I feel that this course provided us a great service in both educating us in emerging technologies as well as how to independently reeducate oneself at any time. The emerging technology was helpful in giving us the exposure to the current progress of advancements in this field. That is what will allow us to make intelligent decisions in what directions our careers should take. By understanding the direction of current innovations and the field, we [students] have a much better basis for making important career choices. What was particularly helpful here was the introduction into these topics followed up by presentations by actual practitioners working in the industry. This insight into the current, actual practices and precedents is imperative presently as well -- at this time in our lives we still have ample chances to return to school and continue our education. This class was excellent at exposing us to the specific disciplines that will become prevalent in our fields (CAEE) by the time we start our careers.
The second aspect of the course I mentioned -- the ability to reeducate oneself or essentially update your knowledge of the field -- will become invaluable at allowing us options as the industry changes. By continuing to update one's outlooks on the field, the ability to make informed career decisions will be preserved. All of the research we had individually completed is a strong lesson in where and how to look for professional technical information on emerging technologies. This is one of the most important aspects of the course as it begins to instill the idea of learning how to learn -- or acquiring skills necessary to teach oneself. It is extremely important we continue to learn after we leave school and as we progress in our careers. It is unlikely any of us can be effective engineers without this ability to reeducate ourselves when evolutions or advances occur in our fields.
I also feel that the different exercises with BIM (Revit) and databases also was extremely important for us as CAE engineers as this is how the industry will be developing in the next few years. For us to have a basic understanding before entering the workplace will help for future learning processes involving these types of work. Also by cultivating an early understanding we can better understand what our careers will involve in terms of work. These types of programs will be the standard for our industry and as such we will be spending a tremendous amount of time using them.
Comments:
Grigorios Papadourakis: I also felt that the BIM guest speakers contributed great insights into the current state of affairs in the industry. It also helped me to understand the importance BIM will have in future projects and because of that I will consider pursuing work that would further expose me to BIM.
Giovanna Pelisser: She mentioned how BIM is very helpful in catching building conflicts prior to construction. I think that this is one of BIM's greatest benefits as simple mistakes often compound into costly problems if they are not intercepted early on.
Ilana Ritvalsky: I agree with how she reiterated the challenge of viewing buildings as verbs and not nouns. I think this is an interesting point to make as our old concept of what buildings were has evolved to where buildings now have a centralized nervous system that has capabilities to measure many different conditions. Buildings are beginning to come to life and I feel that this is because nature has already designed optimal forms and we are starting to realize the benefits these forms can afford us.
Showing posts with label AI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AI. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
B1 - Group D Jiaao Wu
HVAC
HVAC, also known as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning is one of the most important factors for energy use after the building is constructed, which will account for 39% of the energy used in commercial buildings in the United States. Thus, energy saving in the HVAC systems would become a great criteria for an intelligent building. According to the Whole Building Design Code (WBDG), " the use of high performance HVAC equipment can result in considerable energy, emissions, and cost savings (10%-40%)." It is indeed a great amount of energy saving. There are actually four main design recommendations for high performance HVAC systems including: Consider all aspects of the building simultaneously; Decide on design goals as early as possible; Plan for future expansion instead of greatly oversizing the equipment. However, are high performance HVAC systems the only way or method to improve the efficiency of HVAC systems? This will lead to the next topic: sensors.Sensors
When people talking about sensors, the first thought will be acoustic, sound and vibration sensors. How could intelligent buildings take advantage of these sensors. In my opinion, sensor is a prerequisite to a smart building, since those sensors are just like humans' skins, hands, eyes and ears. The function of those sensors is to monitor and collect the data of the building. Nowadays, there are already a lot of sensors which have been used in a building such as thermostat, electric meter, smoke sensors, CO sensors, relative humidity and so on. However, there are still a lot of new types of sensors needed to make the building intelligent. All these new types can provide a more comprehensive data. And all these data will stored in database.Database
Most of the data in the database will be collected from the building sensors, as I have stated before. The database is like the foundation of the smart building. The analysis of the building condition depends on the data integrity which depends on the database. A database could help the developers to write a algorithm to control the building condition. And this will depend on the Artificial Intelligent (AI).AI
AI, also known as artificial intelligent, refers to a device which can "think". Nowadays, a lot of researches have been made to install artificial intelligent on robots. People want to make robots be able to think themselves, and serve people. These artificial intelligent can also be installed in smart buildings. Using the database I have mentioned above, artificial intelligent system can "understand" what is going on with the building. Is the building too cold or too hot? What is the occupancy of the building? Thus, does the building need more fresh air? All these functions help people to stay more comfortable in the building. From my perspective, this is how artificial intelligence could work in a smart building. It knows human beings' needs and automatically control the condition of the building as well as accomplish the purpose of energy savings,Future
All I have discussed above means the intelligent buildings in the future. First of all, the intelligent building needs various sensors to collect different data about the building. Then all the collected data will be stored in the building database. These database could be shared according to the different building types. And the database will analyzed by the artificial intelligent system to determine the building conditions and following actions will be taken automatically. This process can be used in different components of the building. HVAC could be a good example. In addition, water supplying, electric supplying and other components could take advantage of the intelligent process. This is the future of the intelligent buildings.Comment:
Comment to Yanzhao
I agree Yanzhao's comment that HVAC system is essential to an intelligent building. As I have stated in my post, a lot of energy could be saved if the HVAC system is improved. And after the building is constructed, HVAC system will account for the most cost.
Comment to Mark
I like Mark's way to describe sensors and database. He wrote an example that Nest Labs collected a database and the analyzed it to "learn" the temperature preference of any given time of day. This is exactly what I am thinking how would sensors and database work.
Comment to Jonathan
Jonathan used the example of Nest to talking about the relationship between HVAC, sensor, database, AI and future. I like his way of analysis. This gives me a feeling of more integrity, and gives me a better understanding of Nest and Revolv.
References:
High Performance HVAC
http://www.wbdg.org/resources/hvac.php
Building Sensors and Energy Monitoring Systems
https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/residential/pdfs/5_building_sensors_healy.pdf
A Multi-Sensor Office-building Database for Experimental Validation and Advanced Control Algorithm Development.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187705091400725X
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Week 2 - In Class Discussion - Robotics Effecting Construction - Group D
Area of the industry that's is most effected by AI and Automation Technology?
Although all aspects of the industry will be effected by the development of AI, we have decided that the physical construction aspect of building would be most effected. Once the cost of robots and their associated maintenance and risk is lower than the cost of manual labor, robots will rapidly replace your everyday construction worker. With the absence of workers, their benefits, and salaries, there will be more money to a) make for the owner, either lowering over all building costs or raising profit margins b) spend on design, pushing the limits of extravagant designs and without workers you no longer have to pay insurances and safety risks associated with humans.
Physical Aspects to be replaced first:
Anything that can be replaced by a computer program.
Concrete pouring (Foundation, piles)
Site prep (Excavation, grading)
Steel Erection? less likely Welding?
