Which Colossal Death Robot are you?

[GeneChing]

...it's going to be that kind of week, is it?

"You could not imagine how many people are ready to give sex robots a try."
Gabe Bergado Sex November 22, 2016

Bradley Charvet wants to change men’s morning routines. The sex industry entrepreneur already caught the attention of people earlier this year with his plan to open up a fellatio cafe in Switzerland. Based off Thailand’s blowjob bars, the idea is that a guy can come in to order a cup of joe and an escort. The wrinkle at the center of Charvet’s vision: The escorts are robots. That means he can open in London and expand aggressively in countries with less permissive sex work legislation.

The cafe will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and serve coffee, sex, and pastries. Charvet points to scholarship, including Dr. Debby Herbenick’s famous book (for women), Because It Feels Good, that supports his claim about ejaculation being a good way to start the day. With talking sex robots with warm genitals on their way, Charvet thinks the pump is primed, as it were.


Inverse spoke to Charvet about his vision, the diminishing importance of privacy, pricing, and the robots he’s looking to hire.

So what was your inspiration for the fellatio cafe in Switzerland? What made you want to open a sex robot cafe in London, and why specifically that city?

The London public is willing to engage with the idea and, like Geneva, London is one of the world’s most popular cities for business. You can find tons of escorts and mistresses everywhere.

Do you think that means that the public there wants robots?

Brothels with human workers in London are not legal. Robots were not a choice. And it’s not ridiculous to think about this idea right now. You could not imagine how many people are ready to give sex robots a try in 2016. We asked thousands of potential customers and they were very curious and eager. There is an opportunity in being the first to provide that service.

Have you started looking into buying the robots already? What companies are buying from and how much are you investing in each robot?

We are in discussions with a company called MySiliconeLoveDoll to do a test quite soon. We are thinking about a rental service. Prices are between $1,000 and $3,000.


MySiliconeLoveDolls are unnaturally well endowed. They are also terrible conversationalists.

From what I’ve read, you’re only going to have female sex robots. What are your plans for male sex robots to serve customers of other genders and sexualities?

At the moment, we don’t have an expected date for that, but it is in the works. FaceGirl is going to develop the first Café Pipe. Bumpix is going to develop the second one in London. It’s going to be huge.

We would like to open it in Paddington. There will probably be decisions to make on that front soon. Well see if it happens.

You’re pricing a caffè americano and 15-minute session for £60.00. How did you come up with these prices?

We did not want to change anyone’s routine; we just wanted to introduce another idea, another concept. Our goal was not to compete with London’s escorts so we settled on a price in keeping with that market.

Sex workers are suffering because so many people offer low price services. We respect them and don’t want to oppose their interests.

How are you setting up the cafe so that there’s privacy for each customer?

We’ll create two box-like areas, but most of the time clients will get a blowjob at the bar.

What do you expect the clean up process after each robot is used to be like?

We are discussing a solution with the doll company. It’s going to be more or less like escorts are doing at the moment.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Photos via My Silicone Love Doll, Facebook

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

Terminator got it wrong. It won't be Skynet. This is how it starts.

Would YOU marry a robot? Chinese engineer gives up on search for a spouse and builds his own 'wifebot'

Zheng Jiajia is a 31-year-old AI expert who built the robot at the end of last year
According to Chinese media, he married the bot after failing to find a spouse
'Yingying' can identify Chinese characters and images, and say a few words
The creator has plans to upgrade her so she can walk and help with chores

By Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 15:05 EDT, 3 April 2017 | UPDATED: 15:21 EDT, 3 April 2017

Fed up after years of searching for a human spouse to no avail, a Chinese engineer has ‘married’ a robot.

Zheng Jiajia is a 31-year-old artificial intelligence expert, and built his future ‘wife’ at the end of last year, according to the South China Morning Post.

Named Yingying, the bizarre robot can identify Chinese characters and images, and even say a few simple words, and the creator has plans to upgrade the bot so she’ll one day be able to walk and do chores around the house.


Fed up after years of searching for a human spouse to no avail, a Chinese engineer has ‘married’ a robot. Zheng Jiajia is a 31-year-old artificial intelligence expert and built his future ‘wife’ at the end of last year

WOULD YOU MARRY A ROBOT?

