Jia Jia, the creepily life-like 'robot goddess'

Jia Jia, a humanoid robot

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

Jia Jia stood near the entrance of the exhibition hall that hosted this year's 2016 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin, in a major port city in North China.
She was dressed in a traditional Chinese outfit, hairstyle, complete with a classic hairpin, and immediately caught the attention of passers-by.  

The robot immediately caught the attention of passers-by from China and abroad. But what truly impressed was not only how lifelike she is, but also how smart she is. Her 'brain', which is essentially a huge online database, is connected to a cloud computing platform that allows her to enhance her ability to process emotions

Is this the world's most realistic droid?

This life-like cyborg is the brain child of Chen Xiaoping and his colleagues at the University of Science and Technology of China, who unveiled the technology today in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province.

Her 'brain', which 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. 

Jia Jia can hold conversations with those who ask her questions and respond in less than a second.

Reports said she is also able to make micro-expressions and recognise the facial expressions of others.

She is thought to be one of a kind in China, although in the past few years there have been other similar 'smart' bots made by engineers. 

According to reports, the Chinese are taking a great interest in robotic technologies, with China accounting for more than 25 per cent of global industrial robot sales in 2015 -  62,000 of 248,000 units sold worldwide last year.

The Summer Davos Forum was established in 2007 and alternates between the cities of Tianjin and Dalian - in north-eastern China's Liaoning Province. 

Developed by engineer Chen Xiaoping and his team from the University of Science and Technology of China, based in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province, Jia Jia stole the limelight with her incredible artificial intelligence. dailymail

The robot's lifelike features even extent to its hands, pictured. She is thought to be one of a kind in China, although there have been other similar 'smart' bots made by engineers in recent years

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

Hello everyone, I'm Jia Jia. Welcome!' the robot said as it greeted the audience at the university's multi-media center in May, reported Xinhuanet.

This group of researchers were also the masterminds behind the service robot 'Kejia' that took home first place at the RoboCup championship in 2014.

Kejia reached a historical mark 8,555 points by showing off its skills of neatly lining up drinks.

But Xiaoping's robot goddess doesn't seem like it will be used in any competitions.

'We hope to develop the robot so it has deep learning abilities. We will add facial expression recognition and make it interact more deeply with people,' Xiaoping explained.

He also revealed that Jia Jia was 'priceless' and the team would not consider mass production, yet.  

Hello everyone, I'm Jia Jia. Welcome!' the robot said as it greeted the audience at the university's multi-media center today, reports Xinhuanet. 'Don't come too close to me when you are taking a picture. It will make my face look fat,' Jia Jia said. dailymail.co.uk

New Beyond-Visual-Range HJ-10 Antitank Missile

An armored HJ-10 BVR anti-tank missile launch vehicle

Inside HJ-10 launch vehicle

HJ-10 top-attack ATGM launching



 
 
 

 

Current version HJ-9 anti-tank missile with a range of 5,000 meters beyond the range of the gun of enemy tank. HJ-9 missile is not for beyond visual range (BVR) attack.

In 2011, China completed its research and development of HJ-10 BVR antitank missile with range of 10 and 25 km.
The missile is for hitting enemy tank found by drone or satellite but as a tank moves quite fast, GPS information cannot guide an antitank missile in hitting a tank beyond visual range.
The optical sensor in the warhead of HJ-10 missile sends back the image of enemy tank back to its launch vehicle, where an operator guides the missile like a drone to hit the tank.

The launch system of the missile weighs 150 kg and is installed on an armored vehicle.
The missile is 185 cm long with a warhead of 43 kg. It is a powerful BVR weapon to hit enemy troops far away whether it has tanks or not.
China, in addition, is developing a warship version of HJ-10 so that its warship will be able to destroy an enemy tank on land 25 km away from it.




