Walmart patents the robot bee

Source: inspired from  Chelsea Gohd - World Economic Forum 

Walmart has filed a patent for robot bees that will help pollinate in the same way as living bees.

Image: REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

Walmart has just filed a patent for autonomous, robot bees. The patent specifically covers “pollination drones.” These tiny robots could act just like bees, pollinating crops autonomously.

The robot bees would operate using sensors and cameras to help them navigate. Flying around autonomously, these drones could potentially pollinate as effectively as the real thing.

Image: Polynoid/Greenpeace/Vimeo

These bee robots are one of six Walmart patents for farming drones that would do everything from monitor crop damage to spray pesticides. Incorporating autonomous robots into farming could cut costs and increase agriculture efficiency.

Why’s Walmart’s sudden interest in farming drones?

 Well, they  do sell food - and here’s a way of getting involved at the beginning of the supply chain.

Human plus AI - using the best of both worlds

https://www.matchboard.com.au/MatchBoard/Forms/Article/How-AI-can-help-in-customer-experience.aspx

Let’s look at how AI is currently being used to help deliver great customer experiences, and what some of its applications will be as the technology matures.

An overview of AI

AI isn’t just chatbots and virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Home. AI is also the magic behind machine learning, advanced analytics (Big Data), speech recognition and Natural Language Processing, text-to-speech and speech-to-text, voice and image recognition, interaction routing, dynamic WFO, workflow and business process automation, speech and emotion analytics, intelligent assistants, web self-service, marketing automation, predictive behavioural analytics, and many others.

In short, AI touches upon almost all areas of business and is particularly prevalent in technologies to do with customer interactions via the contact centre, website, mobile apps, social media, and even face-to-face.

CX challenges are technology challenges

According to several recent reports, customer experience professionals see technology as the biggest barrier towards delivering the digital, omnichannel, proactive, and personalised experiences their customers increasingly demand.

The lack of integration of systems, both within and into and out of the contact centre, along with data silos, poor analytics, and the inability to deliver seamless service across multiple channels are all still big issues.

In its various guises, AI can help with all of these.

5 ways AI can help with customer experience

Despite some of the overblown stories in the popular press, implementing AI does not mean firing all our staff and replacing them with robots or self-service systems.

In most cases AI will be helping humans to better and more efficiently anticipate and meet customers’ needs with the aim of improving loyalty, reducing churn and improving acquisition results all while managing costs.

Here are five examples:

1. Allow human staff to do what humans do well. Chatbotsand other self-service systems (intelligent FAQs, IVR) can handle routine enquiries, leaving complex and emotional cases for humans to deal with. People are good at empathy and creative problem solving so a chatbot or IVR front-end can screen out simple queries and route complex ones to the appropriate team after some initial fact-finding. This has the added benefit of increasing employee engagement and satisfaction. 

 

2.     Predicting what customers want and are about to do.Digitisation has brought companies masses and masses of data about customers and products. Machine learning and predictive analytics tools help companies use this data to predict customer behaviour with a high degree of certainty. Knowing which customers are about to churn, default, suffer a problem, renew, or upgrade before they do is important information. A company can take proactive action to nip issues in the bud before they become real problems or promote special offers to customers likely to defect.

 

3.     Increase efficiency all round. Routing and WFO software is now infused with AI in order to predict the type and volume of interactions the contact centre is likely to encounter on a given day, at given times, based on what else is happening in and around the company. Down to the individual customer level, routing software can decide exactly which channel or staff member is most likely to give the most satisfactory outcome for each customer, and route accordingly.

 

4.     Know your customers and processes better than ever. All sorts of new analytics are now possible with speech recognition and NLP as AI systems can now ‘understand’ not just the meaning of speech or writing but also the underlying subtleties. Is a customer delighted or annoyed? Where are customers being asked to repeat information? Where are the pauses in interactions, why do they abandon carts, and so on? This kind of detailed analysis allows you to look not just at outcomes – the customer purchases or doesn’t – but how and why the outcome was arrived at. If the outcome was negative what were the reasons for that? All this information allows you to know what your customers really want, eliminate their pain points, and streamline your processes to better meet their needs.

