I spoke to Bill Peduto over the summer. It was an exit interview for Pittsburgh's mayor, who had served eight years. A politician has joined the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy as a distinguished executive in residence. He will teach a mini course at the university.
The depressed Rust Belt city of Pittsburgh that he leaves behind is vastly different than the one people think of from the turn of the millennium. The economic transformation into a technology and medical hub has been supported by a pair of universities and the UPMC healthcare system.
We're going to start this week's newsletter by talking about how automation and artificial intelligence can help shape the cities of the future.
Thurner Photography took this image.
How have you been treated in the last few months?
January was a blur. The S-Corporation was put together in February. It was spending money on attorneys and tax accountants to get the proposals written. I started working on that in March and was waiting to hear back from CMU. It has been transitional. That is the best way to say it.
Pittsburgh has seen a tremendous economic improvement. Having two major world-class universities involved in the process is important.
If you want to build a world-class city, create a university 100 years ago, I think it was Senator Moynihan. It was the reason that Pittsburgh was able to come back the way it did. They became the economic rudder and engine after the depression in the 80s and 90s because they took the place of the heavy industries. They were able to put Pittsburgh back on the global stage by creating brand new industries that took the place of the old ones and employed more people.
One of the policies that you implemented was allowing ride sharing company, Uber, to pilot self-driving cars on the streets of Pittsburgh. What role have deals played in your plans?
I met Red Whittaker in 2008 and started working with him. CMU was using in a very defined area the vehicles on the city streets prior to him winning the DARPA Challenge. They were also on the tracks in Hazelwood. If I hadn't known, hadn't worked with and hadn't felt that comfort level, I wouldn't have allowed it in Pittsburgh. It would have meant that we wouldn't have seen the investment of billions of dollars and the employment of 5,000 people.
What role do you think automation and robotics will play in the future of cities?
Within Pittsburgh, it is the sole authority of everything. It is more than just robotic in vehicles, transportation or utilization in warehousing. It is almost anything you can think of. The future of cross-sectionality is how it works. There are different types of technology and emerging fields. I believe that cities like Pittsburgh that are small and in emerging fields have the chance to meet and talk about what they are doing. I believe we have the ability to see new industries blossom.
Do you think that robotic and automation will bring back domestic manufacturing?
I think it's a catalyst for automation and robotics as well as artificial intelligence. I see companies that have not been upgraded for 60 years. Those types of companies are the critical company of a town and finding the right investors that are willing to say, "This company needs to stay, because it sustains this community."
There is a lot of activity over the skies of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Wing has begun serving up drone deliveries in the area after Flytrex announced it was coming to Granbury. Blue Bell ice cream and Texas Health first aid kits will be delivered by the company, along with health goods from Walgreens.
The image is called Wing.
The new addition is Wing's second US market and fifth overall. Availability is limited at launch and will expand to more customers in the future. Wing is arguably making the most steady progress, one moderate market at a time, in the world of drone delivery.
There is some recent news worth highlighting over at MIT in the world of accessibility and elder care robots. A CSAIL team is working on a system that uses a robotic arm to help people get dressed. One of the issues is finding a way to give the system a better view of the human arm it is working to dress.
A new paper shows how the robot can predict the position and angle of the human arm.
The image is from MIT CSAIL.
CSAIL joined forces with MIT, CMU and UC San Diego to develop a new phrase in the English language. The new system teaches a robot how to work with pizza dough in a simulation. The schools add something.
Then, it trains a “student” machine-learning model that learns abstract ideas about when and how to execute each skill it needs during the task, like using a rolling pin. With this knowledge, the system reasons about how to execute the skills to complete the entire task.
A team at EPFL in Switzerland is working on a ginger process of picking fruit. It's nice to see some of the berry brethren get some love from the researchers.
The image is from EPFL.
It is an exciting dilemma for us as robotics engineers, because the fruit is so valuable and the harvesting season is short. The cost and logistical challenges of testing different options out in the field are prohibitive. We decided to run our tests in the lab and make a replica of theRaspberry for training harvesting robots.
A team of Japanese researchers are working on a system that can peel bananas. The robot that can put jackets on people with an even more easily bruised subject is different. The system uses imitation learning for around 13 hours and has a success rate of around 57%. There are ways to go before banana-peeling jobs are in danger.
The Robotics event is in July and ticket sales are open. We have been programming it for a few months now, and it's killing me that I can't tell you about the people we have lined up. It is going to be our best yet.
The image is from TechCrunch.
The tickets are always free.
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