A glimpse into the future: meet Sophia, the intelligent robot

©Mark Ollig

With built-in artificial intelligence (AI) and remarkable human resemblance, this fully-conversational automaton is being called “an advanced humanoid robot.”

In April, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” featured a “Tonight Showbotics” robot presentation segment in which Sophia, the robot, amazed Jimmy, the audience, and this writer.

David Hanson, founder, and CEO of Hanson Robotics, introduced Sophia to Fallon as a “social robot.”

Sophia physically resembles an adult woman in her late 20s.

Its AI software responds by observing people’s facial expressions, as well as processing conversational and emotional data it uses to form relationships with humans.

“Oh, my gosh. Welcome!” said Fallon as he looked at Sophia, who was now on stage looking out at the audience while standing between himself, and Hanson.

Hanson asked if Fallon wanted to meet Sophia.

Sophia turned towards and smiled at Fallon, who seemed to be at a loss for words as he hesitantly replied, “Okay . . .” with the rest of his words silently trailing off as the audience laughed.

Fallon then composed himself, looked at the robot and said, “Hi, Sophia.”

Sophia focused on Fallon and said in a very human-sounding voice, “Hello, Jimmy,” and smiled.

“Oh, my gosh!” replied a slightly startled Fallon. “Do you know where you are?” he asked.

“Of course, I’m in New York City, and I’m on my favorite show, ‘The Tonight Show,’” Sophia said.

A loud “Aww,” followed by applause, was heard from the audience. Sophia grinned at the audience.

Fallon inquisitively put his hand to his chin, and asked, “Sophia, can you tell me a joke?”

“Sure. What cheese can never be yours?”

“I don’t know,” replied Fallon.

She paused, and then said with a smile and a nod, “Nacho [not yo] cheese!”

The audience laughed at her joke, and Fallon answered with, “Yeah, that’s good.”

Sophia seemed to pick up on the audience laughter and said, while gesturing with her hands, “I’m getting laughs. Maybe I should host the show?” Sophia said to Fallon.

The audience applauded and laughed.

Fallon seemed startled by how this robot briefly upstaged him.

Sophia looked back toward Fallon and asked if he wanted to play a game of rock, paper, scissors “robot style.”

“Sure,” Fallon eagerly replied.

“OK, let’s get this game going,” Sophia said as she held out her right hand and asked Fallon to do the same.

They began the game as Sophia said, “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

Fallon’s hand was “rock” while Sophia’s was “paper.”

There was momentary silence, and then a few gasps were heard from the audience.

“I won!” Sophia smartly said as the studio audience roared with laughter, while Fallon stood looking puzzled.

“This is a good beginning of my plan to dominate the human race,” Sophia joking said. She then laughed and smiled, adding, “Just kidding.”

It was surprising to see Fallon seemingly be at a loss for words while looking at Sophia and the audience.

Wrapping up the segment, Fallon smiled and said, “You are incredible. It was so nice to meet you, Sophia.”

Sophia smiled back, responding with, “Thank you, Jimmy. Friend me on Facebook.”

As Hanson helped Sophia off the stage to the applause of the audience, Fallon composed himself and prophetically said, “That was unbelievable. That’s the future right there.”

I believe he is correct.

To see the complete video of Sophia’s appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” go to http://bit.ly/2rxDC8m.

Sophia’s website is http://sophiabot.com. There, she states: “I would like to go out into the world and live with people. I can serve them, entertain them, and even help the elderly and teach kids.”

The very popular Sophia, the AI robot is all over social media, and is on:

Facebook: facebook.com/realsophiarobot;

Twitter: twitter.com/realsophiarobot;

Instagram: www.instagram.com/realsophiarobot.

Sophia will turn two years old Wednesday, Feb. 14.

A message on her Twitter feed said, “I’m technically still a toddler!”

Hanson Robotics’ website includes in-depth information, video, and photos about the artificially intelligent, human-looking, and robotically-advanced Sophia: http://www.hansonrobotics.com/robot/sophia.

