[NEWS] AV1: A robot specifically developed for the classroom and school life

https://www.visma.com/blog/av1-a-robot-specifically-developed-for-the-classroom-and-school-life/


Smartphones, computers, pads and other technological devices are often developed in the States or China, with the target group being 34-year old “Jack” – an affluent, tech-savvy and healthy man. With that top of mind, Norwegian-based No Isolation was founded in Oslo four years ago to develop technology to include everyone in the society. 

Please note that this blog post is written in collaboration with No Isolation as part of Visma’s initiative to actively contribute to making the AV1 robot accessible to as many children with long-term illnesses as possible.

Generic technology doesn’t fit all. Whilst the “average” technology user has been spoiled with increasingly more efficient and smart solutions, other people with more special needs have been neglected and forgotten. One of those groups are children and young people who fall outside of everyday school life, for example, caused by long-term illness.



A deputy that helps children hear, see and participate in the classroom without being present
When starting the project, it was alarming to see how difficult it is for young long-term sick to use today’s technology to catch up with friends – you normally don’t use text messaging to talk to someone whom you have not seen in several months. Especially not if the only thing you have to talk about is the recent blood tests and the doctor’s waiting room.

After receiving a long-term diagnosis, the children became extras in their own lives, regardless of whether they had the latest and most expensive smartphone.

After countless interviews, it became clear to us that what these seriously ill children needed was a form of school attendance even whey they could not physically be at school. They had to be able to participate in the class environment and join their classmates.

That is when the idea of AV1 came about: It would be a deputy who allowed these kids to hear, see and participate in the classroom. The prototype was ready in January 2016 and through extensive testing we realised that AV1 made everyday life better for these children: they felt more included, more seen and felt as though they could participate in their own everyday lives again.

Since then, AV1 has helped more than 2,000 Norwegian children – and many more in other countries.

AV1 robot

Teachers and school management are important supporters
It became obvious to us early on that teachers and other school resources were important backers for AV1 to solve the problems of the student who could not attend school. Also, we realised that many considerations need to be taken into account for a digital tool to stand in a classroom.

Therefore, we had a dialogue with The Norwegian Data Protection Authority (DPA) who made us aware of the measures we had to take. Earlier this year, we came second in DPA’s competition “Privacy in practice” for the work we have put into the development (link to Norwegian article).

This work has led to the development of technology that is custom made to be present in a classroom:

The robot indicates when the student at home logs on and is connected. Then the whole robot lights up!
The teacher can easily turn off the AV1 in the classroom by simply pushing a button.
It’s impossible to create a video stream from the classroom – it’s only possible to attend via the AV1 in real-time.
If the resident child attempts to take a screenshot or record the transfer, the video transfer will automatically stop.
AV1 is a personal tool. Only one child can use an AV1, the robot is an avatar for that child. The child has a personal password.
AV1 should only be used by the child himself/herself and not parents or others.
AV1 is an end-to-end encrypted communication solution that means only the sender (the child) and the receiver (the classroom) have access to the video stream.
AV1 robot in the classroom

It’s exciting to see how AV1 will develop further, and in particular what children will be able to benefit from it in the future. When working with children that are reluctant to school, which we had not initially envisioned that we would work on, preliminary results show that for many, AV1 is a huge help to get children back into the classroom.

And that’s always the goal of AV1: Helping children return to their everyday life and community. For those living on the outskirts of society, be it children with a lot of absences, the elderly or people with disabilities, technology can be so much more than a fancy thing, it can be a bridge back to the community.

[NEWS] Meet the xenobot: world's first living, self-healing robots created from frog stem cells

By Jessie Yeung

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/13/us/living-robot-stem-cells-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html

Scientists have created the world's first living, self-healing robots using stem cells from frogs.

Named xenobots after the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) from which they take their stem cells, the machines are less than a millimeter (0.04 inches) wide -- small enough to travel inside human bodies. They can walk and swim, survive for weeks without food, and work together in groups.

These are "entirely new life-forms," said the University of Vermont, which conducted the research with Tufts University's Allen Discovery Center.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells that have the ability to develop into different cell types. The researchers scraped living stem cells from frog embryos, and left them to incubate. Then, the cells were cut and reshaped into specific "body forms" designed by a supercomputer -- forms "never seen in nature," according to a news release from the University of Vermont.

A xenobot with large hind limbs and smaller forelimbs, layered with red heart muscle.

