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To navigate built environments, robots must be able to sense and make decisions about how to interact with their locale. Researchers at the University of Texas have made progress in this field using AI and supercomputers.

Cruise and General Motors on Tuesday announced they have entered a long-term strategic relationship with Microsoft to accelerate the commercialization of self-driving vehicles. The companies will bring together their software and hardware engineering, cloud computing capabilities, manufacturing know-how and partner ecosystem.

Mount Sinai researchers have published one of the first studies using a machine learning technique called “federated learning” to examine electronic health records to better predict how COVID-19 patients will progress. The study was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research – Medical Informatics on January 18.

What if tedious and time-consuming tasks done by inhouse counselors could be automated? That is the promise of legal tech. Even though legal tech takes over some work, it doesn’t mean lawyers should fear for their jobs. On the contrary, says Marcus Schmitt, General Manager of ECLA. ‘It frees up time for more complex and detailed cases, for which they otherwise would have too little time.’

The majority of workers (nearly three-quarters) are open to having robot assistants help them with everyday work, and what’s more, many are interested in getting involved in creating bots, either by themselves or as part of larger teams. Workers’ needs sharply contrast with decision makers, however, who disagree with each other about whether there is a benefit to using robots across their workforce (42% agree vs. 58% that disagree).

Columbia engineers create a robot that learns to visually predict how its partner robot will behave, displaying a glimmer of empathy. This “Robot Theory of Mind” could help robots get along with other robots–and humans–more intuitively, the researchers claim.

The 2020-2021 NBA season is underway and the San Antonio Spurs have added powerful new teammates with extraordinary germ-zapping capabilities. As part of its comprehensive strategy to minimize risk for fans, arena employees, team personnel and players from exposure to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), the Spurs purchased LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots to disinfect rooms and areas within the AT&T Center.

Compared to standard machine learning models, deep learning models are largely superior at discerning patterns and discriminative features in brain imaging, despite being more complex in their architecture, according to a new study in Nature Communications led by Georgia State University.

How was the much-watched video of Boston Dynamics dancing robots made? In this video, Adam Savage, one of the Mythbusters presenters, shows how Spot learned to dance.

Researchers at the University of Zurich and the Delft University of Technology have found that information from onboard cameras can be used to stabilize a drone and keep it flying autonomously after one rotor suddenly gives out.