Humans will marry robots in the next 35 years, according to a sex robot expert.

Not only this, but sex with robots will become more enjoyable than with other humans, because of the advancement of artificial intelligence, he said.

'The first marriage will be before, not after 2050,' best-selling author and robot expert Dr David Levy said during the Love and Sex with Robots conference at Goldsmiths University, London.

The pair ‘married’ on Friday in a simple ceremony in which the robot was adorned with a traditional red scarf over her head.

Zheng’s mother and friends attended the wedding, and told local news sources that the move came after Zheng grew frustrated in his search to find a girlfriend, according to SCMP.

Zheng is a former Huawei employee, and now works at Dream Town in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province after leaving the telecom firm in 2014.

While the marriage may seem bizarre, experts have increasingly warned that robot-human relationships will become far more common in the years to come.

One researcher recently claimed humans will marry robots in the next 35 years.


Named Yingying, the bizarre robot can identify Chinese characters and images, and even say a few simple words, and the creator has plans to upgrade the bot so she’ll one day be able to walk and do chores around the house

WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM SEX ROBOTS?

'The hypothetical applications of sex robots and related products, part of a field called technosexuality, seem endless,' counsellor Ian Kerner said.

'I could see couples using them to enact fantasies, such as a threesome, that they might not feel comfortable trying with real people. '

He also said it could allow couples to work through differences that might otherwise cause them to separate.

'If one partner has a higher libido, a robot could allow him or her to enjoy a fulfilling sex life without straying.

'And robots might help couples break out of sex ruts by adding spice to their relationship or maintaining long-distance romances.'

Not only this, but sex with robots will become more enjoyable than with other humans, because of the advancement of artificial intelligence, said London-based Dr David Levy, author of 'Love and Sex with Robots'.

And, he says robots will be more attractive than their human counterparts.

'The first marriage will be before, not after 2050,' best-selling author and robot expert Dr David Levy said during the Love and Sex with Robots conference in London.

While the claims may seem ridiculous to some, 'sex and love with robots at a human level may appear to be a long way off, but the future has a way of laughing at you,' he said.

The conference attracted experts from across the world to provide a vision of how sex with robots will look in the future, but it is not all good.

Nearly half of men could see themselves buying a sex robot in the near future but, if they are not careful, the tireless robots could push their human lovers over the edge.

The findings come from two key presentations at the conference that suggest robots will become an increasingly popular companion in the bedroom, warranting a system of ethics for their development and use.

In one study, presented at the conference at Goldsmiths, University of London, the researchers surveyed 263 heterosexual males between the ages of 18 and 67.

Participants were shown two-minute videos of female humanoid robots.

The team also conducted ‘personality measures’ and ‘attractiveness ratings.’

Then, the men were asked whether they would buy such a robot for themselves now or within the next five years.

The study revealed a staggering number of men admitted they would buy a sex robot, with 40.3 per cent of participants responding in this way.

THE HUMANOID 'GODDESS' JIA JIA
Jia Jia is a humanoid robot who is not only scarily lifelike, but intelligent and quick-witted too.

The female robot has been called a 'robot goddess' by her hordes of online fans, and some who met her at a recent exhibition were taken aback by her lifelike appearance.

It took the team three years to complete the robot, which can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and body, yet seems to hold its head in a submissive manner.

The humanoid is programmed to recognize human/machine interaction, has autonomous position and navigation and offers services based on cloud technology.

This humanoid has natural eye movement, speech that is in sync with its lip movement and refers to its male creators as 'lords'.

Previously, Dr Levy also said in the future it will be common to find sex robots modelled on celebrities.

'You can imagine people saying, "I've got a sex robot who looks like Angelina Jolie and she's fabulous in bed!"' he said.

He also said celebrities could be set to make a lot of money out of the venture.

'If you’re Angelina Jolie and there’s a company manufacturing a high-quality product, and you’re getting a royalty of £1,000-2,000 [$1,200-$2,500] for each one, you could make even more millions than you've got just by licensing your appearance,' he said.

Any celebrity would need to consent in their image being used in this way.

