The Innovation Report
The Robots Checking For Climate Collapse In Our Oceans
Scientists in Scotland are using robotic subsea gliders to check ocean currents for signs of climate collapse. They are monitoring the "conveyor belt" which carries warm and cool water between the Caribbean and the Arctic. Scientists fear a weakening of the system...
AI And Robots Join Forces To Build New Materials
An autonomous system that combines robotics with artificial intelligence (AI) to create entirely new materials has released its first trove of discoveries. The system, known as the A-Lab, devises recipes for materials, including some that might find uses in batteries...
New Technology Installed Beneath Detroit Street Can Charge EVs As They Drive
Crews have installed what's billed as the nation's first wireless-charging public roadway for electric vehicles beneath a street just west of downtown Detroit. Copper inductive charging coils allow vehicles equipped with receivers to charge up their batteries while...
Driverless Cars Immune From Traffic Tickets In California Under Current Laws
Mounting concerns over self-driving cars – headlined by allegations autonomous vehicle maker Cruise misled the DMV about an accident in San Francisco that left a pedestrian seriously injured – have some questioning whether the state needs new laws and new watchdogs to...
Pentagon’s Replicator Project Aims To Deploy Thousands Of AI-Enabled AVs By 2026
The Pentagon is embarking on an ambitious project, known as Replicator, with the goal of deploying thousands of AI-enabled autonomous vehicles by 2026, as it seeks to keep pace with China’s military advancements in artificial intelligence. This move represents a...
Governments Proposed Launching Over One Million Satellites
As the number of satellites in orbit increase, so will the possibilities of space debris. There are currently 8,000 satellites in orbit, but hundreds of thousands more are being proposed. If even 10 per cent of the filed-for satellites launch, low Earth...
Autonomous Cars Putting Strain On Local Governments
In an article for The New York Times, Yiwen Lu describes how driverless vehicles are creating headaches for city workers and officials and, in some cases, putting residents in danger. “In San Francisco and Austin, Texas, where passengers can hail...
Consumer Reports Pummels EV Reliability, Praises Hybrids
Electric vehicles may be the future, but in some ways they look a lot like the past. Particularly reliability. That’s the bottom line from Consumer Reports’ eagerly anticipated annual reliability survey, which sounds like an ‘80s tribute act: the top tier, brands...
Missouri Universities Win Grants To Help Agricultural Workers Harness New Technologies
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects a shortage of agricultural workers able to use new technologies and plans to help two Missouri universities better train them. Lincoln University in Jefferson City and Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla...
Senators Embrace AI On The Farm, Eye Provisions In Farm Bill
Artificial intelligence is already a workhorse in the technology that allows tractors to identify weeds and tailor herbicide spraying, determine when a crop is ready to harvest and weave together satellite and soil data to make efficient use of fertilizer. But Senate...