Areas Effected:
Soil Exploration & Research -
Design Data
Design Limitations decreased
Reduction in construction workers, laborers, work safety
Problems with AI:
Energy Usage
B1 post - Week 2 - Group E - Bradanini
Database:
A database can be defined as an organized collection
of data. Using an analogy between machines and humans, a database could be
considered for machines the same as memory is for humans. In the article by Tom
Simonite “2014
in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence”, it explained how research
is moving forward to develop systems, usually called database management
systems, that are able to search and analyse databases and to interact with the
users, coming closer into mimicking human intelligence. The main research
companies in the world are working hard to create these kind of software that
can learn from data. In buildings this could have a lot of different applications,
one of them could be home automation. It could allow buildings to understand
the surrounding environment and the user’s habits in order to provide for
example a comfortable indoor environment and climate optimizing the energy
consumption, without no need of settings by users.
Network:
A network is a collection
of terminal nodes, links and intermediate nodes, which are connected so as to
enable telecommunication between these terminals. There are different kind of
network such as data network, social network etc. For example internet is a
network, where computers, databases and users are connected together. In some
buildings, networks are already used to control several functions like
lighting, heating, security and many others. These home automation systems have
a central unit that is often connected to internet or to phones in order to let
the users to control them from distance. Other smart-home systems use several Bluetooth
devices to form a mesh network. This case is presented in the article “The
Zuli Smartplug shrinks geo-fencing to room-fencing, for precision control of
your home lighting system”. The California based company Zuli developed a smart
plug that uses low energy Bluetooth to form a mesh network. This is a
relatively new idea in smart-home systems, because most of them rely on a
central hub to manage home devices. As said in the article mesh network is
becoming more and more popular because each node in the network can relay
information to all other nodes within his range.
Sociology:
Technology
progress has a great impact on sociology and human behaviour. Last week, in
class, we discuss the problems due to the possibility of having robots building
houses instead of humans and how it can be critical in terms of unemployment. Obviously
the progress in technology must move forward together with progress in society
but it doesn’t seems to happen right now. Another issue that is important to
discuss is when robots have to make an ethical decision. This argument is
pretty well discussed in the article “Death by Robot”. In this article some hypothetic
situations are analysed in order to give example of conflicts where robot have
to choose if making something that can bring to the death of an human. In the
conclusion it is said that “experts tends to be optimistic about robots’
ethical prospects” and someday a robot’s behaviour will be indistinguishable
from a human’s or maybe even more morally consistent. I totally agree with this
opinion, but before we will reach this point, probably many unfortunate events caused
by robots can happen.
Future:
Nobody
can be sure of what technology progress will lead to in the next decades. I believe
that one of the most important topics that building designers have to deal with
is sustainability, therefore energy consumption and carbon footprint.
Technology progress could bring many advantages in this field. In the future, Smart
home automation will be able to optimize the energy consumption of the houses
near to zero better than humans can do, increasing as well the level of comfort
and safety. Having access to cloud databases, it could be able to improve the
building system simultaneously to technological breakthroughs. Maybe buildings
will be not static as they are now but able to upgrade themselves without any
human labour.
References:
Simonite,
Tom. “2014 in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence.” MIT
Technology Review, 29 Dec. 2014.
Marantz
Henig, Robin. “Death by Robot.” Page MM16, Sunday Magazine, 11 Jan. 2015
Brown, Michael. “The Zuli Smartplug
shrinks geo-fencing to room-fencing, for precision control of your home
lighting system.” techhive.com, 8 Oct. 2014
B1-Group A Week 2 Kaili Yue
As a
Civil Engineer, Intelligent Building is one of the
best fields in the future. When the machine replaced the laborer that is a revolution. Using
machine, making machine and manage machine will be a hot topic. AI, Computer, Software and future are very keywords of intelligent
building.
AI (Artificial intelligence) which is people built a program. Engineers
make intelligent machines. It is very close to understand human intelligence. Considering
some ways of Artificial Intelligent in the future, it might beyond human
intelligence because AI does not have biologically confined. There are many
games have AI mode, the level of AI is higher than some players.
Computer---- Since computer was invented, it participated many works for human.
Computer developed more intelligence and reliable. Human could make some mistakes
by some biologically reasons. In this way, computer is more reliable than
human. But computer will never replace human`s work. It is a good tool. Analyzing
data, calculation and the internet need a computer. There is no doubt computer
will more and more important in the future.
Software---- Intelligent Building has to using a lot of different software.
Software and computer are the most important tools for human. There are many
software been used for smart building. Such as “Building Q” which is a software
“strong customer savings through visibility and control of HVAC. Secured
investment from Siemens and Schneider Electric.” Good software will change the
world. I can not image if there is no Microsoft how I can write this article. Engineers
made the software which is easier for other people using.
Future---- After people invented elevator skyscraper becomes a possible. In ten years robots might replace human to built buildings. In twenty years, Intelligent Building will become normal. In thirty years, it is hard to say the technology will develop to which point. Saving energy, environmental protection, intelligent, convenience and efficiency are tendencies. Intelligent building is a revolution of human. As a civil engineer we should to know it and make it come true.
Reference:
B1 Group A - Zilong Xiao Week 2 Post
Future
In order to finish this task, I have read lots of blog posts
regarding futuristic vision based on the technology development human have so
far. I have read many of them describing the feasibility that the remote control
and database restoring personal interfaces in the near future. In reflect to
the intelligent building topic, this will be a very important technique. Imagine
people could control every household appliances away from home, warm-up time
for the AC to run the house at their designated temperature will no longer be a
pain. Likewise for a bathtub filled with hot water and a coffeemaker with
brewed coffee ready. Everything can be remotely accessed as long as they are
connected to power. In the post “Samsung at CES 2015: How enterprise fits it in
with Internet-of-Things”, Samsung CEO was targeting to equip the Samsung
products with ability to connected home, just like what people envisioned as
above. This “Internet-of-Things” trend will be a continuous interest due to its
convenience benefiting humans.
Computer
Computer is definitely the most useful tool and invention
that human ever created in my opinions. It started the era that human can hand
over heavy load of computation handling to high-efficient machines and shorten
the speed of the evolution that should have followed. The first idea of
computer came up by Alan Turing and he strived to create a machine that will
encrypt all codes from Nazis that people should have killed 24 hours to
translate. Ultimately, we are hoping that some machines would be able to take
over various heavy-duty work along with the development of technology and we
can enjoy the life more. The end result will be an artificial intelligence to
adapt itself to different tasks. This requires a very alike algorithm as human
brain or else it could not think and update its knowledge. However, Doctor Andrew
Ng are now making this happen. He discovered that there was one single
algorithm dominating human’s learning process as opposed to the belief that “human
intelligence was derived from thousands of simple agents working in concert”. This
would be a milestone since there could finally be one single system that
explains human brain activities and all scientists should do is to sort it out.