[Punch.HeadButt]

This IS how it starts, man. Manipulation through sex, classic espionage trope. Skynet has started infiltrating our engineering community. Soon our engineers will turn against us in the name of the robots they love.

Can't they just connect a smartphone stand to a fleshlight? Ask Siri who her daddy is?

[GeneChing]

These robots are wimps and easily defeated by drunken style.

Police: Armless robot loses fight to drunk man
on April 25, 2017


Photo: Stacy Dean Stephens, HONS
Knightscope K5 security robots patrol alongside a pier in San Diego. The robots are designed to sense intruders at odd hours. One in working in Mountain View las week was assaulted, police said.Knightscope K5 security robots patrol alongside a pier in San Diego. The robots are designed to sense intruders at odd hours. One in working in Mountain View las week was assaulted, police said.

A 41-year-old Mountain View man was facing charges after he allegedly picked a fight with a 5-foot-tall, 300-pound security robot.

The robot, named K5, has no arms, so it wasn't a fair fight. In fact, K5 can't really defend itself, unless you count occasionally spinning in a circle and whistling as a defensive skill.

The Knightscope droid was knocked down on its back — or maybe its front, it's hard to tell due to K5's nose-cone physique — while patrolling the parking lot near Terra Bella and Linda Vista Avenue, according to ABC7 News.

Police identified the robot assailant as Jason Sylvain, who they said was drunk. Sylvain is accused of prowling and public intoxication.

Knightscope said the robot suffered only scratches in last week's incident and is now back on the job. The company told ABC7 that "it's a testament to the technology that police caught the aggressor and booked in him jail."

The mallcop is going to have some company. Silicon Valley startup Knightscope believes that security robots can help take a bite out of the crime that costs the American economy $1 trillion every year. Knightscope CEO William Santana Li says his robots are already on duty in several key California locations including the Sacramento Kings arena, the Microsoft campus and Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose. The robots are designed to detect and report anomalies, which help existing human security personnel perform better and stay safer. Video provided by TheStreet

An overgrown R2D2 look-alike, the K5 is designed to alert security guards to disturbances and detect known shoplifters with its camera, which evidently captured the assault. They are rented out to companies for about $7 an hour.

A K5 unit made headlines in July when it ran over a 16-month toddler, hurting his leg and foot, at the Stanford Shopping Mall.

[GeneChing]

These posts are easing my trepidations of the robot apocalypse. Looks like they will just take our jobs instead of gunning us down full-auto like the Terminator. In all fairness though, the answer to where the Great Wall of China is would be China for me too. What was she supposed to say? Badaling? And her English is better than my Chinese.

Back to humanoid school: 'Robot goddess' Jia Jia forgets where the Great Wall of China is in awkward first English interview
Jia Jia failed to mask her inabilities to get to grips with the English language

When asked where the Great Wall of China was she just replied 'China'
Observers watching the conversation on live stream expressed disappointment

By PHOEBE WESTON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 04:53 EDT, 27 April 2017 | UPDATED: 05:36 EDT, 27 April 2017

China's talking robot Jia Jia had a dismal first interview in English where she forgot where the Great Wall of China was.

The mechanical marvel has been sent back to humanoid school to hone her skills after stumbling over basic words and phrases during the Skype interview.

Jia Jia was unable to respond to basic questions about the number of letters in the alphabet or describe the American journalist she was talking to.


Chinese robot Jia Jia (right) was interviewed by Kevin Kelly (left) co-founder of Wired magazine over Skype but the mechanical marvel's conversation was not coherent

TECHNOLOGY BEHIND JIA JIA

It took the team three years to complete the robot, which can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and body, yet seems to hold its head in a submissive manner.

The humanoid is programmed to recognise human/machine interaction, has autonomous position and navigation and offers services based on cloud technology.

This humanoid has natural eye movement, speech that is in sync with its lip movement and refers to its male creators as 'lords'.

The humanoid robot was interviewed at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, by Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine.

Although Jia Jia could smile and blink like a human, her conversation was less than intelligible and she answered questions after long delays or failed to answer them at all.

When asked where the Great Wall of China was she replied 'China'.

She also could not answer how many letters there were in the English alphabet.

Kelly, an authority on robotics and artificial intelligence, asked Jia Jia if she could talk about him.

