Scientific AmericanDeepMind's self-learning AlphaZero algorithm has demonstrated superhuman success at complex board games including chess, shogi, and go, recently playing about 60 million games against itself to reinforce its comprehension of game rules. AlphaZero also has performed well against top chess-, shogi-, and go-playing algorithms, including its AlphaGo predecessor. AlphaZero shows that DeepMind has apparently produced an algorithm capable of mastering many, if not most, board games […]

Purdue University NewsPurdue University researchers are using new "classification models" to assess the extent of humans' trust in intelligent collaborative machines. Purdue's Neera Jain and Tahira Reid created two types of "classifier-based empirical trust sensor models," which use electroencephalography (EEG) and galvanic skin response to gauge levels of trust. Forty-five research subjects wore wireless EEG headsets and a device on one hand to measure these factors. A "general trust sensor […]

UNSW NewsroomThe University of New South Wales, Sydney (UNSW Sydney) and WBS Technology in Australia partnered on the development of reactive and remotely operated smart building ecosystems. The resulting EMIoT wireless platform utilizes light-emitting diode exit signs to run a low-power meshed network that covers 99.9% of a building; each sign or emergency light is a network node, routing data across the building. Connecting other devices to the network facilitates remote control and […]

The Globe and MailThe nonprofit organization Hackergal hosts two-day workshops to introduce young Canadian girls to programming. Founders Lucy Ho and Ray Sharma aim to cultivate interest so female students consider computer science as a high school elective, and later as a career. The program is offered free to students and underwritten by fundraising and private donations. The courses culminate with a nationwide "hackathon," in which girls across Canada are organized into teams to create an […]

Harvard GazetteHarvard University's Philipp Rothemund and Daniel Preston have created a soft valve that could replace hard components in robots made from flexible elastomers, which could ultimately yield entirely soft robots. The valve's structure also can be used to generate unique, oscillatory behavior and fabricate soft logic circuits. Said Rothemund, "This valve combines two simple ideas—first, the membrane is similar to 'popper' toys, and the second is that when you kink these tubes, […]