BBC Focus - 03.2020

20 IDEAS FE ATURE

Theyear 2010 doesn’tsoundlikeit wasthatlongago.Buta decadeagoTinder,Uber

andInstagramdidn’texist.Nooneworewearables,nobodytalkedtotheirgadgetsat

homeandtheTeslawasjustanidea.Backthen,scientistswerestilllookingforthe

HiggsBoson,Plutowasa mysteriousblurryorbjustoutof sightandgeneticeditingwas

stilljusta theoreticalconcern,nota practicalone.Thenextdecadelookssettomove

even faster. So here’sourtourtothescienceandtechtolookout for this decade.

wordsby ROB BANINO, ANDY RIDGWAY, HAYLEY BENNETT

2 THECLOUDROBOTICSREVOLUTION

A globalnetworkof machinestalkingandlearningfrom

one another (sound familiar?) could create robo-butlers

Untilnow,robotshavecarriedtheirprettyfeeblebrainsinsidethem.

They’vereceivedinstructions– suchasrivetthis,orcarrythat– anddone

it.Notonlythat,butthey’veworkedinenvironmentssuchasfactoriesand

warehousesspeciallydesignedoradaptedforthem.Cloudroboticspromises

somethingentirelynew;robotswithsuper-brainsstoredintheonlinecloud.

Thethinkingis thattheserobots,withtheirintellectualclout,willbemore

flexibleinthejobstheydoandtheplacesthey can work, perhaps even

speedinguptheirarrivalinourhomes.

GoogleCloudandAmazonCloudbothhaverobotbrainsthatarelearning

andgrowinginsidethem.Thedreambehindcloudroboticsis to create

robotsthatcansee,hear, comprehend natural language and understand the

worldaroundthem.

Oneof theleadingplayersincloudroboticsresearchis RoboBrain,a

projectledbyresearchersat StanfordandCornelluniversitiesintheUS.

FundedbyGoogle,Microsoft,governmentinstitutionsanduniversities,

theteamarebuildinga robotbrainontheAmazoncloud,learninghow to

integratedifferentsoftwaresystemsanddifferentsourcesof data.

Anotheroneto watchis theEverydayRobotProject,byX,the‘moonshot

factory’at Alphabet,Google’sparentcompany.Theprojectaimsto develop

robotsintelligentenoughto makesenseof theplacesweliveandwork.

They’remakingheadwaytoo– testingcloudrobotsinAlphabetofficesin

NorthernCalifornia.Sofar,thetasksaresimple,suchassortingthe

recycling (pretty slowly says X), but it’s the shape of robots to come.

SYNTHETICMEDIA

UNDERMINESREALITY

Theentertainmentworld

willliterallycreatethe

next generation of stars

Youknowaboutdeepfaketechnology,

wheresomeone’sfaceis switchedinto

anexistingvideoscene.Butdeepfakes

arejustthetipoftheicebergwhenit

comestosyntheticmedia– a much

widerphenomenonofsuper-realistic,

artificiallygeneratedphotos,text,sound

andvideothatseemsdestinedtoshake

ournotionsofwhatis actually ‘real’ over

thenextdecade.

Takea lookatthewebsitebelow.Hit

refresha fewtimes.Noneofthefaces

youseearereal.Uncannilyrealistic,they

areentirelysynthetic– generatedby

generativeadversarialnetworks,the

sametypeofartificialintelligencebehind

manydeepfakes.Thesefalsephotos

showjusthowfarsyntheticmediahas

comein thepastfewyears.Elsewhere,

China’sXinhuastatenewsagencyhas

providedaninsightintopossibleusesof

syntheticmedia– computer-generated

newsanchors.Whiletheresultsarea

littleclunky,it suggestsa direction where

thingsmaybeheading.

Whilesuchsyntheticmediahas

potentialforanexplosionin creativity,

it alsohasthepotentialforharm,by

providingpurveyorsoffakenews

andstate-sponsoredmisinformation

new,highlymalleable channels of

communication.

thispersondoesnotexist.com

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GETTY IMAGES

TheFetchCloud

RoboticsPlatform

is a cloud-driven

Autonomous

MobileRobot

(AMR)solution

thataddresses

materialhandling

anddatacollection

for warehouses