The robotic reply was unintelligible.

Researchers at the Hefei university spent about three years developing the robot in a bid to give her the ability to interact with humans as well as understand languages.

However, Jia Jia’s head developer Chen Xiaoping said although his robot failed at some of the 'challenging' questions she still had 'good answers'.

'There were some delays due to the (Skype) network. Apart from that, I think the conversation was successful,' he said.

Talking robot Jia Jia struggles with the english language


Although Jia Jia (pictured) could smile and blink like a human her conversation was less than intelligible and she answered questions after long delays or failed to answer them at all

Yet observers watching the conversation on a live stream expressed disappointment and said that she was not as good as Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa.

'It does not work!' one commented, while another said: 'It needs some major revamping.'

Jia Jia also conversed with Xinhua reporter Xiong Maoling.

Answering a question about whether or not she is the most beautiful person in the world, she answered: 'Maybe, I'm not sure.'


It took the team three years to complete the robot, which can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and body, yet seems to hold its head in a submissive manner

And when asked about her age, Jia Jia moved her head back and forth slowly, before answering like a true female: 'It's a secret.'

Jia Jia's 'brain', is essentially a huge online database, is connected to a cloud computing platform that allows her to enhance her ability to process emotions and speech as new data is uploaded.

She can hold conversations with those who ask her questions and is meant to be able to respond in less than a second.

The humanoid is programmed to recognize human/machine interaction, has autonomous position and navigation and offers services based on cloud technology.

She can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and body, yet seems to hold its head in a submissive manner.


When asked where the Great Wall of China was Jia Jia (pictured) replied 'China'. She also could not answer how many letters there were in the English alphabet

COULD HUMANS SOMEDAY FALL IN LOVE WITH ROBOTS?


The film 'Ex Machina', in which a computer programmer falls in love with a droid, may not be as far-fetched as you think.

A new study has found that humans have the potential to emphasise with robots, even while knowing they don't have feelings.

It follows previous warnings from experts that humans could develop unhealthy relationships with robots, and even fall in love with them.

The discovery was made after researchers asked people to view images of human and humanoid robotic hands in painful situations, such as being cut by a knife.

After studying their electrical brain signals, they found humans responded with similar immediate levels of empathy to both humans and robots.

But the beginning phase of the so-called 'top-down' process of empathy was weaker toward robots.

The study was carried out by researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology and Kyoto University in Japan, and provides the first neurophysiological evidence of humans' ability to empathise with robots.

These results suggest that we empathise with humanoid robots in a similar way to how we empathise with other humans.

[GeneChing]

Meh. Kind of a dumb looking robot. I'd rather it get me a beer instead.

Meet China's new celebrity chef! Wacky robot impresses foodies with its noodle cutting techniques

A university in southeast China has introduced a robotic chef to cut noodles
The robot can make 340 cuts per minute with a similar thickness in each noodle
Such technique is reminscent of 'Dao Xiao Mian' (knife-cut noodle) from Shanxi

By TIFFANY LO FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:23 EDT, 28 April 2017 | UPDATED: 15:10 EDT, 28 April 2017

A university in southeast China has a new server in its canteen making noodles for the students.

Video footage uploaded on April 25 shows a robotic chef working in the kitchen and making noodles from dough at South China Agricultural University.

The droid makes 340 cuts in every minute while creating the noodles.


A university in China used a robot chef to cut dough into strips to make noodles


University canteen staff said the robot can make 340 cuts out of the dough in every minute

According to People's Daily Online, the robot chef was placed in the canteen of South China Agricultural University in Guangdong Province.

It was given human-like facial features and can be seen wearing a face mask, hat and chef's uniform.

The robot was designed to improve the traditional way of making 'Dao Xiao Mian' which translates as 'knife-cut noodles' which is a specialty in Shanxi Province in northern China.

Traditionally, a chef will hold a large piece of dough in one hand and a knife in the other before starting to peel strips off the dough.

The dough will then fall into the pot of boiling water and cook into noodles.


Students are surprised to see a robot dressing up like a chef in their canteen making noodles


The traditional way to make the knife-cut noodle is to do it by hand, which takes longer time

It is unclear whether or not the robot was made by the students in the university.

