Month: July 2017

Breakthrough Deep Reinforcement Learning Software Trains Computer Characters to Realistically Move

Anyone that has worked with animation software, knows what a challenge it is to make characters move naturally.  Michiel van de Panne, a University of British Columbia (UBC) computer science professor has created a new software called DeepLoco, which offers a simpler fashion to animate human motion in games and film. Instead of the current method of character motion capture which makes use of animators or actors and motion capture cameras, the DeepLoco algorithm utilizes a type of cutting-edge machine learning algorithm called deep reinforcement learning.  The DeepLoco software which Profesor van de Panne will present at SIGGRAPH 2017, learns by experience through...

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Russia’s New Internet Censorship Law a Ruse to Control News and Freedom of Speech?

Russia’s next presidential election is coming up in March 2018, and while Vladimir Putin is widely expected to seek and win a six-year term, new legislation he just signed makes some people think he is taking no chances.  President Putin put into law bans on the use of internet proxy services and new restrictions on using chatting applications, which was justified as needed to prevent the spread of extremist ideas and materials.  Speculation is that this law which goes into effect on November 1, 2017, is more about preventing Russian citizens from posting, reading or in anyway spreading ideas and materials...

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Panasonic Develops Hi-Tech Sensor Product to Help Prevent Drowsy Driving

We all have experienced that feeling of fighting to keep our eyes open on long trips.  And it means it is time to stop for a while as soon as possible but in the meantime, our driving puts us and others in peril.  Well, electronics company Panasonic Corp. has announced it has come out with a new product for automobiles that helps detect and warn drivers if they act drowsy or start falling asleep at the wheel.  The new product with 22 patents on file, uses artificial intelligence algorithms designed to analyze facial expressions, the rate of eye blinking and...

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Is Two AI Bots Deciding To Make Up Their Own Shorthand Language Scary?

It wasn’t really so long ago when we programmed bulky slow computers with machine language, that fed binary or hexadecimal instructions as it was about all the computational complexity the early machines could handle.  Now, of course, we have high-level languages that compilers and interpreters break down into many lines of simpler instructions to get more done with our much faster computers.  But what if a computer wanted to collaborate with another computer?  How would they want to talk to each other?   Humans have developed unique dialects when normal language conventions are not possible or too slow, for example writing...

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Desktop Metal Company Could Revolutionize Commercial 3D Metal Printing

Sometimes the hype before the reality is well founded.  Burlington, Mass. company Desktop Metal,  is preparing to revolutionize manufacturing with 3D metal printing systems that address the unfulfilled challenges of speed, cost, and quality.  Metal 3D printing, often referred to as additive manufacturing, has failed to deliver on the expectation that it would dramatically change the way products are manufactured. For now, practically all 3D printing is done with cheap plastic extrusion materials, because 3D printing with laser-melted metal printing, is very expensive and slow.  However,  the latest market intelligence report from IDTechEx Research, 3D Printing Metals 2018-2028: Technology and Market Analysis projects that metal...

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