Softbank’s Pepper Robot Makes Emotional Debut in Japan

Japanese telecommunications giant Softbank Corp. on Thursday unveiled a new humanoid robot named Pepper, which the company claimed can identify human emotions and respond to them.

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'Killer robots' to be debated at UN

Killer robots will be debated during an informal meeting of experts at the United Nations in Geneva.

Two robotics experts, Prof Ronald Arkin and Prof Noel Sharkey, will debate the efficacy and necessity of killer robots.

The meeting will be held during the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

A report on the discussion will be presented to the CCW meeting in November.

This will be the first time that the issue of killer robots, or lethal autonomous weapons systems, will be addressed within the CCW.

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Listening to bipolar disorder: Smartphone app detects mood swings via voice analysis

A smartphone app that monitors subtle qualities of a person’s voice during everyday phone conversations shows promise for detecting early signs of mood changes in people with bipolar disorder, a University of Michigan team reports.

While the app still needs much testing before widespread use, early results from a small group of patients show its potential to monitor moods while protecting privacy.

The researchers hope the app will eventually give people with bipolar disorder and their health care teams an early warning of the changing moods that give the condition its name. The technology could also help people with other conditions.

"We only ask that an individual use his or her smart phone as he or she normally would," said Emily Mower Provost, assistant professor of computer science and engineering who co-led the project. "We collect speech data from the smart phone and process the data in a privacy preserving manner to learn the acoustic patterns associated with harmful mood variations."

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Students ‘print’ pink prosthetic arm for teen girl

Thirteen-year-old Sydney Kendall had one request for the Washington University in St. Louis students building her a robotic prosthetic arm: Make it pink.

Kendall Gretsch, Henry Lather and Kranti Peddada, seniors studying biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, accomplished that and more. Using a 3-D printer, they created a robotic prosthetic arm out of bright-pink plastic. Total cost: $200, a fraction of the price of standard prosthetics, which start at $6,000.

“Currently, prosthetics are very expensive, and because kids keep growing, it is too costly for them to have the latest technology,” said Sydney’s mother, Beth Kendall. “With the 3-D printer, a prosthetic can be made much less expensive. The possibilities of what can be done to improve prosthetics using this technology is very exciting.”

Sydney lost her right arm in a boating accident when she was six years old. She learned to write with her left hand, but found most tasks difficult to accomplish with her prosthetic arm. Sydney said her new arm is easy to manipulate. By moving her shoulder, she can direct the arm to throw a ball, move a computer mouse and perform other tasks.

Peddada said it was thrilling to observe Sydney use her arm.

“It really showed us the great things you can accomplish when you bridge medicine and technology,” Peddada said.

The students developed the robotic hand as part of their engineering design course with Joseph Klaesner, PhD, associate professor of physical therapy at the School of Medicine. Several local medical practitioners, including orthopedic hand surgeons Charles A. Goldfarb, MD, and Lindley Wall, MD, both associate professors of orthopaedic surgery at the School of Medicine, served as mentors.

“They brought their engineering expertise, and we shared our practical experience with prosthetics and the needs of children,” Goldfarb wrote in a recent blog post about the project. “It was a valuable experience as Kendall, Henry and Kranti had no prosthetic experience and were able to think about the issues in a very different way.”

As Goldfarb explained, the WUSTL student design offers two key design differences that set it apart from similar “Robohand” devices that have been invented recently — the motor and the working thumb.

This prosthetic is battery-powered and controlled with an accelerometer (like in the iPhone). The thumb moves with a slightly different trigger (compared with finger motion).

Prosthetic limbs are tricky for patients of any age, and especially for children, noted Goldfarb, because they’re still growing and need to move to larger-sized devices on a regular basis. Since prosthetics have no sensation, some kids are more comfortable making do with their existing natural limbs, he added.

While 3-D printers can cost about $2,500, they are capable of producing artificial limbs at a relatively low individual cost.

“These prosthetic hands are really exciting because they are inexpensive, can be remade when the child grows, and they do offer functional abilities,” he said.

Artificial intelligence ‘could be the worst thing to happen to humanity’: Stephen Hawking warns that rise of robots may be disastrous for mankind

A sinister threat is brewing deep inside the technology laboratories of Silicon Valley.

Artificial Intelligence, disguised as helpful digital assistants and self-driving vehicles, is gaining a foothold – and it could one day spell the end for mankind.

This is according to Stephen Hawking who has warned that humanity faces an uncertain future as technology learns to think for itself and adapt to its environment.

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Mirror, mirror on the wall - who has the fairest ORGANS of them all? Smart surface reveals ‘your’ insides

Mirrors have existed for thousands of years but the looking glass has just been given a 21st century makeover.

A new digital mirror gives people X-ray vision to let them see their insides – complete with bones, organs and muscle on show.

The 3D art installation, called the ‘Primary Intimacy of Being,’ recreates what a body looks like inside and eerily tracks a person’s movements as if they are seeing themselves.

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Google Glass puts the focus on Parkinson’s

Experts at Newcastle University are investigating Google Glass as an assistive aid to help people with Parkinson’s retain their independence for longer.

Glass is a wearable computer being developed by Google. Likened to the kind of technology fictionalised in the Hollywood Blockbuster Minority Report, at first glance Glass appears to be no more than a pair of designer glasses. But the system works like a hands-free smartphone, displaying information on the lens of the Glass. The technology is voice-operated and linked to the internet.

Not currently available outside the US, the five pairs of Glass at Newcastle University were donated by Google to allow researchers to test how they could be used to support people with long-term conditions.

Initial studies by the team - who are based in the University’s Digital Interaction Group in Culture Lab, part of the School of Computing Science - have focussed on the acceptability of Glass. They have been working with a group of Parkinson’s volunteers aged between 46-70 years.

Now they are working on the next stage of the project, using the technology to provide discreet prompts linked to key behaviours typical of Parkinson’s, such as reminding the individual to speak up or to swallow to prevent drooling. Glass can also be used as a personal reminder for things such as medication and appointments.

The team will also be exploring how the motion sensors in Glass can be used to support people with ‘freezing’, a behaviour caused by motor blocking a common symptom of Parkinson’s.

Led by Dr John Vines, PhD student Roisin McNaney and Dr Ivan Poliakov, this is the first UK trial of Glass. Presenting their initial findings later this month at the ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2014 conference in Toronto, Canada, the team will show how emerging technologies can potentially be used to support people with progressive diseases such as Parkinson’s and dementia.

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