Structural causal models describe how the components of a robotic system interact. They provide both structural and functional information about the relationships that are present in the system. The structural information outlines the variables among which there is interaction. The functional information describes how such interactions work, via equations or learned models. In this paper we find that learning the functional relationships while accounting for the uncertainty about the structural information leads to more robust dynamics models which improves downstream planning, while using significantly lower computational resources. This in contrast with common model-learning methods that ignore the causal structure and fail to leverage the sparsity of interactions in robotic systems. We achieve this by estimating a causal structure distribution that is used to sample causal graphs that inform the latent-space representations in an encoder-multidecoder probabilistic model. We show that our model can be used to learn the dynamics of a robot, which together with a sampling-based planner can be used to perform new tasks in novel environments, provided an objective function for the new requirement is available. We validate our method using manipulators and mobile robots in both simulation and the real-world. Additionally, we validate the learned dynamics' adaptability and increased robustness to corrupted inputs and changes in the environment, which is highly desirable in challenging real-world robotics scenarios. Video: https://youtu.be/X6k5t7OOnNc.

The taglines on M3GAN 2.0 posters read like text messages from an overconfident tween: "HEY, QUEENS." "MISS ME?" "I'M STILL THAT B." (Another that apparently exists, though I haven't seen in the wild, hilariously reads: "THIS BITCH.") Next to them, the titular robot who looks like an uncanny-valley Olsen twin peers from above circular sunglasses. This character that, per her 2023 film debut, will kill you and your little dog, too, is now being marketed with big child-star energy. While she always had more to offer than malice (her late-movie dance break went viral from its trailer alone), this moment marks a clear pivot on M3GAN's Mary Janes.

At least it shows its symptoms clearly: inflammation and swelling. In the first film, Gemma (Allison Williams), a robotics engineer, becomes the guardian to her orphaned niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), and tests a new invention, the titular A.I.-powered robot-doll, on her. Cady grows attached to the responsive doll, which is programmed to protect the child and takes to the mission with a mechanical perfection, slaughtering anyone who expresses hostility--and does so with snarky pride in her absolute power. At its core, though, "M3GAN" (like the sequel, directed by Gerard Johnstone) is a family melodrama centered on Gemma's struggles with parenting and Cady's need to bond--plus the robot's quick embrace of human cruelty. The film's failures are painful because its setup is fruitful.

The trailer for M3GAN 2.0 is here and if you were expecting a copy-paste of the original's horror vibe, you may be surprised. Instead, the sequel is embracing a turn towards action in vein of Terminator 2 complete with upgrades to the original doll, a robot showdown and... a wing suit? Set to arrive in theaters only on June 27, the film is once again directed by Gerard Johnstone and features returning cast members Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps, along with newcomer Ivanna Sakhno (Pacific Rim: Uprising) as Amelia. It's two years after the original M3GAN doll went on a murderous rampage (including that wild dance sequence) and was eventually destroyed. Since then, its designer Gemma has become an author and voice for more robust AI oversight, while Gemma's niece Cady (who M3GAN 1.0 swore to protect) is now a teenager. Meanwhile, M3GAN's AI tech was stolen by a defense contractor to build super robot solidier Amelia.

The essence of genre is effects without causes--things showing up to fulfill expectations rather than dramatic necessities. "M3GAN," a science-fiction-based horror caper, provides a clever batch of these effects in this gleefully clever twist on the "Frankenstein" theme, and its director, Gerard Johnstone, seems to be laughing up his sleeve throughout. It's that very knowingness, the deftness with which the film gets a rise from viewers, which makes a good time feel hollow. There's a different, far more substantial movie lurking within, yet the virtues of efficiency, clarity, surprise, and wit that enliven the one that's actually onscreen leave its merely implied substance tantalizingly unformed. Allison Williams plays Gemma, a type-A robotics engineer with a big toy company in Seattle, Funki, that prospers by selling cheesily interactive furry toys called PurrPetual Petz.

If you grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, the opening of M3gan is like a Proustian madeleine in TV-commercial form, a gaudy, blaring 30-second spot for children's toys that promise unending hours of fun. And what follows next will be just as familiar: the sharp feeling of disappointment. The ad for "Purrpetual Pets" promises fuzzy computerized companions that will be tireless playmates for as long as you can keep them charged. The one we see 8-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) playing with in the back seat, as her quarreling parents navigate a mountain road in a whiteout blizzard, mostly seems to make fart noises while prompting her to feed it simulated treats. Although M3gan eventually becomes a movie about a technology so successful that it surpasses both its creator's dreams and her control, it starts off as a reminder that, in the vast majority of cases, the promises that code could take on the functions of humans have either ended in failure or, just as often, a scaling-down of expectations.

Not a robot so much as a hi-tech Frankenstein's monster, stitched together with bits of Robocop and Terminator, but cheekily enjoyable just the same. This is a sci-fi chiller co-written by horror experts Akela Cooper and James Wan and directed by Gerard Johnstone. M3gan, or Model 3 Generative Android, is an eerily self-possessed blond tweenage girlbot, voiced by Jenna Davis, a state-of-the-art toy from the near future developed as a personal passion project by engineer Gemma (Allison Williams, from Get Out and HBO's Girls) to the exasperation of her highly stressed boss David, amusingly played by Ronny Chieng. To be properly developed, M3gan needs to "pair" with a little girl owner; she needs to sync up with an actual human, to learn her owner's speech patterns, behavioural traits and emotional needs, so she can be properly close with her. And Gemma doesn't have anyone to fill that post – until her nine-year-old niece Cady (Violet McGraw) is orphaned after a car crash and comes to live with Gemma, who must furthermore honour her late parents' wish that she is homeschooled.

With 2022 almost over it's almost time to ring in a new year of movies and one of the biggest projects being released at the beginning of 2023 will be M3gan. M3gan is the story of a robotic doll with artificial intelligence that serves as a protector to the child that owns her, but things go haywire and she begins killing. With the film releasing right around the corner we're beginning to see more and more from M3gan and now we have a brand new clip that shows off the doll horrific forest kill. You can check out the clip below! There have been rumblings that Anabelle and M3gan could go toe to toe in a battle of the dolls, but nothing has been official.

We attended the M3GAN premiere at the TCL Chinese theater in Hollywood, CA and although the cast was small, the amount of celebrities and influencers supporting this movie was mighty. The carpet was paused multiple times for a crew of M3GAN's to come out and give a performance to Taylor Swift's "It's Nice to Have a Friend," in efforts to bring the creepy doll from the big screen, to real life. As they finished their dance they stayed in character, with the audience murmuring how eerie the experience was. Every cast and crew member who was present showed how important this film was to them by speaking closely with each outlet and sharing stories from on set. Producer, Jason Blum stole the show when he showed up dressed as M3GAN.

Israeli printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer CADY has successfully raised $3 million USD to develop an AI-based software for inspection of circuit board designs. The software uses machine learning to compare the components of a circuit board with the design of the board, ensuring that everything is in the right place and that there are no mistakes in the final product. This provides quality control and makes the manufacturing process significantly faster and more efficient. CADY's CEO Gilad Shapira highlighted the industry's demand for advanced AI-based inspection technology: "Along with the chip market, the electrical circuit market also experiences an immense increase in recent decades in terms of the complexity of the design and the inspection of the schematics. Each circuit made for automotive, computers, cellphones and other electronic devices is becoming much denser and more complex, embedded with more components, and thus harder to inspect."