Computing and Robotics - Year of Robots, Quantum
Computing
WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT
Quantum computing, robotics
and artificial intelligence will be the basis of twenty-first century
technology. This decade is about laying the foundations of all these
technologies, and 2015 was a very good year for researchers in these
fields.Applications of artificial intelligence and robotics are not just for
futuristic areas, but are now widespread in many products.Think of imaging
systems in airports. Or speech recognition.Or conversion of handwriting to
text. These technologies will mature over the decade because of fundamental
advances made in the last few years. So is the case with quantum computing.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IN 2016
We are likely to see
advances in artificial intelligence, but fundamental breakthroughs are hard to
predict. Robot workers are expected to penetrate manufacturing all over the
world, and especially in China, probably threatening an increasing number of
blue collar jobs. Robots will become more intelligent, as newer versions keep
acquiring the ability to learn on the job. Robots will learn from each other
too, with advances in the emerging field of swarm robotics. Quantum computing
will move ahead too, as they begin to tackle some real problems.Microsoft
Research, which has a major programme in quantum computing, expects this year to
make a breakthrough in topological qubit, a computer based on a hypothetical
particle not yet confirmed to exist. Meanwhile, conventional silicon computers
may have a few surprises left this year. The best world will be a combination
of the two. Will we see a silicon quantum computer?
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2015
Engineers made very good
robots. One walked 134 miles, and another had an exoskeleton that could be
controlled with the mind
On the way to developing
brain-like chips, IBM developed a chip that mimics the rat brain, and with as
many connections as in the rat brain
Quantum computing inched
closer with several advances, including one made with silicon-based material.
Many advances in artificial
intelligence.One major story was Google's system that can play video games
without instructions
ET5JAN16
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