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How to build a smart RasPi Bot with Cloud Vision and Speech API - Google I/O 2016
Cloud Vision API and Speech API let you take advantage of fully-trained machine learning models from Google. These technologies enable the powerful search behind Google Photos, and voice search in the mobile Google App. In this session we learn how to build a smart RaspberryPi robot that can detect faces, objects, and follow voice commands using these APIs. See all the talks from Google I/O 2016 here: https://goo.gl/olw6kV
Google Has a New AI That Understands English. And Its Name is 'Parsey McParseface'
How machines deal with comprehending human languages is called Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and revolutionary changes in this technology have given us the many virtual assistants we have today. However, NLU still has many obstacles to go through due to the ambiguous nature of the countless languages all over the world. Now, Google claims they're cutting through these difficulties as they announced the open sourcing of a neural network software developed with TensorFlow, SyntaxNet, together withโฆParsey McParseface, apparently an English parser. Parsing, in linguistics, is the breaking down of sentences into their component parts to define what each part means. Experts assert that this is a first key component in NLU systems.
Artificial Intelligence Seeks Real Shoppers
Let's check in with who's on the AI (artificial intelligence) train. Apple kicked things off this year, announcing back in January that it had purchased Emotient, an AI tech startup in the facial recognition business. Did Apple say why it bought that company? Of course, it did not; mind your own business. Jump ahead to spring, and the next big company in the retail space (specifically, the biggest company in eCommerce) to make an AI-related move this year was Amazon.
Computers Suck at Poetry
A poetic Turing test was held at Dartmouth yesterday to pit artificial intelligence against human poets, AP reported. Good news: the computers lost. Judges could easily tell the difference between robot-written sonnets. One of the judges, Harvard English professor and New Yorker contributor Louis Menand, cited syntactical oddities and "uses of language that were just a little off," as reasons why the AI-written sonnets stuck out as so obviously fraudulent. Machines are getting better at natural language.
Uber self-driving cars begin testing in Pittsburgh
Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display
Bing Concierge appears to be Microsoft's answer to Google's conversational Assistant
If you were wondering what Microsoft's response would be to the next-generation, conversational Google Assistant that debuted at Google I/O, a job posting may have revealed it: Bing Concierge. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley unearthed a job posting for what Microsoft calls the Bing Concierge Bot, a natural language agent that fulfills tasks on behalf of the user. But while Assistant appears to restrict itself to the Android platform, Microsoft seems to believe Bing Concierge could run on any number of instant-messenger platforms. "In Bing Concierge Bot... we are building a highly intelligent productivity agent that communicates with the user over a conversation platform, such as Skype, Messenger, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.," the job listing reads. Why this matters: Just as Google moves on from Google Now, Microsoft appears to be evolving beyond Cortana.
Condoms By Drone: A New Way To Get Birth Control To Remote Areas
A drone takes a practice flight in Virginia with medical supplies -- part of a project to evaluate the flying machines for use in humanitarian crises. A drone takes a practice flight in Virginia with medical supplies -- part of a project to evaluate the flying machines for use in humanitarian crises. She was a mother in rural Ghana. She only wanted four children. That's a story that Faustina Fynn-Nyame told at the Women Deliver conference this week in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Pepper the robot is opening up to Android
SoftBank will still use its Naoqi operating system to control Pepper's hardware -- Android will only run on its chest-strapped tablet. The company isn't saying what sort of business deal it's struck, but Google typically takes a 30 percent cut from Android app revenues. We also don't know how much the robot will be able to take advantage of Android's features. The recently announced Google Assistant AI could actually be useful in a humanoid robot that can move on its own. SoftBank is still trying to figure out a purpose for Pepper, hence the need for more developer interest.
Meet 'Robobee' - the tiny drone designed to perch and save energy
Flapping two tiny wings, the small, thin robot wobbles its way towards the underside of a leaf, bumps into the surface and latches on, perching motionless above the ground. Moments later, its wings begin to flap once more and it jiggles off on its way. The little flying machine, dubbed a "RoboBee", has been designed to perch on a host of different surfaces, opening up new possibilities for the use of drones in providing a bird's-eye view of the world, scientists say. Know as micro aerial vehicles, such robots could be invaluable in reconnaissance of disaster zones or to form impromptu communication networks. But there is a hitch: flying takes energy, so the time these robots can spend in the air is limited by the size of the battery pack they can carry.