Portable Infrared-imaging-guided Antitank Missile HJ-12

Red Arrow 12 (HJ-12) antitank missile

Red Arrow 12 (HJ-12) top-attack launcher

As HJ-73 antitank missile is outdated due to exposure of the missile operator, China has developed its new third-generation portable antitank missile HJ-12 (Red Arrow-12).
It is a fire-and-forget missile with infrared imaging guidance, which makes it expensive.
Due to its soft launch system, it can be fired within buildings and bunkers and allows its operator time to hide after firing as the missile leaves its launcher at a slow speed to avoid generating too much smoke and flame and then gain speed with more smoke and flame to hit its target.
Though HJ-12 can pierce armor 1100 mm thick, but is designed to hit the top of its target, the vulnerable point of a tank. Therefore, it can destroy such advanced main battle tank as M1A2 and T90S though it is a light portable missile.
It can also be used to hit targets other than tanks and armored vehicles

Changzheng 7 carrier rocket successful launch use new fuel technologies

Changzheng 7 rocket. Image from nasaspaceflight.com

Changzheng 7 carrier rocket successful launch on June 25.
Spectators watch as a Long March 7 (CZ-7) rocket lifts off the launch pad in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan Province

Changzheng 7 uses gas and liquid oxygen as its fuel so that there is a blue tinge in its orange-colored flame.
The new fuel is free of toxin or environmental pollution. In addition, it provides 60% more thrust.
Changzheng 7 is of the same size as its predecessors, but its four boosters are 27 meters long, nearly twice as long as its predecessors’.

Moreover, it is heavier with a takeoff weight of 600 tons, in which 90% is fuel.
Therefore, with better fuel, more powerful boosters and other new technologies, Changzheng 7 is able to send 13.5 tons to near-earth orbit, much heavier than the 8.6 tons that its predecessors are able to send.

According to Hu Leimin, an engineer at its Wenchang launch site, Changzheng 7 is a brand new rocket that has used lots of new technologies.
Its control system alone uses 143 items of new artificial intelligence software.

The rocket is waterproof so that unlike all other rockets in service, it can be launched in rain.
Its liquid oxygen tank has a heat isolate layer 10 mm thick of extremely low weight to maintain its surface temperature above 0℃ in spite of the minus 183℃ low temperature of the liquid oxygen.

Go to Mars by 2020

China wants to reach Mars by 2020, according to the chief designer of lunar and Mars missions for the CNSA. The top official opened up about the agency's plans for planetary exploration and future collaboration.

Since launching its first manned mission in 2003, China has sent up an experimental space station, the Tiangong 1, staged a spacewalk and landed its Yutu rover on the moon.

Its second space station, the Tiangong 2, is due to be slung into space in September this year.

Space program authorities said the spaceship's landing on the vast Inner Mongolian steppe keeps China on schedule to place its second space station into orbit later this year. dailymail

 

Workers retrieve a re-entry module that was aboard a carrier rocket,  was recovered on Sunday

 

A woman walks with a child as they visit a park with replicas of foreign and domestic space vehicles displayed in Beijing. dailymail

Lunar lander and rover – Chang'e 3 and Yutu or 'Jade Rabbit' (pictured) – were made publicly available this year, providing some of the most detailed images of the lunar surface ever to have been released

Cozmo, a tiny palm-sized robot that just wants to be your friend

 Cozmo is a tiny robot equipped with a powerful brain and an ‘emotion engine,’ allowing it to create an evolving bond with its human companions. The $180 robot reacts to your emotions and remembers the faces it’s seen before

 
Cozmo develops bond with its owner - and its eyes light up when it sees them.
It looks like it could be the child of Pixar favourites Wall-E and Eve, but the tiny robot developed by Anki is real enough to hold in the palm of your hand


Cozmo refuses to sit tight and wait for fun. He's ready to play, and he's here to win. Cozmo is a game playing machine (literally). And the more you get to know each other, the better it gets as new activities and upgrades are unlocked. So whether he’s playing with his Power Cubes or challenging you with his favorite games of speed and skill, like Quick Tap, Memory Match, and Keepaway, he's always ready for action. 

