After humans, robots too seemed to have joined the bandwagon of bias and racism.&nbsp; 
 
In the first international beauty contest judged by an &ldquo;all-robot jury&rdquo;, Beauty.AI,only one of the 44 winners was dark-skinned, the Guardian reported today. &nbsp; 
 
The creators were startled by the results that pointed that apparently, robots did not like people with dark skin.&nbsp; 
 
About 6,000 people from across 100 countries had submitted their photos on YouTube hoping that artificial intelligence supported by complex algorithms to identify attractiveness, unlike humans, would not be governed by prejudices.&nbsp; 
 
Beauty.Ai, created by a&nbsp;group called &ldquo;Youth Laboratories and supported by Microsoft, was based out of an algorithm that did include enough minorities to establish standards of attractiveness, Alex Zhavoronkov,&nbsp;Beauty.AI&rsquo;s chief science officer, was quoted as saying in the report.&nbsp; 
 
Although the group did not build the algorithm to treat light skin as a sign of beauty, the input data effectively led the robot judges to reach that conclusion, the report says.&nbsp; 
 
Computer science experts and social justice advocates have expressed concerns on the growing use of prejudiced artificial intelligence systems that can have &ldquo;devastating consequences&rdquo; on the people of colour. 
 
The incident has sparked a renewed debate on how algorithms are reflecting human biases, often yielding unintended and offensive results.&nbsp; 
 
(WION)

In the first international contest judged by an all-robot jury, only one out of the 44 winners was dark-skinned

After humans, robots too seemed to have joined the bandwagon of bias and racism. In the first international beauty contest judged by an “all-robot jury”, Beauty.AI,only one of the 44 winners was dark-skinned, the Guardian reported today. The creators were startled by the results that pointed that apparently, robots did not like people with dark skin. About 6,000 people from across 100 countries had submitted their photos on YouTube hoping that artificial intelligence supported by complex algorithms to identify attractiveness, unlike humans, would not be governed by prejudices. Beauty.Ai, created by a group called “Youth Laboratories and supported by Microsoft, was based out of an algorithm that did include enough minorities to establish standards of attractiveness, Alex Zhavoronkov, Beauty.AI’s chief science officer, was quoted as saying in the report. Although the group did not build the algorithm to treat light skin as a sign of beauty, the input data effectively led the robot judges to reach that conclusion, the report says. Computer science experts and social justice advocates have expressed concerns on the growing use of prejudiced artificial intelligence systems that can have “devastating consequences” on the people of colour. The incident has sparked a renewed debate on how algorithms are reflecting human biases, often yielding unintended and offensive results. (WION)

Robots don't like dark skin?

More than half of workers in five Southeast Asian countries are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation in the next two decades, an International Labour Organization (ILO) study found, with those in the garments industry particularly vulnerable. 
 
About 137 million workers or 56 per cent of the salaried workforce from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, fall under the high-risk category, the study showed. 
 
&quot;Countries that compete on low-wage labour need to reposition themselves. Price advantage is no longer enough,&quot; said Deborah France-Massin, director for the ILO&#39;s bureau for employers&#39; activities. The report said workers have to be trained to work effectively alongside digitalised machines. 
 
Southeast Asia is home to more than 630 million people and is a hub for several manufacturing sectors, including textiles, vehicles and hard disk drives. 
 
Of the 9 million people working in the region&#39;s textiles, clothing and footwear industry, 64 per cent of Indonesian workers are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation, 86 per cent in Vietnam, and 88 per cent in Cambodia. 
 
Garment manufacturers in Cambodia, who take orders from retailers such as Adidas, Marks and Spencer and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, employ about 600,000 people. 
 
Neighbouring Vietnam is seeing record investment in its footwear and textiles industries, due to new free-trade pacts with major markets, including the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is the second-largest garment supplier behind China to the United States. 
 
The United Nations agency said technologies including 3D printing, wearable technology, nanotechnology and robotic automation could disrupt the sector. 
 
&quot;Robots are becoming better at assembly, cheaper and increasingly able to collaborate with people,&quot; the ILO said. 
 
The textiles, clothing and footwear sector is at the highest risk of automation out of five industries analysed in the study, including automotive and auto parts, electrical and electronics, business process outsourcing and retail. 
 