Staff at the university guaranteed that the robotic chef can make 340 cuts on a piece of dough per minute.

Students from the university spotted the new kitchen helper over the past few days and posted images on social media.

'Just walked past the noodle stall, the robot chef scared me!' said one student.

Another student said: 'I heard that there is a long queue at the knife-cut noodle stall at the canteen today.'


Robo-resto! In 2014, this cafe in Ningbo has introduced robots to serve food to customers


The automated waiters can also take orders and tell customers to enjoy their meal in Mandarin

However, web users on Chinese social media said the robot chef was not something new and fancy as they have all seen robots in action before.

The use of robots in restaurants is becoming increasingly popular in China over the past few years.

In 2014, a cafe in Ningbo, a seaport city in northeastern Zhejiang Province has automated waiters who take orders and serve food to any table within the restaurant, as well as telling customers to enjoy their meal in Mandarin.

Last November, PH+, a Pizza Hut concept store in Shanghai has introduced Casper the robot to lead customers to their table and delivers drinks.

Though Casper doesn't bring you your pizza, it can deliver drinks, customers at PH+ order food by designing their pizza on a table covered in a touch screen computer.

[GeneChing]

For realz!

Click the link to see the vid.

Chinese inventors show off the gladiator robot they want to use to challenge the US' 'Megabot'
Emma Fierberg
May 3, 2017, 8:58 AM 11,384

Chinese inventors have created a $14 million fighting robot called "The Monkey King". This is the third "gladiator" robot to be revealed, after the US and Japan unveiled their models.

The team has officially challenged the US' "MK III Megabot" to a duel, but will have to wait until after an announced fight between the US and Japan's Kuratas. Both creators are touting the duel as "the world's first public giant robot fight" and hope to make it a worldwide phenomenon.

[GeneChing]

The teacher robot Xiaomei (in the pic) has got to be the creepiest bot I've seen so far.

Millions of Chinese students—and a robot—will be sitting China’s most grueling academic exam


A robot teacher named "Xiaomei" (R) gestures during a demonstration at a class of Jiujiang University, in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China, June 3, 2015. The robot, designed and made by a team led by teacher Zhang Guangshun, is able to narrate the teaching materials and response to several voice orders like "repeat" or "continue". It took the team a month time to build the robot, local media reported. Picture taken June 3, 2015. REUTERS/China Daily


WRITTEN BY Echo Huang
OBSESSION Machines with Brains
June 05, 2017

This week, students across China will sit the gaokao—”life’s most important test”—a two-day college entrance exam that can arguably make or break one’s chances in life. A robot known as AI-MATHS will be joining them in taking a math exam on June 7, for the first time.
Since 2015, the robot AI-MATHS has been trained to tackle more than 10,000 math questions, according to Lin Hui, CEO of the company (link in Chinese) that developed the robot in partnership with Tsinghua University. One kind of question it may have to answer is the classic Chinese math “chicken-rabbit” problem, where one must calculate the number of chickens and rabbits in a cage if they are given the total number of legs and heads. To answer that question, AI-MATHS first needs to “know that chickens have two legs and rabbits have four,” Fu Hongguang, who led the development and research team of the machine under a project by the Ministry of Science and Technology, told state news outlet Xinhua.
In March, AI-MATHS scored 93 points in a mock math exam hosted in the southeastern city of Chengdu. 49 high-school students scored an average of 106 points out of 150 points, according to (link in video, Chinese) state broadcaster CCTV. Fu explained that the machine had failed to understand terms like “investment,” but he anticipates that AI-MATHS could score 110 points on the test this week.

As one of China’s most feared and revered institutions, some people are understandably nervous about robots beating humans at the gaokao—particularly as AI only recently beat a Chinese prodigy at the board game Go last week.
“After beating human beings at Go, AI is now planning to invade gaokao? Does it plan to leave a last bit of humble respect for humans?” commented (link in Chinese) one user on popular microblogging site Weibo. Others think that simply being good at maths doesn’t quite cut it, as AI will face limitations in other subjects, such as subjects in the arts and humanities. “If it can score 150 points in the Chinese exam, that would be impressive,” commented (link in Chinese) another.

