Meet the robot 'dog' NASA is sending to Mars
Boston Dynamics' notorious robot goes on an interplanetary mission.
28 December, 2020
Credit: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech
- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announces the deployment of a robotic "dog" for Mars exploration.
- The robot is a modified Boston Dynamics cyberdog familiar to the internet from YouTube videos over the last few years.
- The bot will be autonomous and smart enough to explore Martian caves that may one day provide shelter for human visitors to the Red Planet.
<p>While Mars rovers have been and are unquestionably amazing, they're not the most adaptable or speedy little bots. Curiosity, for example, rolls across flat-ish parts of the Red Planet's surface at a decidedly un-blistering .09 miles per hour. That's about a third as fast as most people walk.</p><p>At the December 14, 2020 meeting of American Geophysical Union (AGU), held online this year, NASA/JPL-Caltech announced a new family of robotic explorers referred to as "Mars Dogs."</p><p>They're calling it "Au-Spot," and it's based on Boston Dynamics' infamous Spot robot that we've been seeing evolve over the last few years in YouTube videos. We've watched it survive <a href="https://youtu.be/RaHIGkhslNA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">falling down and getting kicked</a>, and we've even seen it <a href="https://youtu.be/kHBcVlqpvZ8" target="_blank">dance to "Uptown Funk."</a> Spot has already evoked all kinds of emotions. It's creepy enough to drive an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalhead_(Black_Mirror)" target="_blank">episode</a> of "Black Mirror," and even without a face—or head—it's also somehow oddly endearing.<span></span></p>
Spot on
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b815068cbe73c30294078a6d0c63b277"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wlkCQXHEgjA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>In a way, it's the abuse we've seen Spot suffer on YouTube that makes it such an ideal candidate for Mars missions. If Au-Spot falls over, it can right itself, a not insignificant capability when exploring alien terrain—it's one of the current rovers' most significant shortcomings. "Toppling does not mean mission failure," <a href="https://www.livescience.com/agu-mars-robot-dogs.html" target="_blank">noted the scientists</a> introducing the bot. "Using recovery algorithms, the robot can self-right from a multitude of falls."</p><p>The 70-pound Au-Spot is also capable of moving three times faster than existing rovers. </p><p>This means that Au-Spot will be ideal for exploring Martian caves, an area of great interest to those planning future manned missions to the planet. Satellite images of the red planet have revealed <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/center-news/caves-mars" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">over 1,000 potential cave openings</a> already. It may be possible on such journeys for humans to shelter in caves away from the planet's brutal dusts storms, extreme cold, and punishing UV radiation. These places, however, are not places into which current rovers can be sent.</p><p>On the other hand, Au-Spot's remarkable flexibility and smarts will allow Earth-bound scientists to see if the caves can really be of use to future astronauts. The bot pup can get down into such caves and then get itself back out. While there, it can produce 3D maps of the terrain thanks to onboard LIDAR. Built-in AI allows the bot to learn the terrain too, so it can avoid entrapment or damage from collisions with obstacles. It strategically deploys communications modules along the way to keep its command personnel appraised of what it's doing when it's beneath the surface.</p><p>Au-Spot can even intelligently choose between multiple pathways forward, making it a far more flexible tool than current rovers. Most things that rovers do are pre-programmed routines—improvisation requires communicating with a <a href="https://medium.com/predict/how-to-drive-a-mars-rover-6f0870b0c8e1" target="_blank">human controller</a> back on Earth some 22 minutes away as the signal flies.</p>The rise of Au-Spot
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="93d8d7bf9c12aa82593aeecaf81d1dfa"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VitjPLRdY8g?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Au-Spot is the child of a team of 60 scientists and engineers working together as <a href="https://costar.jpl.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CoSTAR</a>, or the Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Resilient Robots. They've customized a factory-fresh Spot, outfitting it with the <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2010.09259.pdf" target="_blank">NeBula</a> (Networked Belief-aware Perceptual Autonomy) system that makes it autonomous enough to successfully navigate new environments, as shown in the DARPA Subterranean Robotics Challenge video above.</p><p>To get Au-Spot mission-ready, the CoSTAR team is putting it through its paces here on Earth. In addition to sending it up and down staircases and such, it's gone on field trips to Northern California's Tulelake lava tubes for some practice on Mars-like terrain and some cave exploration as well. </p><p>At the presentation, the CoSTAR scientists predicted, "These behaviors could one day enable revolutionary scientific missions to take place on the Martian surface and subsurface, thereby pushing the boundaries of NASA's capability in exploring traditionally inaccessible sites."</p>
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Mind uploading: Can we become immortal?