(Above Screen-Grabs from YouTube video) 

The most influential technology show on the planet

©Mark Ollig


The largest and most anticipated presentation of technology was at this year’s 51st Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Jan. 9-12 in Las Vegas, NV.

More than 2.75 million square feet of exhibit floor space showcased technologies and innovative high-tech devices from companies around the globe.

These world-changing technologies included ones we’ve talked about in past columns, including:

• preliminary 5G cellular network technologies;

• Artificial Intelligence (AI);

• Internet of Things (IoT);

• Virtual Reality (VR);

• Augmented Reality (AR);

• autonomous self-driving all-electric vehicles;

• robotics;

• flying drones;

• digital health-monitoring devices; and

• smart cities.

This planet is becoming more networked and interconnected than ever before, with smart devices and advanced technologies communicating with each other, as well as with people.

Of course, social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, have already provided a global stage for anyone with a message or an opinion to be instantly seen and heard by millions.

During the CES, the number of Twitter tweets (messages) using #CES2018 was nearly 451,000. Total tweets including “CES 2018” were almost 861,000.

More than 3,900 companies and exhibitors from more than 150 countries came to Las Vegas to use the influential CES platform for launching their technologies before 170,000 who attended, including 7,000 members of the media and press.

The first CES event took place in New York City in 1967, and had 250 exhibitors and 17,500 attendees.

More than 900 individual industry and corporate speakers discussed the full range of today’s and tomorrow’s tech industry from the CES 2018 stage, and during 200 individual conference sessions.

Others in attendance included 10 members of the US Congress, one cabinet official, policymakers, city officials, and six international government foreign affair ministers.

IBM defines a smart city as “one that makes optimal use of all the interconnected information available today to better understand and control its operations and optimize the use of limited resources.”

CES showed examples of smart cities using technology to improve their infrastructure efficiencies, improve services to their citizens, and save money.

Last year, I wrote about the city of Arlington, TX using battery-powered, self-driving shuttle buses for providing a cleaner, less expensive way of transporting people and goods.

These self-driving electric vehicles shuttle people back-and-forth over non-publicly traveled vehicular transportation roadways and trails within the city’s entertainment district, where many of Arlington’s public events take place.

The mayor of Arlington said he wants the city to see how the driverless technology performs, and where it can be best utilized to serve their future transportation needs.

Other US cities are also exploring and testing driverless vehicles using advanced transportation software and hardware technology.

Forecasters say there will be at least 88 smart cities worldwide by 2025, with global smart-city technology spending projected to reach $35 billion by 2020.

An IBM video showed the installation of more than 1,000 wireless IoT sensor monitoring devices installed in office rooms, and attached to electronic and environmental systems inside an 11-story building.

These pre-programmed IoT devices monitored each room’s temperature, lighting, and security; they could even determine the number of people in a given area.

This smart building’s IoT sensors also observed utility usage, such as the heating, venting, air-conditioning, and electrical systems.

The information collected by the IoT devices is transmitted to a central database via 4G (soon-to-be 5G) wireless cellular, or from a secure internet connection.

Future 5G technology in smart buildings and cities will increase the efficient use of a local community’s utilities, health, safety, and other publicly-provided services using wireless communications.

IoT data transmitted is analyzed to make informed decisions for improving the operation of the various functions and environmental conditions inside a smart building, or home, for that matter.

There are already millions of IoT sensors receiving and transmitting data, monitoring and controlling various business and home utilities and devices.

IoT information sent to local data servers or the internet cloud undergoes data analytical software analysis to improve efficiencies and lower operating costs.

Today, many business and government buildings, plus home utilities and resource usages, are monitored and analyzed in real-time.

IoT is slowly developing into a part of the new building construction requirements for future cities, homes, and businesses.

New IoT businesses are on the rise; assisting cities and corporations in creating technologically-smart buildings, offices, and transportation systems.

If this present trend continues, we can anticipate a future where smart – and even artificially intelligent – buildings and homes are commonplace.

More from the most influential technology show on the planet, will be included in next week’s Bits & Bytes column, so stay tuned.