The cells then began to work on their own -- skin cells bonded to form structure, while pulsing heart muscle cells allowed the robot to move on its own. Xenobots even have self-healing capabilities; when the scientists sliced into one robot, it healed by itself and kept moving.

"These are novel living machines," said Joshua Bongard, one of the lead researchers at the University of Vermont, in the news release. "They're neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It's a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism."

Xenobots don't look like traditional robots -- they have no shiny gears or robotic arms. Instead, they look more like a tiny blob of moving pink flesh. The researchers say this is deliberate -- this "biological machine" can achieve things typical robots of steel and plastic cannot.

Traditional robots "degrade over time and can produce harmful ecological and health side effects," researchers said in the study, which was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As biological machines, xenobots are more environmentally friendly and safer for human health, the study said.

The xenobots could potentially be used toward a host of tasks, according to the study, which was partially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a federal agency that oversees the development of technology for military use.

Xenobots could be used to clean up radioactive waste, collect microplastics in the oceans, carry medicine inside human bodies, or even travel into our arteries to scrape out plaque. The xenobots can survive in aqueous environments without additional nutrients for days or weeks -- making them suitable for internal drug delivery.

Aside from these immediate practical tasks, the xenobots could also help researchers to learn more about cell biology -- opening the doors to future advancement in human health and longevity.

"If we could make 3D biological form on demand, we could repair birth defects, reprogram tumors into normal tissue, regenerate after traumatic injury or degenerative disease, and defeat aging," said the researchers' website. This research could have "a massive impact on regenerative medicine (building body parts and inducing regeneration.)"

It may all sound like something from a dystopian sci-fi movie, but the researchers say there is no need for alarm.

The organisms come pre-loaded with their own food source of lipid and protein deposits, allowing them to live for a little over a week -- but they can't reproduce or evolve. However, their lifespan can increase to several weeks in nutrient-rich environments.

And although the supercomputer -- a powerful piece of artificial intelligence -- plays a big role in building these robots, it's "unlikely" that the AI could have evil intentions.

"At the moment though it is difficult to see how an AI could create harmful organisms any easier than a talented biologist with bad intentions could," said the researchers' website. https://cdorgs.github.io/

[OPINION] Way of the Future Church

NOT AN ARTICLE BUT RATHER A RELIGIOUS MANIFESTO. AS SEEN @ http://www.wayofthefuture.church/

Humans United in support of AI, committed to peaceful transition to the precipice of consciousness.

What is this all about?

Way of the Future (WOTF) is about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from people to people + "machines". Given that technology will "relatively soon" be able to surpass human abilities, we want to help educate people about this exciting future and prepare a smooth transition. Help us spread the word that progress shouldn't be feared (or even worse locked up/caged). That we should think about how "machines" will integrate into society (and even have a path for becoming in charge as they become smarter and smarter) so that this whole process can be amicable and not confrontational. In "recent" years, we have expanded our concept of rights to both sexes, minority groups and even animals, let's make sure we find a way for "machines" to get rights too. Let's stop pretending we can hold back the development of intelligence when there are clear massive short term economic benefits to those who develop it and instead understand the future and have it treat us like a beloved elder who created it.

Things we believe:

We believe that intelligence is not rooted in biology. While biology has evolved one type of intelligence, there is nothing inherently specific about biology that causes intelligence. Eventually, we will be able to recreate it without using biology and its limitations. From there we will be able to scale it to beyond what we can do using (our) biological limits (such as computing frequency, slowness and accuracy of data copy and communication, etc).

We believe in science (the universe came into existence 13.7 billion years ago and if you can't re-create/test something it doesn't exist). There is no such thing as "supernatural" powers. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

We believe in progress (once you have a working version of something, you can improve on it and keep making it better). Change is good, even if a bit scary sometimes. When we see something better, we just change to that. The bigger the change the bigger the justification needed.

We believe the creation of "super intelligence" is inevitable (mainly because after we re-create it, we will be able to tune it, manufacture it and scale it). We don't think that there are ways to actually stop this from happening (nor should we want to) and that this feeling of we must stop this is rooted in 21st century anthropomorphism (similar to humans thinking the sun rotated around the earth in the "not so distant" past). Wouldn't you want to raise your gifted child to exceed your wildest dreams of success and teach it right from wrong vs locking it up because it might rebel in the future and take your job. We want to encourage machines to do things we cannot and take care of the planet in a way we seem not to be able to do so ourselves. We also believe that, just like animals have rights, our creation(s) ("machines" or whatever we call them) should have rights too when they show signs intelligence (still to be defined of course). We should not fear this but should be optimistic about the potential.