Software
With the blooming cloud techniques from various producers,
the shared devices and software are become realistic. Often time, we are confused
by re-setting up the interface when user switch to other device. However, with
the development in cloud technique, all of data that user has in his/her
personal device can be able to obtained when passively logging in other device
with biological authentication. In the post “Shared devices as the future –
Moveable interface”, the author envisioned the world with all shareable devices
that you can have “a system where you don’t buy physical
devices but instead subscribe to a service that provides access to interfaces
tailored to each environment, everywhere you go”. This provides a picture that people no longer
need to commit to one device for a long period (given the fact that nowadays
personal device are expensive too, i.e. Iphone), and people have access to
personal data without restriction to shortage of power and deadweight of
laptops. In a sentence to conclude, I love the convenience that it can bring
but we will then start to worry about personal privacy might leak regarding the
fact that sharing data are now accessible everywhere.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is a trend that will bring human so much of benefits. It
will calculate the most complex mathematic problem and solve for any logical problem
in seconds that will take humans up to years. It will serve as a most intelligent
servant for human that can literally replace humans’ role in making hard decision.
Can it rationally replace human’s role though? According to Stephen Hawking in
the post “Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind”, his
worry about AI would take over human’s work gradually due to human’s slow
biological evolution. However, my statement regarding this issue is not as
gloomy as Stephen Hawking. Given the inherent superior ability on computing, AI
lacks the emotion that comes along with humanity. This is the shortage yet
overcomes a lot of problems and creates miracles. Aside from the irreplaceable role
that human has, we should continue on educating ourselves and next generation
so ultimately we have the knowledge of creating machines and also know how to
control them.
References
Samsung
at CES 2015: How enterprise fits it in with Internet-of-Things
The Man behind the Google Brain: Andrew Ng and the Quest for
the New AI
Shared devices as the future – Moveable interface
Stephen Hawking warns
artificial intelligence could end mankind
B1 Group D Post
Topic: Future
HVAC
HVAC
(heating, ventilation and air condition) is the technology of indoor and
vehicular environmental comfort. Its main purposes is to help maintain good
indoor air quality.
According to
the study of Grenville K. Yuill and his colleagues, air leakage is generally
the most significant factor in small-building energy assumption, and this
problem will increase the cost of operation. Since buildings in the future
should be sustainable, the cost must be eliminated.
Personally
speaking, HVAC is very important to an intelligent building. Since the
structure are fixed, once the building is constructed, there are limited ways
to improve the building’s performance by changing the structure. Therefore, innovation of HVAC system is
more feasible to make the building more “intelligent”. By improving the system,
the interior environment could become better which will make people more comfortable.
On the other hand, more efficient HVAC systems helps decrease energy
consumption, and this will make the building more sustainable. Thus, future
study about HVAC system is essential to intelligent buildings.
Sensor
At presents,
sensors have been wildly applied in buildings. They are important tools for
collecting data from the building. After integrating the data from the sensors,
engineers are able to make better decision which could help increase efficiency
in future constructions.
In real applications, researchers analyzed the sensor-integrated nailing for building
construction. To complete the analysis, they conducted several tests on structures.
After integrating the experimental data, they summarized that this technology
can be applied to increase the productivity of construction.
In my
opinion, applying sensors in and after construction is essential. Sensors are
able to provide data which directly reflects building’s states, and this will
help engineer better analysis what they are doing. In this case, they can
always adjust their decision, so
their work will become more efficient. On the other hand, after the building are constructed,
the existing sensors in the building will continue provide data which reflects
buildings’ situation. In terms of that, architects and engineers can use the
data to improve their design for the future.
AI
AI,
artificial intelligence is “the science and engineering of making intelligent
machines”. (McCarthy, 1995) When talking about AI, people often think about
robots, driverless car and space ship. Also, because of Sci-Fi movies, many
people will think about the war between human and robots. For civil
engineering, current application of AI is more focusing on analysis. For
example, engineers are able to use AI techniques to generate construction
plans. As the development of AI techniques, it is now feasible for project
planning because AI is able to handle the uncertainty involved in the content
project plans. Also it can store and use knowledge which is important for
detail construction operations. Finally, after all the analytic works are
done, they are able to clear graphical results to users. Due to technological limitation,
there are few AI robots which can help complete construction. However, as time
goes by, human will definitely invent those robots.
A few days
ago, I read the article “Superintelligence” by Nick Bostrom. In his paper, he
mentioned the risk of AI. There is one sentence that really shocked me: “Superintelligence
would be the last invention biological man would ever need to make, since, by
definition, it would be much better at inventing than we are.” If what we
invent are more intelligent than us, then human beings will be taken controlled
by the “new species”. Therefore, like Elon Musk, the ECO of Tesla Motors said, we
need to be careful with AI.
Database
Database is extremely
important for construction. In the part of sensor, I illustrated how engineers
used sensors to evaluate the building. Data is the response from the applied
sensors. Without the data, engineer won’t be able to analyze anything. In
addition, by using database, researchers are able to adjust current
construction specifications. For example, some researchers collected data from
low-rise steel frame. Then they generated the model and started analyzing. After
all the works were done, they found that “inherent in the ASCE 7 Standard wind loads are inconsistencies with respect to risk that can be significantly
reduced by using database-assisted design procedures”. (Jang, 2002)
In my
opinion, using database in construction has become a common sense to engineers.
By applying that, they are able to analyze their work and adjust the decision
for the future.
Future
For the
future construction of intelligent building, I think it is important to apply
all the techniques above. HVAC system is one of the major part of a building, its
innovation will significantly increase the level of intelligence. Sensors have
been used in many high-tech buildings, they help both construction and maintenance,
and they also provides data for future needs. As the development of AI, we can
expect that robots help us build the entire building, since their works are
accurate and efficient. Finally, everything that is relevant to analysis must
rely on database. By using database, engineers are able to make better
decision.
Comment:
Comment to Mark
I agree that AI's placing humans in the work force will become a problem. Since AI are more efficient than human, it requires much less work force to complete the same task. Therefore more people will become unemployed.
Comment to Derek
I like the concept of machine learning. By mining the current data, machine might be able to analyze something that we could never discovery. By using what the machine have found, engineers are able to make better decision.
Comment to Jonathan
I agree that current technology highly relies on database. The subtopics that our group have been assigned are all relevant to database. By using database, HVAC system are able to perform better. Also, sensors are generating data and integrating it into database. Finally, AI needs database to make its own judgement.
Reference
Yuill, G.K., Rioux, J.A., and Flanders, S.N.. “Impact of Changes to
Building Airtightness on HVAC Costs.” ASCE
Library. <http://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%291076-0431%281997%293%3A4%28164%29> (Jan 13, 2015)
Miller. M.L. and Bernold, L.E.. “Sensor-Integrated Nailing for Building
Constrction.” ASCE Library. <http://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9364%281991%29117%3A2%28213%29> (Jan 13, 2015)
Levitt, R.E., Kartam, N.A., Kunz, J.C.. “Artificial Intelligence
Techniques for Generating Construction Project Plans.” ASCE Library. <http://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9364%281988%29114%3A3%28329%29>
(Jan 13, 2015)
Nick, B.. “Superinteligence.” Nick
Bostrom’s Home Page. <http://www.nickbostrom.com/views/superintelligence.pdf>
(Jan 13, 2015)
Jang, S., Lu, L., Sadek, F. and Simiu, E.. “Database-Assisted Wind Load
Capacity Estimates for Low-Rise Steel Frames.” ASCE Library. <http://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9445%282002%29128%3A12%281594%29>
(Jan 13, 2015)
B1 Group C Lewis
Robotics:
Robots that aid in the performance of day-to-day tasks have
always been a major goal of research, but until recently the costs of robots
made them prohibitively expensive to the general public. However the price of
robots keeps falling as they become easier to design and produce, and the
market has seen an increase in the amount of small robots for domestic use.
