15 Technology Monday, August 20, 2018 Robot wars: China shows off automated doctors, teachers China is deadly serious about riding the robotic wave

BEIJING: This file photo taken on August 15, 2018 shows a woman using a mobile BEIJING: This file photo taken on August 15, 2018 shows robot arms playing music at BEIJING: A boy looking at a robot arm at the 2018 World Robot Conference. phone to take a picture of a robot at the 2018 World Robot Conference. — AFP photos the 2018 World Robot Conference.

BEIJING: Robots that can diagnose diseases, play bad- ogy may eventually replace human workers. In one corner, en that competitors like Japan and Germany have four minton and wow audiences with their musical skills are a mechanical arm — designed to teach children — painted times the level of robotisation in their factories compared among the machines China hopes could revolutionize its an elegant Chinese character while a robotic fish explored to the Asian giant. Qu Daokui, president of local firm economy, with visitors to a Beijing exhibition offered a its tank and a bat flapped its mechanical wings overhead. Siasun, which was showing off a snake-like robot that can glimpse of an automated future. The popular stars of this operate in narrow passages, said China needs to increase year’s World Robot Conference, which ends Sunday, were Delicate balance the quality and sophistication of its robots, particularly in undoubtedly the small, amateur-made “battle bots” which By 2020, China is aiming for half of the industrial robots the field of AI. “We used to focus on the accuracy, reliabili- smashed, hammered and sawed their way through their sold in the country to be made by Chinese companies, up ty and speed of robots — now it’s their flexibility, intelli- opponents to a cacophony of cheers and shouts from a from 27 percent currently — with a target of 70 percent gence and adaptability that makes the difference,” he said, rapt audience. by 2025. “Robots are the jewel in the crown for the manu- adding robots needed to interact and adapt to their envi- “With this robot, I can fully express myself. I love the facturing industry... a new frontier for our industrial revo- ronments and “make independent decisions”. sparks,” said Huang Hongsong, one of around a dozen lution,” said Xin Guobin, China’s vice minister of industry, Chinese youths whose creations went head-to-head. But as he opened the conference. But it is a delicate balancing Doctor Bot while the battle bots are designed largely to entertain act for Chinese policy-makers due to the potential for Outside China’s factories, robots are becoming a more onlookers, China is deadly serious about riding the robotic human job losses — a 2016 World Bank report said visible presence, deployed in restaurants and banks and wave with an eye on its economy. Cheap manufacturing automation could threaten up to 77 percent of jobs in even delivering parcels. China’s iFlytek, a specialist in BEIJING: A robot moving at the 2018 World Robot Conference. propelled the populous giant to become the world’s sec- China’s current labor market. Nonetheless a great robotic speech recognition systems, presented a new “medical ond largest economy in just a few decades. But the coun- leap forward has already been made. assistant” robot at the Beijing show which it said was able try’s population is ageing, leaving it facing a double wham- China is now the world’s number one market for indus- to help identify up to 150 diseases and ailments — even China. Chindex, a subsidiary of the conglomerate Fosun, my of a worker shortage and increased labor costs as it trial robots with some 141,000 units sold last year, passing a national medical qualification exam with a high also distributes the “Da Vinci System” in China, an gets wealthier. accounting for a third of global demand, according to the score. American built robot with arms and high-tech to Automated machines offer a possible way out with International Federation of Robotics, which says demand The robot, which operated in conjunction with a doctor, aid surgeons in the operating theatre. “It transcends the President Xi Jinping in 2014 calling for a “robot revolu- could rise an additional 20 percent per year until 2020. asks patients a series of diagnostic questions and can also limits of the (human) eye,” chief operating officer Liu Yu tion”. Under the ruling Communist Party’s road map for its “China has huge opportunities to increase the level of its analyze X-rays. “It’s already being used in hospitals since enthused. But like the diagnostic robot, it still needs a industrial future — dubbed “Made in China 2025” — state industrial automation (and) industrial robotisation,” said March and has made some 4,000 diagnoses,” company helping human hand. “It only helps the doctor, it cannot subsidies are pouring into the sector. And at the robot Karel Eloot, an expert at consultancy firm McKinsey. president Liu Qingfeng said, adding such a device could replace them. It would not be ethical, the human body is show, a vast array of machines demonstrated how technol- He notes that China still has huge room for growth giv- be particularly useful for clinics in more remote parts of still too complicated,” he said. — AFP