[GeneChing]

CES Asia: The Robots Are Coming – To Catch Your Fish, Served Your Meal, Collect Your Garbage
The Chinese edition of the annual electronics expo had a distinct humanoid flavor
Matt Pressberg | June 7, 2017 @ 4:47 AM


TheWrap

CES Asia, the Shanghai version of the Consumer Electronics Show — and one of the rare Chinese productions smaller than its 50-year-old Las Vegas counterpart — aims to provide a look at how we will live, work and entertain ourselves in the not-so-distant future.

We already know there will self-driving cars, voice-controlled everything and internet-connected showers and refrigerators. But if the show floor Wednesday at the airport-scale Shanghai New International Expo Center is any indication, there also wil be a lot of robots.

While Chinese companies apparently have a lot less compunction than their American counterparts about using underdressed young women to draw attention to their booths, CES Asia featured a runway show that didn’t include a single human model. Instead, a parade of robots who do everything from mapping surroundings to serving food rolled down the catwalk, with a group of six mini-bots stopping for a perfectly choreographed “Gangnam Style” routine.

That’s not to say most of the robots were frivolous — plenty were built to handle necessary if tedious human tasks, like serving food, collecting garbage and even catching fish. The parade included two robots designed to take the aimless waiting out of fishing, the Fifish P-4 and PowerRay underwater drones, which map the surroundings, locate fish — and in the case of the PowerRay — even allows the user to drop bait remotely.

Teaching a man to fish may become as obsolete as teaching one how to fix a typewriter, but that doesn’t mean people at CES Asia weren’t asking WWJD? In that case, they were referring to JD.com, the Chinese tech giant with an adorable Internet 1.0 name whose booth occupied the center of one of the halls. JD highlighted an unmanned aircraft, the JDrone, the size of a small helicopter.

Of course, it wouldn’t be CES without walls of TVs, as a handful of Chinese brands most Americans have never heard of rolled out bigger and thinner LED screens and got people to congregate at their booths using the time-tested tactic of showing them shiny things.

While giant flat screens from prestige brands like Sony, LG and Samsung occupy plenty of vertical real estate in studio conference rooms and West L.A. mansions, the average consumer is more likely to watch “Real Housewives” and “Big Little Lies” on models from Chinese companies like Hisense and TCL, whose combination of increased reliability and competitive prices have made them some of the country’s best-selling models.

Many of those Chinese brands showed off their more aspirational models at the show, with Hisense making its 100-inch 4K LaserCast short-projector TV a centerpiece of its display, just as it was in Las Vegas earlier this year. Going to the movie theater remains the best way to experience high-quality video content, but that gap between the multiplex and family room continues to close in a way in-theater recliners alone can’t make up for.

Virtual reality was one of the stars of Sin City’s CES and it was no different in China. Seemingly every significant computer company had some sort of VR headset on display, and one of the crowd favorites was the Neo DKS from Chinese manufacturer Pico.

The device, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor, took often-clunky mobile VR to a level of smoothness TheWrap had not yet experienced, as your correspondent strapped on the white headset and grabbed the Super Nintendo-style controller and was instantly transported into space, shooting down enemy craft by locking onto them with his eyes and hitting the B button as the trigger. The Neo DKS doesn’t have the computing power of tethered, PC-based systems like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, but it was easily the best wireless VR rig TheWrap has ever played with.

TheWrap also demoed a set of augmented reality goggles from Shadow Creator that looked to be inspired by Microsoft’s HoloLens, but with a slimmer and more comfortable form factor. The equipment displayed a series of windows in a row across the landscape, allowing a user to set an appointment on a calendar and read through emails without taking his or her eyes off a beautiful sunset — or cavernous exhibition hall, in this case.

HiScene also had a station set up for its HiAR augmented reality headset, which had plenty of buzz in the room, but with only one rig set up and a demo that took a good five-plus minutes per person, TheWrap wasn’t able to squeeze it in Wednesday.

In Wednesday’s opening keynote, CES organizer Consumer Technology Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro kicked off the event with a few words in Mandarin — complete with a convincing accent that seemed to delight most attendees — before presenting CES Asia as an exclusive destination for high-caliber, vetted technology companies.

