robocalypse

Bots replacing office workers drive big valuations

A lot of people still get paid to sit in offices and do repetitive tasks. In recent years, however, employers have been pushing harder to find ways to outsource that work to machines.

As tasks wane, skills rise

The way we work is changing. People possess the innate ability to innovate and evolve in the jobs that they do, and new technologies -- from the wheel to steam power and artificial intelligence -- hav

This robot maintains tender, unnerving eye contact

Humans already find it unnerving enough when extremely alien-looking robots are kicked and interfered with, so one can only imagine how much worse it will be when they make unbroken eye contact and mi

Ibuki is the 10-year-old robot child that will haunt your dreams

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro makes robots in Osaka. His latest robot, Ibuki, is one for the nightmare catalog: It’s a robotic 10-year-old boy that can move on little tank treads and has a soft rub

Humans sow seeds of destruction by abusing poor robot just trying to walk through a door

You may remember last week that Boston Dynamics' latest robot has learned to open doors. Seems like at this point you don't want to anger them. They will find you. Or rather, they'll find the company'

Veo Robotics raises $12 million for its vision of a harmonious human-robot workplace

Since Isaac Asimov first laid out the three laws of robotics in 1942, human safety has been the No. 1 concern of the inventors, innovators and futurists who have pondered our place in the age of robot

Robots will touch more tenderly when they wear this sensitive skin

Robots increasingly have to interact with ordinary (that is to say, human-focused) objects and environments, and part of that is imitating the extremely delicate and complex human grip. A new type of

Modular, self-healing robot swarms are definitely a great idea

Robots are going to have to work together if they want to destroy us, their soft, fallible masters. But the current paradigm of having a Skynet-like (or rather, Zerglike) overmind control a set of sem

We need a New Deal to address the economic risks of automation

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has a surprisingly naive take on the issue of AI and robots replacing human jobs. He said that human obsolescence is “not even on our radar screen... 50-100 more ye

Is technology contributing to increased inequality?

As global poverty continues to decline, another issue emerges: According to the World Economic Forum, rising income inequality and the polarization of societies pose a risk to the global economy, and

Technology is killing jobs, and only technology can save them

Are we living in historically unprecedented times for job loss? Or is this part of a cycle that predates even the Industrial Revolution? Is it possible to retrain our workforce for these changes? Or w

Seriously, this skull-drilling robot is good news for humanity

When someone invents a robot specifically made to drill into the skulls of unconscious, immobile humans, you'd be forgiven for feeling a natural reaction along the lines of "for the love of God, why?"

Teaching robots how to trust

The word “trust” pops up a lot in conversations about human-robot interactions. In recent years, it’s crossed an important threshold from the philosophical fodder of sci-fi novels into real-worl

The real political divide is education

The two main political parties in this country are about to face a challenge that will create a complete realignment as politicians are forced to choose between robots and people. The real question, a

Robots, jobs and the human fear of change

When it comes to technology’s impact on the economy, there continues to be concern that robots and other advances will lead to unemployment. But what does history really tell us about the impact of

Google’s AI translation tool seems to have invented its own secret internal language

All right, don't panic, but computers have created their own secret language and are probably talking about us right now. Well, that's kind of an oversimplification, and the last part is just plain un

How combined human and computer intelligence will redefine jobs

The man versus machine dichotomy has been a staple of pop culture for decades. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner to Terminator to The Matrix and beyond, film makers have envisioned what the w

Industrial robots will replace manufacturing jobs — and that’s a good thing

There is no denying that the U.S. and Canada have been losing jobs to offshore competition for almost half a century. From 2000-2010 alone, 5.6 million jobs disappeared. Interestingly, though, only 13

Will the coming robot nanny era turn us into technophiles?

In as little time as a decade, affordable robots that can bottle-feed babies, change diapers and put a child to sleep might be here. The human-machine bond that a new generation of kids grows up with

Investing in AI offers more rewards than risks

It’s difficult to predict how artificial intelligence technology will change over the next 10 to 20 years, but there are plenty of gains to be made. By 2018, robots will supervise more than 3 millio
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