Table tennis robot defeats some of world's best players - why this has major implications for robotics A table tennis robot has outperformed elite players in recent evaluations. The robot, called Ace, marks a significant step toward artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can operate in fast, uncertain, real-world environments. In the tests, the autonomous robot won three out of five matches against elite players - competitive athletes with over ten years' experience and an average of 20 hours weekly training. The robot, developed by Sony AI, lost both matches against players in professional Japanese leagues, but did win a game against one of them. The system is described in detail in a recent paper published in Nature .

Parents shouldn't take away consoles from children who show signs of gaming addiction because it could lead to physical violence, a psychologist has warned. Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, head of the National Centre for Gaming Disorders, says it can become a police matter when kids lose access to gaming. The centre – which along with the World Health Organization recognises gaming addiction as a disorder – is seeing teens who are gaming up to 14 hours a day. Children are hooked on Call of Duty, Fortnite, FIFA, Angry Birds, War Zone and Minecraft, but no game is necessarily more addictive than any other. According to the centre's founder, it has dealt with 745 patients since it opened in October 2019, including 327 last year.

Regular glasses could soon double as night vision goggles after scientists developed an ultra-thin crystal film which acts as a filter to help humans see in the dark. The transparent metallic film contains nanometre-scale crystals that are hundreds of times thinner than human hair. It can be applied directly to a pair of spectacles and works by converting infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, into images people can see. Nanotechnology: The transparent metallic film contains nanometre-scale crystals that are hundreds of times thinner than human hair. How it works: This graph illustrates how the ultra-thin film would be applied to glasses to allow wearers to see in the dark.

Scientists have created an infrared body-scanner to help tackle surging violent crime rates. It combines a standard camera with infra-red technology to detect concealed blades from up to 20ft (6 metres) away and works through heavy clothing and even belts. The potentially life-saving technology's developers in the UK say it could one day be fitted to handheld cameras and even mobile phones. If it proves to be a viable option to law enforcement, it may be expanded to include other'geometrically similar' objects with a similar heat signature, such as stowed handguns. A proof of concept is expected in six months and if it is successful, has the potential to be implemented across the UK and around the world.

Popular science fiction of the early 20th century depicted Venus as some kind of wonderland of pleasantly warm temperatures, forests, swamps and even dinosaurs. In 1950, the Hayden Planetarium at the American Natural History Museum were soliciting reservations for the first space tourism mission, well before the modern era of Blue Origins, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. All you had to do was supply your address and tick the box for your preferred destination, which included Venus. Today, Venus is unlikely to be a dream destination for aspiring space tourists. As revealed by numerous missions in the last few decades, rather than being a paradise, the planet is a hellish world of infernal temperatures, a corrosive toxic atmosphere and crushing pressures at the surface.

The Seventh International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE11) was held July 25-28, 2011, at the Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK. The general chairs were Ahmad Lotfi (Nottingham Trent University) and Sean Hanna (Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London). Juan Carlos Augusto (University of Ulster) and Achilles Kameas (Hellenic Open University and Computer Technology Institute) served as program chairs. This article presents a report of the conference. The development of intelligent environments is considered the first and primary step toward the realization of the ambient intelligence vision and requires input from research and contributions from several scientific and engineering disciplines, including computer science, software engineering, artificial intelligence, architecture, social sciences, and art and design.

While some view videogames as a waste of time, researchers have found that spending time in these virtual worlds can actually enhance your perception and attention skills. People who play between one and five hours a week are able to process visual information five percent more accurately than those who don't play at all, finds a new study. These findings suggest that those who play video games are faster and more efficient at processing rapidly-presented stimuli. People who play between 1 and 5 hours a week are able to process visual information 5% more accurately than those who don't play at all, finds a new study from psychologists at Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University asked 43 participants to perform observation tasks presented on a screen. The first asked participants to identify a white letter within the stream of black letters, and the other the letter'T' in one of four orientations, rotated by 0, 90, 180, and 270 and observers attempted to discriminate between these orientations The team found that video gamers were able to perform this dual task on average 5% more accurately than non-gamers, suggesting faster and more efficient processing of rapidly-presented stimuli.

The 7th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE11) was held July 25–28 2011 at the Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK. The general chairs were Ahmad Lotfi (Nottingham Trent University), and Sean Hanna (Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London). Juan Carlos Augusto (University of Ulster) and Achilles Kameas (Hellenic Open University and Computer Technology Institute), served as program chairs. This article presents a report of the conference.