 

5.     Intelligent assistants for your staff. Flip AI round and you get IA for Intelligent Assistants. Rather than fire your staff you can get AI to help them to do their jobs much better. AI systems armed with the kind of knowledge about customers we’ve already talked about can provide agents with detailed insights in a timely, context-sensitive manner when handling a customer interaction. For example, an intelligent system might suggest an upsell offer or just point the agent in the direction of the correct process to solve the customer’s problem. Emotion and speech analytics can even be used during an interaction to suggest alterative courses of action to the agent which are liable to speed up issue resolution or improve satisfaction. New services are coming online that even provide agents with a total, pre-packaged response to a customer’s query. All the agent must do is check it over and approve it.

 

AI everywhere and nowhere

The ultimate fate of a successful technology is to disappear so completely into the background that we no longer even notice it. So it will be with AI.

We will soon take it for granted that a lot of the software, devices and organisations with which we interact are AI-assisted.

When it comes to the complex business of delivering the level of customer experience that consumers expect these days, AI is already deep in the mix of solutions that CX professionals need to draw upon. Most of these technologies are graduating to the plateau of productivity as we speak, and you need to ensure your organisation is making use of them now, because your competitors certainly will be.

Superglue for wounds

Professor Anthony Weiss.

https://www.australiaunlimited.com/science/tony-weiss-surgical-glue

Imagine a kind of superglue that can be squeezed onto a deep cut or gunshot wound to seal it shut – in 60 seconds. Imagine that it not only stops the bleeding, but also sends signals to the body to start repairing the wound – at twice the regular speed.

It sounds like science fiction, but this incredible new glue invented in an Australian lab could revolutionise emergency care and surgical procedures all over the world. Significantly, it doesn’t just work outside the body – it can seal internal wounds on a  heart, lungs, and even arteries.

"I believe the impact would be substantial,” says a member of the team behind the adhesive, Professor Anthony Weiss from the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney.

“It can rapidly stem blood flow, which would make it perfect in an emergency situation where one or dozens of people need assistance. I also see it being used in surgery – you could have the whole thing sealed up in 60 seconds.”

Inspired by nature

The adhesive is made from a synthetic version of a protein called tropoelastin, which forms naturally in the growing tissues of newborn babies.

Tropoelastin is the precursor to functional elastin, which gives your skin, blood vessels, lung tissue, ligaments and tendons the ability to regain their shape after stretching or contracting.

As the world leader in tropoelestin research, Weiss figured out how to create a perfect copy of tropoelastin from scratch in the lab. This material, called methacrylated tropoelastic (or MeTro), formed the basis of the most flexible surgical glue ever.

“We found an ethical way to make precise copies of the molecule – it’s like a photocopy machine,” Weiss explains.

“For all intents and purposes, it looks like how it forms in newborn babies’ skin. And we worked out how to tame these building blocks so they self-assemble like LEGO pieces.”

The benefit of having an exact replica of a natural protein is that MeTro doesn’t set off the patient’s immune system response, and when the job is done, it’s broken down by the body like a piece of old skin. 

“We didn’t know when we started that we’d tick so many boxes,” Weiss admits. “But through some little miracle, the body sees it as being naturally incorporated, so there’s a lack of reaction like if you got a splinter or had some substance injected.”

But that’s only half the story, because for the glue to work as precisely in emergency situations, it needs a very precise trigger – light.

Let there be light

Weiss travelled to the US to meet up with friends from Harvard and Northeastern University and together they came up  with the idea to add light-activated molecules to the adhesive.

“I’ve known these colleagues for a number of years, and they have this amazing technology that involves a light-activating technique. We said wouldn’t it be cool if we combined the two technologies,” Weiss explains.

“It was just the three of us sitting down and chatting over coffee;  it’s amazing how much coffee can fuel ideas like this.”

Just like superglue, MeTro is in a syringe-like tube for easy application, and there are long-lasting or quickly dissolving varieties depending on the type of wound. Weiss says the applicators will be colour-coded so emergency responders can easily grab the right one.

Once it’s applied, a zap of UV light seals everything shut within seconds – no sutures, staples, or stiches required. And that’s when the healing begins. 

