Loveable Just By Being There. Behind the Development of LOVOT, a Robot Designed to Make People Happy. | BRIDGINE A robot that is not exactly useful,but whose mere presence makes people happy. ─ I just got to hug a LOVOT. And was surprised at how the robot was slightly warm to the touch. Hayashi : Indeed it is. ─It actually responds to your touch, wherever you touch it. Hayashi : Its has over 50 sensors on its surface, so it will respond wherever you touch it. Tanaka : In addition, the robot will happily come and greet you when you come home late at night and will remember the faces of people who were affectionate or took care of them. ─So it is immediately apparent who most took care of them (laughs). Hayashi : Indeed it is. Mr.Hayashi, development manager of LOVOT and CEO of GROOVE X Fuse : The LOVOT was primarily developed to interact with people, but it can take photographs of visitors to send them to your smartphone when you are away, and can even send you updates of your home through a smartphone app. Hayashi : Up until now, robots have been used to work on behalf of humans. Tanaka : Right.
Les origines du Covid-19 - Infos coronavirus Publié le : 07/04/2020 - 00:04Modifié le : 07/04/2020 - 16:03 Aucun continent n’est aujourd’hui épargné par le Covid-19. Pourtant, l’épidémie a démarré il y a peu de temps. Le virus Covid-19 a été détecté en tant que tel sur le marché de Wuhan, en Chine, lieu à partir duquel il s’est répandu. « Ce qui est sûr, c’est qu’on trouve chez la chauve-souris un virus très proche à 96%, donc la chauve-souris peut être un réservoir de ce virus. Le pangolin serait donc l’hôte intermédiaire, mais on ne croise pas des pangolins à tous les coins de rue, même en Chine. Le pangolin est un animal en voie d’extinction, on ne devrait pas le croiser du tout en ville, mais c’est le mammifère le plus vendu illégalement dans le monde. De de façon surprenante, les contacts entre humains et animaux sont de plus en plus étroits. Mais dans cette épidémie, il y a un autre fait remarquable :sa rapidité d’expansion. Notre sélection sur le coronavirus SARS-CoV-2
Building brands in emerging markets As the rapid growth of emerging markets gives millions of consumers new spending power, those consumers are encountering a marketing environment every bit as complex and swiftly evolving as its counterpart in developed countries. Product choices and communication channels are exploding; so is the potential of digital platforms; and, as everywhere, consumer empowerment is on the rise. The impact of these changes has been so profound in developed markets that three years ago, our colleague David Court and his coauthors proposed a new approach for understanding consumer behavior. These four battlegrounds are initial consideration, when a consumer first decides to buy a product or service and thinks of a few brands; active evaluation, when the consumer researches potential purchases; closure, when the consumer selects a brand at the moment of purchase; and postpurchase, when the consumer experiences the product or service selected. Harnessing word of mouth through geographic focus
Prediction: Sex Robots Are The Most Disruptive Technology We Didn't See Coming Brick Dollbanger At first glance, Harmony looks a bit like a chatbot got trapped inside an anatomically correct, life-size Barbie. But on closer inspection, it’s hard to shake the feeling that sex robots have the potential to thoroughly disrupt how we interact with technology, as well as how we interact with each other–and whether some not-insignificant portion of the population will opt out of interacting with humans altogether. Robots have been taking our jobs outside of the home. They are on the verge of replacing humans as providers of many of our more personal needs, from domestic work to intimacy. The sex robot creator “I never set out with these specific goals in mind. McMullen began working with silicone prosthetics as a special effects artist in the later part of the last century. My background was special effects and animatronics so I was always interested in potentially animating the dolls. Artificial intelligence (AI) learning about the socially guarded side of humanity
Sylvain Tesson : “Les prophètes de l'après sont des plaisantins !” Voyageur insatiable, homme du mouvement, vous avez passé votre vie à courir autour du monde, à parcourir les grands espaces. Et pourtant, dans la Panthère des neiges, vous faites l’éloge de l’immobilité comme écrin de la patience. Qu’avez-vous découvert ? L’immobilité, le silence, le repli, ce que Montaigne dans ses Essais appelle l’art de « se ranger et se circonscrire » est une jouvence si on le vit de son plein gré. En cela, les parenthèses que j’ai vécues pendant des mois, des semaines ou des jours, dans une cabane russe, des grottes tibétaines, un pigeonnier grec, ou dans un hamac au sommet d’un chêne, n’ont strictement rien de commun avec la quarantaine que nous subissons collectivement, imposée par une épidémie. La quarantaine ouvre le débat de la liberté et de la contrainte plus que le débat de l’arrêt et du mouvement ! Qu’est-ce que la patience ? La patience, c’est la modestie. Jusqu’ici, je ne tenais pas en place.
Why Are Businesses Shifting Focus to Emerging Markets? | HuffPost In 2013, McKinsey & Company predicted that by 2025 almost 230 Fortune Global 500 companies would be based in cities in the emerging markets. Whilst I can’t yet comment on whether this prediction is likely to come true, it is interesting to look at how companies are shifting their focus to these developing countries. As the economies of underdeveloped countries evolve, businesses have reason to be extremely enthusiastic. Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that too often remain unheard. Geographically and socioeconomically, these countries can’t be ignored! As these countries open up to foreign investment, companies have access to new capital. And what’s really exciting is that by setting up in the emerging markets, instead of the United States or central Europe, companies can be the first of their kind to enter a country.
