Flying Jellyfish, Somersaulting Spiders, and . . . a Really Cool Workstation

Festo, a German company known for its unusual, flashy robots (like co-working ants, airborne jellyfish, and somersaulting spiders), has created the BionicWorkplace, a workstation that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve efficiency. People working at the station can interact with and control the bionic arm using movement, speech, or touch. Watch it at work here:

Jaywalker Shaming

Not only will jaywalkers in China be publicly shamed by having their photos and family names broadcast in public on billboards above traffic intersections, but they’ll also be fined for it via text message in the near future. The tech uses facial recognition to identify the offender and then send the person an electronic ticket. This new fining method idea is currently being vetted with local phone companies.

Don’t Cyberhack my Electrical Grid

In a gripping wedding reception conversation, yours truly learned from a US electrical grid operator that the grid is highly vulnerable to cyberattacks, much more than the public realizes. Hence why this article stood out over here. A lab at Berkeley developed a machine learning tool to detect cyberattacks on the US electrical grid. Even the slightest changes will draw workers’ attention. It shows real-time insights and sends alerts when the system detects changes.

Bonus