Re: AI & Robotics News and Discussions
Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2023 5:05 am
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Researchers have developed a cost-effective and energy-saving robotic hand that can grasp a variety of objects, without dropping them, by utilizing only wrist movement and the feeling in its “skin.”
The ability to grasp objects of varying sizes, shapes, and textures is a task that is simple for humans but presents a challenge for robots. To address this issue, researchers from the University of Cambridge have created a flexible, 3D-printed robotic hand that, despite its inability to move its fingers independently, can still carry out a range of complex movements.
The robot hand was trained to grasp different objects and was able to predict whether it would drop them by using the information provided by sensors placed on its ‘skin’.
This type of passive movement makes the robot far easier to control and far more energy-efficient than robots with fully motorized fingers. The researchers say their adaptable design could be used in the development of low-cost robotics that are capable of more natural movement and can learn to grasp a wide range of objects. The results are reported in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems.
(Inverse) Inspired by the growing body of research in BERTology and related fields like cognitive science, my student Zhisheng Tang and I set out to answer a seemingly simple question about large language models: Are they rational?
Although the word rational is often used as a synonym for sane or reasonable in everyday English, it has a specific meaning in the field of decision-making. A decision-making system — whether an individual human or a complex entity like an organization — is rational if, given a set of choices, it chooses to maximize expected gain.
The qualifier “expected” is important because it indicates that decisions are made under conditions of significant uncertainty. If I toss a fair coin, I know it will come up heads half of the time on average. However, I can’t predict the outcome of any given coin toss. This is why casinos can afford the occasional big payout: Even narrow house odds yield enormous profits on average.
On the surface, it seems odd to assume that a model designed to make accurate predictions about words and sentences without actually understanding their meanings can understand expected gain. But there is an enormous body of research showing that language and cognition are intertwined. An excellent example is seminal research by scientists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the early 20th century. Their work suggested that one’s native language and vocabulary can shape the way a person thinks.
The extent to which this is true is controversial, but there is supporting anthropological evidence from the study of Native American cultures. For instance, speakers of the Zuñi language spoken by the Zuñi people in the American Southwest, which does not have separate words for orange and yellow, cannot distinguish between these colors as effectively as speakers of languages that do have separate words for the colors.
(Courthouse News) — An electronic pill could combat nausea and other appetite-related conditions, according to a study published in Science Robotics on Wednesday.
The tech is designed to be ingested and sit in the stomach for a day, delivering electrical stimulation to the stomach walls that disrupts the communication between the digestive system and the brain.
“Electroceuticals, or electrical stimulation therapies, have emerged as the next frontier of neuromodulation,” said lead author Khalil Ramadi, director of the laboratory for Advanced Neuroengineering and Translational Medicine at New York University Abu Dhabi, in a press release.
The electric lozenge was developed through a collaboration of a team of researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi, led by Ramadi, and first study co-author and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student James McRae and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Giovanni Traverso.
Dubbed the FLASH device, the technology challenges poorly absorbed nausea medications that have been around for decades and risky, invasive electrode-placing procedures. The FLASH can increase hunger levels by stimulating the production of the ghrelin hormone, which also known as the “hunger hormone.”