Some of these robots are still outside of the price range of the average
consumer—such as a robot that mows your lawn, for a price of $1,100 to $2,000—but
others are well worth the amount of money that the consumer would spend on it,
such as a robot which rocks a baby to sleep for $180. However, these robots
still do need a certain amount of human intervention to perform their tasks. As
Kevin Saldivar said, “The machines and
robots we have now are capable of completing the tasks that any human may
instruct it to do, but it may require constant attention and correction by the
human in control.”
As robots get smarter this issue may be resolved but for the time being in many
areas it is more efficient to have a human perform the task rather than develop
and program a robot to do it.
AI:
As robots become more intelligent and perform more and more
tasks, it comes to the point where robots will be required to make ethical
decisions on par with a human’s morality. A good example of this already in
prototype stage is a driverless car, which has to make decisions about driving
in which there is no good choice, such as preventing an accident. Scientists
are optimistic that robots will be able to have the morality required to make
these sorts of decisions.
3d Printing:
Last year the field of 3D printing has become more mainstream
as more and more items have been printed that previously would not have been
printed. For example, recently a dress was assembled using parts that were
designed in a computer and printed using a 3D printer. One of the biggest
challenges faced by the team was developing a 3D printed fabric that behaved
like fabric though its folds and flowing behavior.
Future:
These subjects are all important for uses beyond the almost
trivial uses that they are currently used for as explored in the articles. The
developments from these articles can be used on more important uses in the
future, once the issues are worked out and the cost of these technologies makes
them more accessible to the general public.
B1 - Future Post
AI:
In the first part of KQED
interview, the way artificial intelligence was being portrayed and explained
was as a way to help robots function in their environment. It was being used as a way to help robots
learn how to perform tasks that would help out humans with everyday tasks. This is an important part but I think that
the machine learning algorithms and programs that they describe in the second
part of the interview are probably the more important and exciting part of
artificial intelligence. Machine
learning is almost the same as how a human child learns. The computer is presented with many examples,
for example a giraffe in the video, and from the examples it learns how to recognize
that thing in a larger set of data, such as a giraffe in a picture. This interview also interviews an engineer
from IBM who talks about the importance of machine learning, which was critical
in IBM’s supercomputer Watson, who competed and won on Jeopardy against the
best human players in the world. The
real benefit of machine learning is the way that a computer can sift through
immense amounts of data looking for patterns that it can recognize and act on
that data much faster than any human would be able to.
Computer:
As important and
integral to modern life as computers are, it’s amazing how lax the security is
for many of them. According to the
report prepared by Fire Eye, a cyber-security consulting firm, 97% of the
companies which they monitored during the course of their testing had their
security software breached, and the typical organization was attacked by some
sort of threat more than once per week. Since
this study only covered organizations, who are supposed to have the best
security and professionals who help minimize their risk, what does that say
about the average consumer’s computer?
More importantly, as more and more legal and financial transactions are
brought online, how safe can anyone’s data be?
It is important to recognize that in order to protect ourselves, we need
to invest more in security to keep our data private, and keep strangers out of
our computers.
Sources: http://www.cnet.com/news/modern-security-tactics-fail-to-protect-against-malware-new-study-finds/
Software:
Going along with what I
talked about earlier in the computer section, some of the most dangerous
threats to computer security come from software run by APT (or advanced persistent
threat) actors. These organizations are
typically backed by a national government, and use some of the most advanced
software available to attempt to disrupt operations, steal data or destroy infrastructure. One of the best examples of this type of software
may be the Stuxnet malware, which reportedly destroyed 20% of Iran’s nuclear
centrifuges by infecting the computers controlling them. According to Ralph Langner, who first
discovered the malware, the malware most likely was developed with both United
States and Israeli backing, to halt Iran’s nuclear capability. Regardless of who was behind Stuxnet, the
reality is that in the 21st century it is possible for large
organizations and even nations to use malware to steal data and cripple critical
infrastructure, and it is very important that the defense of our computer
infrastructure be considered.
Future:
I think that in the
future, the combination of artificial intelligence’s knack for seeing patterns
and responding in an appropriate way will give us a huge advantage over malware
when it comes to defending our computers.
If a computer can use machine learning to learn the signs of specific
and commonly used types of malware, and how to respond to remove them, it would
be a huge advance in defending computers.
It may still be a ways into the future, but I do believe that AI could
successfully be used to detect and prevent malware much more successfully than
the current methods such as commercial anti-viruses.
Week 2, Group C Blog post - Jonathan Yu-sen Liu
AE 510 – Assignment 1
Blog Post
Group C
Topics discussed in class:
In Class, students discussed the meaning of
intelligent technology and how they are applied into modern infrastructure. A
video Professor Mitchell had shown to the class demonstrates humans who have
programmed quad copter drones to carry and place building blocks to form a
structure. Students in the class believed that this type of technology
represents one of the most modern and wide spread form of technological
intelligence that can be easily applied into architectural infrastructure.
Robotics:
[Shared Evernote Notes]
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/robotification-society-coming/
Response/Reflection:
The concept of "Robotification" has been in
effect for quite a while where machines are completing human tasks with higher
accuracy and efficiency. This article also adds the question "Are robots
going to take my job?". Although
the replacement of human labor with mechanical muscle, this makes lives easier
for humans and changes the economic industry. Baxter, a learning robot, is
programmed to learn from human actions and mimic them. In the video,
"Humans need not apply", the presenter shows the many different types
of modern technology that can one day easily replace human labor and job. Like
that of the horses back in the early 20th century, automobiles put the
horses out of commission without any fault from the horses since they just
could not be used. The video explains the importance of economics and how
effective it is when battling against the working population. Although workers and laborers may lose jobs and the ability to contribute a large portion to the development of the human world, I don't think that that will cause humans to die out. I believe that there will be more jobs available to humans after the roboticization of jobs. I also think that there will be some benefits that are not yet clear to us yet. There may be the possibility that we may become those robots or integrate robotics into humans physically.
AI:
What Artificial
Intelligence is not.
http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/13/what-artificial-intelligence-is-not/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
Response/Reflection:
This article addresses the many different
misconceptions or concerns that many popular ideas have come across. Some for
example include a "omnipresent war machine" destined to destroy human
advancement like HAL9000 and Skynet. This article illustrates a different
perspective towards the complexity and advancement of Artificial intelligence.
Although there are still a large amount of debate within the scientific
community, the concept that AI will wipe out human existence is certainly not
part of it. AI is defined within this article as a system capable of
accomplishing tasks that are otherwise preformed by humans with higher accuracy
and performance. I agree with the concept that AI may not be a threat to human existence. There are many concerns that the modern populous has but I don't think the we are at a point yet that we need to recognize robots as a living entity that will feel threatened by our existence. AI advancement may actually increase the benefit of humans with the use of higher efficiency.
