ROBOTS AND CODING FOR KIDS..

A robot named Root has been developed to expose kids of all ages to coding in a way that brings the often daunting world of computer science to life. Root looks like a smoke detector but is actually a sophisticated robot. A magnetic surface, wheels, and an impressive arsenal of sensors allow it to navigate a classroom whiteboard. But Root isn’t actually programed to do anything. Its tasks and functionality hinge on a child’s imagination. The robot is capable of driving and drawing as well as playing music, but Root needs instructions to operate, a line of code. Zivthan Dubrovsky of Harvard’s Wyss Institute recalls testing out Root with kids for the first time. “If you ask kids can you make a text based java script line follower? They go ‘no that’s hard, can’t do that’, but we can put level one in front of them and they can do it in minutes,” he said. Using a tablet wirelessly connected to the robot, level one introduces kids to the principles of programing using an interface of simple commands and pictures. As they become more adept, they jump to levels 2 and 3, at which point writing computer code becomes second nature, according to Dubrovsky. He says getting kids interested in the abstract world of programming isn’t easy, but thinks Root can help with that. “We are not trying to create a fun toy where you are just making a racing game. We are going to figure out how to make the racing game and that is going to be a lot of work, a lot of perhaps negative energy. But then there is so much positive energy at the end that it is worth the effort,” he added. The team hopes to partner up with education companies to develop curriculums based around Root with the hopes of enticing schools to add the robot to classrooms. “By adding a robot into the classroom you are actually adding a third agent into the classroom and you enable a new interesting way of teaching where the students can become the teachers, teaching the robot to do things,” Dubrovsky said. While at the same time learning a new skill, one that is increasingly important in a digital world where knowing how to code could become just as important as knowing to read and write. Read more;http://newsdaily.com/2016/04/a-robot-to-teach-kids-coding/

VR SURGERY

On 14 April 2016 ,Ahmed – a surgeon, cancer specialist, and co-founder of virtual and augmented reality firm Medical Realities – is going to cut off a tumor from the colon of a London man in his 70s. 

That's a routine operation with no particular risk attached. But unlike any other operation, when Ahmed and his team remove the cancer, a 360-degree camera rig mounted over the operating table will capture the doctors' every movement in 4K and livestream it globally in VR. 

The broadcast will be available online and via apps for Android and iOS. Dr Ahmed says, close-up immersive streams could make trainees "feel part of the operation" more than if they were in the theatre. But surgery is a tactile job of lancets, scalpels and drills. 

To recreate that in VR, you need tactile feed. VR livestreams are the first step to what Ahmed calls "the virtual surgeon" – a project that involves shifting from live-capture VR to full computer-rendered simulations of surgical operations. And eventually, reactive virtual patients and gloves to provide tactile feedback. 

 "In my vision, you'll have a virtual body in front of you, you get haptic gloves, you pick up a scalpel, and you feel it normally, you make a cut, you see the incision, it's all realistic," he says. "Ultimately, people will be able to use VR to carry out operations and train themselves through virtual operations. That'd be our endgame." And that endgame might not be too far away: Ahmed predicts the necessary advances in VR and haptic technology could be just five years away. Ahmed has another theory, which relates to Ray Kurzweil's concept of singularity. 

The actual endgame, his argument goes, will be when AI and robots have developed to a point that they can carry out surgery better than human doctors can. "I call it 'surgical singularity'. And at some point it's definitely going to happen: it's just a question of when," he says. "In the meanwhile, we'll keep investing in VR. Robotic surgeons won't be here for a few years yet. Culled from wired.co.uk