Lifeboat Foundation

Stuart Russell received his B.A. with first-class honours in physics from Oxford University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford in 1986. He then joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he is Professor (and formerly Chair) of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery at UC San Francisco and Vice-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Council on AI and Robotics. He has published over 150 papers on a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence including machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, real-time decision making, multitarget tracking, computer vision, computational physiology, and global seismic monitoring. His books include “The Use of Knowledge in Analogy and Induction”, “Do the Right Thing: Studies in Limited Rationality” (with Eric Wefald), and “Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach” (with Peter Norvig).

Abstract:

Autonomous weapons systems select and engage targets without human intervention; they become lethal when those targets include humans. LAWS might include, for example, armed quadcopters that can search for and eliminate enemy combatants in a city, but do not include cruise missiles or remotely piloted drones for which humans make all targeting decisions. The artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics communities face an important ethical decision: whether to support or oppose the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS).

We’re already seeing amazing things in the delivery services space for consumers with drones and self-navigating delivery services by companies like Dominos, etc. I cannot wait until we see more self check in hotels, resorts, and more 24×7 automated stores. Everything will be great, as long as security is great.

This self-driving robot can take the grocery-shopping burden off your shoulders and deliver your goods to your doorstep. Starship Technologies has already launched the intelligent robot and delivery trials have started in Greenwich, London.

Starship Technologies was founded by the same people who founder Skype. Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis plans to reshape local deliveries and also lend a hand in zero-emission deliveries worldwide.

Continue reading “Self-Driving Robot Promises To Revolutionize Local Deliveries” »

This bat-inspired drone has a longer battery life than drones with propellers, giving it the possibility of expanding into drone package delivery and beyond. http://voc.tv/14JQHoo

During suicide bombings.

Annual sales of drones in the U.S. will hit 2.5 million this year and swell to 7 million by 2020, according to a projection from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Unmanned aircraft purchases are growing both for hobbyists and for commercial ventures that perform inspections, assist farmers, and survey construction sites, according to the agency’s annual forecast of aviation activity, released on Thursday.

“We are rapidly approaching a time where drone delivery is a reality”

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada firm says one of its drones has successfully completed the first fully autonomous package delivery in a residential area in the U.S.

Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeney says the six-rotor drone flew about a half-mile along a pre-programmed delivery route on March 10. It lowered the package outside a vacant residence in an uninhabited area of Hawthorne, southeast of Reno. The route was established using GPS. A pilot and visual observers were on standby during the flight but weren’t needed.

The package included bottled water, food and a first-aid kit.

Continue reading “For first time, drone delivers package to residential area” »

When the apocalypse comes, it won’t do so on four rotors. Drones, especially drones-as-we-know-them—the affordable, commercially available quadcopters—are only really engines of their own destruction. Zoltan Istvan, transhumanist candidate for President, wrote today that the American constitution is unprepared for the challenges of swarming robots. With all due I respect, I couldn’t possibly disagree more.

“The Second Amendment Isn’t Prepared for a 3D-Printed Drone Army”, Istvan argues, and vividly sets a scene of total despair:

CRACUNS, an innovative drone being developed by Johns Hopkins University, can be launched from under water and live completely submerged for as long as two months. http://voc.tv/14JQHoo