Cozmo communicates through complex facial expressions and its own unique language. When put upon his charging dock, Cozmo goes to sleep, even snoring as he rests. dailymail

With Cozmo’s unique capabilities, the researchers aim to ‘bring the magic of robotic character to life,’ creating a real platform that captures the essence of the lovable robots that are largely exclusive to film

The palm-sized robot is made up of more than 300 parts, and the creators describe him as ‘charming, a bit mischievous, and unpredictable.’

And despite his small stature, Cozmo is extremely intelligent.

‘Powered by advanced robotics, AI, and computer vision, Cozmo has a brain that processes more data per second than all the Mars Rovers combined,’ according to Anki.

Cozmo scans his environment constantly, and when he sees a face he knows, his eyes will light up in recognition.

When put upon his charging dock, Cozmo goes to sleep, even snoring as he rests.

 

Cozmo doesn’t just move; he gets curious and explores. He doesn’t just learn; he plots and plans. He doesn’t just see you, he gets to know you. So call him self-aware, call him almost human. Just don’t call him a toy. He's a supercomputer on treads. And he's fun on a whole new level.

The robot engages with humans to play games and get to know you over time, and has a ‘dynamic soundtrack’ that changes depending on his mood or the current activity.

With Cozmo’s unique capabilities, the researchers aim to ‘bring the magic of robotic character to life,’ creating a real platform that captures the essence of the lovable robots that are largely exclusive to film.

Cozmo scans his environment constantly, and when he sees a face he knows, his eyes will light up in recognition. dailymail

‘We’ve had this promise in science-fiction of all the robots that could exist – in reality what we have are robots that have been used for industrial, military, space, and research applications,’ said Boris Sofman, CEO and Co-Founder of Anki in a behind the scenes video.

‘But very rarely have these technologies reached consumers. 

'There’s been very few applications where a robot really feels like a character that connects with humans around them. 

'For that you really need artificial intelligence and robotics – that’s been the missing key.’

The team combines PhD roboticists with animators, game developers, and even a lead designer of the Batmobile to create a real-life robotic personality that can form connections with humans.

He may be playful, but Cozmo’s emotions aren’t limited solely to expressions of happiness – if you mistreat him, the tiny robot just might sulk.

Cozmo works with iOS or Android, and can be pre-ordered today. According to Anki, the robot will ship in the US in October, in time for the holiday season. 

 

The world's cheapest smartphone finally set to begin shipping later this week

The world's cheapest smartphone costing just $4
 

Freedom 251, first unveiled in February this year.

The Freedom 251 device goes on sale on June 30 in an attempt to improve internet access for millions of people. The manufacturers were forced to refund over 30,000 orders after its website crashed earlier this year. dailymail.co.uk

The world's cheapest smartphone costing just $4 is finally set to begin shipping later this week in an attempt to connect poorer regions of India.

Aiming to make internet access affordable to millions of people across the country, the Freedom 251 device goes on sale on June 30 and will only be available to pre-registered users in India.

Despite briefly being available earlier this year, the manufacturers were forced to refund over 30,000 pre-orders and delay shipping after its website crashed.

Developed by Ringing Bells, a technology firm based in Noida, more than 200,000 devices will be sold during the first phase of delivery.

Customers who registered their interest in the device will pay on arrival of the product, with many certain to miss out.

The gadget comes with a four-inch screen, an 8MP rear camera and 3.2MP front-facing camera.

Users of the phone will have 8GB of storage and 1GB RAM available to them, while a 1.3GHz quad-core processor powers the device.

Running on Android Lollipop 5.1, the gadget available in either black or white, comes pre-installed with Facebook, YouTube, Google Play and WhatsApp. 

First unveiled in February, the firm's website crashed after seven million people registered their interest just hours after it was announced.

In a notice to its customers soon after the outage, the company said it was receiving 600,000 hits per second on its website. 

