Friday of the future: about an esports hotel with a virtual manager, about people-charging stations and about brewing coffee with a laser

Greetings! About what future has already come and how to touch it with your hands, this week she told

Samsung, about which we have published a material. And about what you can’t feel with your hands, well, or not everyone has such a privilege yet, in the new issue of “Friday of the Future”.

Table of Contents

• eSports hotel with virtual manager
• Chatbot Meta* laughs at Zuckerberg and doesn't trust Facebook*
• Cape Canaveral patrolled by robot dogs
• Wearable devices will be charged by people
• Cloning of complex technological systems
• US will not allow China to create GAA transistors
• The neural network will see the face under the mask
• Battery gigafactory in Kaliningrad
• Influit flow battery is more efficient and cheaper than lithium
• Brewing coffee with a laser

eSports hotel with virtual manager

If you have watched Altered Carbon,then you could not help but like the hotel manager, artificial intelligence in the form of Edgar Allan Poe. Of course, we will not have such systems as in the film in the foreseeable future, but already at the end of August, Tencent in China will open the first hotel with a virtual manager. It is located in the capital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou. The all-seeing electronic porter is called VEEGY, and of course, this is a girl dressed in what looks like Chinese traditional clothes. Well, or what is meant by such in computer games.

Image from PC Gamer website

The hotel is also aimed at loverseSports, and therefore it can only remotely be considered a classic place for sleeping and relaxing, where people come to just spend the night. The idea is that you will be offered something like an entertainment attraction, where everything will be as digitalized as possible, so that it looks like you are inside a computer game. An interesting offer for fans of eSports, virtual reality and those who simply prefer to have fun without leaving home.

Chatbot Meta* laughs at Zuckerberg and doesn't trust Facebook*

How will it work out for the Chinese with a virtualmanager, it will become clear after a while, but Facebook * with virtual assistants clearly something went wrong. The company introduced the latest BlenderBot 3 chat bot, available to everyone (with an American IP address and speaking English). The developers have put a lot of effort into it and claim that it can take into account up to 175 million parameters in its training. Well, it was with training that the problem arose.

Image from the EuroNews website

BlenderBot 3 communicates with real people by reactingon their behavior, and searches for information on the network to answer the questions asked. And not only on Facebook*. And here an unpleasant surprise was prepared for Mark Zuckerberg. Internet users do not really like him, and they do not trust social networks. As a result, BlenderBot 3 stated that Mr. Zuckerberg is a creepy and manipulative person, and information from Facebook* should not be trusted. And merge your data there too. In general, not a loyal proselyte employee, but some kind of enemy agent turned out. Of course, they won’t call him on the carpet and they won’t be fired from the company in disgrace, but Blender’s algorithms will obviously be tweaked, otherwise he will get from supporting Trump at such a pace to Vitaly Milonov’s speeches and start telling ordinary Americans about the dangers of LGBT + or something worse.

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Cape Canaveral patrolled by robot dogs

But at the base of the US Space Forces at the CapeCanaveral demonstrate progress in the development of robotics. "Dog-shaped four-legged unmanned ground vehicles," or Q-UGV Vision 60 models from Ghost Robotics, have been on duty to guard the perimeter of the main American spaceport since July 27. According to the unit of the US armed forces responsible for the security of this facility, the use of such robots will save a lot of man-hours in the business of "damage assessment and patrolling the area." The detailed characteristics of these robotic dogs are unknown, but it is reported that they can both operate offline and be controlled directly by the operator, while voice commands can be used instead of the remote control.

Image from Space.com

The Q-UGV models of the Vision 60 are equipped with manyoptical and acoustic sensors, the capabilities of which exceed those available to the human senses, so that in terms of vigilance they surpass humans. They do not get tired and do not depend on the weather (they can work even under water), in which they give odds to their biological four-legged relatives, and in addition, they can act as mobile communication nodes, ensuring the deployment of an information network. Previously, similar robotic dogs have been tested as security guards at other US military installations, but now it seems that they have found permanent use in the protection of the spaceport.

