Getting Robots to Teach Each Other New Skills

Google – Robots Utilising Shared Experiences

Robots have not got hold of human intelligence still but the researchers of Google have shown how they have been progressing in utilising downloadable intelligence. Just envisage if you could be better at some skill by not just learning and practising but by accessing the brains of another to tap directly in their experiences.

That would be science fiction for human, but in the case of AI powered robotics, it could be a possibility to shortcut training times by having robots to share their experiences. Recently, Google had demonstrated this with its grasping robotic arms.

James Kuffner, former head of robotics of Google had created a term for this kind of skills acquisition, six years back, naming it `cloud robotics’. It recognises the effect of distributed sensors and processing supported by data centres and quicker networks.

 Presently Knuffer, the CTO of the Toyota Research Institute where his focus lies on cloud robotics in bringing about reality domestic helper robots. UK artificial intelligence lab, Google Research, Deep Mind together with Google X continues to discover cloud robotics in quickening general purpose skills acquisition in robots. In many demonstration video that were recently published, Google has portrayed robots utilising shared experiences to learn quickly how to move objects and open doors.

Robots – Own Copy of Neural Network

Out of the three multi-robot approaches which the researchers have been utilising is reinforcement learning, or trial and error together with deep neural networks which is the same approach that DeepMind is using in training its AI, is being skilled at Atari video games and Chinese board game Go.

Every robot tends to have its own copy of neural network which assists it to decide the ideal action in opening the door. Google has constructed data quite quickly with the addition of interference. Recording the robots actions, behaviours and concluding outcome is done by a central serve, which utilises those experiences in order to build an improved neural network which assists the robots enhancing the task.

As portrayed in two videos by Google, after a training of 20 minutes the robotics arms fumbled around for the handle though ultimately managed to open the door. But in the span of three hours, the robots could reach for the handle with ease, twist it and then pull to open the door.

Google Training Robots to Construct Mental Models 

Another system which they have been exploring could be helpful for robots to follow commands in moving objects around the home and it is here that Google has been training its robots to construct mental models on how things tend to move in response to definite actions by building experience of where pixels turn out on a screen after a certain action is done.

The robots tends to share their experiences of nudging different object surrounding a table, assisting them forecast what could happen should they tend to take a specific course of action. The researchers are ultimately exploring methods for the robots to study from humans. Google’s researchers directed robots to the doors and exhibited how to open them. These actions had been encoded in deep neural network which tends to transform camera images to robot actions.

Email addiction: How to Break Your Inbox Dependence

Email - Top Blockers of Productivity 

Email seems to be a kind of productive stalling which we desire to depend on. Though we do not seem to work on our real mission we contemplate on just answering the emails for some few minutes. This thought process seems to give rise to bad habits and some few minutes of checking the emails could prolong for a longer period than intended. The outcome is that several individuals acknowledge that checking the emails frequently seems to be an issue for productivity.

In the Work Management Survey by Wrike in 2015, around 40% of the respondents identified email as one of their top blockers of productivity. Replying to email had been considered as unfavourable to productivity, than unclear significances, putting off as well as also short deadlines. A latest book, Unsubscribe – How To Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distraction and Get Real Work Done, states that email addiction is a time-wasting epidemic in the modern workplace and is focused in helping those who tend to feel overcome by their inbox.Individuals tend to be disrupting their own work on a regular basis without even realizing it. In order to resolve this issue, it is essential to comprehend what seems to be going on in the brain and why does one seem to be obsessed with the inbox.

Increase Stress

Some recent studies confirm this theory and one has found that an average worker tends to check their email 77 times each day, sends as well as receives more than 100 and checks their first one immediately on waking up. Another study has observed that 90% tend to check work emails regularly outside office hours. Researchers have found that we tend to make up for it by spending 3.1 hours a day dealing with personal email when at work. The author of Unsubscribe, Jocelyn K Glei states that while checking emails all through the day could make one feel production, the disagreement seems to be true. Jocelyn also mentioned that besides being a big waste of time, staying on top of the emails continually seems to increase stress also. She informed that `scientists have established a clear link between spending time on email and stress. It means that the more frequently one would check their email, the more exhausted they may feel. In order to have a healthier relationship with your box you could keep in mind the following:

Avoid checking it every five minutes

Study from Loughborough University has found that it takes around 64 seconds for recovering your train of thought after reading an email. Jocelyn adds that `the human brain seems to have a tendency to want to complete task and when it recognises a task is completed, it then release the feel-good hormone dopamine. This is why we tend to feel happy on clearing our inbox or ticking things off a to-do list. But scientists have also found out that the brains mainly likes completing small easy tasks and the impeccable example of the same is the email. Thus dealing with the emails at first tends to feel relaxing and productive, though it also seems to be a never-ending job and after some time the unread emails seems like incomplete task which makes one feel apprehensive. One could check the emails every half hour instead of every three minutes and strive to check it a few times in the day at fixed times.