Is the quest to upload human consciousness and ditch our meat puppets the future—or is it fool's gold?
14 December, 2020
- Technology has evolved to a point where humans have overridden natural selection. So what will our species become? Immortal interstellar travelers, perhaps.
- Scientists are currently mapping the human brain in an effort to understand the connections that produce consciousness. If we can re-create consciousness, your mind can live on forever. You could even laser-port your consciousness to different planets at the speed of light, download your mind into a local avatar and explore those worlds.
- But is this transhumanist vision of the future real or is it a pipedream? And if it is real, is it wise? Join theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, neuroscientist David Eagleman, human performance researcher Steven Kotler, skeptic Michael Shermer, cultural theorist Douglas Rushkoff and futurist Jason Silva.
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10 ways to prepare for the rise of intelligent machines – MIT study
A new MIT report proposes how humans should prepare for the age of automation and artificial intelligence.
30 November, 2020
Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images
- A new report by MIT experts proposes what humans should do to prepare for the age of automation.
- The rise of intelligent machines is coming but it's important to resolve human issues first.
- Improving economic inequality, skills training, and investment in innovation are necessary steps.
<p>Does the coming age of intelligent machines mean billions of humans are about to be out of work? Not necessarily, concludes a new report from MIT's Task Force on the Work of the Future. The two-and-a-half year study on technology and jobs concluded that while some jobs will disappear, innovations will also drive the creation of new jobs for the lower and middle class workers. </p><p>The <a href="https://workofthefuture.mit.edu/research-post/the-work-of-the-future-building-better-jobs-in-an-age-of-intelligent-machines/" target="_blank">report</a>, "The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines," also highlighted growing economic inequalities and recommended specific policies governments should embrace to make sure the transition to a future rife with robots doesn't leave large segments of the population behind. Institutional changes must accompany the technological ones. </p><p>The Task Force that produced the document was co-chaired by MIT Professors David Autor and David Mindell and executive director Dr. Elisabeth Reynolds, while the expansive group of experts involved more than 20 faculty members from 12 departments, and over 20 graduate students.</p>
<p>One important note the study made is that while many expect automation to take over our lives in the near future, there is still time to prepare and make sure the transition to intelligent machines is in itself intelligent. Ultimately, it's not the machines we need to worry about, but the exacerbation of the existing human-made problems and deficiencies. Specific areas policy makers should focus on include investing into skills development and worker retraining, improving job quality, and expanding and shaping innovation.</p><p>Perhaps the central message of the study is that technology both takes away jobs and creates new ones. Around 63 percent of the jobs carried out in 2018 didn't even exist in 1940.</p><p>Here are the 10 ways humans should prepare for the rise of the role artificial intelligence will play in our lives:</p>
1. Increase private sector investment in skills and training
<p>The group pinpoints the importance of private sector investment in training employees, especially with the purpose of increasing the upward mobility for lower-wage and less-educated workers. This will particularly affect minority workers, who are overrepresented in this group. The report estimates only about half of employees get training from their employers in any given year. </p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NTgzNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MDM2Mjk3MX0.ktWTcxWd4ElTgeNJ4xujm30aCcbhile_V6Pa7dZcYFY/img.jpg?width=980" id="3379b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6975eae751f3c8bceadbfec6c1af82d2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="951" data-height="1021" />
2. Significantly increase federal funding for training programs
<p>The report advocates getting the government to fund training programs that can help lead to middle-class jobs for workers who don't have a four-year college degree. </p>3. Support community colleges
<p>The research team thinks community colleges should be supported by the federal government's money and policies to advance programs that connect employers to the education being received by students. The policies should be aimed at raising degree completion rates at community colleges. </p>4. Invest in innovative training methods
