Rapid search and rescue is critical to maximizing survival rates following natural disasters. However, these efforts are challenged by the need to search large disaster zones, lack of reliability in the communications infrastructure, and a priori unknown numbers of objects of interest (OOIs), such as injured survivors. Aerial robots are increasingly being deployed for search and rescue due to their high mobility, but there remains a gap in deploying multi-robot autonomous aerial systems for methodical search of large environments. Prior works have relied on preprogrammed paths from human operators or are evaluated only in simulation. We bridge these gaps in the state of the art by developing and demonstrating a decentralized active search system, which biases its trajectories to take additional views of uncertain OOIs. The methodology leverages stochasticity for rapid coverage in communication denied scenarios. When communications are available, robots share poses, goals, and OOI information to accelerate the rate of search. Extensive simulations and hardware experiments in Bloomingdale, OH, are conducted to validate the approach. The results demonstrate the active search approach outperforms greedy coverage-based planning in communication-denied scenarios while maintaining comparable performance in communication-enabled scenarios.

About: Bloomingdale's makes fashion personal and fun, aspirational yet approachable. Our mission is to guide and inspire our customers to make style a source of creative energy in their lives. We will always strive to make Bloomingdale's like no other store in the world. Everyone plays a critical role to bring our mission to life. Regardless of position, we believe all colleagues have a voice and access to share their thoughts with every level of leadership.

Robots are ringing in the holidays at Bloomingdale's New York store. Three of the 12 windows at the 59th street location feature robots in an bid to show how the retail company will'enhance the future retail experience'. Customers watch robots work together to create an'Autonomous Christmas Tree Decorating' display, play instruments in a full orchestra and sing'Christmas Carol Karaoke'. Bloomingdale's is known for its stunning and whimsical holiday displays, but this year it has teamed up with ABB robots and robot animator Andy Flessas to create a unique display to showcase how retailers can enhance the future retail experience. Two floor-mounted and two ceiling-mounted IRB 120 robots co-ordinate their movements to pass 20 gold ornaments to each other, placing them on the branches, before stripping the tree and starting the 30-minute process again.

A few times each year, senior digital executives from around the world assemble at Forrester's Digital Transformation Summit to check in with each other and Forrester analysts to discuss the current state of digital evolution. I was pleased to be invited as a guest to the sold-out event, held in early May in Chicago. For those who couldn't spare the two days, here is a summary of key insights and trends. While there were updates on familiar themes from prior years, such as Agile practices, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing, the major shift this year has been a central focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) across industries and a need for an even more aggressive approach to digital transformation in order to compete. Get weekly insights by signing up for our CIO Leader newsletter.

Bloomingdale's can now pinpoint which of its employee learning programs are generating results -- and by how much in real dollars. The Macy's division has deployed Axonify Impact, (from Axonify), a learning attribution engine that uses machine learning to evaluate the data collected through training programs. Results reveal the direct impact that employee training programs are having on real business metrics, such as increases in revenue or decreases in expenditures. As employees interact with the platform, the technology's machine learning capabilities reveal which programs are generating the greatest impact, and how employee knowledge and participation influence business results. It also uncovers gaps, and makes real-time recommendations to frontline managers when a business target is at risk.

A few times each year, senior digital executives from around the world assemble at Forrester's Digital Transformation Summit to check in with each other and Forrester analysts to discuss the current state of digital evolution. I was pleased to be invited as a guest to the sold-out event, held in early May in Chicago. For those who couldn't spare the two days, here is a summary of key insights and trends. While there were updates on familiar themes from prior years, such as Agile practices, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing, the major shift this year has been a central focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) across industries and a need for an even more aggressive approach to digital transformation in order to compete. Tyler McDaniel, VP Data Insights explained Forrester's model for the empowered customer, which divides customers into five tiers, from Progressive Pioneers to Reserved Resisters.

Some brands don't target well enough, while others go way too far, creeping people out. With personalized marketing, striking a delicate balance is the key. Personalization is an important skill for any marketer to master, but it's also quite a difficult one. There are just so many different ways it can go wrong. If your ads don't have any personalized components, people perceive them as not being relevant enough, making them that much more likely to use an ad blocker (provided they've heard of ad blockers).