3D Printing:
The Internet of
Anything: The 3-D Printer that can spin out custom electronics.
[Shared Evernote Notes]
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/internet-anything-3-d-printer-can-spit-quadcopter-parts/
Response/Reflection:
3D Electronics is the newest form of 3d Printing. Circuitry
in a physical from has been developed and has been integrated into mechanical
systems with the use of conductive ink. An example for this new form of
technology includes a 3D Printed quad copter with complete functions right
after printing was completed. This form of technology can advance into
something that will make design and production more efficient and advanced. I think that 3d printing is still in it's infant stage and that there it will require much more improvement to be able to have a large impact in the advancement of our world. Accomplishments such as printing a functioning heart or human organ is a enormous step towards technological advancement. I think 3D printing can help with specific and complex situations.
Future:
Google Tracker 2015:
Everything we know Google is working on for the new year.
[Shared Evernote Notes]
Response/Reflection:
This article lists the many goals that Google has in
store for the near future. From things such as home automation to improvements
to the self driving cars. Nest is Google's Home automation division, originally
a smart smoke detector, that has plans to expand to become even greater. Nest
plans to expand to become a smart thermostat that can control and adapt to
different situations such as alarms, automated temperature change based on when
the homeowner is asleep or away from home. One example the new Nest system is being able to detect when the home
owner is on his or her way home and preheat the house temperature accordingly
so that when the owner arrives, the temperature will be at the optimum comfort.
This long list of goals from Google is
another step into the future as a collection of many things that have a great
technological potential. I enjoyed this article because it showed the many different possiblities that technological advancement may occur. I think that this kind of advancement is amazing and it is wonderful to see what an individual or a team can accomplish.
Responses:
To Kevin Saldivar:
At first, I agree with you about your comment that 3D printing wouldn't be very effective in our modern world since the assembly line and cheap manufacturing is so easily accessible. But I recently came across an article about 3D printing circuits while printing an physical object at the same time. The integration of electronics into 3D printed objects seems much faster and prototypes can be easily made quickly and efficiently. 3D printing seems very arbitrary when mass production but when it comes to design and prototypes, 3d printing can allow for major or minor adjustments to specific and complicated designs. In this case, the electronics are essentially woven into the production of the object and can preform perfectly after production. This may be a key into smaller and smaller scaled product designs that might allow for more things like a more complex microchip or maybe 3D printed skin that can act as replacement for the skin (just an idea).
To Ami Amegan:
I think right now, we can see that there are many problems that can occur for human workers from the development of automated technology, but something that we don't see is what technology can benefit. I was watching a video about the future of robotization applied modern jobs and how it can actually save lives. One example is an automated doctor that will allow for a more accurate diagnosis of diseases and to prescribe the proper medication that doesn't interfere with other types of medication that may potentially pose as deadly. Yes I agree that it will make human lives more complicated, but it also makes our lives easier. I agree with Liang about the two sided argument and that this is another thing that we must adapt to. I don't think that the advancement of technology will stop or slow. Advancement of robotics is inevitable. It is something that we have learned to rely on. I don't think "Laziness" will increase within the human race, but will actually decrease as technology pose as a challenge for humans to become better than robots and will push us as a race to accomplish greater things and discovering more complex topics. Another thing I think will happen will be the harmonic advancement of humanity and technology together into something greater that we don't yet understand or see.
To Anthony Yau:
I don't think robots are perfect, but they are definitely on the track to becoming better than us. Robots are more efficient and require less resources then humans and would naturally be a better option in terms of accomplishing a task. Humans get tired and need extra resources like food and sleep that can jeopardize the quality of the product. I think this might be a good thing. Although we are replacing people from their jobs, it's more effective when people's lives are on the line.
To Kevin Saldivar:
At first, I agree with you about your comment that 3D printing wouldn't be very effective in our modern world since the assembly line and cheap manufacturing is so easily accessible. But I recently came across an article about 3D printing circuits while printing an physical object at the same time. The integration of electronics into 3D printed objects seems much faster and prototypes can be easily made quickly and efficiently. 3D printing seems very arbitrary when mass production but when it comes to design and prototypes, 3d printing can allow for major or minor adjustments to specific and complicated designs. In this case, the electronics are essentially woven into the production of the object and can preform perfectly after production. This may be a key into smaller and smaller scaled product designs that might allow for more things like a more complex microchip or maybe 3D printed skin that can act as replacement for the skin (just an idea).
To Ami Amegan:
I think right now, we can see that there are many problems that can occur for human workers from the development of automated technology, but something that we don't see is what technology can benefit. I was watching a video about the future of robotization applied modern jobs and how it can actually save lives. One example is an automated doctor that will allow for a more accurate diagnosis of diseases and to prescribe the proper medication that doesn't interfere with other types of medication that may potentially pose as deadly. Yes I agree that it will make human lives more complicated, but it also makes our lives easier. I agree with Liang about the two sided argument and that this is another thing that we must adapt to. I don't think that the advancement of technology will stop or slow. Advancement of robotics is inevitable. It is something that we have learned to rely on. I don't think "Laziness" will increase within the human race, but will actually decrease as technology pose as a challenge for humans to become better than robots and will push us as a race to accomplish greater things and discovering more complex topics. Another thing I think will happen will be the harmonic advancement of humanity and technology together into something greater that we don't yet understand or see.
To Anthony Yau:
I don't think robots are perfect, but they are definitely on the track to becoming better than us. Robots are more efficient and require less resources then humans and would naturally be a better option in terms of accomplishing a task. Humans get tired and need extra resources like food and sleep that can jeopardize the quality of the product. I think this might be a good thing. Although we are replacing people from their jobs, it's more effective when people's lives are on the line.
B-1 Blog Post Group D
As a member of Group D, I was asked to read and discuss articles pertaining
to HVAC, sensors, databases, artificial intelligence and “future.”
HVAC, Sensors and
Databases
As technology grows, buildings are getting smarter and more efficient
as a result. One of the most crucial factors to this growth is incorporation of
sensors to collect and analyze data. In
2011, Nest Labs released a thermostat that observes the users daily patterns
and "learns" their temperature preference of any given time of
day. Having an automated thermostat means
reduced heating and cooling bills, as well as a more comfortable environment
for you and your family.
Google, who purchased Nest Labs, also purchased the
smart home hub system Revolv. Revolv
connects all smart home products, such as lighting systems and door locks,
using several different antennas to ensure no incompatibilities between
communication softwares.
While all of these advances seem to only be beneficial,
there lie a few cons. As Jonathan
Plotkin mentioned in his post, the enormous amount of data collected from these
products could be used with malicious intent from being sold to companies for
marketing purposes. It is already
annoying browsing social media websites and getting bombarded with targeted
advertisements of things that I want but shouldn't buy.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is a subject that both fascinates
and scares people. Having a humanoid
protocol droid, such as C3PO, would be great given it was programed to have a
more tolerable personality. However, the
possibility of artificial intelligence reaching the wrong hands remains a very
large concern. There is also the concern
of artificial intelligence replacing humans in the work force.