<p>Demonstration and field testing programs that work out new retraining and reemployment ideas should be given particular focus, according to the MIT scientists. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Innovation improves the quantity, quality, and variety of work that a worker can accomplish in a given time," <a href="https://workofthefuture.mit.edu/research-post/the-work-of-the-future-building-better-jobs-in-an-age-of-intelligent-machines/" target="_blank">wrote</a> the report's authors. "This rising productivity, in turn, enables improving living standards and the flourishing of human endeavors. Indeed, in what should be a virtuous cycle, rising productivity provides society with the resources to invest in those whose livelihoods are disrupted by the changing structure of work.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NTgzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDg4MjIxOX0.HIA_-6Ugm6VWIaEAX9gmHbUoa1MWH2ebJd72Uzr_rjA/img.jpg?width=980" id="9b332" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="70f520ef21111aa62d27e62cac78af44" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="949" data-height="789" />
5. Restore the real value of the federal minimum wage
<p>The report spotlights the growing economic disparity between low-paid workers and the rest of society. Compared to Canadians, for example, low-paid Americans earn 26 percent less. Government policy should make sure people in traditionally low-paid service jobs like cleaning, groundskeeping, food service, entertainment, recreation, and health assistance get adequate pay and some economic security. To that end, the researchers propose that the minimum wage should be raised to at least 40 percent of the national median wage. This value should also be indexed to inflation. </p>6. Modernize and extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits
<p>Several measures are recommended to improve unemployment insurance and extend it to workers that aren't usually covered. The report suggests allowing workers to count their most recent earnings to determine eligibility, determining eligibility based on hours rather than earnings, dropping the requirement that unemployed seek full-time work (because many hold part-time jobs), and reforming partial UI benefits from the states. </p>7. Strengthen and adapt labor laws
<p>Labor laws need to be both improved and better enforced, states the report. Contraction of private sector labor unions makes it harder for rank-and-file workers to bargain for wage growth that matches the growth of productivity growth. How workers are represented needs to be innovated as much as the technologies. Current U.S. laws "retard the development of alternative approaches," write the researchers. For example, due to racial politics during the New Deal, sectors of the American workforce like domestic workers and agricultural workers are unable to participate in collective bargaining.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NTgzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0Njk0OTcyMn0.xaGDETwNlt_GpnxZ7X0RNsedu_AYXvoPXaVnFi_MlmY/img.jpg?width=980" id="28826" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cfc6844ec9909b88e51d94483206d8fa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1033" data-height="850" />
8. Increase federal research spending
<p>In a proposal aimed at fostering innovation and making sure its benefits are experienced by workers, the MIT group thinks it's key to increase government spending on research, especially in areas not addressed by the private sector. These tend to involve longer-term research that addresses the social impacts of new technologies, zeroing in on major national problems, climate change, human health and similar larger research topics. Investing into research on human-centered AI, collaborative robotics and the science of education should be a part of this approach.</p><p>Small and medium-sized businesses should receive targeted government assistance to allow them to increase productivity via the new tech, advises the MIT team. </p>9. Expand the geography of innovation in the United States
<p>Innovation is increasingly "concentrated geographically," think the researchers. For a country that has so many universities, entrepreneurs, and workers that are spread throughout, the benefits of innovation should be made available not only to more workers, but also to more of the country's regions. Each state can have its own Silicon Valley.</p>10. Rebalance taxes on capital and labor
<p>Innovation is necessary in the tax law as well, according to the report. It's important to change the manner in which the current tax code "unduly favors investments in capital" by eliminating accelerated depreciation allowances, applying corporate income tax equally to all corporations, and instituting an employer training tax credit.</p><p><a href="https://workofthefuture.mit.edu/research-post/the-work-of-the-future-building-better-jobs-in-an-age-of-intelligent-machines/" target="_blank">Read the full report here.</a></p>
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Help your kid grow their STEM skills with this hands-on kit
Looking for fun STEM activities to try at home with your kids? Check out this DIY kit packed with 50 projects.
