Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled his personal AI assistant, Jarvis. It seems to be one of his most curious inventions. In addition to his work at Facebook, Zuckerberg takes on self-development challenges, like learning Mandarin. In early 2016, he committed to an even more ambitious project: to build an Iron Man-inspired artificial intelligence (AI) system to help him around the house. The transition from database software creation like Facebook to AI is a massive leap, even for a mind like Zuckerberg’s. AI is intelligence exhibited by a machine. It is a flexible rational agent that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal. Zuckerberg’s creation resembles Marvel’s Iron Man Comics and Movies’ J.A.R.V.I.S, and not just by name. Like Tony Stark, Zuckerberg aimed to build a system that could control his home, including lights, temperature, appliances, music and security. He also wanted Jarvis to learn his tastes and patterns, new words and concepts. Zuckerberg brought J.A.R.V.I.S to life–basically. The video above is intended for presentation proposes rather than an actual demo of the AI robot. It’s a bit unclear what is actually real and what is overproduced. Here is what we know: Zuckerberg’s Jarvis comes with a variety of impressive features, not the least of which is the voice of God, Morgan Freeman. Natural language processing, speech recognition, and face recognition software make interacting with Jarvis as natural as carrying out a conversation with a friend. He even has a sense of humor. The AI includes smart home features. His vision (via cameras and customized software) can tell people and objects apart, and detect movement. Zuckerberg also installed unique features in the house and connected them to Jarvis, including the toaster and a t-shirt cannon that dispenses clothing...

With a friendly little beep and a versatile design, the TUG robot provides reliable, cost-effective task automation for hospitals and healthcare providers. It’s a challenge faced by many working in the healthcare industry: tedious tasks stealing time better spent interacting with patients. Thankfully, that’s all beginning to change thanks to whole host of new software platforms and interactive devices specifically designed for the healthcare industry. The latest addition to the fray, TUG, promises to transform internal logistics and free staff from drudgery. Friendly and Helpful White, boxy and mobile, the TUG robot is designed to shoulder some of the essential but time-consuming labor hospitals depend upon to run smoothly and efficiently. With a gentle beep, beep, beep, the TUG announces its presence as it glides down hallways and waits for elevators. Voice-enabled, the TUG can interact with patients and hospitals staff through mobile devices, call boxes and touch screens. A lot of work went into the TUG’s pleasant persona. As Wired’s Matt Simon explains, “The affection is no accident. Aethon, Tug’s manufacturer, designed it to be comforting. It may have an adult voice, but Tug has a childlike air, even though in this hospital you’re supposed to treat it like a wheelchair-bound old lady. It’s just so innocent, so earnest, and at times, a bit helpless.” No More Drudgery TUG proficiently performs its various jobs without complaint, but unlike other industries casting a wary eye on automation, healthcare workers don’t need to fear a robot uprising. While some hospitals admit to holding off on extra hiring thanks to TUG, the robot primarily functions to release caregivers from petty chores. Free from time-consuming but inessential duties, caregivers can spend more time focused on patient care. Ultimately, TUGs work well as a supplement to a hospital’s...

A new species is evolving—the humanoid robot. The family of human-like robots adds a new sibling with Chinese Ubtech Robotics’ crowdfunding campaign for Alpha 2—its newest humanoid companion-bot. The little fellow is “designed for practical household service and companionship,” because Ubtech felt that the need for human-like, responsive technology is growing. Alpha 2 is the brainchild of James Chow, Ubtech’s CEO. Made from aluminum alloy, PC + ABS housing, this small domestic drone is designed on the same premise as today’s smartphones — a responsive, intuitive and attractive platform on which to develop intelligent and useful functionality. Indeed, the Alpha 2 is fully programmable, operates on an open-source OS, and offers some impressive sensory inputs, including ultrasonic, touch, and pressure sensors. The robot companion may be small, but he is pretty smart. His brain is connected to the cloud, which allows it to leverage more visual and audio processing power than what could be physically implanted in a plastic skull. Alpha 2 can perform a series of activities (so far). It can manage weekly calendars and provide verbal reminders for scheduled tasks; his conversation skills make of him a tutor or interpreter, and he can also follow verbal instructions. Of course, he can take high quality photos (8 million-pixel camera with auto-focus and built-in powerful visual computing systems and smart technologies) and can also post them on social media. Alpha 2 can perform home security monitoring and alerts, entertain your children, guests, and even pets. We couldn’t really grasp exactly how the robot can entertain pets, hopefully it doesn’t involve letting the cat push it off the table. The 17-inch tall alloy family companion is equipped with 2GB of RAM memory, 16GB of storage, and a Samsung Exynos 5260 six-core processor. The five-pound robot...

Giant 3D printers, though still in the research stage, may be the perfect candidate to replace built-by-hand homes. USC Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis designed a robot able to build a 2,500-square-foot home in just 24 hours. The process, called Contour Crafting, is in fact scaling up 3D printing to the scale of the building. The big robot’s actions are dictated by a computer program: the construction site is cleared and leveled; the workers lay down two rails a few feet further apart than the building’s width and a computer-controlled contour crafter takes over from there. A gantry-type crane with a hanging nozzle squirts out concrete and with a components-placing arm travels along the rails. The nozzle lays layers of concrete creating hollow walls, and fills them in with additional concrete. People would only install doors and windows. The animation here gives a pretty good idea of how it would ultimately work. “It’s a CAD/CAM solution,” says Khoshnevis. The buildings are “designed on computer and built by a computer”. This method has proved to produce much stronger structures than traditional building methods. According to Contour Crafting, the tested wall is a 10,000PSI (pounds per square inch) strength compared to the average 3,000PSI of a regular wall. With the Contour Crafting solution the cost of home-owning could be slashed, making it possible for millions more humans – especially in developing countries –  to have houses. The first thing that comes to mind is the opportunity to build emergency and replacement housing in disaster relief areas, such as recovery from typhoons and hurricanes. It could also be used to build high-quality shelter for those living in desperate conditions: at the beginning of the 21st century, there are almost one billion people in need of stable housing around the world....