Being an exact copy of tropoelastin, MeTro mimics the protein’s ability to kick-start the body’s healing process.

“We’ve been learning for many years in my lab that the material sends out signals to the body to 'heal me',” says Weiss. “It’s just incredible.”

The glue of the future

Funding permitting, the next step is human clinical testing. Weiss says they’re now looking to get that process underway, and they’ve teamed up with Sydney-based medical group Elastagen to commercialise the technology.

In the meantime, Weiss is also investigating technologies that could heal broken bones from the inside-out in a fraction of the time it takes using current treatments. 

He says the key to making these incredible ideas a reality is getting out there and collaborating with other great minds around the world.

“My philosophy is to interact with the best and brightest in the world, because if you want to do the best, you need to work with the best,” he says.

“We do great science in Australia, and the ability to work internationally allows you to get the best possible outcomes. That’s been my philosophy from the outset – it's done through networks.” Simply having a a cup of coffee and a chat with colleagues is, in his opinion, “a powerful thing to do.”

'Squirtable' elastic glue seals wounds in 60 seconds

Emergency treatments could be transformed, saving lives

A highly elastic and adhesive surgical glue that quickly seals wounds without the need for common staples or sutures could transform how surgeries are performed.Biomedical engineers from the University of Sydney and the United States collaborated on the development of the potentially life-saving surgical glue, called MeTro.

MeTro’s high elasticity makes it ideal for sealing wounds in body tissues that continually expand and relax – such as lungs, hearts and arteries – that are otherwise at risk of re-opening.

The material also works on internal wounds that are often in hard-to-reach areas and have typically required staples or sutures due to surrounding body fluid hampering the effectiveness of other sealants.

MeTro sets in just 60 seconds once treated with UV light, and the technology has a built-in degrading enzyme which can be modified to determine how long the sealant lasts – from hours to months, in order to allow adequate time for the wound to heal.

The liquid or gel-like material has quickly and successfully sealed incisions in the arteries and lungs of rodents and the lungs of pigs, without the need for sutures and staples.

MeTro – a breakthrough medical technology that could save lives

Watch Professor Anthony Weiss demonstrate how the MeTro elastic surgical sealant works and potential applications.

The results were published today in Science Translational Medicine, in a paper by the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Science; Boston’s Northeastern University, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston.

MeTro combines the natural elastic protein technologiesdeveloped in collaboration with author and University of Sydney McCaughey Chair in Biochemistry Professor Anthony Weiss, with light sensitive molecules developed in collaboration with author and Director of the Biomaterials Innovation Research Center at Harvard Medical School Professor Ali Khademhosseini.

Lead author of the study, University of Sydney alumna Assistant Professor Nasim Annabi, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University, oversaw the application of MeTro in a variety of clinical settings and conditions.

The beauty of the MeTro formulation is that, as soon as it comes in contact with tissue surfaces, it solidifies into a gel-like phase without running away.

Assistant Professor Nasim Annabi, Northeastern University

“We then further stabilise it by curing it on-site with a short light-mediated crosslinking treatment. This allows the sealant to be very accurately placed and to tightly bond and interlock with structures on the tissue surface," she added.

The University of Sydney’s Professor Anthony Weiss described the process as resembling that of silicone sealants used around bathroom and kitchen tiles.

“When you watch MeTro, you can see it act like a liquid, filling the gaps and conforming to the shape of the wound,” he said.

“It responds well biologically, and interfaces closely with human tissue to promote healing. The gel is easily stored and can be squirted directly onto a wound or cavity."

The potential applications are powerful – from treating serious internal wounds at emergency sites such as following car accidents and in war zones, as well as improving hospital surgeries.

Professor Anthony Weiss, University of Sydney

Professor Khademhosseini from Harvard Medical School was optimistic about the study’s findings.

“MeTro seems to remain stable over the period that wounds need to heal in demanding mechanical conditions and later it degrades without any signs of toxicity; it checks off all the boxes of a highly versatile and efficient surgical sealant with potential also beyond pulmonary and vascular suture and staple-less applications,” he said.

The next stage for the technology is clinical testing, Professor Weiss said.