Wearable devices will be charged by people

One of the key and so far difficult to solve problemswearable electronics is the need to ensure its high autonomy. In a more than compact device with a very high computing load, it is required to integrate a power supply that would provide at least several days of full-fledged work. With all the success in miniaturizing lithium batteries and optimizing power consumption, this path does not look promising. But the ability to power from somewhere outside - very much so. With this in mind, researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle (USA) have created a flexible wearable thermoelectric device that converts body heat into electricity. With such a power source, the owner of a smart watch or a fitness bracelet becomes a source of energy for his gadget.

Image from website Discover24

The device is a multilayer3D composite with specified functional and structural properties. A key feature was the use of a liquid metal alloy filler material, which eliminated the problem of inability to stretch and inefficient heat transfer. To improve heat transfer, hollow microspheres were introduced into the device, which direct heat to the semiconductors in the core layer. The novelty was tested for 15 thousand stretches with 30% deformation. In the future, this means that the power source can be fixed not on the body, but, for example, on clothing, which significantly expands the possible scope.

Cloning of complex technological systems

Anyone who has ever encountered the needtransferring the operating system from one drive to another, knows that you can’t just take and duplicate the system. Now imagine that you need to completely copy the control system of a gas turbine power plant, gas transmission system or any other complex technological system that uses automated control. Now it looks like attracting several dozen specialists at once, who, having broken the task into its component parts, carry out duplication block by block. The process is slow and subject to the influence of the human factor. Here in the Perm Polytechnic University they suggested that people refuse to solve this problem.

Image from website naked Science

Instead, it is suggested to usethe EnergyDesc software package, in which the task of transfer is solved not by a person, but by a neural network. “The EnergyDesc complex differs from existing analogues in that all the possibilities for creating a digital copy of complex technological objects are achieved through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms based on neural network technologies, combining different stages of building a model into one software package and integrating with already purchased software,” they say developers. How much the program will be in demand depends on industrial enterprises.

US will not allow China to create GAA transistors

If EnergyDesc is created to simplify the processcopying complex systems, then the US Presidential Administration is working on the opposite task: blocking the supply to China of software that is required to develop next-generation transistors. We are talking about GAA chips, transistors with channels completely surrounded by a gate (Gate All Around, GAA). Previously, the United States has already banned the supply of lithographic equipment for EUV printing to China, which makes it difficult for China to switch to technologies of 7nm or less, while the benefits of GAA are revealed from 3nm. But the American administration suggested that Chinese developers could take advantage of a loophole - independently develop GAA electronics, and print their products at the facilities of Taiwanese factories, the same TSMC.

Image from Samsung website

The value of GAA technology is that with its helpit is possible to create neural networks of higher performance, which means that China can expect great success in the field of AI. However, at the moment, no Chinese company has announced any development or interest in GAA transistors. The only manufacturer that has really mastered GAA chipsets is Samsung, which has only recently started printing 3nm chips. The mentioned TSMC plans to master it along with the transition to the 2nm process technology, and the American Intel announces support for the technology in the future, with the transition to the Intel 20A and Intel 18A process technologies and RibbonFET technology. It is obvious that the US authorities decided to act proactively and rid the world of a dangerous competitor in the field of AI. However, most likely, such a restriction will only lead to the independent development in the PRC of a software package for creating GAA transistors.

The neural network will see the face under the mask

Meanwhile, neural networks have set a new bar inface recognition capabilities. If you have developed paranoia that any camera on the street not only sees your face, but also immediately recognizes it and connects it to a database of respectable citizens, and therefore it would be nice to wear a veil or at least a medical mask, then you will definitely not like the following news . The ultra-precise neural network, developed by a team of scientists from Hungary, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the USA, will still recognize you.

Reportedly in group testingphotographs of people of different sexes aged from 8 to 78 years, the neural network was able to identify a person with a probability of up to 99.95%, even if his face was hidden. If a medical mask or veil was used for concealment, the mood was determined with an accuracy of 80.9%, the neural network could tell if the person in the photo was smiling. Eyes were enough for analysis. The study has not been completed yet, now the algorithm is being tested on the ability to recognize people with hidden faces from photographs taken at different times with different lighting and at different angles. Given the previously reported success of neural networks in recognizing a person by their gait, even a motorcycle helmet with a dark visor will not help much if you want to remain unrecognized.

