A.I. on traffic light

Have you ever feel annoying when you are stuck at those stupid traffic lights? Have you ever think it would be better if you control them by yourself? Yes, I did! I think human can undoubtedly have a better control on regulating the traffic flow than a machine can do. Recently I saw news about AI technology is being tested to control traffic lights, and I think intelligent traffic light is no longer impossible any more!

Have you played traffic-flow controlling, with four traffic lights, games on your mobile devices? I did, and I got a really high score actually! However, surprisingly, people are born to be better at controlling traffic flow; even compared with computers! The research carried out by the University of Southampton team has used computer games and simulations to investigate what makes good traffic control. This work has shown that – given the right conditions – humans are excellent at controlling the traffic and can perform significantly better than the existing urban traffic control computers in use today.

Researchers at the University of Southampton are investigating the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for controlling traffic lights. Based on the human brain`s extraordinary capability of controlling traffic effectively, they are planning to develop a new kind of software which can improve the efficiency of traffic flow, and in turns improving road space utilization, reducing traveling times and may be improving fuel efficiency. For more details, check it out in source.

 Joseph Yeung

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/26/scientists-investigating-ai-based-traffic-control/

Robot fighting

Have you seen the movie Real Steel? I just saw it yesterday. It`s great, isn`t? Robot fighting is always a fancy topic about technology.  It is always used in so many movies and animations, like famous one, Gundam.  However, robot fighting is no longer a dream to us.

Recently, Syfy channel's newest show, Robot Combat League (RCL), has provided us with a real-life robot fighting --and the best part is, we get to watch them destroy each other in gladiatorial fashion. Though RCL is not the first show to have robot fighting on TV, it is the first time that the robot actually copying, and learning the movement of the people operating them! It sounds exactly like the scenes in “Real Steel”! It`s exciting, isn`t it??? I would be definitely recording the whole TV series once it starts to play!

Mark Setrakian, who shown in the above picture, is actually the man who designed and built the dozen robots on the show. It took him 4 months to construct only the prototype to sell the Syfy channel, and then spent a long period of time and also roughly $200 a pop for twelve robots. With all of the work that went into building these bots, you might think that Mark will be upset seeing them destroy each other. On the contrary, he's behind the scenes cheering and yelling as he is the one who enjoys the most in this contest! As he says, Fighting robots, obviously, are awesome. I couldn`t say how much I agree with him! How about you? Leave your comments below and tell us something about your view for robot fighting!!!

Find out more!! 

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/06/the-engadget-interview-mark-setrakian-of-syfys-robot-combat-le/

Joseph Yeung

Google’s Robotics Car Project

For these recent years, Google has been working on a big project, innovating new technology that makes people’s life better, more secure and more comfortable with Self-Driving car. People who have ridden them often quickly response that it’s obvious that computer is a far better driver than human. Business Insider explains that Google uses lasers and radar as sensor to monitor and process immense number of inputs as well as react and responses to situation faster than human ever could.

This project is still unfinished but the day for us to enjoy this technology is drawing near. Google has so far making a great progress, the cars under the computer control have been driven for over 500,000 miles without accidents. However, Google still have several enticing challenges to work out, such as, driving in snow, unmapped roads, driving through construction zones, accident zones and other situations. This challenges are not easy to dealt with, so the “drawing near” I mentioned earlier is equal “several years to take” but apart from this let’s just enjoy the video below.

In the short video, a blind man walks out of his house and gets to one of Google's robotic Cars, equipped with high-tech device and tool. The man, Steve Mahan says, "Where this would change my life is to give me the independence and the flexibility to go the places I both want to go and need to go when I need to do those things”. At the end, Google says Mahan is the first customer of Google's self-driving car, calling him "self-driving car user #0000000001". He is really lucky right?.

So how is your feeling with this great technology, imagine going anywhere without road planning, imagine going a long trip with a car without even driving it, you can texting, playing with your kids and enjoy the trip along the way. But hold on, what if the car hits others or accident occurs in a way the computer and robot do not recognise, who the police should blame? The robot? The computer? The car? Or Google?. Let’s wait for the answer.

Links for: Picture Video Source

Ricky Mardian