Electric vehicles feature lithium-ion battery packs today. They are heavy. But in the future lithium-air batteries that are more energy dense, lighter, and smaller could revolutionize EV design.
Lithium-air provides 4x greater energy density, and gets the oxygen needed in the chemical process from the surrounding air.
The data centers that help train ChatGPT-like AI are very ‘thirsty,’ finds a new study.
A new study has uncovered how much water is consumed when training large AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. The estimates of AI water consumption were presented by researchers from the Universities of Colorado Riverside and Texas Arlington in a pre-print article titled “Making AI Less ‘Thirsty.’”
Of course, the water used to cool these data centers doesn’t just disappear into the ether but is usually removed from water courses like rivers. The researchers distinguish between water “withdrawal” and “consumption” when estimating AI’s water usage.
Tesla is about to launch a big new software update that includes a few new features and a lot of user interface upgrades.
As a Tesla owner, it’s always a good day to get a notification that a new software update is available. You start wondering what new features or improvements you are getting that day.
Well, now we have a good preview of the next Tesla software update as Teslascope (a service that tracks Tesla software updates) found out about a new update that the automaker is pushing to employee vehicles, which generally means it will be coming soon to the customer fleet as well.
According to Chinese state media, a natively developed ground-effect “wingship” has completed 30 critical sea trials, opening the door for further development.
The South China Morning Post claims that China’s new ground-effect “wingship” has just completed 30 sea trials. According to the state-run media company, the new vehicle could be used to airdrop supplies on islands and beaches and conduct quick search and rescue missions.
The “wingship,” which seems to be an example of a ground-effect vehicle or wing-in-ground-effect craft, combines an air-cushioned vehicle and an aircraft that glides close to the ground.
Fascinating proposal for methodology.
Models are scientific models, theories, hypotheses, formulas, equations, naïve models based on personal experiences, superstitions (!), and traditional computer programs. In a Reductionist paradigm, these Models are created by humans, ostensibly by scientists, and are then used, ostensibly by engineers, to solve real-world problems. Model creation and Model use both require that these humans Understand the problem domain, the problem at hand, the previously known shared Models available, and how to design and use Models. A Ph.D. degree could be seen as a formal license to create new Models[2]. Mathematics can be seen as a discipline for Model manipulation.
But now — by avoiding the use of human made Models and switching to Holistic Methods — data scientists, programmers, and others do not themselves have to Understand the problems they are given. They are no longer asked to provide a computer program or to otherwise solve a problem in a traditional Reductionist or scientific way. Holistic Systems like DNNs can provide solutions to many problems by first learning about the domain from data and solved examples, and then, in production, to match new situations to this gathered experience. These matches are guesses, but with sufficient learning the results can be highly reliable.
Language models can speed up and automate many tasks in areas such as text or code. What happens when they run themselves?
This new trend in generative AI is also called “self-prompting” or “auto-prompting”. The language model develops and executes prompts that can lead to new prompts based on an initial input.
This approach becomes truly powerful when combined with tools such as web search or the ability to test written code. The language model becomes an automatic assistant that can do much more than just generate text or code.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.
While the electric vehicle market expands, some drivers remain hesitant to switch to a fuel-free car or truck because of range anxiety, or the fear that the battery of their EV won’t have enough power to get to another charging station. But researchers have found a way that could give EV batteries a pretty substantial boost, extending the vehicle range more than 10 times.
It may not offer infinite range, but it’s close. The new Oceanvolt ServoProp saildrive has a regeneration feature that efficiently charges up an electric boat’s batteries while sailing.
Many people think of sailboats as being purely wind powered. While smaller sailboats usually are, most decently sized sailboats have a motor for maneuvering in a marina or when the winds die down.
Saildrive motors are an innovative propulsion system commonly found on modern sailboats, offering a compact and efficient alternative to traditional shaft-driven inboard engines.
Posted in robotics/AI, transportation
Actuator: What’s this ‘general purpose’ stuff I keep hearing about?
In a blog post published last week, Meta asks, “Where are the robots?” The answer is simple. They’re here. You just need to know where to look. It’s a frustrating answer. I recognize that. Let’s set aside conversations about cars and driver assistance and just focus on things we all tend to agree are robots. For starters, that Amazon delivery isn’t making it to you without robotic assistance.
A more pertinent question would be: Why aren’t there more robots? And more to the point, why aren’t there more robots in my house right now? It’s a complex question with a lot of nuance — much of it coming down to the current state of hardware limitations around the concept of a “general purpose” robot. Roomba is a robot. There are a lot of Roombas in the world, and that’s largely because Roombas do one thing well (an additional decade of R&D has helped advance things from a state of “pretty good”).
It’s not so much that the premise of the question is flawed — it’s more a question of reframing it slightly. “Why aren’t there more robots?” is a perfectly valid question for a nonroboticist to ask. As a longtime hardware person, I usually start my answer there. I’ve had enough conversations over the past decade that I feel fairly confident I could monopolize the entire conversation discussing the many potential points of failure with a robot gripper.
The idea of a Tesla makes sense now that the company has started manufacturing and delivering its heavy-duty battery electric truck: the Semi. The Tesla Semi’s availability on the market hints that Tesla has solved certain constraints—including battery constraint issues—that prevented it from delivering heavy-duty vehicles.
In its Master Plan Part 3, Tesla notes that its electric bus will use 300 kWh battery packs using LFP cells.
Tesla’s Master Plan Part 3 teases a new direction for the company with its next-generation platform. Tesla’s new adventure will likely feature some challenging obstacles and more meme-worthy moments from Elon Musk. And more fun for Tesla investors and supporters.