In comparison, Google manages only 40,000 search requests in the same time frame.

The firm was forced to withdraw the product from sale and refunded all of the customers who had paid for the device following scrutiny by government.

WORLD'S FIRST BENDABLE PHONE

The world's first bendable smartphone made using graphene, which was first developed in Britain, is set to go on sale.

Made by a company in China, the device's graphene-based screen is so flexible that it can be worn as a chunky bracelet.

The revolutionary material combines being both extremely thin – one atom - and strong – 200 times stronger than steel.

Graphene was first isolated in 2004 by two scientists at The University of Manchester, who were subsequently awarded the Nobel prize.

The phone has been created by a little-known start-up company in China called the Moxi Group, which is based in Chongqing.

It seems have stolen a march on much bigger rivals like Samsung of South Korea and Apple, who have been working on their own flexible handsets.

Moxi says it will ship 100,000 of the devices for the Chinese market this year at a price that is equivalent to £531 ($776).

Mohit Goel, CEO of Ringing Bells, told The Indian Express: 'We learned from our mistakes and decided to go silent until we come out with the product.

'Now we have a 4-inch, dual-SIM phone ready for delivery. I feel vindicated.

'Let us see what can we do to bring about a real liberation of Freedom to all our brothers and sisters.' 

Once the first phase of delivery is complete, registration will open again for those wishing to buy the handset. 

The company was only set-up last year, but have already been caught in a number of controversies surrounding the phone.

A patent infringement from Apple regarding some of the built-in app icons was filed, while fellow manufacturers Adcom claimed they used their devices but masked their logo out. 

The firm is hoping to squash claims from critics that it would be impossible to produce a phone so cheaply.

With the manufacturing cost of each phone claimed to be over £40, the firm is choosing to use innovative marketing techniques to showcase their device.

And they are hoping for a large volume of sales to help recover costs from production.

The Indian Cellular Association (ICA) previously said that a smartphone with specifications such as the Freedom 251 device has can not be manufactured for that price.

Although the company never discussed the economics behind their operation, analysts questioned the business model.

Tarun Pathak, an analyst at Counterpoint Technology Research, said: 'It looks like it's highly subsidized by the company and it's not clear how they plan to sustain this.'

The company is also planning to launch a 32-inch high-definition television next month - but not quite as cheap as their smartphones, with a device reportedly set to cost £110. 

India is Asia's fastest growing smartphone market with 103.6 million smartphones sold in 2015. Most Indians still buy cheap smartphones that cost less than £150. 

Other attempts at cheap engineering in India have not been very successful.

A laptop costing just £7.50 was announced by the Indian government in 2008, but ended up costing over £75 by the time it reached the market. dailymail

Lockheed Martin CH-53K “King Stallion” Helicopter

Royal Navy Merlin helicopter takes out row of portable toilets

The Definition of Air Dominance — As Told by a Former Fighter Pilot

Delivery of Y-20 Transporters Must Have Been Made: Expert

  Y20

Recently there has been report on the Internet that two Y-20 large transport aircrafts have been delivered to Chinese military. According to the report, a delivery ceremony was held in the afternoon of June 15 at a certain test flight center of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

Unlike Chinese navy, Chinese air force seldom makes public of its acquisition of new equipment; therefore, there has been no official news to confirm the report.

An anonymous military expert refuses to comment on the report but says it is time for the Y-20 project to have some outcome though there must be further improvement for Y-20 to use China’s homegrown engines and add small wings at the ends of its wings to reduce drag.
The expert says that the delivery will be a milestone of the establishment of China’s strategic air force.

