robots Archives -

Delivery robots complete 100,000 deliveries

Starship Technologies makes six wheeled robotic delivery vehicles that travel at 4 mph across college campuses to deliver mostly groceries. The company has completed 100,000 deliveries and plans to roll out the vehicles to over 100 college campuses over the next few years as IOT and AI meet varsity life. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: Dominos Pizza needs to act swiftly before being completely displaced by Starship robots that will start whizzing late night munchies across campuses. For those tracking jobs eliminated by AI, pizza delivery person may be at the top of the list.

Walmart sues Tesla for fiery solar panels

Tesla’s solar division, built on its acquisition of SolarCity for $2.6 billion in 2016, was poised to make solar common place on rooftops across America. The company is now installing one tenth of the solar capacity of the acquired company. Tesla has enjoyed a strong relationship with Walmart, having installed solar on 240 stores. The panels have caught fire in 7 locations, and Walmart is suing for removal of all panels, and for damages. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Tesla’s culture across autos, solar and rockets continues to be fiery, with cars, rockets and solar panels catching fire, and employees being fired for complaining about the above. Musk is a change agent and may be able to continue to push through obstacles to change auto and space travel and construction and energy. If Musk is another Steve Jobs and thinks different in order to change the world, then keep pushing, Elon.

Apple health team faces a fork in the road

Key people in Apple’s health team have recently departed, allegedly over indecision in the direction of Apple’s health initiatives. Tim Cook has pledged that Apple will play a major role in health, but has not defined what that means. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Connected health comprises a number of segments: consumer or clinical, wellness or disease management. Version 4 of the Apple watch moves beyond wellness device by also being a diagnostic tool — measuring EKG, but remains a consumer product. Those hoping the company will play a role in clinical care are expecting Apple to go outside of its sweet spot of consumer technology — a mistake the company will not make as it chooses its AI and IOT strategy.

Everything’s bigger in Texas, including ransomware attacks

A rash of ransomware attacks were waged against 23 Texas government entities on August 16 — all from a single source. Ransomware attacks on businesses and governments are up 365%, costing millions in ransom payments and lost productivity. In Texas, at least 7 agencies are working together to get the state entities back online. Wired

dis-rup-shun: Texas school children may be hoping for a cyber crime day since they don’t get to enjoy many snow days, but ransomware attacks are quickly becoming one of the largest and most expensive types of terrorism faced by private and public institutions. Expect consulting companies to develop SWAT teams to fortify institutions and win big prevention contracts. Expect passwords to become far more complex.

Ikea launches line of robotic furniture

Ikea’s upcoming furniture line features wheels that, with a push of a button, reconfigure your rooms to convert sitting or work areas into sleeping areas. With the accelerating migration of populations to cities, real estate is becoming costlier and space, accordingly, more efficient. engadget

dis-rup-shun: Ikea’s line is not yet ‘smart,’ and does not yet boast of AI, but that will inevitably follow so that one can reconfigure their apartment as they are approaching in their Uber, or so the apartment can ready itself as the usual time, or, of course, so that Ikea can collect more data on sleep habits and inform you if you are sleeping well.

11 Great applications for facial recognition technologies

CBInsights shows the growth of patents for facial recognition technologies, and lists 11 use cases, including law enforcement, accessing and starting a car, banking authentication, virtual makeup sampling, workplace security and worker alertness, insurance quotes, personalizing food orders, healthcare access and diagnosis, hotel check-ins, shoplifting prevention, travel check-in.

dis-rup-shun: If you use facial recognition on your phone or your PC, you have experienced the ease-of-use and effectiveness of the technology, and if you have “enjoyed” long hotel or rental car check-in lines on your latest business trip, you will be willing to risk a compromise of privacy for some convenience. After all, you do that every time you surf the Internet — why not share your photo with Google, Amazon, Avis and Hilton?

China launches rocket from a ship at sea

China’s National Space Administration successfully launched a rocket from a cargo ship. The March 11 rocket carried five satellites — two which will be part of a global, space delivered Internet network. China is the third country behind Russia and USA to launch a rocket from a ship, though the first country to do so without cooperating with other countries. engadget

dis-rup-shun: Independence is the name of the game for China as the U.S. tries to force China to change its trade practices. As the U.S. shames China’s Huawei, China will be showing off its technology and flexing its strengths very publicly. The race is on for space, and thousands of new satellites and space objects will be cluttering the skies to provide networking services and military defense outposts. It is the Wild West in space and those who get there first will own platforms for both revenue and national defense, worth billions.

Amazon drones use AI to avoid power lines

Amazon is developing a drone called Prime Air, designed to deliver light loads, under 5 pounds, at high speeds. Challenges that must be overcome are identifying hard-to-see dangers such as power lines or clotheslines, and the craft must land and liftoff in tight spots. engadget

dis-rup-shun: Many obstacles remain for commercial drone deployment, but Amazon will not have to rely on others when regulators open the skies. FedEx and UPS cannot rest on their logistics network laurels, as Amazon plans to fly right over them.

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Ikea’s robotic furniture makes arranging easy