Drought, heat, and pest infestation: Climate change is threatening forests in Germany and represents a big challenge in forest management. A joint project of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and EDI GmbH, a spinoff of KIT, now provides support. Together with partners in the forestry sector, they are developing the EDE 4.0 assistance system. Based on artificial intelligence (AI), it helps foresters preserve and sustainably manage forests. Climate change also affects forests in Germany.

Collision-free path planning is an essential requirement for autonomous exploration in unknown environments, especially when operating in confined spaces or near obstacles. This study presents an autonomous exploration technique using a small drone. A local end-point selection method is designed using LiDAR range measurement and then generates the path from the current position to the selected end-point. The generated path shows the consistent collision-free path in real-time by adopting the Euclidean signed distance field-based grid-search method. The simulation results consistently showed the safety, and reliability of the proposed path-planning method. Real-world experiments are conducted in three different mines, demonstrating successful autonomous exploration flight in environments with various structural conditions. The results showed the high capability of the proposed flight autonomy framework for lightweight aerial-robot systems. Besides, our drone performs an autonomous mission during our entry at the Tunnel Circuit competition (Phase 1) of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge.

Many of the commodities that affect our everyday lives are processed by smelters and fumer-furnace operations. These include products made from copper, nickel, and zinc, such as electrical wiring, kitchen appliances, and some types of batteries. Smelters are also used to produce precious metals, such as gold or silver, and animal feed, and to provide heat for dryers and roasters, which must be operated in concert for efficient production. Despite the importance of smelters, operations are becoming increasingly challenging. Most smelters globally have been in operation for at least 20 years, resulting in higher maintenance requirements. Second, feed quality is declining.

This seminar forms part of the AI3SD Online Seminar Series that will run across the winter (from November 2020 to April 2021). This seminar will be run via zoom, when you register on Eventbrite you will receive a zoom registration email alongside your standard Eventbrite registration email. Where speakers have given permission to be recorded, their talks will be made available on our AI3SD YouTube Channel. The theme for this seminar is Property Prediction. Abstract: Equations of state (EoS) for fluids have been a staple of engineering design and practice for over a century.

The internet of things (IoT) is increasingly becoming a key component of many companies' data-driven transformation strategies. Indeed, organizations that have embraced IoT are already seeing benefits such as improved operational processes, better inventory management, and enhanced equipment maintenance -- to name a few. But a successful IoT strategy is more than just connecting a bunch of devices and sensors to the internet and gathering data from these "things." IT must establish the ability to effectively analyze the vast amounts of data IoT creates in order to make sense of it and gain real business insights. That's why an analytics strategy for IoT should be a top priority for any company looking to get the most out of all the connectivity.

We review our recent work in the area of autonomous materials research, highlighting the coupling of machine learning methods and models and more problem-aware modeling. We review the general Bayesian framework for closed-loop design employed by many autonomous materials platforms. We then provide examples of our work on such platforms. We finally review our approaches to extend current statistical and ML models to better reflect problem-specific structure including the use of physics-based models and incorporation of operational considerations into the decision-making procedure.

Ocean scientists are using robot submariness to detect barrels of toxic chemicals under the sea. Thousands of barrels of DDT and other substances are believed submerged in the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles, but authorities aren't sure where or how many. To get an idea, researchers have launched two'underwater Roombas,' Remote Environmental Monitoring UnitS (REMUS) that can operate in waters ranging from 80 feet to about 20,000 feet. The vehicles take 12 hours to recharge, so while one is scanning the seafloor with its sonar the other is powering up and passing along its findings. Ocean scientists are using'underwater Roombas' to scan the ocean floor for barrels of toxic chemicals, including the banned pesticide DDT.

Despite a relatively widespread understanding that AI is an inevitable force for winning market share and serving customers, by name estimates some 80-90% of AI projects fail. When AI projects lead to successful deployments and strategic or measurable ROI, it isn't because the right vendor was chosen, or the right algorithm was used. It's because someone lead the charge and not only chose the right project – but won the trust and air cover needed to see it through to deployment. At Emerj, we refer to an "AI catalyst" as: Someone who leads their company to AI adoption and ROI. But what does it mean to "lead" in this context?

Believe it or not, fighter jets, flying cars, natural gas pipelines and plastic bottles may be more alike than you think. They might one day be made with TuFF -- a high-performance short-fiber composite material invented at the University of Delaware that is superstrong, ultra-lightweight and virtually indestructible. It might even be the Superman of materials. Developed by researchers at UD's Center for Composite Materials as part of a Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office program, TuFF (Tailored Universal Feedstock for Forming) has properties equal to the very best composites used in space and aerospace applications today. And, according to CCM Director Jack Gillespie, the uses for TuFF are starting to take off -- literally.

GM has released more details about its next-generation Ultium batteries, including plans for lithium-metal (Li-metal) technology to boost performance and energy density. The automaker announced that it has signed an agreement to work with SolidEnergy Systems (SES), an MIT spinoff developing prototype Li-metal batteries with nearly double the capacity of current lithium-ion cells. As a reminder, Li-metal batteries replace carbon anodes with lithium metal, allowing for lighter and more powerful cells. The challenge with the technology is increased resistance and "dendrite" filaments that tend to form on the anodes, making batteries short-circuit and heat up. Previous lithium-metal batteries would only work when heated up to 175 degrees F, but SolidEnergy developed an electrolyte coating for lithium metal foil that works at room temperature.