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The Great Underwater Wall Of Robots

www.top81.cn

The Underwater Great Wall may be centered around stationary sensors on the ocean bed, but autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles will be a critical enabler in not just tracking enemy submarines, but finding them. Also note the large AUV's reflection on the display glass.

www.top81.cn

A Wide Range of UUVs

One area where unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) and unmanned surface vehicles (USV) would make a splash is in Chinese anti-submarine warfare (ASW) efforts.
The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), which builds virtually all PLAN warships, has proposed an "Underwater Great Wall" of sensors, positioned on the seabed floor, to listen for enemy submarines. (The US had a similar system on the Atlantic Ocean floor to listen for Soviet submarines.) Such underwater listening posts may already have been installed near the giant PLAN base at Sanya, Hainan Island in the South China Sea. On a more optimistic note, CSSC suggested that an Underwater Great Wall would be useful for warning against natural disasters like tsunami, and could be used to collect research data on marine life and geology.

www.top81.cn

System of Systems

Future Chinese anti-submarine warfare systems will rely on a wide arsenal of autonomous and surface unmanned vehicles, in addition to acoustic (and other types of) sensors installed on the ocean floor.

In addition to active and passive sensors located up to 3,000 meters underwater, the Underwater Great Wall will be supported by a wide range of USVs. Chinese researchers intend that these autonomous USVs will be able to work in conjunction with the seabed sensor picket line, and autonomously locate and track enemy submarines.

www.top81.cn

SARV

The Semi-Autonomous Robotic Vehicle can be launched from torpedo tubes and racks on submarines, surface ships, missiles and aircraft, which would extend the situational awareness of Chinese submarines, while reducing risk from hostile ASW forces.

For example, one USV is the torpedo shaped Semi-Autonomous Robotic Vehicle (SARV). It has ports on its front for sensor installation, and a dorsal (top) side detachable sensor pod (possibly passive sonar). It can be launched out of a submarine's torpedo tube, enabling it to act as a force multiplier for Chinese submarines, in addition to its underwater great wall duties.

www.top81.cn

Double Bodied UUV

This innovative double bodied unmanned underwater vehicle allows for more sensitive sensors (especially passive sonar to listen for other submarines) in the smaller upper body, and a lighter mass compared to a larger UUV with similar performance.

Another type of USV are dual bodied USVs. The main propulsion hull has another, smaller hull attached to its top, which can carry a wide range of sensitive ASW equipment (the smaller hull can even come with its own sensor pods). Additionally, there are more conventional underwater gliders which manipulate their buoyancy and wings in order to glide between seawater layers of different temperature and densities.

www.top81.cn

This large AUV, similar to the USN's LDUUV, is used for long term autonomous missions; its size allows for it to carry modular payloads of sensors, mine warfare and ASW.

The 5-10 ton Autonomous Robotic Vehicle (ARV), which is similar to USN's LDUUV in size and shape, is intended for long endurance missions and hauling larger payloads than your average torpedo-like UUV. The ARV can be deployed submarines and surface ships, and likely has a modular payload capacity for surveillance, intelligence collection, mine countermeasure and anti-submarine warfare missions.

www.top81.cn

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

To fully unlock the potential of UUVs, Chinese scientists will have to master autonomous intelligence for these underwater robots, not just individually but also to teach them to 'swarm', in working together with one another with little or no human oversight, as well as with other naval platforms. Other technologies would include new forms of underwater communication and datalink
 technologies, as well as precise navigation systems and multiple sensor payloads.




Inside Silicon Valley's secretive test track for self-driving car

World's fastest supercomputer - and says it doesn't use a single US component

A Chinese supercomputer has topped a list of the world's fastest computers for the seventh straight year — and for the first time the winner uses only Chinese-designed processors instead of U.S. technology. The Sunway TaihuLight, pictured, can run quadrillions of calculations per second, achieves 93 Pflops on the Linpack benchmark, and has a peak performance of 125 Pflops.

The Sunway TaihuLight achieves 93 Pflops on the Linpack benchmark, and has a peak performance of 125 Pflops. This is about five times that of Oak Ridge's Titan, which uses Cray, NVIDIA and Opteron technology. Associated Press

As the first No. 1 supercomputer system that is completely based on homegrown processors, without use of US technology. 