“We have shown MeTro works in a range of different settings and solves problems other available sealants can’t. We’re now ready to transfer our research into testing on people. I hope MeTro will soon be used in the clinic, saving human lives.”

Elastagen Pty Ltd is commercialising the technology.

The UAE and the new economy

The Bob Pritchard Column 

Donald Trump is right.  Even our best airports are very ordinary compared to those overseas, our infrastructure is decaying and we have no forward vision. 

 

A couple of years ago, I did a 10 city speaking tour to MBA graduates in Iran.  It was a fabulous experience.  Not at all what I was led to believe by western media.  What I found in Iran was that 70% of university graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are women—a higher percentage than in any other country. Nearby Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) each boast over 60% female graduates in science, still more of the rest of the world.  Over a third of STEM trained talent across the Muslim world is female.  In the United States that number is near 30%.

 

 

We are falling behind in areas we once led.  The Middle East is rapidly turning into a futuristic zone, a model hub for business and a delight for residents.  They are leading in so many areas, from web speeds, to the Hyperloop to flying taxis. Advances in Healthcare technology are also dramatic

 

Saudi Arabia has now announced that the kingdom will build the world’s largest hi-tech solar plant project. The project, which will see $200 billion invested in the next few years, will consist of a ‘series of solar parks’ throughout Saudi Arabia. Final generation capacity will be 200 gigawatts, which would be enough to power 150 million homes. With total households of 5.4 million, Saudi Arabia expects to sell over 90% the generated electricity to neighbors. The future needs of the planned new ‘smart’ mega city NEOM, on the shores of the Red Sea may also be integral to the scale of the project. 

 

NEOM is a $500 billion technology mega-city measuring 10,230 square miles, 33 times the size of New York City.  NEOM will run on 100% renewable energy and will connect to Jordan and Egypt.  Under the leadership of bin Salman, Saudi Arabia is embarking upon a series of hugely ambitious projects designed to wean the kingdom’s economy off its reliance on oil. It’s the world’s largest exporter and also holds the largest easy access reserves.

 

It is projected that the solar parks will save Saudi Arabia $40 billion a year in electricity generation expenses and create 100,000 new jobs. A first $5 billion phase of the project will start this year with completion in 2019 and be expected to have a generation capacity of 7.2 gigawatts of power. The kingdom is rapidly transforming from an economy wholly dependent on oil into a private sector-fuelled tech-focused modern economy. A domestic industry around solar power technology and the manufacture of photovoltaic panels is expected to spring up around the colossal project. We are still focused on coal.

 

Power storage technology R&D is also planned and a key component to how quickly global energy infrastructure will transition to renewable sources.

 

 We can no longer rest on our laurels, we need a pretty dramatic change in thinking.

Vectors of Disruption

Artificial Intelligence: What Educators Need to Know

By Oren Etzioni & Carissa Schoenick Education Week Jan. 10, 2018

 https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/01/10/artificial-intelligence-what-educators-need-to-know.html

Editor's Note: This Commentary is part of a special report exploring game-changing trends and innovations that have the potential to shake up the schoolhouse.
Read the full report: 10 Big Ideas in Education. 

Artificial intelligence is a rapidly emerging technology that has the potential to change our everyday lives with a scope and speed that humankind has never experienced before. Some well-known technology leaders such as Tesla architect Elon Musk consider AI a potential threat to humanity and have pushed for its regulation "before it's too late"—an alarmist statement that confuses AI science with science fiction. What is the reality behind these concerns, and how can educators best prepare for a future with artificial intelligence as an inevitable part of our lives? 

General, widespread legislative regulation of AI is not going to be the right way to prepare our society for these changes. The AI field is already humming with a wide variety of new research at an international scale, such that blindly constraining AI research in its early days in the United States would only serve to put us behind the global curve in developing the most important technology of the future. It is also worth noting that there are many applications of AI currently under development that have huge potential benefits for humanity in the fields of medicine, security, finance, and personal services; we would risk a high human and economic cost by slowing or stopping research in those areas if we hastily impose premature, overbearing, and poorly understood constraints. 

