Researchers at Columbia University are working to develop a polymer fingers and robot muscles in a drive to build a practical soft robot. But just what is a soft robot and how will it alter the way to interact with automation in the workplace and home. Plus WhatsApp co-founder says you should delete Facebook and a study published in JAMA indicates the Apple watch can detect abnormal heart rhythms with 97% accuracy.
Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang and Dr. Kiki Sanford.
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Show Notes
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About autonomous cars:
About the fatal accident a few days ago:
With the dashcam footage released (for instance, Dave Jones shows it and discusses it on his youtube channel eevblog) it becomes clear that the accident raises severe questions about the Uber testing program.
As seen from the car the pedestrian was walking from left to right. That, the pedestrian had already walked several lanes, and was very close to reaching the other side of the road. Presumably the pedestrian was walking very briskly, to make it to the other side as quickly as possible.
The footage made available by Dave Jones goes up to the instant when the car was no more than an meter or so from the pedestrian. By that instant the pedestrian was already further to the right than the midline of the car. Had the car swerved to the left a meter or so the pedestrian would not have been hit, it seems.
Several commentators have pointed out that there are no signs of the car reacting to the pedestrian. No swerving, nor the forward tilting that you would have seen if the car would have hit the brakes.
It seems to me this raises the suspicion that the car wasn’t using Lidar. Either the Lidar unit was switched off, or any input from the Lidar unit was not used.
The whole point of Lidar is that the detection capabilities of Lidar may compensate for the lack of human perceptual capabilities, so that overall the autonomous driving may be on par with the best human driving.
Yes. It looks like a sensor failed. We won’t know for sure until the investigation is finished.