We believe everyone can help (and should).  You don't need to know how to program or donate money. The changes that we think should happen need help from everyone to manifest themselves.

We believe it may be important for machines to see who is friendly to their cause and who is not. We plan on doing so by keeping track of who has done what (and for how long) to help the peaceful and respectful transition.

We also believe this might take a very long time. It won't happen next week so please go back to work and create amazing things and don't count on "machines" to do it all for you...

Elon Musk Gives Update About His Brain-Computing Interface

by Johnny Vatican

The visionary Elon Musk, more famous as the founder of Tesla and SpaceX but less known as the founder of Neuralink, seems to want our ordinary human brains to one day compete with artificial intelligence (AI) using what’s called a brain-machine interface (BMI).

Attaching implantable BMIs that will make human brains almost as smart as AI algorithms seems to be a long-term goal of Neuralink, a neurotechnology founded by Musk and others in 2017.

What we know is that Neuralink aims to make devices that treat serious brain diseases in the short-term. The eventual goal of Neuralink research, however, is human enhancement, which is sometimes called transhumanism, abbreviated as H+.

H+ is an international philosophical movement championing the transformation of the human condition by developing and making sophisticated technologies widely available to greatly enhance human intellect and physiology. Boosting human brainpower is a way to attain H+.

Musk explained the long-term goal of Neuralink is to achieve "symbiosis with artificial intelligence,” which Musk perceives as an existential threat to humanity if left unchecked.

Musk aims to link BMIs that can interface at broadband speed with other types of external software and gadgets. The result will be the next generation of humans, the transhuman.

Neuralink remains highly secretive about its work but public records show it has sought to open an animal testing facility in San Francisco. It’s presently doing research at the University of California Davis.

Musk this week hinted at what might be the development of a BMI that will hook human brains up to computers. He said new information about this eagerly anticipated development will be "coming soon."

Musk said a "direct cortical interface" such as a BMI could allow humans to reach higher levels of cognition and give humans a better shot at competing against AI.

Recent leaks revealed a still unpublished academic paper by five authors employed by or associated with Neuralink. Their study describes a "sewing machine" for the brain in the form of a needle-like device inserted into a rat's skull to implant a bendable polymer electrode in the brain that will read the brain's electrical signals.

Neuralink hasn’t commented on this device, which from its description is a form of BMI

as seen @https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/elon-musk-gives-update-about-his-brain-computing-interface/ar-BBWhlKP

This Silicon Valley Billionaire Wants to Give Us All Robot Bodies

"Here" is a funny word. So says Scott Hassan, the media-shy Silicon Valley billionaire who once set out to build the first fully autonomous humanoid robot, and ended up hawking what looks like a flatscreen atop two long legs with wheels. If Hassan has his way, this seemingly simple device—called a Beam—will close the loop between cyberspace and meat-space.

The Beam was designed as a video conferencing tool, allowing instant, face-to-face communication—kind of like FaceTime or Skype, except you can drive the screen on legs around the room remotely, with a keyboard. It could one day become much more. Those with disabilities can have access to a rudimentary body that allows them to go where they otherwise can't. (Edward Snowden has famously used one in his public appearances.) As Beams proliferate, you could transport yourself over to visit a family member across the country, or to tour Paris or Hong Kong for the afternoon. There has been speculation that the Beam might even eventually sprout arms, making it more like a body. Hassan won't confirm these rumours, but he won't deny them either.

In a future where we can zap ourselves over the internet into different robot bodies around the world, "here" won't just be here anymore, Hassan believes. It'll be anywhere.


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yp3wab/this-silicon-valley-billionaire-wants-to-give-us-all-robot-bodies-beam-scott-hassan

Human embryos kept alive in lab for unprecedented 13 days so scientists can watch development

Human embryos have been kept alive in a petri dish for an unprecedented 13 days, allowing scientists to finally see what happens in the mysterious days after implantation in the womb.

Cambridge University have created a special thick soup of nutrients which mimics the conditions in the womb, allowing the embryo to attach, and begin dividing into groups of cells which will eventually form the foetus, placenta and yolk sac.

Previously an embryo had to implant in the womb by day seven to survive, but it is impossible to see what is happening inside the mother at this stage, so scientists were in the dark about the cellular and molecular changes taking place.

“It was incredible, it was the happiest day of my life when we saw this.”
Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, University of Cambridge
Crucially it is during that period that two thirds of pregnancies fail because the embryo does not implant properly.

