Latest From Science, Technology, Medicine & Innovation [12.15.14]

Robotics / Automation

• As Robots & Automation Technologies grow smarter, Disruptions in Job Market and Employment seems inevitable [New York Times]

A robot delivers an order of fresh towels to a room at the Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, Calif.

"A machine that administers sedatives recently began treating patients at a Seattle hospital. At a Silicon Valley hotel, a bellhop robot delivers items to people’s rooms. Last spring, a software algorithm wrote a breaking news article about an earthquake that The Los Angeles Times published. 

Artificial intelligence has become vastly more sophisticated in a short time, with machines now able to learn, not just follow programmed instructions, and to respond to human language and movement. 

Self-driving vehicles are an example of the crosscurrents. They could put truck and taxi drivers out of work – or they could enable drivers to be more productive. 

Flying a plane (The job of Pilot) is largely automated today and will become more so.  

Microsoft’s Kinect can recognize a person’s movements and correct them while doing exercise or physical therapy. 

facial recognition software from a University of California, San Diego, lab ... it can estimate pain levels from children’s expressions and screen people for depression.  

Machines are even learning to taste: The Thai government in September introduced a robot that determines whether Thai food tastes sufficiently authentic or whether it needs another squirt of fish sauce.

Watson  culls through documents for scientists and lawyers"