Will we ever have robot carers? - BBC Future Films like Robot and Frank and I, Robot, as well as animated television shows like The Jetsons, have portrayed a future where robotic servants undertake household chores, allowing families to spend more time together and for elderly people to remain independent for longer. A future of robotic carers is closer than we may realise. Robotic vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers are already available while there has been a massive uptake of assistive technologies for elder care in Japan. Middlesex University’s robot Pepper recently appeared before a parliamentary select committee in the UK to answers questions about the role of robots in education. Carer robots, on the other hand, are a relatively recent phenomenon. With people living longer there is a growing population of elderly people who will require assistance with their daily lives. You might also like: Current collaborative robots, or cobots as they are otherwise known, are made with rigid joints and links.
Bourdin Direct - La Chine ment-elle sur sa responsabilité? "Est-ce qu'on va avoir un Covid-20? un Covid-21?" The emerging-brand battle - Schumpeter THE past 20 years have seen a massive redistribution of economic power to the emerging world. But so far there has been no comparable redistribution of brand power. Fortune magazine’s 2012 list of the largest 500 companies by sales revenue included 73 Chinese firms, more than from any other country except the United States, with 132. Yet Interbrand’s 2012 list of the 100 “best global brands” included not one Chinese firm. However, in “Brand Breakout”, a new book, two academics, Nirmalya Kumar and Jan-Benedict Steenkamp, argue that developing-country firms are swiftly learning the art of branding. Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. The authors argue that emerging-market companies are advancing along eight paths to brand success. A second path is to focus on business customers first and then woo consumers. A third path is to follow diasporas. The final path to global brand greatness is to be a pampered national champion.
What we can learn about robots from Japan - BBC Future When some engineers moved from making functional, industrial robots to humanoid robots that interacted with people, Japan’s particular history likely coloured how they were perceived. In 1649, the military rulers of Japan prohibited using technology to develop new weapons, to prevent the rise of new rivals, according to research by Cosima Wagner, a researcher at Freie Universität in Berlin. So artisans focused on more innocuous creations, such as mechanical dolls that performed in puppet theaters or served real tea in real teacups. When Japan finally opened up to foreign contact over two centuries later, those skilled toy developers led the way in adapting Western technology for more practical uses. In 1875, for instance, the doll-maker Tanaka Hisashige started Tanaka Seisakusho (Tanaka Engineering Works), Japan’s first mechanical engineering company; 64 years later, after a major merger, it became known by the more familiar name Toshiba. ‘Uncanny valley’
Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh : "Il n'y a qu'à accepter humblement ce qui advient, car c'était écrit" Face à la pandémie de coronavirus, Le Temps du Débat avait prévu une série d’émissions spéciales « Coronavirus : une conversation mondiale » pour réfléchir aux enjeux de cette épidémie, en convoquant les savoirs et les créations des intellectuels, artistes et écrivains du monde entier. Cette série a dû prendre fin malheureusement après le premier épisode : « Qu'est-ce-que nous fait l'enfermement ? ». Aujourd'hui, l'anthropologue _Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh_, analyse la place de la religion et des récits millénaristes dans la compréhension de la crise sanitaire en cours. Plus peut-être que partout ailleurs, les catastrophes naturelles ont, de tout temps, au Sahara, exercé le rôle d'accélérateur à la fois métaphysique et politique. En l'absence de toute infrastructure médicale capable d'affronter avec quelque efficacité les effets annoncés de la pandémie, la prévention paraît en effet le seul moyen disponible pour tenter de limiter les ravages de l'hécatombe annoncée.
The healing effects of a White 'Seal' | CAMH CAMH has found an unlikely secret weapon in treating depression and dementia, and it comes in the form of a fluffy, white seal named Paro. The robotic seal bleats, stretches and cranes its neck in response to a client’s touch, and is proving as effective as pet therapy in treating clients in the geriatric mental health program. “We’re already finding that, for some difficult cases of depression, this could be a catalyst that helps people move on and get back to their healthy state,” says Dr. Paro is an advanced interactive robot that looks like a Canadian Harp seal. But this is no stuffed toy or plaything. Convinced that Paro would find a good home at CAMH, Dr. In the geriatric program, Paro is proving to have the benefits of pet therapy and a few advantages, too. “The evidence for PARO is accumulating. Seeing Paro in action is the real test, and Dr. Meeting Paro has helped. “Basically I thought it was a big joke. The transformation is wonderful to watch.
Osons Causer - Incendies à Tchernobyl, Amazon condamné, Trump menace l'OMS... News coronavirus du 15 avril Robots that teach autistic kids social skills could help them develop About 1 in every 160 children globally has autism spectrum disorder. In the US, the rate is nearly triple, likely due to diagnostic and reporting differences. The developmental disability is often characterized by social, emotional, and communication challenges. It is not something that can be cured, but early interventions, like speech and behavioral therapy, can improve a child’s development. But such human-based interventions can often be expensive or time intensive; many children on the spectrum are recommended to have 20 hours of therapy a week. Traditional one-size-fits-all technology interventions can also be difficult to design; symptoms and behavioral patterns vary widely among affected individuals. Fortunately, the advancement of socially-assistive robots in recent years has opened up a promising new way for autistic patients to get more affordable and personalized care. “Kids need to learn in a social setting,” says Matarić.