The Sunway TaihuLight system demonstrates the significant progress that China has made in the domain of designing and manufacturing large-scale computation systems.

It was developed by China's National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology using entirely Chinese-designed processors. 

The TaihuLight uses Chinese-developed ShenWei processors, 'ending any remaining speculation that China would have to rely on Western technology to compete effectively in the upper echelons of supercomputing,' TOP500 said in a statement.

  

Tech Report

Layout

The Taihu Light has three sections; a central network node to manage and coordinate operations in the 40,960 computing modules, which are located in the two computing banks.

The Taihu Light has 10,649,600 central processing units (CPU), to achieve a processing speed of 93 petaflops; that's 93 quadrillion calculations a second, or 2 million laptop computers. Built by the National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology, the Sunway Taihulgiht is operated at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, China.

electronicproducts.com

All Made in China

The Shenwei SW20610 has 260 of these 1.45Ghz CPUs, which are all completely designed and made in China.

The Sunway TaihuLight's 40,960 Shenwei SW26010 computing modules each contain 260 1.45Ghz CPU, which are all entirely designed and made in China. In contrast, the Tianhe 2 used Intel Xeon Phi cores for its processors (the ShenWei can thank a bit of its success to a US government ban on further Xeon core sales to China that was supposed to halt Chinese supercomputing).

CCTV News

Quadrillions a Second

The Sunway Taihu Light is already the world's most powerful computer, but is expected to be upgraded with a 33% increase in processing power to over 120 petaflops in several years.

Chinese Internet

Tianhe 2 Corridor

A look down one of the corridors in the giant room housing the Tianhe 2, which has a processing power of 33.86 petaflops (double that of its nearest competitor, the Oak Ridge Lab's Titan). But now it's been supplanted by the Sunway TaihuLight, which itself will be beaten in 2020, when China debuts the world's first exoscale (that's 1,000 quadrillion calculations per second) supercomputer in 2020.

Supercomputing is key part of the Chinese government;s plan shift to an innovation driven society. China hopes to finish an "exascale"1000 petaflop supercomputer in 2020, China already has the world's largest installed supercomputing capacity at 211 petaflops out of a global installed capacity of 566.7 petaflops. China also has 167 of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers, according to the globally recognized TOP500 list.
 

The Sunway TaihuLight, can run quadrillions of calculations per second, achieves 93 Pflops on the Linpack benchmark, and has a peak performance of 125 Pflops.

The second-fastest computer, the Tianhe-2 at the National Supercomputer Center in the southern city of Guangzhou, is capable of 33 petaflops. It uses chips made by Intel Corp.

 

This year's champion is the Sunway TaihuLight at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, west of Shanghai, according to TOP500.

The TaihuLight is due to be introduced Tuesday at the International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt by the director of the Wuxi center, Guangwen Yang.

Announcement marks a new milestone for Chinese supercomputer development and a further erosion of past U.S. dominance of the field. 

Besides the direct application of the technology, the innovations, experience, and engineering capabilities used to design and build supercomputers are likely to be applied to other areas of Chinese electronics, including in the consumer, industrial, scientific, and military sectors.

Its top speed is about five times that of Oak Ridge's Titan, which uses Cray, NVIDIA and Opteron technology.

 

Also this year, China displaced the United States for the first time as the country with the most supercomputers in the top 500. 

China had 167 systems and the United States had 165. 

Japan was a distant No. 3 with 29 systems. 

Among countries with the most computers on the top 500 list, Germany was in fourth place with 26 systems, France was next with 18, followed by Britain with 12.

Considering that just 10 years ago, China claimed a mere 28 systems on the list, with none ranked in the top 30, the nation has come further and faster than any other country in the history of supercomputing,' the TOP500 organizers said in a statement.

The TOP500 is compiled by Erich Strohmaier of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Martin Meuer of Prometeus GmbH, a German technology company. Another contributor, Hans Meuer of Germany's University of Mannheim, died in 2014. Associated Press