microbiome. There has been steady progress with illumination of biology using CRISPR (among other editing tools, such as transcription activator-like effector nucleases [TALENs] and zinc finger nucleases). One example was taking the BRCA1 gene and systematically editing its nucleotides and assessing functional changes.[1] In just one study, we could ascertain functional effects of hundreds of mutations that took more than a decade for a genomics company (Myriad Genetics; Salt Lake City, Utah) to determine via family studies.

Dr. Akli Adjaoute, CEO of Brighterion, wrote this AI-focused piece as part of our 2018 year-end eBook. On Dec. 3, 2018, the U.S. Treasury's FinCEN and Federal Banking agencies issued a joint statement encouraging innovative industry approaches to combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit financial threats. As a result, anti-money laundering (AML) has been occupying the headlines as of late. The financial industry has paid $321 billion in fines just through the end of last year, as estimated by Boston Consulting Group. JPMorgan had to pay more than $2 billion in fines due to violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, tied in part to the infamous Bernie Madoff scheme.

Artificial intelligence is without question one of the most captivating and influential corners of the technology world today, but it's also one of the noisiest. To wrap our heads around the complicated mashup of subjects that coalesce to make coverage of the AI beat possible, we write the AI Weekly. The Weekly is our sandbox of sorts, a place to let the most important topics that emerge in AI circles ruminate, stretch out, and find clarity. With an approach like that, naturally there's a fair amount of conceptual insights that have emerged throughout the year. So instead of another newsletter that dives deep into the topic of the day, this week we're looking back at some favorites from the past year.

MacAulay-Brown, Inc. (MacB), an Alion company, announced that representatives from its subsidiary, Enlighten IT Consulting, LLC, attended the Second Annual Department of Defense (DoD) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Industry Day on Wednesday, November 28 in Silver Spring, Maryland. DoD AI Industry Day is sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), together with the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC). Enlighten's team conducted a live demonstration of its Big Data Platform (BDP) AI capabilities, as well as enhancements to its proprietary Rapid Analytic Deployment Management Framework (RADMF) for government experts. The BDP is a government-owned, cloud-based analytics platform originally developed by Enlighten for the Defense Information Services Agency(DISA). It can be deployed by a DoD mission partner or government contractor in any environment.

The Illinois Department of Transportation wants people who may have found brand new drones under the tree on Christmas morning that their new toy comes with state and federal regulations that have to be followed.

The same can be said of the science that happened this year. From a sun-bound space probe to controversial designer babies made by a rogue scientist, this year's science headlines read like chapter titles to a cheap sci-fi novel. NASA's Parker Solar Probe had a bumpy beginning, as a series of budget cuts in the 2000s relegated the mission to a mere twinkle in the agency's eye. But in August, the extraordinary probe, designed to study the sun from the very edge of its atmosphere, finally launched from the Space Launch Complex 37 at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Packed within the Parker Solar Probe's heat shield are a slew of instruments designed to measure electric and magnetic fields within the sun's corona and solar wind, transmitting that information back to astronomers on Earth for analysis.

Defense Department CIO Dana Deasy said today that DoD is currently sorting through the FY 2019 budget allocation for the new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), and likely will be creating outposts for JAIC to spur outreach to members of academia. "We're currently sorting through the FY19 budget for this key priority, and we recognize that this is a major importance to the Department, and there are several significant challenges we need to overcome to ensure we move this with speed and agility," Deasy said today at an event organized by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. JAIC, which was stood up by DoD in late June, promises to speed the delivery of AI capabilities to the warfighter. Not much has been said of the structure of JAIC since that time, but today Deasy provided more detail on the location for JAIC, which will include separate remote "capabilities" to fuel outreach to academic institutions. "Right now, it's going to be stood up in the Pentagon, and will also be a hub and spoke model that will connect with some of the best and brightest universities across the U.S.," Deasy said.