A body of work over the past several decades has demonstrated that the complex and coordinated articulatory movements of human vowel production are governed (at least in part)by control mechanisms whose targets are regions of auditory space. Within the target region control at the sub-phonemic level has also been demonstrated. But the degree of accuracy of that control is unknown. The current work investigates this question by asking how far apart must two vowel stimuli lie in auditory space in order to yield reliably different imitations? This distance is termed 'Just Producible Difference' (JPD). The current study uses a vowel mimicry paradigm to derive the first measurement of JPD among two sets of English speakers during front vowel production. JPD is estimated at between 14 and 51 mels in F1 X F2 space. This finding has implications for episodic theories of speech production. It also clarifies the possible structures of human vowel systems, by setting a theoretical lower bound for how close two vowel phonemes may be in a speaker's formant space, and hence a psychophysical explanation of observed trends in number and patterns of possible vowel phonemes.

Hundreds of schoolchildren have been drafted in to make Amazon's Alexa devices in China as part of a controversial and often illegal attempt to meet production targets, documents seen by the Guardian reveal. Interviews with workers and leaked documents from Amazon's supplier Foxconn show that many of the children have been required to work nights and overtime to produce the smart-speaker devices, in breach of Chinese labour laws. According to the documents, the teenagers – drafted in from schools and technical colleges in and around the central southern city of Hengyang – are classified as "interns", and their teachers are paid by the factory to accompany them. Teachers are asked to encourage uncooperative pupils to accept overtime work on top of regular shifts. Some of the pupils making Amazon's Alexa-enabled Echo and Echo Dot devices along with Kindles have been required to work for more than two months to supplement staffing levels at the factory during peak production periods, researchers found.

Life is full of little disappointments. That's why it's so refreshing to occasionally see someone do something grand, and just a bit nutty. Like Elon Musk setting up a fully functional production tent in the Tesla's factory's backyard, in a improbable--and thus far successful!--bid to hit his 2018 production targets. Like a developer taking a polluted ex-Ford factory in Minnesota and trying to turn it into a walker-friendly, net-zero energy planned community. Like the mere existence of the Polaris Slingshot, which is not quite a car and not quite a motorcycle, but tells us some important things about the future of transportation. This week, it was all about lofty goals.

Tesla is standing by its production targets for the Model 3. On Wednesday, the firm assured investors that its key new vehicle was on track, and sought to downplay increased wariness over its finances, saying it expected to achieve net profit in both its third and fourth quarters. Over the last few months, the Model 3 has been caught up in what CEO Elon Musk referred to as'production hell,' with numerous delays that have forced the firm to adjust its initial goals. Still, the company - which posted its worst-ever quarterly loss on Wednesday - warned it would shut down production for about 10 days during the second quarter, including its most recent stoppage in April. Tesla is standing by its production targets for the Model 3. On Wednesday, the firm assured investors that its key new vehicle was on track, after months of what CEO Elon Musk has called'production hell' That temporary shutdown underscores how Tesla's assembly line still needs work to produce its goal of 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of June. Tesla said its spending had been trimmed and the company would spend less than $3 billion in capital expenditures in 2018, below its 2017 total of $3.4 billion. 'We have largely overcome this bottleneck,' wrote the Silicon Valley-based company in a release, referring to the manufacturing issues that have plagued the Model 3 battery module line at the Nevada Gigafactory.

As the capabilities of robots and AI continue to grow, many are worried machines will soon take the jobs of millions of workers. But according to electric car firm Tesla, automation has held back production of its latest vehicle. Chief executive Elon Musk said humans are'underrated' and that he regrets using so many robots to build the Tesla Model 3. The company had struggled to meet production targets for the £25,000 ($35,000) vehicle, hailed as Tesla's first lower-cost, high-volume car, and according to Musk humans rather than machines were the answer. As the capabilities of robots and AI continue to grow, many are worried machines will soon take the jobs of millions of workers. But according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, automation has held back production of the firm's latest vehicle'Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake.

Tesla delivered 1,550 of its new Model 3 electric cars in the fourth quarter, missing Wall Street expectations as it tries to overcome production issues that have hampered the roll out of its most affordable sedan. However, the company exceeded its overall sales targets, delivering 101,312 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs in 2017, up 33 percent over 2016. Tesla says it made significant progress in reducing production bottlenecks toward the end of the fourth quarter. However, the company exceeded its overall sales targets and says it made significant progress in reducing production bottlenecks toward the end of the fourth quarter. The five-seat sedan will travel 215 miles (346 kilometres) on a single charge.