Links for 2023-08-18
RoboAgent can acquire a wide diversity of non-trivial skills + generalize them to hundreds of unseen scenarios — all with an order of magnitude less data than prior works in this space.
Trained merely on 7500 trajectories, we are demonstrating a universal RoboAgent that can exhibit a diverse set of 12 non-trivial manipulation skills (beyond picking/pushing, including articulated object manipulation and object re-orientation) across 38 tasks and can generalize them to 100s of diverse unseen scenarios (involving unseen objects, unseen tasks, and to completely unseen kitchens). RoboAgent can also evolve its capabilities with new experiences.
Project page: https://robopen.github.io/
Learning to Identify Critical States for Reinforcement Learning from Videos https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.07795
Researchers at Meta have developed new photorealistic synthetic datasets using Unreal Engine that enable more controlled and robust evaluation and training of AI vision systems. https://pug.metademolab.com/
US Defense Department Assembles Generative AI Task Force https://www.nextplatform.com/2023/08/17/us-defense-department-assembles-generative-ai-task-force/
Using GPT-4 for content moderation https://openai.com/blog/using-gpt-4-for-content-moderation
Humans now slower and worse at solving CAPTCHAs than ML-powered bots. https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12108
Gartner Places Generative AI on the Peak of Inflated Expectations on the 2023 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-08-16-gartner-places-generative-ai-on-the-peak-of-inflated-expectations-on-the-2023-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies
Synthetic Antibiotic Could Be Effective Against Drug-Resistant Superbugs https://today.duke.edu/2023/08/synthetic-antibiotic-could-be-effective-against-drug-resistant-superbugs
“…my team at Google has started a new effort to build production-worthy engineering tools for Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE).” https://jeremykun.com/2023/08/10/mlir-getting-started/
“This is an elaboration of my submission for the letter detection prize as part of the Vesuvius Challenge in June. It gets technical and esoteric but the first few paragraphs are of general interest.” https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2023/08/05/reading-ancient-scrolls/
LK-99 isn’t a superconductor — how science sleuths solved the mystery https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02585-7
“Using individual policy preferences, we show that counties with more individuals holding populist attitudes today are associated with counties voting more populist in the 1890s.” https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4523224
New Downfall attacks on Intel CPUs steal encryption keys, data https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-downfall-attacks-on-intel-cpus-steal-encryption-keys-data/
Guam’s Airspace Set To Be Most Defended On Earth In New Plans https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/guams-airspace-set-to-be-most-defended-on-earth-in-new-plans
Taiwan’s NCSIST Chien Hsiang anti-radiation loitering munition. These indigenous anti-radiation loitering munitions are designed to take out enemy radars positioned at sea, on the coast, or inland. https://youtu.be/RMrejaSBuBM
Ukraine links:
Yet another Russian Ka-52 was shot down. https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1692118516843819267 (Close footage of the Russian Ka-52 downed outside of Robotyne yesterday: https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1692422168301236226 / Evacuation of the pilot: https://twitter.com/ian_matveev/status/1692455922465935369)
Moscow has again been attacked by drones tonight https://twitter.com/Euan_MacDonald/status/1692420210156827009
US approves sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/17/f-16-us-ukraine-denmark-netherlands-00111769
Inside the Russian effort to build 6,000 attack drones with Iran’s help https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/08/17/russia-iran-drone-shahed-alabuga/ [https://archive.is/qs5dr]
U.S. intelligence says Ukraine will fail to meet offensive’s key goal https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/17/ukraine-counteroffensive-melitopol/ [https://archive.is/JEcef]
‘“They’re still going to see, for the next couple of weeks, if there is a chance of making some progress. But … progress that would change the balance of this conflict, I think, it’s extremely, highly unlikely,” a senior western diplomat told CNN.’ https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/08/politics/ukraine-counteroffensive-us-briefings/index.html
“We wasted a lot of time in pointless debates. Thanks to his socialization in the KGB, Putin anticipates that western democracies will be weak and divided and will perish as a result of their own contradictions. And there is no signal from Washington and Berlin that would shake his faith. It takes a little more than just symbolism or the occasional "whatever it takes". Action would have to follow, and that is not happening.” https://www-tagesschau-de.translate.goog/ausland/europa/ukraine-offensive-russland-100.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
“Here is the U.S. Army procedure for breaching a minefield. It requires mine-clearing equipment, main battle tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and air strikes and helicopter gunships. The US gave everything needed to Ukraine except the airpower and attack helicopters.” https://twitter.com/randymot4/status/1692280472196333790