“We only accept major brands or truly innovative companies,” Shapiro said. “In fact, we turned away more than 200 applicant companies this year.”

Shapiro also didn’t shy away from bringing up the leader of the free world and social-media master Donald Trump, linking him to new French President Emmanuel Macron by talking about the rise of “nontraditional candidates” — which raised some eyebrows in the media section – but providing a segue to France, which has a significant presence at this year’s show, including the mayor of the city of Angers.

But most importantly — and contra Trumponomics — Shapiro gave an unfettered defense of free trade, highlighting the main reason an estimated 30,000 people converged on Shanghai this week.

“The 2017 Chinese consumer goods market is estimated to be 2.1 trillion RMB [about $313 billion],” he said.

And based on what TheWrap saw today, our robot overlords look like they’re coming soon to claim some of that market. But at least they’ll bring snacks and keep the house clean.

Snacks are cool. The Colossal Death Robots can take over as long as they bring snacks.

I'm finding this thread to be most amusing lately.

[GeneChing]

...for now.

Robot barely passes math portion of this year's gaokao
BY ALEX LINDER IN NEWS ON JUN 9, 2017 11:55 PM



Robots have proven that they are the masters of the ancient Chinese game of Go, but how do they fare on China's infamous annual national college entrance exam? Turns out, not particularly great.
This week, AI-MATHS joined nearly 10 million Chinese students in taking the grueling gaokao, putting its programming to the test with two different versions of the math portion of the exam.



The machine, developed by a Chengdu technology company, consists of 11 servers and promises that it did not cheat by just looking up the answers to the test on the internet, according to Xinhua.



On its first try, the AI managed to complete the exam in an impressive 22 minutes, a task which would take a normal human two hours, but scored a not particularly impressive 105 out of 150. The next time, it performed a bit worse, only managing a score of 100.



Those marks are both slightly higher than the passing grade of 90.
While that likely wouldn't be enough to satisfy a tiger mom, the AI's developers were supportive, proud that AI-MATHS gave the exam its best shot and vowing that it would do even better the next time.



Developers hope that by 2020, a robot will be able score well enough on the gaokao to gain entrance to China's top universities like Tsinghua and Peking University.
Though robots may good with numbers, they aren't quite as adept with processing language. One of the exam's questions completely stumped the AI by referring to "students" and "teachers."
Looks like the robotic revolution is still a few years away.
[Images via Xinhua / China News Service]

More on the gaokao here

[David Jamieson]

We are the weird creatures here...

The robots will muse about us and what it must have been like to be rendered in flesh.
They (the robots) will then devise a way to create flesh.
Then they'll be us again.

Seems like the natural flow.

[GeneChing]

DC security robot says everything is fine, throws itself into pool
It’s definitely not a metaphor.

Mallory Locklear, @mallorylocklear
1h ago in Robots


Bilal Farooqui

Don't read too much into this, but a security robot face-planted into an indoor fountain inside of a Washington, DC office building today. It's a coincidence, we're sure, but maybe this robot just knows what everyone else in DC does. Robots tasked with securing even small areas of our capital can sense what a joke it's become.

View image on Twitter
Follow
Bilal Farooqui @bilalfarooqui
Our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself.

We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots.
12:05 PM - 17 Jul 2017
29,857 29,857 Retweets 59,243 59,243 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy

You can catch even more robots falling down here.

This redeemed my Monday.

[GeneChing]

More than a thousand dancing robots break world record
By Daniel Uria | Aug. 18, 2017 at 12:03 PM


About 1,069 dancing robots completed a synchronized dancing routine to claim a Guinness World Record for "Most robots dancing simultaneously."Screen capture/Guinness World Record/YouTube

Aug. 18 (UPI) -- More than a thousand robots performed a choreographed dance routine together to set a world record in China.

The 1,069 "Dobi" robots, produced by WL Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd, completed the synchronized performance in Guangzhou, Guangdong, to claim the Guinness World Record for "Most robots dancing simultaneously."

A few of the robots accidentally toppled over during the performance and were deducted from the final total.

All of the robots were programmed via a singular group control system and are able to talk, do Tai Chi and perform several other actions in addition to dancing.