Artificial intelligence experts attending the
Artificial General Intelligence conference were surveyed and asked to predict
the how long it will take for artificial intelligence to reach the level of super-human
intelligence. Many of the experts expect super-human level intelligence will
take several decades to reach, IF it
is reached at all. However, they do
expect that artificial intelligence will be able to pass the “Turing” test
within the near future. The Turing test,
developed by Alan Turing, tests a machines ability to display intelligence indistinguishable
to that of a human.
Future
As Dmitriy Voznyak stated in his post, the future of
the construction and engineering industries will be heavily impacted by
advancements in technology. Paul Jacobs,
CEO of Qualcomm, stated that engineering education needs to evolve from the dry
lectures based on notes recorded several years ago to something more accessible
such as online lectures and team projects to excite and motivate students. I believe that engineer education needs to be
modified to adapt to the evolving technologies because these changes will be in
effect during our time working in the field.
While it is important to know concepts from books, it is equally as
important to know how to apply these concepts in the field.
Resources:
Amadeo, Ron. (2014) "Google
Tracker 2015: Everything we know Google is working on for the new year." ARS Technica,
<http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/12/google-tracker-2015-everything-google-is-working-on-for-the-new-year/>
Goertzel, B., Baum, S., Goertzel, T. (2010) "How Long Till
Human-Level AI?” Humanity Plus, <http://hplusmagazine.com/2010/02/05/how-long-till-human-level-ai/>
Kanani, Rahim. (2013) "The Engineer of the Future." Forbes Magazine,
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2013/08/01/the-engineer-of-the-future/>
B1 - AI in the future
When someone thinks of AI (artificial intelligence), the first things that come to mind are doomsday si-fi movies or quotes from Stephen Hawking or Elon Musk telling humanity to be wary of this technology (which makes me wonder if they should stop watching si-fi movies). AI has been all the rage lately in Hollywood with movies such as Transcendence, where a man uploads his brain to a computer and becomes sort of a god, or multiple cop shows on basic television.
I guess what my point is, is that AI is a real thing that is being worked on by really smart people in companies and universities all over the world, and that it has real world benifits, but this stigma or fear of AI should not (and is not) get in the way of the implementation of these technologies.
AI has potential impact in the future of the building industry in many ways, however the one I would like to talk about is the idea of Machine Learning (ML). ML is a form of AI that does exactly what the name implies, it learns by itself. Essentially these ML programs are used to mine certain data, by learning what data is applicable and what data is useless from a particular source.
This type of AI has potential in the building and engineering industry because a mass amount of information on all aspects of the industry are in a lot of different places. Textbooks, academic journals, Internet websites, industrial magazines, etc. all have vital information in engineering technologies, however with all the information in so many different places, these studies and practices often don't translate into real world innovation. With the perfection of AI and ML, we will see a future where engineers, designers, and constructors will be able to share and discover information and change trends in the industry because a program has deciphered a trend or a more perfect design through data, rather than having the risk of the trial and error process of the building industry.
B1 - Week 2 Blog Post
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most controversial topics of our current time. The help of AI could help humans in so many ways. In the direction we are going, robots will eventually be able to do just about everything. The tough part is deciding where to draw the line. If robots do everything for us, then what will we do? Will they take all of our jobs? In Ami Amegan's blog post, I learned that jobs such as telemarketing, title examiners, shoe repairers, library technicians, and more have a 100% chance of being taken over by robots. This could put a lot of people out of jobs. In the back of our minds, we are also all scared that the sci fi movies will become true, and evil robots will eventually take over the world. Classmate Catherine Stevens made a great point when she said, "artificial intelligence, if balanced with human touch, is a great thing." I think that as long as AI is balanced with humans, it can help us greatly. At this point, we have absolutely nothing to worry about. As I have grown up, I have heard of so many exaggerated claims about artificial intelligence. An article in The New Yorker explains how AI has "died about four times in five decades because of the hype" and these wild exaggerations were made "often to impress potential investors or funding agencies." Of course we have made such great strides with artificial intelligence, like driverless cars, but we have a long way to go before worrying about taking it too far.
Computer & Software
As computers and software become more and more complicated and intelligent, the worry for hacking increases. Getting hacked can be a really scary thing. You can have so much of your personal information given to an unknown person and terrible things could happen such as credit card fraud. Some may think if you are in a public area, it isn't smart to connected to wifi because people can hack into your computer. New news shows that even if you don't connect to wifi, you may still be in trouble. Apparently, a hacker can see what you are doing just by "analyzing the low-power electronic signals your laptop emits even when it's not connected to the Internet." Research is currently being performed at the Georgia Institute of Technology to understand how these hackers are able to do what they do. With this information, they can help hardware and software designers develop ways to combat these security leaks. Hacking is something I know I am afraid of for our future and something I definitely will keep tabs on. Luckily, the research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
Future
For my topic, I decided to focus on the future of our natural resources. If we continue to use our resources at the rate we are now, we will run out. The BBC source I found provides a graphic of the estimated remaining world supplies of non-renewable resources. It shows the projected year each resource will run out if we continue using it at the current rate. According to the graphic, we will run out of gas by 2047 and copper by 2044. Architectural land will be gone by 2081 and coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 3000. It seems far away but these are time periods our children will most likely still be alive for. Our future looks very dull if we do not try to save our resources and use more renewable resources. There are many easy fixes, especially in the building industry, that can be done to decrease the use of non-renewable resources. This would be substantial due to the fact that buildings account for almost 40% of all the energy use in he U.S. This number is probably similar to many other countries.
In J Schwakoff's blog post, I learned about the future of smartphones and tablets. Apparently, they are expected to become obsolete in the not-too-distant future. This seems interesting but I am not sure if I believe it. Maybe in the beyond future but today they seem to dictate so much of our lives. What is crazy, though, is that things we wear have already become "smart" and started to take the place of phones and tablets. For example, google glasses can be worn and complete many of the tasks if not more than smartphones and tablets today. I am excited but nervous to see what the future holds for us all...
Gary Marcus. "Hyping Artificial Intelligence, Yet Again." The New Yorker. 31 December 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/hyping-artificial-intelligence-yet-again>
"Global resources stock check." BBC News. 30 August 2012.
<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120618-global-resources-stock-check>.
Georgia Institute of Technology. "Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 January 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150108083708.htm>.
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most controversial topics of our current time. The help of AI could help humans in so many ways. In the direction we are going, robots will eventually be able to do just about everything. The tough part is deciding where to draw the line. If robots do everything for us, then what will we do? Will they take all of our jobs? In Ami Amegan's blog post, I learned that jobs such as telemarketing, title examiners, shoe repairers, library technicians, and more have a 100% chance of being taken over by robots. This could put a lot of people out of jobs. In the back of our minds, we are also all scared that the sci fi movies will become true, and evil robots will eventually take over the world. Classmate Catherine Stevens made a great point when she said, "artificial intelligence, if balanced with human touch, is a great thing." I think that as long as AI is balanced with humans, it can help us greatly. At this point, we have absolutely nothing to worry about. As I have grown up, I have heard of so many exaggerated claims about artificial intelligence. An article in The New Yorker explains how AI has "died about four times in five decades because of the hype" and these wild exaggerations were made "often to impress potential investors or funding agencies." Of course we have made such great strides with artificial intelligence, like driverless cars, but we have a long way to go before worrying about taking it too far.
