The information: A brand new robotic coaching mannequin, dubbed “KnowNo,” goals to show robots to ask for our assist when orders are unclear. On the identical time, it ensures they search clarification solely when mandatory, minimizing unnecessary back-and-forth. The outcome is a brilliant assistant that tries to ensure it understands what you need with out bothering you an excessive amount of.
Why it issues: Whereas robots will be highly effective in lots of particular eventualities, they’re usually dangerous at generalized duties that require widespread sense. That’s one thing massive language fashions might assist to repair, as a result of they’ve quite a lot of common sense data baked in. Learn the complete story.
—June Kim
Medical microrobots that journey contained in the physique are (nonetheless) on their method
The human physique is a labyrinth of vessels and tubing, filled with boundaries which are troublesome to interrupt by way of. That poses a severe hurdle for docs. Sickness is usually attributable to issues which are arduous to visualise and troublesome to entry. However think about if we might deploy armies of tiny robots into the physique to do the job for us. They may break up hard-to-reach clots, ship medication to even probably the most inaccessible tumors, and even assist information embryos towards implantation.
We’ve been listening to about using tiny robots in drugs for years, perhaps even many years. They usually’re nonetheless not right here. However specialists are adamant that medical microbots are lastly coming, and that they might be a sport changer for a variety of severe illnesses. Learn the complete story.
—Cassandra Willyard
