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Weekly Tech Recap - № 166 - Lobe AI, Misty II robot, Oculus Go, iPhone sales, J-deite RIDE Transformer

May 4, 2018.

Deep learning made easy with Lobe

Lobe.

Learning to turn a hand sign into an emoji. © Lobe AI Inc.

Creating deep learning models is difficult and time-consuming. You’ll need the time to master many skills before you even start, and the learning curve for the techniques is quite steep. Some talented artificial intelligence engineers have recently unveiled the Lobe web application, which aims to ease access to deep learning for application developers.

Lobe is an intuitive visual tool that allows you to build personalized deep learning models, quickly train them and integrate them right into your application without writing any code. Start by dragging and dropping a folder with indexed visual or auditory examples from your desktop, and Lobe will get right down to work to automatically build a personalized deep learning model. The models can identify visuals and sounds, and can also create imagery or process large volumes of data, like a library of 3D models. You build and edit Lobe models through a web interface. There’s a cloud API that developers can use for completed and operational models. Lobe also exports to iOS CoreML and Android TensorFlow. You can sign up to test the beta version here. If you’ve got a minute, check out the stunning video below.

Lobe.ai.

 

The Misty II Robot

Misty II.

Misty II. © Misty Robotics.

Misty Robotics, an offshoot of Sphero, recently announced Misty II, the second generation of its programmable robot, which was first introduced at the CES last January. It’s a more refined version, targeted to a wider audience, but still heavy on the programming and the robotics. The robot is equipped with two Qualcomm Snapdragon processors and runs on Windows IoT Core and Android 7 operating systems. It’s got a microphone, a 4K camera whose feed can be streamed via Wi-Fi, a facial recognition system, two speakers and a sensor system to map out its surroundings and avoid nearby objects. You can load it with pre-programmed skills, or develop your own by using block visual programming or JavaScript APIs. Misty Robotics launched a 30-day crowd funding campaign, which gives the first 250 buyers a 50% discount on the Misty II. The final price tag will be $3,200 US. Misty Robotics has set a delivery date of December 4.

IEEE Spectrum, “Misty Robotics builds on developer platform with new personal robot.”

 

Oculus Go is here

Oculus Go.

Oculus Go. © Oculus VR.

On Tuesday, Facebook officially launched Oculus Go, the autonomous virtual reality headset that was first announced last October. Its $199 US price tag (for the 32 GB version) and its ease of use may well make it popular with the masses. You don’t need a high-end smart phone, like you do for the Samsung Gear VR, or a super powerful and expensive PC, like the Oculus Rift. You don’t even need any cables. You take it out of the box, turn it on, and step into virtual reality. It’s literally that easy. The Oculus Go features two 2 560 x 1 440 pixel LCD screens (a resolution of 538 dpi), 3 GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 821 processor. The graphics processor is the Adreno 530, integrated with the Snapdragon SoC. It all runs on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. Another important feature is its weight: the headset weighs 470g. The first tests reported on by the media are positive overall, and laud the image quality. You can buy the Oculus Go on www.oculus.com right now, and from Amazon and Best Buy in the near future.

Ars Technica, “Oculus Go review: The wireless-VR future begins today for only $199.”

 

iPhone sales levelling off

Apple Sales.

Moving average Apple product sales. © Anthony Nelzin-Santos, MacGeneration.

French website MacGeneration has developed a nifty graphic that plots iPhone, iPad and Mac sales from 2007 to today. It shows that sales of Apple phones from 2008 onwards exploded, but seem to have levelled off after 2016. Between 2017 and today, sales have stagnated, though at an astronomical level; still, there’s no more increase, as if the market has become saturated. For the iPad, the boom years were 2013-2015; since then it’s been a slow decline. What was unexpected was on the Mac side of things - sales have slowly been creeping up year over year. For Apple, the desktop end of the business seems to be quite stable. The journalist writes, “We also see that, since 2017, the three curves have levelled off. This means that Apple’s continued growth isn’t coming from these three products, but rather from accessories and services.”

MacGeneration, “Les ventes d'iPhone, iPad et de Mac depuis 2007 en un graphique.”

 

Hitch a ride on a real-life Transformer

J-deite RIDE.

J-deite RIDE. © Brave Robotics.

Have you ever dreamt about a real-life Transformer? If so, your dreams have come true. A team of three Japanese robotics and design firms has unveiled the J-deite RIDE, a car that transforms into humanoid form. It has been in development since 2014 and was designed by famous mechanical designer Kunio Okawara; it stands four metres tall when in human/robot form. The robot is slower than a real Transformer, though, and takes a full minute to transform from the standing to the car version, and vice versa. It moves with wheels or by walking, but don’t expect it to win any races…it tops out at 100 metres an hour walking speed. Perhaps the coolest feature of this creature: it can do its transformations with two people sitting inside! Although still in the prototype phase, its creators hope to sell this technology to theme parks in the future. All aboard!

J-deite RIDE.

J-deite RIDE. © Brave Robotics.

Science Alert, “Japanese engineers have built a working, real-life Transformer.”