Close an email conversation

Due to the `Reply to all’ button, with the to and fro conversations, one tends to waste time and focus, according to Jocelyn. She adds that email is not a forum for discussion or debate. Hence reply and politely close down the conversation. The workplace chat apps like Slack are big in the US where they permit colleagues with on-going chats which are divided by subjects and teams and thus one ends up loaded with emails with the fear of missing something of importance. Work emails should be short, simple and if it cannot be solved quickly through email, a meeting could be recommended. This could resolve getting involved with email threads which seems to be time consuming.

Hide your Inbox

Each time the user tends to stop and glance at the inbox, they seem to be incurring something which according to researchers is known as a `switching cost’. But research has shown that having your email program open in the background while working tends to reduce the performance and even if it is minimised, one can see new emails coming in, your brain is aware that they are there, devoting some amount of energy monitoring them. She recommends avoiding this by closing down the email outside your set `checking’ time or placing the screen so one cannot see it.

Create an email hierarchy 

Jocelyn states that the independent nature of email means that everyone can have access to you and your time. Your inbox seems to be a total mix of relevant as well as random individuals, though usually only 5 to 10% of the emails seem to be helpful or important. She suggests categorising the people who tend to email you.

Tackle tricky emails promptly

Willpower tends to decline during the workday and hence morning checking session should be utilised in dealing with emails which need creativity or concentration while the afternoon to deal with the lesser ones which need a quick reply or a delete button.

Not everything seems to be urgent 

Merely5 to 10% of the emails seem to be urgent or important and hence it is not essential to check them during dinner with friends or in bed.

It is OK to ignore some of the emails

While replying to every email one may be considered polite, but time is a limited factor and hence one should not feel obliged in replying to cold-call emails from strangers.

Publicise your email habits

You could inform your colleagues that you only check your emails a few times a day so they can discern what to expect from you.

Let go of the zero inbox notion 

Jocelyn informs that an empty inbox is not a measure of productivity and hence one should let go of the notion that you would ever have one.

The Water Taxi of the Future

A lot of stress has been given towards decreasing the number of cars present on the road by actively promoting carpooling, improvising the transit system and creating bike paths. These attempts will help in freeing the roads in mega cities which possess vast road system but no one has given the thought towards making transit easier in those cities where waterways are abundant.

There is a great scope in bringing such vehicles which revolutionize the use of rivers and canals among the commuters. Thankfully one company thinks about them, SeaBubbles, has come up with an elegant solution to popularize the river ways and canals by unveiling its futuristic four-passenger water taxis.

Features of futuristic water taxis

SeaBubbles futuristic water taxis will help in building city wide transportation network on waterways. These water taxis can easily be summoned by an Uber-like app and these happen to be self-driving in nature which passengers will just have to feed in the destination and get ready for a memorable ride at 30 mph.

The story of SeaBubbles

It was started literally started by water navigators namely Alain Thebault, a sailor and Anders Bringdal, a windsurfer about seven months ago. They have raised $500,000 with SeaBubbles and they have set a goal of making it up to $1million by next year.

What makes SeaBubble great? 

SeaBubble expertise comes from the experience of the team behind it. Thebault has successfully built a win-powered trimaran yatch called Hydroptere in the past. The best thing about this yatch is that it barely touches the water surface instead swiftly glides few feet in the air.

It has made a number of modification and revision to the concept art. At first it shows no room for the wings but later on brings wings for added agility. It should be understood that SeaBubble is actively working towards improving concept art and to attract funding from the prospective investors. As per the estimates of the SeaBubble its water taxi will be ready for testing in August 2016 and it will get into production phase in January 2017. It has set the target of May 2017 fo deliveries of the water taxis.

It has a number of hurdles in front of it which includes proving that boat actually works; making perfect designs for the docking stations and it abides by the local municipal laws. Furthermore drivers will be trained to make use of the self driving software and a unique sensor system will be developed to navigate the tricky water of the rivers.

Limitation for SeaBubbles water taxis

It ambitious water taxis suffer from the geographical limitation which means it can only help in connecting between the two points which borders water. Furthermore these points have to be near transit hubs or luxury or popular destination in order to appear as a prime alternative or lucrative option for the commuters. A number of cities round the globe has navigable river which means SeaBubbles ambitious water taxi will certainly find the fancy of the commuters on global scale.

Google DayDream

Google Daydream View handset

Daydream View handset has been revealed by Google together with various apps and games which can be utilised on your Daydream-ready phone. Google had also announced that the new Pixel as well as Pixel XL smartphone would be the first handsets to be Google Daydream ready.

