Philosophers have been debating on consciousness for ages. It is such an easy but slippery concept. We know that we are conscious but clearly defining it and, even more difficult, placing boundaries around it is tricky. If one is daydreaming is he conscious? What if he is under the influence …
Read More »Tech for Autonomous Systems – Advanced Interaction Capabilities II
Sensors technologies – part 2 The direct or indirect use of living cells and their manipulating to acquire specific characteristics has led to the creation of sensors leveraging on living material like bacteria and algae. As an example blue-green algae are being used for sensing the presence of contaminant in …
Read More »Industry 4.0 – Symbiotic Autonomous Systems Part IV
Quite a bit of “shopping evolution” isn’t it? We have been moving from going to the manufacturer (the artisan) to request a product by providing our “specs” to having manufacturers betting onto what we would be willing to buy and filling shops with merchandise, to accessing unlimited choices provided by …
Read More »Industry 4.0 – Symbiotic Autonomous Systems Part II
On line shopping, of course, was made possible by the Internet, connecting any person in any part of the world to giant virtual shops that in turn, and seamlessly, connected the request to a variety of providers and through an ever more sophisticated value chain delivered the product to the …
Read More »Industry 4.0 – Symbiotic Autonomous Systems Part I
Another scenario of application of symbiotic autonomous systems, a much more complex case, the one of Industry 4.0 from a retailer point of view. Interacting with clients has always been a “fun-challenge” task and this is why several years ago I decided to open a shop selling appliances. I went …
Read More »Earthquake relief – Symbiotic Autonomous Systems Part III
Help is on the way and it will get there rapidly, first by drones, that will monitor the area autonomously coordinating the rescue grid and delivering first aid kit where they are needed. As expert help teams arrive on site symbiotic bugs get deployed. These are augmented cockroaches, first …
Read More »Earthquake relief – Symbiotic Autonomous Systems Part II
It is more than smartphones of course! Several other systems are autonomous, able to take local decision and behave accordingly. The gas distribution system auto-detects leaks and halt the flow of gas, similarly the water distribution system can proactively detect contamination and inject disinfectants in the water to keep it …
Read More »Earthquake relief – Symbiotic Autonomous Systems Part I
The quake was much, much stronger than the ones we have been used to live with. For as long as I remember trembles were part of life in this part of the world and that of course prompted the construction of buildings that can stand strong quakes and indeed it …
Read More »Augmented Humans as Symbiotic Autonomous Systems – Part 2
Actually, the virtual touch feature opened up, along with its possibility, a can of worms. How can you trust the sensation you get from touching a virtual cashmere wool shawl? Will it correspond to the real one you will get from the one delivering by the UPS drone? Is the …
Read More »Augmented Humans as Symbiotic Autonomous Systems – Part 1
Following yesterday post on Smart Cities as a collection of autonomous systems, in symbiosis with citizens, today I propose a scenario where citizens, humans, are augmented and in symbioses with technology extending their capabilities. I am looking forward to your comments. These will be taken into account in a Whitepaper …
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