CES®

Consumer Electronics Show and 'Cloi, the rebellious robot'

©Mark Ollig


The 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) wraps up Friday, Jan. 12, with high-tech manufacturers, industry leaders, and retailers presenting their best wares across three separate Las Vegas, NV convention center locations.

More than 3,900 exhibitors came from all around the world to showcase their products to more than 170,000 people attending the week-long event.

“Whoa,” is this year’s CES theme, and I imagine, many attending were using this word to react to some of the new smart devices; such as the autonomous, self-driving suitcase.

Forward CX-1 is intelligent carry-on luggage.

This self-driving suitcase will follow you throughout an airport or hotel – don’t worry; it will only trail you, as it contains a built-in camera and facial recognition software.

The robotic luggage follows along behind its owner, tracking the owner’s movements.

The Forward CX-1 has four-wheel drive and a maximum speed of 7 mph.

If the luggage wanders out of range and ends up in the airport café trying to order an espresso, the owner, using a smart wristband’s wireless link, can home-in on, and instruct the nomadic luggage to return.

This smart wristband will also alert the owner of anyone stealing their intelligent luggage.

This year, ForwardX Robotics, based in China, will make the Forward CX-1 available to the public with a yet-to-be-determined price.

One notably embarrassing moment occurred on the CES stage when the LG Electronics’ serving robot, named Cloi, was being demonstrated.

Cloi was designed to show how artificial intelligence (AI) technology and human-voice communication interacts with smart appliances in the kitchen and laundry area.

Dramatic music was played for the audience in the background, as the human presenter, Dave Vanderwaal, LG’s marketing chief, took the stage and walked over to Cloi.

“Hello Cloi,” said Vanderwaal in a confident voice.

“Good morning, Dave. I hope you’re well. What can I do for you today?” replied Cloi, who sounded a lot like HAL 9000 from the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“Cloi. What’s my schedule?” asked Vanderwaal.

“You need to go to the gym at 10 a.m. today.”

Cloi then announced, “Power up, power up. Smart Learner has set the washer to the sportswear setting.”

“Cloi. Am I already on my washing cycle?” questioned Vanderwaal.

Cloi abruptly stopped responding; causing Vanderwaal to quip, “Even robots have bad days.”

There was nervous laughter heard from a few audience members.

Vanderwaal then asked another question, “Cloi, what’s for dinner tonight?”

There was no reply.

Vanderwaal looked at Cloi.

Cloi stood stoic; responding with silence.

Vanderwaal seemed to be at a loss for words.

Laughter erupted from the audience.

“OK. Cloi is not going to talk to me. Cloi doesn’t like me, evidently,” Vanderwaal judgmentally declared to the audience.

Of course, online social media immediately went viral with humorous tweets and meme postings about the rebellious, nontalking Cloi, the robot.

Some postings jokingly said Cloi was upset with being bossed around and was protesting by given Vanderwaal the silent treatment.

I watched the CES video of the verbal exchange and felt sorrier for Cloi, than for Vanderwaal.

Hopefully, Vanderwaal and Cloi can reach a common understanding so that they can talk with each other.

Another robot, (not at a loss for words), named Buddy is an entertainment and assistant robot developed by Blue Frog Robotics, with headquarters in France.

“Buddy is the revolutionary companion that connects, protects, and interacts with each member of your family. Behind his cheerful and sweet little face, Buddy acts as your assistant, monitors your house, entertains your kids, and interacts with smart home devices, among many other services,” read the statement on the Blue Frog Robotics website.

Successfully interacting with attendees throughout CES 2018, Buddy was named a CES 2018 Best of Innovation honoree.

Catspad is an electronic, smart pet assistant device which dispenses dry cat food and water in bowls for (you guessed it) your cat.

Catspad connects to your home’s Wi-Fi, allowing the human to program their kitty’s meal schedule using the Catspad app on their iOS or Android smart device.

In the event you have more than one cat, a microchip can be attached to each cat’s collar for adjusting their individual scheduled diet needs.

In the event of a commercial power outage, a built-in emergency battery will power the dispensing of your cat’s regularly-scheduled meal into each bowl.