The most impactful way to shape the future of AI is not going to be through the regulation of research, but rather through understanding and correctly controlling the tangible impacts of AI on our lives. For example, it is our belief that AI should not be weaponized, and that humans should always have the ultimate "off switch." Beyond these obvious limitations, there are three rules we propose for AI that can be meaningfully applied now to mitigate possible future harm. 

Background: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Education

An AI system: 

1) Must always respect the same laws that apply to its creators and operators; 

2) Must always disclose that it is not human whenever it interacts with another entity; 

3) Should never retain or share confidential information without explicit approval from the source. 

These rules are a strong practical starting point, but to successfully navigate the new world AI will bring about in the coming decades, we're going to need to ensure that our children are learning the skills required both to make sense of this new human-machine dynamic and to control it in the right ways. All students today should be taught basic computer literacy and the fundamentals behind how an AI works, as they will need to be comfortable with learning and incorporating rapidly emerging new technologies into their lives and occupations as they are developed. 

We will need our future scientists and engineers to be keenly aware that an AI system can only be as good as the data it is given to work with, and that to avoid dangerous bias or incorrect actions, we need to cultivate the right inputs to these systems that fairly cover all possible perspectives and variables. We will need policymakers who can successfully apply the rules suggested above as well as define the new ones we will need as AI continues to proliferate into the various aspects of our lives. 

New and different opportunities and values will likely emerge for humans in the economy that AI creates. As AI makes more resources more widely available, we will find less meaning in material wealth and more value in the activities that are uniquely human. This means that occupations with creative and expressive qualities, such as chefs, tailors, organic farmers, musicians, and artists of all types will become more important in an age in which a real human connection is increasingly precious. Roles that directly affect human development and well-being, such as teaching, nursing, and caregiving, will be especially crucial and should be uplifted as excellent options for people whose vocations are otherwise replaced by AI systems. No AI can hope to match a human for true compassion and empathy, qualities that we should be taking extra care to cultivate in our children to prepare them to inherit a world where these characteristics will be more important than ever. 

< Idea #8 Fighting the Opioid Epidemic at Its Source

Idea #10 > Young People as Change Agents: The Obama Foundation'sApproach

Background 

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Education

By Benjamin Herold

What will the rise of artificial intelligence mean for K-12 education? 

First, AI and related technologies are reshaping the economy. Some jobs are being eliminated, many others are being changed, and entirely new fields of work are opening up. Those changes are likely to have big implications for the job market in 2030, when today's 6th graders are set to hit their prime working years. But the nation's top economists and technologists are sharply divided about whether AI will be a job killer or creator, presenting a big challenge for the educators and policymakers who must prepare today's students to thrive in a very uncertain tomorrow. 

Second, artificial intelligence is changing what it means to be an engaged citizen. K-12 education has never been just about preparing young people for jobs; it's also about making sure they're able to weigh arguments and evidence, synthesize information, and take part in the civic lives of their communities and country. But as algorithms, artificial intelligence, and automated decisionmaking systems are being woven into nearly every aspect of our lives, from loan applications to dating to criminal sentencing, new questions and policy debates and ethical quandaries are emerging. Schools are now faced with having to figure out how to teach students to think critically about the role these technologies are playing in our society and how to use them in smart, ethical ways. Plus, in the age of AI, students will likely have to develop a new communication skill: the ability to talk effectively to intelligent machines. Some economists say that skill could be the difference between success and failure in the workplace of the future. 

And third, artificial intelligence could play a powerful role in the push to provide more personalized instruction for all students-and in the process change the teaching profession itself. Intelligent tutoring systems are making inroads in the classroom. New educational software and technology platforms use algorithms to recommend content and lessons for individual students, sometimes pushing teachers away from the front of the classroom and into the role of "coach" or "facilitator." And schools are being flooded with data about their students, information that educators and administrators alike are increasingly expected to use to make real-time decisions and adjustments in the course of their day-to-day work. 

Some educators see the rising role of AI as a threat to their existence and a danger to student-data privacy. Others take a more positive view, seeing it as having the potential to free them from mundane tasks like lecturing and grading, creating rich opportunities for continuous improvement, and opening the doors for more meaningful trial-and-error learning by students. 

Whatever the perspective, there is one thing most everyone seems to agree on: Now is the time for the K-12 field to start wrestling with the promises and perils of AI.