Augmented reality goggles for military working dogs could let handlers give them commands remotely
Military working dogs are directed via hand signals, speaking or laser pointers, which require the handler to remain close by. That can potentially endanger soldiers on missions that involve finding explosives and hazardous materials, or assisting in rescue operations, the Army statement said Tuesday.
The goggles developed by the Army and the Seattle-based company Command Sight show dogs where to go using a simulated laser pointer.
Initial feedback indicates “the system could fundamentally change how military canines are deployed in the future,” said A.J. Peper, the founder of Command Sight, as quoted in the Army’s statement.
See the full story here: https://www.stripes.com/news/augmented-reality-goggles-for-military-working-dogs-could-let-handlers-give-them-commands-remotely-1.647735
The Void Co-founder Unveils VR Skydiving Attraction ‘JUMP’, Locations Coming 2021
James Jensen, co-founder and creator of VR attraction The Void, recently unveiled his next VR startup which aims to bring the thrills of wingsuit skydiving to people particularly averse to jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
The company, called JUMP, exited its two-year stint in stealth mode this past weekend. According to Jensen’s LinkedIn page, he’s been working as CEO of Jump since March 2018, or just a few months before he left his position as Chief Visionary Officer at The Void.
Academy Award-winning designer John Gaeta has signed onto the project as an advisor; Gaeta is best known for pioneering ‘Bullet Time’ for The Matrix films, his work on volumetric capture methods, and for co-founding Lucasfilms’ immersive skunkworks ILMxLAB.
WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE?
Neuroeconomist Daeyeol Lee discusses his new book and the development of artificial intelligence, asking 'Will AI ever surpass human intelligence?'
How might AI impact the relationship between humans and machines, or human civilization as a whole?
Increasingly powerful artificial intelligence and machines equipped with such AI will continue to develop, undoubtedly increasing the productivity for people who control such tools. While increased productivity is good, this process will unfold unevenly throughout society, amplifying already existing wealth inequality. I think this is something we have witnessed many times throughout history. Sharing the benefits of technological advances fairly among all the members of a society has always been a much harder problem than developing the technology itself, and we have frequently failed to find a good solution for everyone. In order to truly gain the most from technological advances, we also need to be aware of their limitations and potential for abuse. Reflecting on these and how we resolve them might even give us an opportunity to better understand human nature as the gap between our intelligence and AI continues to narrow.
See the full story here: https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/10/05/artificial-intelligence-daeyeol-lee/
Come Back with a Warrant for my Virtual House
Nearly twenty years ago, the Supreme Court examined another technology that would allow law enforcement to look through your walls into the sanctity of your private space—thermal imaging. In Kyllo v. United States, the Court held that a thermal scan, even from a public place outside the house, to monitor the heat emanating in your home was a Fourth Amendment search, and required a warrant.
More critically, Kyllo established the principle that new technologies1 that can “explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a 'search' and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.” A VR/AR setup at home can provide a wealth of information—“details of the home”—that was previously unknowable without the police coming in through the door.
No court has yet ruled on a warrant for a virtual search of your house. For now, it is up to the service providers to give a pledge, backed by a quarrel of steely-eyed privacy lawyers, that if the government comes to knock on your VR door, they will say “Come back with a warrant.”
See the full story here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/10/come-back-warrant-my-virtual-house
New Hires to the Holodeck: Fidelity Investments Tries Collaboration Via Virtual Reality
As coronavirus lockdowns drag on, IT leaders are feeling hard-pressed to keep collaboration fresh among their remote workforces through video chat and other digital tools.
So some are turning to virtual reality. Fidelity Investments Inc., the financial services firm, has been exploring how virtual reality could be used to build workplace relationships among new employees working remotely. In May, it shipped brand-new virtual reality headsets made by Pico Interactive Inc. to more than 140 employees in its operations division. The workers were either new to Fidelity, or had recently moved into an operations role.
The goal was to replicate some aspects of a new-employee training program that would normally have happened in person in Boston over two weeks.
Movements, such as turning one’s head and raising one’s arms, correspond with the movements of the person’s chosen avatar in the digital world.
That very feature has attracted corporations as they look to VR as a way to mimic real-world collaborations lost because of the pandemic.
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-hires-to-the-holodeck-fidelity-investments-tries-collaboration-via-virtual-reality-11601890201