Sensors

Why A Computer Will Never Be Truly Conscious
Many advanced artificial intelligence projects say they are working toward building a conscious machine, based on the idea that brain functions merely encode and process multisensory information. The assumption goes, then, that once brain functions are properly understood, it should be possible to program them into a computer. Microsoft recently announced that it would spend …

This Light-Based Nervous System Helps Robots ‘Feel’
Last night, way past midnight, I stumbled onto my porch blindly grasping for my keys after a hellish day of international travel. Lights were low, I was half-asleep, yet my hand grabbed the keychain, found the lock, and opened the door. If you’re rolling your eyes—yeah, it’s not exactly an epic feat for a human. …

How These Shapeshifting “Roboats” Are Going To Change Watercourses
MIT’s fleet of robotic boats has been updated with new capabilities to “shapeshift,” by autonomously disconnecting and reassembling into a variety of configurations, to form floating structures in Amsterdam’s many canals. The autonomous boats — rectangular hulls equipped with sensors, thrusters, microcontrollers, GPS modules, cameras, and other hardware — are being developed as part of the …

PyCon 2019 | Fighting Climate Change with Python
PyCon 2019 | Fighting Climate Change with Python Speaker: Matthew Gordon Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a 60 times more powerful climate change agent than carbon dioxide. Current technologies for finding methane leaks in oil and gas infrastructure rely on driving well to well with a handheld camera. At Kairos Aerospace, …