17 November, 2020
- Encouraging an early interest in STEM can build a strong foundation for your child's math and science skills in the future.
- The best way to teach them is with hands-on projects that are enjoyable to them.
- Help your kid grow their skills with over 50 hands-on projects in this all-in-one STEM electronics kit.
<script async="true" src="https://widgets.stackcommerce.com/js-deal-feed/0.1/widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are vital areas of learning for any student. Encouraging an early interest in these skills can help build a strong foundation for your child's future.<br></p><p>If you're looking for a way to help your young ones hone their skills at home, the <a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/mand-labs-electronic-series-kit-1-standard-edition?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mand-labs-electronic-series-kit-1-standard-edition&utm_term=scsf-366574&utm_content=a0x1P000004NCE4&scsonar=1" target="_blank">Mand Labs Electronic Series DIY Kit</a> features the essential STEM skills kids need to know. With virtual classes being the only option nowadays, this is a solid way to explore the world of electronics and robotics hands-on.</p><p>This kit includes over 50 experiential projects that dive into the fundamentals of electricity to the most advanced concepts—no previous experience required. All students will be able to pick up basic lessons on electricity such as voltage, current, resistance, Ohm's law, Kirchhoff Laws, and even how to use a digital multimeter.</p><p>As your kids near the end of the kit, they'll be able to develop real-world skills that can be applied to build useful projects. Instead of simply using technology, they'll be able to create it via an IR security alarm, H-Bridge (a motor driver circuit used in robotics), and so much more.</p><p>It's recommended for high schoolers, electrical engineering students, STEM educators, hobbyists, and homeschoolers, and the kit can be easily set up at home.</p><p>If you're looking for the perfect gift for your kids this holidays, look no further. Check out the Mand Labs Kit in action:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
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</p><p>In total, each kit comes with two guidebooks, 70 step-by-step videos, a workstation, and a large breadboard with a carrying case. You can snag the <a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/mand-labs-electronic-series-kit-1-standard-edition?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mand-labs-electronic-series-kit-1-standard-edition&utm_term=scsf-366574&utm_content=a0x1P000004NCE4&scsonar=1" target="_blank">standard kit for only $144.95</a>. <br></p><p><em>Prices subject to change.</em></p><p><em><em><em><em><em><em>W</em><em>hen you buy something through a link in this article or from <a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/" target="_self">our shop</a>, Big Think earns a small commission. Thank you for supporting our team's work.</em></em></em></em></em></em></p>
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"What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots"
New book explores a future populated with robot helpers.
15 November, 2020
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
As Covid-19 has made it necessary for people to keep their distance from each other, robots are stepping in to fill essential roles, such as sanitizing warehouses and hospitals, ferrying test samples to laboratories, and serving as telemedicine avatars.
