The operation to liberate the ISIS Syrian stronghold of Raqqa has entered its third month, and while the U.S. and its partners have largely depleted the enemy ranks - but lethal danger lurks throughout the city. There are about 1,500 ISIS fighters left in Raqqa, a big reduction from around 5,000 less than two months ago, according to Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve – the U.S.-led coalition tasked to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But Raqqa is still teeming with landmines and booby traps, many set by fleeing jihadists. "Eighty percent of the engagement the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has had has been with IEDs, whether they be vehicle-born IEDs, inside houses, static vehicles and even IEDs planted inside corpses," Dillion told Fox News. "Those have been the proponents of how ISIS is fighting in Raqqa so far."

A Silicon Valley company has made the move to Pittsburgh, bringing with it a unique type of artificial intelligence. Citrine Informatics, a chemicals and materials artificial intelligence (AI) platform, recently opened its first office outside of Silicon Valley in Bakery Square. Citrine combines materials-aware AI with the world's largest materials database to help companies deliver high-performance products to market faster. It's a feat Citrine CEO Greg Mulholland says they're under a lot of pressure to do. He illustrates his point by citing how Boeing strives to become fuel efficient by creating lighter, stronger materials with which to build their jets.

The U.S. Department of Defense is moving forward with its work on brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarding contracts to five research groups and one private company on Tuesday. BCIs have been around for a while now, but the potential for expanding their capabilities is relatively recent. The primary purpose of BCIs have been developing better neuroprostheses, which is also one of the visions of DARPA's Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program. Through NESD, DARPA wants to develop high-resolution brain interfaces that could restore and enhance human senses. "The NESD program looks ahead to a future in which advanced neural devices offer improved fidelity, resolution, and precision sensory interface for therapeutic applications," founding NESD program manager Phillip Alvelda said at the announcement, the Singularity Archive reports.

The U.S. Army has ordered its members to stop using drones made by Chinese manufacturer SZ DJI Technology because of "cyber vulnerabilities." The directive applies to all DJI drones and systems that use DJI components or software. It requires service members to "cease all use, uninstall all DJI applications, remove all batteries and storage media and secure equipment for follow-on direction." DJI has about 70% of the global commercial and consumer drone market according to Goldman Sachs analysts. The market, including military, is expected to be worth more than $100 billion over the next five years.

A home once built by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is seen in Austin, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. While serving as state attorney general in 2011, Abbott tore down his Austin home and built the new one. City records show Abbott was allowed to do so as long as he didn't damage the root systems of two large pecan trees, though roots were eventually damaged in the renovations. As governor, Abbott has called tree ordinances like Austin's "socialistic."

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next two months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. Prior to deployment, robots must be extensively trained and tested. With physical prototypes, this can be expensive and impractical.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has a lot on his mind these days. Mattis admitted to that concern Thursday during the Silicon Valley leg of a West Coast tour that includes visits to Amazon and Google. When WIRED asked Mattis if the US had ambitions to harness recent progress in AI for military purposes like those recently espoused by China, he said his department needed to do more with the technology. "It's got to be better integrated by the Department of Defense, because I see many of the greatest advances out here on the West Coast in private industry," Mattis said. Mattis, speaking in Mountain View, a stone's throw from Google's campus, hopes the tech industry will help the Pentagon catch up.

Costing £3.1billion and weighing 65,000 tonnes, she's Britain's biggest and most advanced warship ever built. But HMS Queen Elizabeth has been outmanoevred by a £300 drone which landed on the deck completely unchallenged. The drone pilot, who wanted to remain anonymous, made the daring flight while the aircraft carrier was docked at Invergordon, Scotland in July. He flew over the carrier before touching down on the four-acre deck and then taking off again unchecked. Princess Diana's driver: Her death'stirred things within me' The flight may now be discussed in Scotland's Parliament by MSPs concerned about security flaws.

An advertisement posted on Craigslist on August 9 by a San Francisco couple in their 40s is driving the internet wild. Even though their requirement might read as nothing out of the ordinary – a personal assistant – it is the details that make up for bizarre reading. The couple has listed their profession as biotech executives who lead extremely busy lives. So busy in fact, that they need a full time assistant, who would need to put in 40 hours per week to accomplish tasks such as cleaning up dog vomit and swim across the sea. Some of the problems that the couple seem to facing are: "resorting to unhealthy take-out and processed foods, personal social media accounts are neglected," buying "fresh flowers but don't have time to trim daily and change the water, indoor plants are dying...nail polish gets chipped and remains chipped, investment opportunities go un-researched, and that crucial'date night' consists of collapsing onto the sofa and watching a movie."

When SpaceX's latest cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) lifts off Monday, among the rest of its payload will be something that has possible ramifications for future long-term space travel: an experiment to design computers that are resistant, if not immune, to the effects of radiation in space. Called Spaceborne Computer (SBC), the year-long experiment is a joint effort between NASA and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. It is a supercomputer which HPE has developed for the space agency "to run a high-performance commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) computer system in space," according to a statement the company sent to International Business Times. "The goal is for the system to operate seamlessly in the harsh conditions of space for one year – roughly the amount of time it will take to travel to Mars," it added. This kind of an experiment is important because "radiation is likely to have a number of unanticipated effects on complex computer systems. This experiment helps identify critical failure points in electronic systems, as well as potential software'patches' that can prevent them," according to NASA.