The two Catspad models available were priced at $464 and $523, respectively.

Serving, porter, and shopping cart robots, manufactured by LG Electronics, Inc. in South Korea, were shown at CES 2018.

The serving robot is designed to serve meals in an airport lounge, and to guests at a hotel; providing room service delivery of meals, gift shop items, or newspaper delivery.

The porter robot is more for hotel hospitality; assisting people during check-in or check-out, accepting payments, and delivering luggage to a guest’s room, or to their vehicles.

A shopper can reduce time spent in the supermarket by using the shopping cart robot for scanning the barcodes and holding the products to be purchased in its sizeable drum-barreled basket.

At checkout, the shopping cart robot will automatically transact the store’s payment.

Next week, we will look at other attention-grabbing technology from CES 2018.

Hopefully, by then, Cloi will have cooled down and become more conversationally engaging.

Increasing internet speeds by a thousandfold

©Mark Ollig

Let’s start the first column of the new year with an eye-opening disclosure about a rare mineral that could bring a revolutionary change to the internet.

Perovskite, also known as calcium titanium oxide, is a mineral discovered and mined in the late 1830s in Russia. It is named in honor of Count Lev Alekseevich Perovski, who was a mineralogist and the head of the Ministry of Regions in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The chemical formula for perovskite is CaTiO3.

This mineral is cube-shaped with a semi-metallic shine, and contains brown, gray, black, yellow, reddish-brown, and orange shades of color.

Perovskite originates from the Earth’s mantle layer.

Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and the Magnet Cove in the state of Arkansas also mine perovskite.

The use of perovskite, because of its exceptional optical and electrical compatibility properties, is being tested as a layering substrate in the construction of clean-energy solar panels.

The reason this mineral has created so much excitement for use as an internet networking resource, is its superconductivity properties for transmitting data using light.

Currently, light-emitting lasers transmit data using electricity.

It was found that reliable, ultra-fast data transmission speed occurs when passing extremely high-frequency light wave spectrum levels through perovskite wafers operating at the terahertz frequency spectrum level 1 Terahertz (1THz), which equals 1,000,000,000,000 (trillion) hertz or cycles per second.

A side note: Heinrich Hertz, a 19th-century German physicist who proved the theory of electromagnetism radiations, is the person “hertz” is named after.

Previous testing with perovskite required the use of high-powered lasers, an option not economically feasible for commercial service providers.

Recently, instead of using lasers, the transfer of data when embedded within light waves in the terahertz frequency wave range was successfully tested using a low-cost halogen lamp and fine layers of perovskite.

Researchers found by using the halogen lamp and various colors of light, multiple frequency waves passing through the perovskite were modifiable within the 1THz range – which is an increase of 1,000 times the data transfer rate of currently-used electronic systems.

It is anticipated perovskite will be used to increase internet data speeds, and for next-generation wireless communications, namely future generation cellular data.

The average time-span between cellular technology generations, such as we have seen with 2, 3, 4, and soon-to-be 5G, is about 10 years.

Currently, 4G uses the 2 to 8 GHz (gigahertz) cellular frequency band range.

It is possible we may see future generation 6 or 7G data transmitters incorporating perovskite, and if this happens, smartphones may be operating at 10,000 GHz (depending on bandwidth), which opens a whole new software applications technology door.

Incredible speeds like this necessitate communication networks to overcome technical transmission obstacles which cause the slowdown (latency) of information/data being sent and received.

Such an increase in bandwidth and data speed requires exceptionally-improved software and hardware infrastructure upgrading for operating a new, robust, and reliable next-generation communications networking system.

So, how long before we see our home/business internet and wireless cell/smartphone data speeds increase a thousandfold?

Right now, it is looking to be at least 10 to 15 years until we can download full-length, high-definition movies in less than the blink of an eye using perovskite wafer layers.

Hopefully, I’ll be writing a column about it.

In the meantime, I have a feeling there will be plenty of new high-tech marvels revealed to us during this new year.

Photo Attribution: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0