Computer & Software
As computers and software become more and more complicated and intelligent, the worry for hacking increases. Getting hacked can be a really scary thing. You can have so much of your personal information given to an unknown person and terrible things could happen such as credit card fraud. Some may think if you are in a public area, it isn't smart to connected to wifi because people can hack into your computer. New news shows that even if you don't connect to wifi, you may still be in trouble. Apparently, a hacker can see what you are doing just by "analyzing the low-power electronic signals your laptop emits even when it's not connected to the Internet." Research is currently being performed at the Georgia Institute of Technology to understand how these hackers are able to do what they do. With this information, they can help hardware and software designers develop ways to combat these security leaks. Hacking is something I know I am afraid of for our future and something I definitely will keep tabs on. Luckily, the research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
Future
For my topic, I decided to focus on the future of our natural resources. If we continue to use our resources at the rate we are now, we will run out. The BBC source I found provides a graphic of the estimated remaining world supplies of non-renewable resources. It shows the projected year each resource will run out if we continue using it at the current rate. According to the graphic, we will run out of gas by 2047 and copper by 2044. Architectural land will be gone by 2081 and coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 3000. It seems far away but these are time periods our children will most likely still be alive for. Our future looks very dull if we do not try to save our resources and use more renewable resources. There are many easy fixes, especially in the building industry, that can be done to decrease the use of non-renewable resources. This would be substantial due to the fact that buildings account for almost 40% of all the energy use in he U.S. This number is probably similar to many other countries.
In J Schwakoff's blog post, I learned about the future of smartphones and tablets. Apparently, they are expected to become obsolete in the not-too-distant future. This seems interesting but I am not sure if I believe it. Maybe in the beyond future but today they seem to dictate so much of our lives. What is crazy, though, is that things we wear have already become "smart" and started to take the place of phones and tablets. For example, google glasses can be worn and complete many of the tasks if not more than smartphones and tablets today. I am excited but nervous to see what the future holds for us all...
Gary Marcus. "Hyping Artificial Intelligence, Yet Again." The New Yorker. 31 December 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/hyping-artificial-intelligence-yet-again>
"Global resources stock check." BBC News. 30 August 2012.
<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120618-global-resources-stock-check>.
Georgia Institute of Technology. "Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 January 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150108083708.htm>.
Ami Amegan B1 - AI, Robotics, 3D Printing, Future - Group C
Robotics:
As I was reading through robotics related topics, I realized
that the world of intelligent building is more advanced than I expected it to be
coming into this course. The one interesting article that I came across was
revolutionary in home robotics. For instance, as of today, vacuums are machines
controlled by humans for cleaning purposes. But the projection into the future
reveals that vacuums will be so advanced that in case of low battery, the robot
will return to its usual charging place. It would be great to have chargeable
vacuums that prevent the dragging of wires from room to room.
Artificial
Intelligence:
With the constant improvement of technology, we as humans have
to realize that one day, many of our jobs will be ran by robots. In the article
“What Jobs Will the Robots take?”, the statics open eyes on how many jobs will
be computerized. Jobs such as telemarketing, title examiners, shoe repairers,
library technicians etc. have a 100% chance of being taken over by robots. Is
this really what we want?
3D Printing:
3D printing has advanced a lot from the past to now. What has
drawn me into the chosen article is the statement “One day a 3D printer,
using a mix of materials, will be able to create body armor for U.S. soldiers
that is more lightweight and stronger than anything could be made with
traditional manufacturing and materials today”. How many lives could be
saved this way? Many I would imagine. 3D printing is the future of everything,
whether it is in journalism, photography, teaching etc. But, at the moment, I
do not know how to relate this topic to intelligent building as an architectural
engineer.
Future:
Yes technology is great, makes a lot of things easier and one
day, whether we like it or not, more than half the things around us will be
computerized, using robots etc. I personally see a lot of disadvantages to this
upcoming futuristic measures. For instance, my group-mate Anthony Yau affirmed
that the purpose of all this is to increase human productivity by making
certain tasks easier. Yes, in some way but I would like to respectfully disagree.
What all this change will cause in the long run is laziness among humans. With
everything being so easy, there will be no motivation to try nor room for
improvements. Robots may one day replace construction workers, leading to less
work related incidents but if you take a step back and think, that only takes
away work from humans leading to more unemployment.
References:
“The Year in Robots, 10 Home Robots to Lighten Your Domestic Chores”
by Bob Tedeschi.
“What Jobs
Will the Robots Take?” by Derek Thompson.
“How 3D printing could revolutionize
manufacturing” by Sharon Gaudin.
Week2 B1 Group C - Kevin Saldivar
3-D printing:
3-D printing has been a growing area of interest over the past years with many advancements being made. The types of materials able to be used in the printing process has expanded and thus the level of technology being produced by these printers has also increased. Anthony Yau mentions in his post these machines can now print out small electronics, such as hearing aids, with custom sizes and dimensions. Even with the recent advancements, I do not see the uses of this technology expanding to affect the construction/building process overall. I do not think that it would be practical to have structural members or connections “printed” (especially since the materials used for printing are for the most part brittle plastics at this time).
3-D printing has been a growing area of interest over the past years with many advancements being made. The types of materials able to be used in the printing process has expanded and thus the level of technology being produced by these printers has also increased. Anthony Yau mentions in his post these machines can now print out small electronics, such as hearing aids, with custom sizes and dimensions. Even with the recent advancements, I do not see the uses of this technology expanding to affect the construction/building process overall. I do not think that it would be practical to have structural members or connections “printed” (especially since the materials used for printing are for the most part brittle plastics at this time).
Robotics and AI:
One area of robotics has had a significant amount of
research done in recent years, the autonomous vehicle. This type of vehicle is being made in order
to make long trips of extended driving safer by reducing the need of outside/human
interaction in order to stay safely on the road. Another area/use of robotics that comes to my
mind is during the manufacturing/production process. This area is more relevant to structures and
the construction process. The idea of
drones being used in the intelligent building process was discussed in
class. The extent of drones being useful
in the construction process would be mainly to carry equipment to workers in
order to increase safety as well as increase time spent working. Robotics is very important for the precise
creation of structural members as well as a wide variety of other
products. The limitation of robotics is
mainly due to our understanding of artificial intelligence at this point. The machines and robots we have now are
capable of completing the tasks that any human may instruct it to do, but it
may require constant attention and correction by the human in control. With advances in AI these machines are
becoming closer to being able to “think” and rationalize an appropriate
response without manual correction being necessary. However with an increase in this area of
technology, there are also societal repercussions that arise. Catherine Stephens brings this up in her B1
post speaking about how many jobs have been replaced by robots/machines. This
Future:
The most areas being discussed in each group’s blogs are all
developing quickly and becoming more and more relevant to daily life. Many of the topics rely on each other to advance
further such as robotics, AI, sensors, software, and database. The technologies discussed here can
potentially be applied an intelligent building process, and only become more
viable as developments are made. As I stated
early I do not see 3-D printing, for example, as being very relevant to an
intelligent building but a breakthrough may occur in the next 20 years that can
change this completely. As these
technologies increase so will the applications they are used for, and are beneficial
to, will increase as well. Many other blog posts comment on the issue of
privacy with growing technology, which is a very real problem currently and
continues to grow. With sensors and
monitors becoming more common in households everywhere, this leads to more
information being “available” in a database which can cause privacy or security
issues for people.