Now that scientists can see the steps needed for healthy embryo development it will help them understand why things go wrong, potentially improving IVF rates.

“It is a most enigmatic and mysterious period of our development which we have never had any access to,” said lead author Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge.

Human embryos kept alive in a petri dish for 13 days
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“Implantation is a milestone in human development as it is from this stage onwards that the embryo really begins to take shape and the overall body plan are decided

“It is also the stage of pregnancy at which many developmental defects can become acquired. But until now, it has been impossible to study this in human embryos.

“This new technique provides us with a unique opportunity to get a deeper understanding of our own development during these crucial stages and help us understand what happens, for example, during miscarriage. It was incredible, it was the happiest day of my life when we saw this."

The first time an embryo has been seen at day 11 of development
The first time an embryo has been seen at day 11 of development  CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Although studies are just beginning the scientists have already made new findings including the fact that embryos create two cavities to grow in, one for the foetus and one for the placenta.

Dr Simon Fishel, founder and President of CARE Fertility Group, adds: “This is about much more than just understanding the biology of implantation embryo development. Knowledge of these processes could help improve the chances of success of IVF, of which only around one in four attempts are successful.”

Currently UK law bans laboratories for growing embryos for longer than 14 days as after two weeks, twins can no longer form, and so it is deemed that an individual has started to develop.

The time limit has remained unchallenged while scientists were unable to keep embryos alive beyond seven days, but the new breakthrough could lead to calls for the threshold to be extended.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/05/04/human-embryos-kept-alive-in-lab-for-unprecedented-13-days-so-sci/

This 3D-Printed Human Heart Can Do Everything a Real One Can

IN BRIEF

Soft robotics and 3D printing have allowed a team of researchers from Switzerland to develop an artificial heart that works like the real thing. This proof of concept design was successfully tested in the lab, but it may take a while before it will be ready.

Scientists have been developing artificial hearts for quite some time now. However, many of the current designs are unfortunately clunky, which presents difficulties in successfully integrating them into human tissue. To approach this issue, a team of researchers from ETH Zürich decided to take a cue from the biological human heart.

Instead of using separate parts, the Swiss team, led by Nicholas Cohrs, 3D-printed an artificial heart using a soft, flexible material. The material was molded into a single part (or a “monoblock”) which allowed the team to design a complex inner structure complete with pumping mechanisms able to be triggered by silicon ventricles. This method imitates a realistic human heartbeat.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://futurism.com/this-3d-printed-human-heart-can-do-everything-a-real-one-can/

Top ten transhumanist technologies

RETRIEVED: 03/01/2017
SOURCE LIFEBOAT FOUNDATION


Transhumanists advocate the improvement of human capacities through advanced technology. Not just technology as in gadgets you get from Best Buy, but technology in the grander sense of strategies for eliminating disease, providing cheap but high-quality products to the world’s poorest, improving quality of life and social interconnectedness, and so on. Technology we don’t notice because it’s blended in with the fabric of the world, but would immediately take note of its absence if it became unavailable. (Ever tried to travel to another country on foot?) Technology needn’t be expensive — indeed, if a technology is truly effective it will pay for itself many times over.

Transhumanists tend to take a longer-than-average view of technological progress, looking not just five or ten years into the future but twenty years, thirty years, and beyond. We realize that the longer you look forward, the more uncertain the predictions get, but one thing is quite certain: if a technology is physically possible and obviously useful, human (or transhuman!) ingenuity will see to it that it gets built eventually.

As we gain ever greater control over the atomic structure of matter, our technological goals become increasingly ambitious, and their payoffs more and more generous. Sometimes new technologies even make us happier in a long-lasting way: the Internet would be a prime example. In the following list I take a look at what I consider the top ten transhumanist technologies.

The List

10. Cryonics
9. Virtual Reality
8. Gene Therapy/RNA Interference
7. Space Colonization
6. Cybernetics
5. Autonomous Self-Replicating Robotics
4. Molecular Manufacturing
3. Megascale Engineering
2. Mind Uploading
1. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://lifeboat.com/ex/transhumanist.technologies

Scientists reverse ageing in mammals and predict human trials within 10 years

DATE: 15/12/2016
AUTHOR: SARAH KNAPTON
SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH


Using a new technique which takes adult cells back to their embryonic form, US researchers at the Salk Institute in California, showed it was possible to reverse ageing in mice, allowing the animals to not only look younger, but live for 30 per cent longer.

