Kozminski Techblog

Reading Time: 2 minutesHave you seen “The Matrix” by Wachowski brothers (now sisters)? Probably yes, this movie revolutionized the industry of sci-fi. In their film, The Wachowskis put a lot of futuristic concepts, some of which has already come true. In one of the scenes, when the main protagonist Neo has already escaped from The Matrix, he learns kung-fu within seconds by simply uploading skills to his brain. Well, it seems like pure science fiction. However, recently scientists from California developed technology which does the same thing but on a much smaller scale.

Researchers from HRL Laboratories claims that they have discovered the way to upload knowledge into a brain. Their method is based on neuroscience. According to the research, during learning, physical changes take place inside the brain. Those changes happen in a small region of a brain which is responsible for such functions like speech and memory. Thanks to special electrode-embedded head caps, this part of the brain is stimulated, which enables to acquire knowledge much faster.

It is a little bit shocking because it is even difficult to imagine that you don’t know something and then after a short time you suddenly have the knowledge in your brain. Well, it doesn’t work exactly as shown in The Matrix, but maybe one day it will…

The study conducted by HRL contained examining experienced aeroplane pilot brane and than stimulate the brain of rookies. As an outcome, those who received brain stimulation improved their piloting abilities and learnt the task 33% faster than the placebo group.

Will it be ever possible to upload things into brains? Probably new technologies will one day enable us to do it. There is no doubt that such possibilities are great, but what if someone would use such a brain stimulation tech for an evil purpose? What if such tech would become a tool for massive brainwash and political objectives? How would schools look like if we could learn everything instantly, would children go to schools and take part in sessions of uploading knowledge to their brain? Such a scenario looks pretty frightening for me… Should we take the red pill and make sci-fi come true?

References:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/01/scientists-discover-how-to-download-knowledge-to-your-brain/?fbclid=IwAR3upixA1kq-h-GaBjG8uwnQ_xVFDVMvbzO9ccjJ-Fk1NJ4YS3zY9H2a1IE

Scientists Discover Matrix-Like Way to ‘Upload Knowledge to Your Brain’

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe robot hand recently trained by OpenAI team can! Solving Rubik’s Cube with one hand is quite a difficult task for most humans. One who wants to do that first has to learn specific moves, algorithms, and how to manipulate a cube with one hand.

OpenAI is a non-profit organisation co-founded by Elon Musk, which investigates artificial intelligence regarding various aspects of life. They decided to construct a robotic hand which would be able to do complex activities and adjust to numerous situations.

The main goal of the projects was making the robot hand learn (by itself) how to manipulate Rubik’s Cube in various conditions. To explain how difficult the task was, researchers said: “Humans have evolved to be able to operate and manipulate our hands, […] and the robot has to learn all of this from scratch”. OpenAI team trained a pair of neural networks using a reinforcement learning method, which is pretty similar to the way that humans learn. The purpose wasn’t to create a massive algorithm and apply it to a real-world robotic hand but to create an environment in which the device and its software can learn by trial and error. 

The researchers met several serious obstacles. For instance, to train neural networks, they had to develop a virtual environment to carry on simulations. To prepare the hand for solving the puzzle in various conditions, they were changing some properties of simulation, such as friction, mass or size of the cube, every time it was successful. Even though the hardware they used wasn’t new, OpenAI developed an innovative approach to general-purpose robots. They let the robotic hand learn by itself in thousands of simulations and then hoped that it could do the same in the real world. It actually worked out, because the robotic hand solves the puzzle 20% of the time when the maximum scramble of the cube is applied and 60% for simpler scrambles. It seems like not a lot, but in reality, it is a great achievement.

Image tweeted by Gary Marcus

Article about the whole project published on openai.com opened a huge debate in the AI community. Although the research has many supporters, it sparked some controversy. For instance, Gary Marcus, a cognitive scientist, criticised OpenAI’s project on twitter. He claimes that the post on the OpenAI’s blog is misleading and he is pretty right. Not only does he criticise low rate of successes, but also that the hand isn’t compatible with other objects. He claims that the first word of the project’s title “Solving Rubik’s cube with robot hand” should be “Manipulating”, because the robot hand did not figure out how to solve the puzzle, but only how to manipulate the object. However, there is no doubt that this project definitely plays a role in the development of artificial intelligence. How cool would it be, if general-purpose robots could not only solve Rubik’s cubes but also chop vegetables or even cook a meal?

references:

https://openai.com/blog/solving-rubiks-cube/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI#GPT-2

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20914575/openai-dactyl-robotic-hand-rubiks-cube-one-handed-solve-dexterity-ai

https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/rubiks-cube-solving-robot-hand-sparks-debate-ai-community/149764363861759

Reading Time: 3 minutesCan You imagine cities without a constant buzz of traffic? Streets without the sound of combustion engines? Having a walk through a city centre would be as pleasant as strolling in a park or a forest. It may be possible by switching to electric cars. A lot of car manufacturers are improving their electric and hybrid models. Also, we can see more and more of them on the streets (the environment enjoys that fact). Nevertheless, there is one significant issue connected to reducing the sound of traffic – safety. According to the research of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of USA, hybrid engine cars were 37% more likely than those with combustion engines to involve in a pedestrian accident. Also, they caused 57% more accidents involving bicycles. Governments of many countries decided that the safety of pedestrians is more important than silence. Think of the blind, such people perceive surrounding mainly by hearing as well as people walking in the streets with eyes in their smartphones.

In July 2018 European Union introduced a new law, which forces car manufacturers to attach Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) to their electric models. Automobiles, which are reversing or travelling with a speed lower than 30 km/h, have to emit sound. Yeah, governments around the world introduced such a rule, but they had no idea what kind of sound should it be. They rely on manufacturers invention. Of course, there are some restrictions, it cannot imitate the noise of the wind, water and animals. It is not the first time when people have to invent some artificial sound because of the development of technology. For example, locking smartphone and finalising the transaction with a financial app. Sound of silent engines is a more complex problem. In such a case engineers have to take to an account both user experience and safety.

For car manufacturers, it is a difficult case. For instance, Jaguar tried to implement a sound of the UFO, but the results weren’t promising. Tesla introduced a sound of farting (hehe). Other engineers take to a consideration a variety of factors, such as culture or drivers attitude. Nissan hired world-famous composers to create the perfect noise of a silent engine. The team was working on this project for almost half a year trying to develop sound which would be alerting, natural and not interrupting.

Maybe the sound of electric cars should be completely personalised and dependant to car owners? Well, for some people the sound of the vehicle is a significant factor. Some of the engineers think that it should represent a driver’s current mood. In such a case, it would be easier to recognise if one can behave aggressively on a road.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that electric or hybrid cars should emit some sound to let others know that they are approaching. Right now it is needed, so there will be no silent city centres. Maybe in the future artificial intelligence will be able to predict every situation on a road, so the sound would not be required anymore. However, there is one more important thing regarding electric vehicles – ecology. What is the sense of driving such cars if in many countries (e.g. Poland) electric engines are powered by burning fossil fuels in energy plants?

references:

1.https://wyborcza.pl/Jutronauci/7,165057,25336904,ryk-silnika-ktorego-nie-slychac-jak-beda-brzmialy-samochody.html

2.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/business/electric-car-noises.html

3.https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49726841

4.https://mashable.com/article/tesla-fart-mode/?europe=true