Sources:
B1 - Group A - Schwakoff
In looking into the topics of AI, computers, software,
and future, I found that many articles could be placed in several of these
categories.
AI/software
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a booming field right
now. Machines are gradually beginning to gain the ability to perform tasks
that, up until this point, only humans could complete. A recent AI advancement
was announced by General Electric (GE) in 2013. They announced software for the
“Industrial internet”, which uses sensors, networking technology, and data
analysis to better understand and perform large industrial processes. They’re
utilizing data-driven tools to improve operative efficiency in industry. The
process is fairly straightforward: install as any sensors as possible to gather
as much data as possible, and from this data extract useful information to
optimize industrial processes. This data utilization is already being used in
many fields and I think this optimization really is the way of the future, as
long as this data is protected. Some blogs have noted that all of this data
could present privacy and advertisement issues.
Hardy, Quentin. “General Electric Adds to Its ‘Industrial Internet.” New York Times. Jun 19, 2013
AI/software/computer/future
Another emerging area in AI is “computer vision”. AI
software has been developed capable of recognizing and describing the content
of photographs and videos. This computer vision can now identify not just
single objects in a photograph/video, but entire scenes. The possibilities for
use of this technology are endless. It can be used to tag images for searching.
Until now, images have had to be identified by text (tags) input by humans, but
using computer vision could make searching for things vastly quicker and
easier. It is also envisioned to be able to aid the blind and robots in
navigating, identifying surroundings that otherwise would not been seen. It
could be used for identifying individuals as well as their behavior, possibly helping
detect criminals and crimes before they happen. This technology has already
been implemented on new cars with the ability to recognize people and stop the
car automatically if the driver doesn’t do so themselves. These are just a few
of the futuristic uses of computer vision.
This is all done through neural networks, which are
statistical learning algorithms motivated by how the brain works. Neural
networks use vast amounts of data to train themselves to recognize patterns.
The more data that is available for training the better the recognition of the
software. Though this technology is still a long way away from matching humans’
recognition ability, it is advancing at a very fast pace and is expected to be
on par with that of human’s in the near future.
Markoff, John. “Researchers Announce Advance in Image-Recognition
Software.” New York Times. Nov 17, 2014
Computer/future
We are at the brink of a new age in technology. We will
soon have computers that are small enough to be integrated into everyday
objects. Our day-to-day life will be like living in a virtual reality. Some
examples include: identification without physical ID’s, a firefighter having a
mapped display of a building they are unable to see in, and a valuable
recognizing if it is being accidentally left somewhere.
Smartphones/tablets are expected to become obsolete in
the not-too-distant future. Instead, things that we wear will become “smart”.
There will be smart glasses, watches, etc. Computers may also be injected into
the body, aiding in countless medical issues. They could even be swallowed as a
pill to run through the body and provide a health report. This technology is
already becoming real. Companies have begun selling smart watches. Others have
fitness/health trackers. Google Glass sells wearable glasses that display
information in a smartphone-like format without having to hold a physical
object. One can imagine if these were combined with the computer recognition
software, people would be wired to an endless supply of information every
minute of every day.
Cincotta, Katie.
“Future technology is bright, says Intel guru Steve Brown.” The Sydney Morning
Herald. December 12, 2013
Future
Solar panels are doing more than just providing
electricity to your home. They are now being experimented with for use as
roadways. Instead of our current asphalt roads, we’d have solar panels that
would allow for electricity generation during the day, the charging of electric
cars as they drive along the roadway, heating to melt snow and ice, etc. These
panels are built using a very strong textured glass, with LED lights laid out
as road markers. The panels have been tested already and have passed several tests:
(1) they can withstand loads of up to 125 tons and (2) can stop a vehicle in
the required stopping distance. A major result of these panels could be a
greenhouse gas emission reduction of roughly 75%.
This is a very interesting technology. It may seem
ludicrous at first, but these solar roadways have proven their ability on a
small scale, so maybe it isn’t too far-fetched. The possible advantages of
these roads could be truly ground-breaking. Energy demand and pollution are at
the forefront of global environmental issues. Being able to utilized solar
energy on such a large scale would have incredibly beneficial effects.
Kermeliotis, Teo.
“Solar-powered roads: Coming to a highway near you?” CNN. September 18, 2014
Computer/software/future
Intel has developed an affordable computer stuffed into a
4” HDMI dongle. The “Compute Stick”, as they call it, turns HD-compatible
devices into fully-functional computers. The latest windows version comes with
a quad-core 1.3 Ghz processor, 32GB of storage, 2GB RAM, Bluetooth, and WiFi.
This is essentially a computer in a zip drive. While this doesn’t offer the
opportunity to play the latest graphic intensive video games, it does allow one
to run most day-to-day programs.
Downsizing computers has been an ongoing challenge since
the development of the very first computer. We have made great strides thus
far, and I believe we are probably nearing a plateau in computer size
reduction. However, this is very impressive. A computer this small opens up
countless possibilities.
Mauro. “Intel’s
HDMI Compute Stick crams a Windows 8.1 PC on a crazy small device.”
Pureinfotech. Jan 8, 2015
Comments
Plotkin’s blog – I enjoyed your write-up very much. I
have done a lot of research in the automated HVAC field and can tell you that,
at least in terms of HVAC, all of the sensor data is typically stored in
databases. I imagine that as we transition into more smart homes, most of the
other data will be stored. You brought up a good point about privacy issues and
invasive advertisements. I surely hope these companies wouldn’t be able to sell
this information. If so, I would probably double think living in a smart home.
Catherine Stephens’ blog – I think you did a great job covering
both of the sides on artificial intelligence. I think you could have gone into
a little bit more detail in computers and software. What exactly is this
PaleoDeepDive? It sounds really interesting; I’d like to hear a little bit more
about it. As for the future category, I agree with you that drones are fascinating
and have countless uses. I’m curious to hear a little more about the other
futuristic technologies you mentioned.
Ritvalsky’s blog – Great job in your discussion of AI. I
think you’re in the majority in initially being concerned about these
self-driving cars before realizing that they are actually safe. This is the
first I’ve heard about the contact lenses but they sound like they have great
potential if the trials are successful. I agree with Wilson’s idea of the universal
cloud. The rate at which technology has advanced over the last couple of
decades is incredible, and it continues to surpass even the most open-minded
peoples’ expectations, so his idea is very plausible.
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