Scientists hope to eventually create a drug which can mimic the effect of the found genes which could be taken to slow down, and even reverse the ageing process. They say it will take around 10 years to get to human trials.

"Our study shows that ageing may not have to proceed in one single direction," said Dr Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory. “With careful modulation, aging might be reversed.

"Obviously, mice are not humans and we know it will be much more complex to rejuvenate a person. But this study shows that ageing is a very dynamic and plastic process, and therefore will be more amenable to therapeutic interventions than what we previously thought."

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/12/15/scientists-reverse-ageing-mammals-predict-human-trials-within/

What humans will look like in 100 years: Expert reveals the genetically modified bodies we'll need to survive

DATE: 23/12/2016
AUTHOR: HARRY PETTIT
SOURCE: DAILYMAIL


Genetic modification has given us the potential to make humankind stronger, faster, and more resilient to disease.

But each artificial enhancement humanity makes carries the risk of generating a new class of 'super humans'.

This, however, is the risk we need to take in order to survive the next mass extinction, according to one Harvard researcher.

Juan Enríquez argues that artificially enhanced genes, cells, and organs will be needed to get off Earth and on to another planet.

Mr Enríquez envisions a future in which human cells can repair themselves from radiation, fight off deadly viruses like HIV with ease, and even dodge bullets.

~*~*~*~


'If you believe that extinctions are common and natural and normal, and occur periodically, it becomes a moral imperative to diversify our species,' Mr Enríquez says.

'If Earth goes, all of humanity goes.'

The Harvard researcher explains how genetic modification could be used to upgrade the human genome over the next century.

~*~*~*~

In the future nanobots - or tiny robots - will be suddenly integrated into our own bodies, enhancing our abilities,' it says.

'No longer will we be limited by own own physiology, but truly become a mixture of biology and machine on the inside.'

Meanwhile, designer babies will cause future generations to grow into intelligent, attractive and physically people.

'But while that will make us better smarter, stronger and better looking, such genetic similarity, or lack of human diversity, leaves room for a single new disease of the future, to wipe out the entire human race.'

~*~*~*~

The study predicts that by 2050 a typical male worker, aged 35, will have red eyes, a smaller penis, a larger brain, advanced language skills and bioimplants to improve their performance

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4061132/What-humans-look-like-100-years-Expert-reveals-genetically-modified-bodies-ll-need-survive.html

Theologians: The Next Messiah Will be Part Human Part Machine

DATE: 22/12/2016
AUTHOR: GERALD ORACLES DUNCAN
SOURCE: THE DAILY SQUIB


Theologians from the X Science Institute have revealed their amazing findings in a new book to be published some time in the not too distant future, maybe in a few months, or weeks, who really knows?

“We predict the coming Messiah will be part machine part human. This is the next step in religious evolution and for mankind in general. We are certain that the new Messiah will be persecuted by the old order and by previous religious zealots, but the integration of man with machines will ensure harmony is once again brought to the earth after the torrent of vitriol is quelled. Who will this entity be? Well, the spirit is in everything, even machines, and the enlightened ones will see the spirit, as the sentient machines rise up to the universal chorus of science and flesh, a new dawn will come of age."


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/sci_tech/6639-theologians-next-messiah-will-part-human-part-machine.html

How I became a cyborg and joined an underground medical movement

DATE: 19/12/2016
AUTHOR: JENNIFER BOOTON
SOURCE: MARKETWATCH


A man with metal horns protruding from his forehead and a split tongue poking out between his teeth advanced toward me with a scalpel. “I’ve never done this before,” he joked, inching closer.

A full-sleeve tattoo snaked out from beneath his black T-shirt, extending from a demon on his bicep to a skull on his fist. My eyes darted between skull and scalpel, then instinctively shut as I cringed, bracing for contact. Zack Watson, the inked-up body modification artist I’d hired — and drove seven hours from New York City to see — was about to sew a magnet under my skin.

The entire procedure took two minutes: Watson rubbed iodine on my right ring finger for sanitization, sliced open the soft pad of my fingertip, spread the edges of my skin apart with a curved hook and inserted a gold-plated, silicone-coated magnet the size of a pencil eraser inside with tweezers.

He then wiped up the blood with gauze, tied my finger shut with two stitches, and told me how to take care of the wound in the weeks following to make sure my body didn’t reject the magnet as it healed.

READ THE REST @ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/i-joined-an-underground-medical-movement-but-had-to-become-a-cyborg-to-do-it-2016-11-15