<p>There are signs that people may be increasingly receptive to robotic help, preferring, at least hypothetically, to be picked up by a self-driving taxi or have their food delivered via robot, to reduce their risk of catching the virus.</p><p>As more intelligent, independent machines make their way into the public sphere, engineers Julie Shah and Laura Major are urging designers to rethink not just how robots fit in with society, but also how society can change to accommodate these new, "working" robots.</p><p>Shah is an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and the associate dean of social and ethical responsibilities of computing in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. Major SM '05 is CTO of Motional, a self-driving car venture supported by automotive companies Hyundai and Aptiv. Together, they have written a new book, "What to Expect When You're Expecting Robots: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration," published this month by Basic Books.</p><p>What we can expect, they write, is that robots of the future will no longer work for us, but with<em> </em>us. They will be less like tools, programmed to carry out specific tasks in controlled environments, as factory automatons and domestic Roombas have been, and more like partners, interacting with and working among people in the more complex and chaotic real world. As such, Shah and Major say that robots and humans will have to establish a mutual understanding.</p><p>"Part of the book is about designing robotic systems that think more like people, and that can understand the very subtle social signals that we provide to each other, that make our world work," Shah says. "But equal emphasis in the book is on how we have to structure the way we live our lives, from our crosswalks to our social norms, so that robots can more effectively live in our world."</p>
<h3>Getting to know you</h3><p>As robots increasingly enter public spaces, they may do so safely if they have a better understanding of human and social behavior.</p><p>Consider a package delivery robot on a busy sidewalk: The robot may be programmed to give a standard berth to obstacles in its path, such as traffic cones and lampposts. But what if the robot is coming upon a person wheeling a stroller while balancing a cup of coffee? A human passerby would read the social cues and perhaps step to the side to let the stroller by. Could a robot pick up the same subtle signals to change course accordingly?</p><p>Shah believes the answer is yes. As head of the Interactive Robotics Group at MIT, she is developing tools to help robots understand and predict human behavior, such as where people move, what they do, and who they interact with in physical spaces. She's implemented these tools in robots that can recognize and collaborate with humans in environments such as the factory floor and the hospital ward. She is hoping that robots trained to read social cues can more safely be deployed in more unstructured public spaces.</p><p>Major, meanwhile, has been helping to make robots, and specifically self-driving cars, work safely and reliably in the real world, beyond the controlled, gated environments where most driverless cars operate today. About a year ago, she and Shah met for the first time, at a robotics conference.</p><p>"We were working in parallel universes, me in industry, and Julie in academia, each trying to galvanize understanding for the need to accommodate machines and robots," Major recalls.</p><p>From that first meeting, the seeds for their new book began quickly to sprout.</p>
<h3>A cyborg city</h3><p>In their book, the engineers describe ways that robots and automated systems can perceive and work with humans — but also ways in which our environment and infrastructure can change to accommodate robots.</p><p>A cyborg-friendly city, engineered to manage and direct robots, could avoid scenarios such as the one that played out in San Francisco in 2017. Residents there were seeing an uptick in delivery robots deployed by local technology startups. The robots were causing congestion on city sidewalks and were an unexpected hazard to seniors with disabilities. Lawmakers ultimately enforced strict regulations on the number of delivery robots allowed in the city — a move that improved safety, but potentially at the expense of innovation.</p><p>If in the near future there are to be multiple robots sharing a sidewalk with humans at any given time, Shah and Major propose that cities might consider installing dedicated robot lanes, similar to bike lanes, to avoid accidents between robots and humans. The engineers also envision a system to organize robots in public spaces, similar to the way airplanes keep track of each other in flight.</p><p>In 1965, the Federal Aviation Agency was created, partly in response to a catastrophic crash between two planes flying through a cloud over the Grand Canyon. Prior to that crash, airplanes were virtually free to fly where they pleased. The FAA began organizing airplanes in the sky through innovations like the traffic collision avoidance system, or TCAS — a system onboard most planes today, that detects other planes outfitted with a universal transponder. TCAS alerts the pilot of nearby planes, and automatically charts a path, independent of ground control, for the plane to take in order to avoid a collision.</p>
<p>Similarly, Shah and Major say that robots in public spaces could be designed with a sort of universal sensor that enables them to see and communicate with each other, regardless of their software platform or manufacturer. This way, they might stay clear of certain areas, avoiding potential accidents and congestion, if they sense robots nearby.</p><p>"There could also be transponders for people that broadcast to robots," Shah says. "For instance, crossing guards could use batons that can signal any robot in the vicinity to pause so that it's safe for children to cross the street."</p><p>Whether we are ready for them or not, the trend is clear: The robots are coming, to our sidewalks, our grocery stores, and our homes. And as the book's title suggests, preparing for these new additions to society will take some major changes, in our perception of technology, and in our infrastructure.</p><p>"It takes a village to raise a child to be a well-adjusted member of society, capable of realizing his or her full potential," write Shah and Major. "So, too, a robot."</p><p>Reprinted with permission of <a target="_blank" href="http://news.mit.edu/">MIT News</a>. Read the <a target="_blank" href="https://news.mit.edu/2020/expect-when-expecting-robots-1022" rel="noopener noreferrer">original article</a>.</p>
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