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The new, front cameras (24MP + 2MP) BREST: The sight of a basking shark’s brooding silhouette trendy and fashionable HUAWEI nova 3i is The intelligent smartphone is equipped gliding through the waters off western France is more than powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its with a 24MP both in the front and just a rare treat for sailors — it is a boon for scientists try- overall functioning and camera features. at the rear to capture the best-looking ing to trace its secretive migrations across the globe. It With dual front camera (24MP+2MP), users selfies. The AI enhancements will create may be the world’s second largest fish, growing to more can expect the best-in-technology ‘selfie’ selfies at the first click by capturing both than 10 metres (35 feet), but the basking shark, or that a smartphone can offer. The HUAWEI the face and the surroundings. HUAWEI Cetorhinus maximus, is an enigma for scientists eager to nova 3i can beautify you with the advanced nova 3i’s primary lens captures the image help preserve the plankton-eating giant after centuries of algorithm to be natural and appealing. data, whilst the secondary takes in depth- overfishing. Moreover, the powerful AI scenery recogni- of-field data. The 24MP f/2.0 wide aper- Hunted voraciously for its massive fin — highly prized tion can adjust the surroundings to match ture camera on HUAWEI nova 3i boasts for sharks’ fin soup in China — as well as its oily liver and your true beauty in the selfie. incredible image processing power; and meat, global populations of basking shark declined precip- HUAWEI nova 3i has a very young and the 2MP secondary camera collects depth- itously during the 20th century. The species has struggled trendy appeal to it. It comes in fashionable of-field data with specialized hardware to to recover because of slow reproduction rates. 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The AI enabled beauty crucial details about their behaviour remain elusive to inch FHD+ (2340 x 1080) provides a wide HUAWEI nova 3i is equipped with a Hence, the AI powered phones will recog- algorithm offers seven skin tones and tex- researchers. view of your world while fitting in your Kirin 710 AI processor and EMUI 8.2 for nize the background and capture every tures for users to choose from and cus- “It’s a shark that remains very mysterious,” said pocket. The HUAWEI nova 3i is now on flagship performance. Huawei nova 3i is detail to create an enhanced shot that tomize their selfies to create their own Alexandra Rohr of the research group APECS, which is based in the Brittany town of Brest and dedicated to the the shelf across select retailers in Kuwait. equipped with AI scene recognition and offers best color optimization features. definition of beauty. study of sharks, skates and rays. Even population esti- The HUAWEI nova 3i will be available in with over 200 different scenarios across HUAWEI nova 3’s camera has a set mates, the age of sexual maturity and where and when the sharks reproduce are not known for certain, Rohr said. They are spotted more frequently during the summer months while in winter they all but vanish from view, lead- Lawmakers want British ing to theories that they migrate to warmer regions or dive First satellite down into the ocean depths. Using new tracking technolo- vaping rules relaxed gy, APECS researchers monitoring sharks when they are near the water’s surface have discovered evidence of a to measure to help smokers quit much greater migratory range than previously thought. One tagged female was tracked off the coast of northern global winds LONDON: Vaping rules should be relaxed to allow the Scotland on September 20, 2016, and then resurfaced four promotion of e-cigarettes as tools to help tobacco smok- months later south of the Canary Islands. By May 2017 the ers quit, British lawmakers said on Friday. This could shark was back in the Bay of Biscay, south of Brittany. set for launch include prescribing medically licensed e-cigarettes to APECS also relies on crowd-sourced information from PARIS: A satellite designed to meas- assist smoking cessation efforts. Vaping, or using e-ciga- divers, sailors and other members of the public. Alain ure Earth’s global wind patterns is rettes, is estimated to be 95 percent less harmful than Quemere sighted a basking shark during a fishing trip in set to be hoisted into orbit tomorrow smoking conventional ones, according to the British parlia- the Glenan archipelago off the south coast of Brittany and from the Arianespace launch site in ment’s science and technology committee, which sees big reported details to APECS, enabling a research team to find health benefits if smokers can be encouraged to switch. French Guiana. The European Space the shark and fit it with a satellite tracker. “I just saw the tip There is still fierce global debate as to whether e-ciga- Agency’s (ESA) Aeolus mission — of his fin,” said Quemere, still enraptured by the memory of This August 13, 2018 Aqua satellite image courtesy of the NASA/Goddard rettes represent a health risk or a benefit, since their long- his five-hour encounter. “One moment it grazed the front of named for the guardian of wind in term effects are unclear. A study found that e-cigarette Greek mythology — promises to Space Flight Center Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) the boat, which made me laugh because my boat is barely vapour may cause adverse changes in lung cells. But the five and a half meters and the shark was eight.” — AFP improve short-term weather fore- shows clouds of smoke from the Mendocino fire. — AFP British lawmakers concluded that the balance clearly casting and our understanding of favored vaping over tobacco smoking and it urged greater manmade climate change. receiver, and a Doppler wind lidar, Svalbard, Norway. The 1,260-kilo regulatory leniency to allow advertising of the relative “Meteorologists urgently need nicknamed Aladin. The Doppler lidar payload will be hoisted into a 320- benefits of e-cigarettes. reliable wind-profile data to transmits short, powerful pulses of kilometre (200-mile) orbit on a It also called for incentives to promote them as a less improve accuracy,” the ESA said in laser light toward Earth in the ultra- Vega rocket, with lift-off scheduled harmful option, in the form of lower levels of taxation, a a statement. Tropical winds in par- violet spectrum. Particles in the air for Tuesday at 21:00 GMT. Aeolus relaxation of curbs on their use in public places and a ticular are very poorly mapped — moisture, dust, gases — scatter a will be the fifth of the ESA’s planned review of approval systems for prescribing them as quit- because of the almost complete small fraction of that light energy Earth Explorer missions. Others smoking products. “Concerns that e-cigarettes could be a absence of direct observations. back to the transceiver, where it is already completed or in operation gateway to conventional smoking, including for young Once in orbit, Aeolus can retrieve collected and recorded. The delay have measured Earth’s gravity and non-smokers, have not materialized,” said committee data from anywhere on the planet, between the outgoing pulse and the geomagnetic fields, soil moisture, chairman Norman Lamb. “If used correctly, e-cigarettes include remote regions lacking so-called “backscattered” signal ocean salinity and frozen expanses could be a key weapon in the NHS’s (National Health ground-based weather stations. reveals the wind’s direction, speed collectively known as the cryos- Service) stop smoking arsenal.” The charity Action on The satellite will carry a large and distance travelled. phere. The new mission will be Smoking and Health welcomed the committee’s findings telescope measuring 1.5 meters (five Once per orbit, data is down- Arianespace’s 50th launch for the and said allowing e-cigarettes to be prescribed by doctors feet) across, an ultra-sensitive loaded to a ground station in European Space Agency. — AFP could be particularly important to people on low incomes A basking shark. — AFP and those with high levels of addiction. — Reuters