These are said to be the best phones to purchase if one would prefer to use Daydream when the headset is launched. Google Daydream is said to be the latest effort of bringing VR to mobile devices by Google and is very much different than Google Cardboard.

 Unlike the earlier somewhat disposable VR headset of Google that had been focused in getting people in the VR door with low cost and low smartphone proficiency requirements, Daydream tends to have more tough vision which seems to have its sight set on offering higher-quality experiences to Android Nougat users.

Daydream would be bringing more exciting as well as absorbing VR experiences to users who seem unable to afford a HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. It is likely to be on sale in November in the US priced at $79 though there is no information on when it would be released in the UK or Australia.

ZTE VR – Android Nougat/VR Maintenance Software Update

Google has also claimed that Samsung, Asus, Alcatel, LG, HTC, Xiaomi and ZTE will be manufacturing phones which would be `Daydream ready’. Besides these, Huawei has also confirmed that it would be making Daydream-ready phone together with headsets and controllers.

The first smartphone, the ZTE Axon 7, has been announced to be Google Daydream compatible together with its own VR headset – the ZTE VR which requires Android Nougat as well as necessary VR maintenance software update of Google to pull it off. This would be coming in the Android Nougat 7.1 update.

Google Daydream will be running apps as well games download from Play Store thus making it simple in locating experiences in utilising the headset. Towards the end of 2016, as per Google, there would more than 50 apps and games made available to the users on the platform.

In the forthcoming months, HBO, Netflix and Hulu would be having Daydream ready apps. The New York Times would be launching an app for its VR videos also.

Clickable Touch Pad

When the platform is launched, Google would be making its own apps compatible with the Daydream platform comprising of Play Movies, Photos, YouTube and Maps. Announcement had also been done by Unity and Epic on the development support for Daydream from the gaming point of things.

The Daydream View headset portrayed by Google is said to be one choice for Google Daydream VR which enables the companies to take a hold on the tech that would probably result in various looking headsets. Limited information regarding its controller resembling a Wii remote have been provided by Google.

It shares some common physical qualities for the modern TV touch remote of Apple. It will be featuring a clickable touch pad, towards its top which will bring native touchscreen like gestures to the virtual world. Then there is an app button which tends to put your apps in view and finally the home button takes you back to the home screen of Google Daydream.

Periscope Extends beyond Phones as Twitter Tries to Take on Facebook Live

Twitter is second most popular social media platform after Facebook and it has been getting stiff competition from it when it comes to keep users engaged and entertained on the platform. Recently Facebook has launched the Facebook Live feature which allows users to create live videos and proclaim the happening in their lives to the followers in an instant. Twitter has brought a similar feature on its platform in the name of Periscope which essentially is a live-video service. Periscope services has been launched to broaden the audience reach and to keep audience engaged on the Twitter platform.

Periscope will be a delight for the individuals and media outlets alike

Twitter’s Periscope Producer will allow the media outlets and individuals to create live video feeds which will be uploaded directly on the Twitter. Periscope made its debut last year but it has strictly confined to the smartphone. Now users wouldn’t even require smartphone to record and broadcast live videos using the Periscope feature. In order to test the capability of the advanced Periscope Florida television station broadcasted a live video on its official website later it was redistributed to the same feeds on the television. In beginning Twitter will only allow major producers such as Disney and ANC News along with a number of major media outlets to make use of the Periscope.

Privacy is a huge concern for Twitter

Since the launch of Periscope service people have started using it for broadcasting the live video of TV shows and movies from their smartphone. This has resulted in the unwanted rise in the piracy issue which doesn’t go well with the video content producers such as much labels and movie production houses.

Twitter has high hopes from Periscope Service

Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey has stated that the launch of Periscope will help in increasing the popularity as well as reach of its messaging service. Twitter has already indulged in steaming the news, sports events as well as the entertainment segment based content. Twitter is aiming towards offering more to the users than just offering a great way to set out their thoughts in tweets and to keep tab on the happening in and around them. Dorsey further elaborates that inclusion of the Periscope will offer a great way to upload, share and view live videos on global scales.

Everyone wants to jump on live video wagon

A number of internet companies ranging from SnapChat to Facebook have jumped upon the wagon of bringing live-video functionality on their platform in order to generate huge advertising money later on. Some of the companies have even started to experiment with live streaming functionality for the marketing purpose. This includes General Motors which has launched its upcoming electric car named Chevy Bolt EV through using the Facebook Live at the beginning of this year. On other hand media outlets are utilizing the live video feed to broadcast the presidential debates in US.

With the launch of Periscope Twitter also jumps up in the live streaming train and joins other popular live-streaming services such as Twitch and YouTube.