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Battery gigafactory in Kaliningrad

We are used to the fact that if there is news about"gigafactory", so it's about Tesla. However, the light did not converge on this manufacturer of electric vehicles, so the news about the construction of a battery gigafactory in Kaliningrad has nothing to do with it. As early as August 25, in the Kaliningrad region, Rosatom will launch the construction of its gigafactory for the production of lithium-ion batteries intended for electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems. The plant should produce its first products in 2025, and these will be the first domestic high-tech lithium-ion traction batteries.

Image from the website of IA "Profit"

At full production capacityKaliningrad gigafactory will be released in 2026, when it will start producing batteries with a total capacity of 3 GWh per year. By 2030, it is possible to increase production up to 10 GWh. Accordingly, this plant alone will be able to produce up to 50,000 electric vehicles per year from 2026 and more than 200,000 electric vehicles by 2030. It will be located on the site of the frozen Baltic NPP and will cost about 26 billion rubles. According to rumors, the production is based on the technologies of the South Korean company Enertech, 49% of whose shares were bought by Rosatom last year.

Influit flow battery is more efficient and cheaper than lithium

Usually when it comes to somefundamentally new batteries, we have to admit that they will not compete with current batteries. No, their characteristics are simply wonderful, they are better than those already produced in all respects, but ... They have no commercial prospects. Most often, everything rests on the fact that either the necessary materials are not produced in a volume sufficient for commercial production, or there is no economic benefit - the materials are expensive or the increase in capacity of a serial product is not so large that at least one manufacturer begins to rebuild its production lines. But start-up Influit Energy (created at the Illinois Institute of Technology) assures that their project of a rechargeable, non-flammable and quickly replenished flow battery has commercial prospects. In terms of energy density, the Influit battery is 23% superior to lithium batteries, and will be half the cost to manufacture. In the first generation, the promised density will be from 350 to 550 Wh/l, and in the second generation, up to 550–750 Wh/kg should be expected.

Image from website Illinois Tech

Conventional flow batteries have a lowenergy density, which makes them very bulky. Influit Energy used metal oxide particles in the form of a suspended substance in the electrolyte instead of a solution. The Brownian motion of these particles prevents them from precipitating, and their surface is treated in such a way as to prevent agglomeration and reduce the viscosity of the solution. However, this requires the creation of a whole complex: an electrolyte, fuel cells, a system of tanks and fuel control, and purification equipment for the production of liquids with nanoparticles. Implementation will require an additional sales and service system: special equipment for storing and selling fuel, systems for recharging used fuel and cleaning equipment. Although there is a plus: the battery can not only be replenished by replacing the tank, but also charged like a regular battery, and the fuel itself is not only non-combustible, but when cathode and anode liquids are mixed in the event of an accident, only their slight heating occurs. In addition, there are no rare earths or heavy metals in the system, so production promises to be inexpensive.

Brewing coffee with a laser

If you prefer Saturday coffee to cold andmore technological, then your desires can become a reality. At the University of Duisburg (Essen, Germany), researchers have successfully brewed cold coffee using a laser. The method is based on laser processing of colloidal solutions and allows solving the problem of slow brewing of cold coffee. For preparation, an yttrium-aluminum laser was used with beams with a wavelength of 532 nanometers, which pulses of 10 picoseconds with an energy of 125 picojoules 80 thousand times per second passed through an aqueous suspension of ground coffee for three minutes. In this case, the mixture was not heated, the laser simply did not have enough power.

Image from Nature website

The resulting drink was compared withcold coffee brewed with a classic 24-hour brew and hot coffee from a drip coffee maker. The acidity was the same as that of regular cold coffee, and lower than that of hot coffee, but the caffeine level was consistent with hot, not cold coffee. Otherwise, the composition turned out to be exactly the same as that of ordinary coffee, since there were no additional substances in the brewed mixture. As in the case of colleagues from Illinois, the developers plan to find practical applications for their method. Such a laser coffee maker could find demand in cafeterias and at events during the hot season.

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