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New Algorithm Optimally Divvies up Tasks for Human-Robot Teams

A new algorithmic planner developed at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute divides up tasks optimally between humans and robots. As robots increasingly join people working on the factory floor, in warehouses, and elsewhere on the job, determining who will do which tasks increases in complexity and importance. People are better suited for some jobs, robots for others. And in some cases, it is advantageous to spend time teaching a robot to do a task now and reap the rewards later. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute (RI) have developed an algorithmic planner that helps delegate tasks to humans and…

Are virtual phone numbers safe?

Have you ever tried to receive sms online in order to complete the registration procedure on some website or social network? If yes, you definitely know how simple and convenient this procedure is. On the other hand, you may ask yourself about the security of it. Let us discover together whether or not it is safe to use a disposable number. Virtual number and guarantees of security First and foremost, one has to choose a reliable vendor of the service that provides a temp number phone. For this purpose: Carefully look through the website of the company and find proof of its legacy. Read…

Faster Than the Speed of Light: Overcoming the Physical Limitations of Today’s Telecommunications

With a grant from Independent Research Fund Denmark, a team of researchers and experts from industry and Aarhus University will try to solve the fundamental problem that the speed of light simply is not fast enough for the Internet of Skills. Human skills will be digitalized and democratized in the future through the Internet of Skills: a future internet that will allow you to utilize robot technology and haptic feedback to transmit expertise in real-time, regardless of where you are or where the problem to be solved is. Consider a highly specialized surgeon performing a tele-surgery on a patient thousands…

Komodo National Park Is Home to Some of the Largest Manta Ray Aggregations in the World

Lead Image: Alfredi on reef Komodo. Credit: Andrea Marshall Scientists from the Marine Megafauna Foundation and Murdoch University, through a collaborative effort including the public, are reporting a large number of manta rays in the waters of Komodo National Park, an Indonesian UNESCO World Heritage Site, suggesting the area may hold the key to the regional recovery of the vulnerable species. Reef mantas (Mobula alfredi), which grow up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) wide, tend to reside and feed in shallow, coastal habitats. They also visit ‘cleaning stations’ on coral reefs to have parasites, or dead skin picked off by…

A Chilling Feat: Superconducting X-Ray Laser Reaches Operating Temperature Colder Than Outer Space

Lead Image Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory The new facility, LCLS-II, will soon sharpen our view of how nature works on ultrasmall, ultrafast scales, impacting everything from quantum devices to clean energy. Nestled 30 feet underground in Menlo Park, California, a half-mile-long stretch of tunnel is now colder than most of the universe. It houses a new superconducting particle accelerator, part of an upgrade project to the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser at the Department of Energy (DOE)’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Crews successfully cooled the accelerator to minus 456 degrees Fahrenheit – or 2 kelvins –…