The information: A brand new robotic coaching mannequin, dubbed “KnowNo,” goals to show robots to ask for our assist when orders are unclear. On the identical time, it ensures they search clarification solely when vital, minimizing unnecessary back-and-forth. The consequence is a brilliant assistant that tries to verify it understands what you need with out bothering you an excessive amount of.

Why it issues: Whereas robots could be highly effective in lots of particular situations, they’re typically unhealthy at generalized duties that require frequent sense. That’s one thing giant language fashions may assist to repair, as a result of they’ve a number of common sense data baked in. Learn the total story.

—June Kim

Medical microrobots that journey contained in the physique are (nonetheless) on their approach

The human physique is a labyrinth of vessels and tubing, filled with obstacles which might be troublesome to interrupt by way of. That poses a severe hurdle for medical doctors. Sickness is commonly brought on by issues which might be exhausting to visualise and troublesome to entry. However think about if we may deploy armies of tiny robots into the physique to do the job for us. They might break up hard-to-reach clots, ship medicine to even essentially the most inaccessible tumors, and even assist information embryos towards implantation.

We’ve been listening to about the usage of tiny robots in drugs for years, perhaps even a long time. And so they’re nonetheless not right here. However specialists are adamant that medical microbots are lastly coming, and that they might be a sport changer for plenty of severe illnesses. Learn the total story.

—Cassandra Willyard