You can register and download the presentation here.

Sensing strategies for the heavy vehicle marketplace are evolving to take advantage of powerful capabilities that have emerged post DAPRA Grand Challenge. As these newer sensors prove themselves reliable in field endurance scenarios, we expect an accelerating adoption among industrial, construction, and heavy-vehicle fleet operators.

Date: May 1, 2009
Author: Jonas Lamis
Pages: 7
Cost: Free
Concepts Discussed: Robotics, sensing, DARPA Grand Challenge, Velodyne, ibeo, Caterpillar, LIDAR

Alternatively, if Texas can get it’s act together, the State can develop a public / private / academic partnership for leading the development and implementation of green technologies for the USA.

This conference is being coordinated by the Clean Energy Incubator at the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI).  ATI is a long standing business incubator run by The University of Texas.  Also coordinating the event is Austin Energy - the public utility for the City of Austin.

Some of the big questions that the event promises to answer include:

Who will own the technology that powers a low-carbon economy?
How will our oil and gas companies respond?
What carbon-linked start-ups will emerge from the new legislation?
Where will America’s new energy job centers be located?
How will this impact our agricultural industry and our transportation?
What will it take for Texas to lead?
What will it cost – in money and jobs – if we don’t?
What are the investment opportunities here, and what can our policymakers do to spur investment in the Lone Star State?

I’m looking forward to attending, blogging, twining and twittering the event.  Please follow me at twitter.com/jonaslamis to get the latest news and feeds from the Summit.  I hope to see you there.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/45978012/

You can register and download the presentation here.

Summary: Robot builders are beginning to adopt design techniques from the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) world — resulting in robots that consumers can embrace.

Findings: Assuming no supply-chain challenges, SciVestor predicts that a simple to interact with and visually elegant robot like Pleo, from Ugobe will outsell the more complex remote-control robot, Spykee from Erector, though both are priced in the $300 range

Author: Ray Renteria
Length: 2 pages
Research ID: 7R-003
Concepts Discussed: HRI, MIT, Kismet, My first robot, Pleo, Ugobe, Spykee, Erector, Keepon, NiCT, Infranoid

Project, Manifest Model vs. Mental Model

You can register and download the presentation here.

Summary: The Oracle of Omaha is known for his conservative investment strategies and hands off management style. Much to my surprise, I was recently exposed to a contrarian viewpoint on Buffet’s investment strategy.

Findings: According to Buffet’s strategy, there is profit to be had in disruptive technologies or there isn’t. Either way, it’s a safe bet.

Author: Jonas Lamis
Length: 2 pages
Research ID: 08G-001
Concepts Discussed:
Super C Risk, Catastrophic Risk, Risk Management, Berkshire Hathaway, Peter Theil, Clarium Capital, Warren Buffet, Existential Risk, wonderful vs. catastrophic

You can register and download the presentation here.

Summary: Skilligent is developing a new breed of software with the prospect of teaching robots skills and behaviors without any conventional programming. The report highlights the SciVestor Model for Robotics Training Strategies research that points to three disparate strategies for implementing behaviors into robots.

1) Fixed training strategies rely on a sequenced set of preprogrammed skills.
2) Codified training relies on behaviors codified by the robot programmer.
3) Adaptive methods abstract the teaching of robot skills from the code-base, freeing the trainer from technical competency.

The report also discusses the work of Novamente LLC and The Electric Sheep Company who are training artificial intelligence robots in SecondLife.

Findings: This report recommends strategies for Investors, Robot Manufacturers, and Robot Technology Consumers when considering Skilligent solutions.

Author: Ray Renteria
Price: Free. Licensed under a Creative Commons (cc) Attribution license.
Length: 3 pages
Research ID: 7R-004
Concepts Discussed: Adaptive robot learning, Skilligent, SecondLife, Novamente, Sergey Popov, Microsoft Robotics Studio, SciVestor model for robotics training strategies, Roomba, EOD Robots, Human Robot Interaction.

Over the next decade, intelligent sensor technologies will perform increasingly important tasks in our vehicles, homes, workplaces, neighborhoods and even our bodies. Ubiquitous sentinels of behavior, sensors will dramatically reduce inefficiencies in the ways we work and live. However their emergence will also raise challenging questions of privacy, security and liability. In this presentation , Jonas Lamis, Executive Director, SciVestor Corporation, presents a cross-industry analysis of emerging sensor platforms and the implications on the development community. Key sensing concepts and companies will be examined and how applications that integrate sensors will enable our society. This session will also address the adoption challenges that these technologies will face as the public and political process becomes attuned to their emergence.

Paul Saffo keynotes, and three panels have been programmed.  The rest of the scheduled two days is left to the attendees to collaborate on topics of relevance to the community.  The three panels, posed as “debates”, are focused on synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, and longevity intervention.

I have the distinct pleasure of moderating the artificial intelligence debate which brings together four leading thinkers in this area:

• Ben Goertzel, Novamente, Singularity Institute
• Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google
• Steve Omohundro, Self-Aware Systems
• Barney Pell, Founder of Powerset, Strategist at Microsoft

For one hour, we will a conduct a very different AI debate: not whether to create AI, or which technical path will work fastest, but “How can we use AI technology to build the world we want to live in?”

Some of the things I want to know:

• Technology policy and politics:  What advice do you have to President-elect Obama on the future of technology enhanced humanity?
• Haves vs. have-nots:  Is there a growing gap between haves and have-nots?  If so, should we look towards AI to address it?
• Potential outcomes:  Viewing the distribution of future outcomes (imagine a normal distribution), it seems that accelerating technology capability will push probabilities towards the tails:  Exceedingly wonderful or terrible.  How can we use AI technology to push towards a favorable outcome for humanity?
• Governance mechanisms:  I heard a commentator say that this just past election will likely be the most important election of our lifetime.  What about the election of 2048 that pits enhanced human vs. sentient machine?  What kinds of governance systems should we put in place now to inform the world we want in 2048?

What kinds of questions would you like answered by the esteemed panel?  I’d welcome your input.

To give get a novice understanding of the science and progress behind BMI, check out the fantastic piece from 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, November 2nd.