/ News
DARPA challenge contestant Google SCHAFT robot refuses military funding
Google is beginning to distance itself from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
This military developer played an integral part in the development of the internet decades ago. But now, one of the internet's largest companies wants to break off many ties with the federal group.
The problem started when the National Security Agency (NSA) and other spy agencies began conducting widespread electronic surveillance. Targets included ordinary people around the world, as well as world leaders. Among those who found their communications and data tapped were the big internet corporations, including Google.
Google announced they will not accept any more funding from the military developer, although they will keep their robot in the competition, which offers two million dollars in prizes.
SCHAFT, a Google entry at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), will be self-funded. This move allows two more teams to enter the contest. Team THOR will use the released funds for development of the Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot (THOR). The announcement was made by DARPA.
"The decision by Team SCHAFT to self-fund allows DARPA to expand the competition and further develop disaster response robots. This expansion is similar to what happened after DARPA held the Virtual Robotics Challenge in June 2013, when some teams shifted resources and allowed us to increase participation. I look forward to seeing the results of efforts by our new finalists and new team," Gill Pratt, DRC Program manager, said.
Team THOR will be dividing into two groups, working at separate Universities. They will split the money from Google moving to the self-funded category. Most research undertaken by Google takes place at the Google X Lab. Developments underway there include smart contact lenses that could allow people to connect their vision directly to smartphones, and a self-driving car.
The SCHAFT Team had already entered the DARPA challenge when they were acquired by Google in 2013. In trials last December, their entry placed in the top eight competitors, making the group eligible for one million dollars. Google turned down the money.
The search engine and technology giant has several ties with the defense research group. Google owns Boston Dynamics, which has contracts with DARPA. Most of those ties are expected to be severed, but it could take more than a year for terms to conclude.
Project Loon, under development by Google, could provide internet access to the entire world where there is no connection to the service. Ironically, Google may wind up bringing the work started by DARPA more than 40 years ago to billions of people.
Source: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/4713/20140324/darpa-challenge-google-schaft-robot-refuses-military-funding.htm
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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