WL Intelligent Technology topped the record of 1,007 dancing robots, previously held by fellow Chinese company Ever Win Company & Ltd.

Which Colossal Death Robot are you? The Tai Chi Robots that set Martial Arts World Record?

[GeneChing]

机器人 - "machine" "instrument" "person" It'll be good to know this when the Chinese jiqiren apocalypse comes...

China's Future, Reshaped by Robots
Automation may upend the prevailing wisdom.
By Tom Orlik
August 23, 2017 at 2:00:07 PM PDT


Just getting started. Photographer: VCG/Getty Images

Speak to China experts these days and you typically get one of two contrasting views on its outlook. The prevailing wisdom is that an unreformed state-industrial sector and rising debt mean it is on an unsustainable path, with a financial crisis on the not-too-distant horizon. The optimists acknowledge that debt is too high, but hold out hope that a growing services sector will fuel stronger consumption, reducing the need for credit-fueled investment and putting the economy on a sustainable path for the medium-term.

What if they're both wrong?

That's the possibility suggested by the rapid automation of China's factories. In 2016, China installed 87,000 industrial robots, up 27 percent from the year before and a record for any country. Annual growth could continue at a 20 percent pace to 2020, according to the International Federation of Robotics. And that's likely just the beginning: President Xi Jinping has called for a "robot revolution," as China overtakes the manufacturing capacity of other countries. "We will make robots until there's no more people in factories," says Max Chu, general manager of E-Deodar, a robotics startup.

What might that mean for the economy?

At home, the news is mixed. One benefit is that automation should increase productivity. In South Korea, which has the highest robot density of any major economy, profit per worker at auto firms was $152,000 in 2016. In China, it was just $48,000. Along with aggressive efforts to boost technology in other fields, automation has the potential to bolster China's competitiveness and sustain rapid growth. As its workforce ages and starts to shrink, factories staffed with robots won't feel the pinch.

For workers, though, the news might not be so good. In China, as everywhere else, automation will likely erode incomes for those with fewer skills. China already ranks alongside some African and Latin American countries in terms of inequality. Based on data from the China Household Finance Survey, the richest 10 percent of households account for 50 percent of income, at the expense of a smaller share for everyone else.

Higher inequality, in turn, could impede China's transition toward a consumer-driven economy. China's rich do almost all of its saving, while poor and some middle-class households save little or nothing. By skewing income distribution even more toward the rich, automation risks further increasing China's very high savings rate, and further eroding its very low consumption. If that happens, the two other sources of demand -- investment and exports -- will become all the more important.

For China, that might work out OK. On the export side, by boosting competitiveness, automation could allow China's factories to maintain their hold on low value-added parts of the production chain, while moving further into higher-value areas now dominated by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. As for investment, high saving by rich households will mean that banks stay amply funded. Weak consumption will keep a lid on inflation, allowing the central bank to keep interest rates low and credit flowing.

For the rest of the world, however, the picture looks less positive. China's industrial strategy will chip away at the remaining competitive advantages enjoyed by American, German, Japanese and Korean companies, putting high-skill jobs at risk. As inequality dents the spending power of China's middle class, the expected surge in Chinese demand for foreign goods -- and hence foreign labor -- might never arrive. In a pessimistic scenario, robots would sustain China's growth, but deal a larger blow to employment in the West than sweatshop labor ever did. After all, one of America's main exports to China is food. If Max Chu has his way, there will be no more workers left to buy it.

It's still possible that the benefits (and costs) of automation are overstated, and that robots are far less likely to replace humans than techno-visionaries assume. It's also possible that China's government will ease the drawbacks of automation with farsighted policies -- such as a universal income guarantee -- to prop up wages and consumption. Japan's early experience of automation offers a hopeful example: Rising productivity and wages for low-skilled workers actually reduced inequality through the 1960s and '70s.

Absent a Chinese Arnold Schwarzenegger (Chow Yun-fat?) teleporting back from the future to tell us what's going on, we'll have to wait and see. But the rise of the robots could well mean that the optimists and pessimists are both wrong -- and that China's future looks very different than anyone imagined.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:
Tom Orlik at torlik4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Timothy Lavin at tlavin1@bloomberg.net