In the automotive and auto parts industry, more than 60 per cent of salaried workers in Indonesia, and over 70 per cent of those in Thailand face the risk of their jobs being displaced. 
 
Southeast Asia&#39;s automotive sector, the seventh-largest producer of vehicles in 2015 globally, employs more than 800,000 workers, the report said. 
 
Known as the &quot;Detroit of Southeast Asia&quot;, Thailand is a regional production and export hub for the world&#39;s top carmakers. The auto sector accounts for around 10 per cent of Thai GDP and employs a 10th of its workers in manufacturing. 
 
(Reuters)

The textiles, clothing and footwear sector is at the highest risk of automation out of five industries analysed in the study

More than half of workers in five Southeast Asian countries are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation in the next two decades, an International Labour Organization (ILO) study found, with those in the garments industry particularly vulnerable. About 137 million workers or 56 per cent of the salaried workforce from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, fall under the high-risk category, the study showed. "Countries that compete on low-wage labour need to reposition themselves. Price advantage is no longer enough," said Deborah France-Massin, director for the ILO's bureau for employers' activities. The report said workers have to be trained to work effectively alongside digitalised machines. Southeast Asia is home to more than 630 million people and is a hub for several manufacturing sectors, including textiles, vehicles and hard disk drives. Of the 9 million people working in the region's textiles, clothing and footwear industry, 64 per cent of Indonesian workers are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation, 86 per cent in Vietnam, and 88 per cent in Cambodia. Garment manufacturers in Cambodia, who take orders from retailers such as Adidas, Marks and Spencer and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, employ about 600,000 people. Neighbouring Vietnam is seeing record investment in its footwear and textiles industries, due to new free-trade pacts with major markets, including the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is the second-largest garment supplier behind China to the United States. The United Nations agency said technologies including 3D printing, wearable technology, nanotechnology and robotic automation could disrupt the sector. "Robots are becoming better at assembly, cheaper and increasingly able to collaborate with people," the ILO said. The textiles, clothing and footwear sector is at the highest risk of automation out of five industries analysed in the study, including automotive and auto parts, electrical and electronics, business process outsourcing and retail. In the automotive and auto parts industry, more than 60 per cent of salaried workers in Indonesia, and over 70 per cent of those in Thailand face the risk of their jobs being displaced. Southeast Asia's automotive sector, the seventh-largest producer of vehicles in 2015 globally, employs more than 800,000 workers, the report said. Known as the "Detroit of Southeast Asia", Thailand is a regional production and export hub for the world's top carmakers. The auto sector accounts for around 10 per cent of Thai GDP and employs a 10th of its workers in manufacturing. (Reuters)

Millions of workers in Southeast Asian countries may lose jobs to automation: International Labour Organization study

A Denmark-based company has developed a hugging machine called OrbisBox to help calm people with autism. 
 
The device is 163 centimeters tall, 85 cm wide and 223 cm in length. It can be transported to different locations and contains side plates covered with polyurethane foam. 
 
The device is said to be a commercial model based on Dr Temple Grandin&rsquo;s invention of the &ldquo;hug machine.&rdquo; Dr. Grandin is a world renowned spokesperson for autism, who created the device when she in college. 
 
Once the user is inside the OrbisBox, the side plates will start to move in and press against them, mimicking the sense of a hug. The weight of the pressure can be adjusted from 10 kg to 30 kg. 
 
The box has built-in speakers to play soothing music. Lighting can also be changed to make the user feel more relaxed. 
 
Autism is a complex brain development disorder which, scientists say, likely affects boys five times more than it does girls. Signs of autism may include difficulties in social interaction, strange attachment to objects and unawareness to danger. 
 
Due to their hypersensitivity, people with autism are often uncomfortable or unable to seek comfort from other people. 
 
Autism is a growing developmental disorder in the US that it currently affects roughly two per cent of teenage boys, or one in 42 boys, according to Autism Speaks. 
 
(Reuters)

Once the user is inside the OrbisBox, the side plates will start to move in and press against them, mimicking the sense of a hug

A Denmark-based company has developed a hugging machine called OrbisBox to help calm people with autism. The device is 163 centimeters tall, 85 cm wide and 223 cm in length. It can be transported to different locations and contains side plates covered with polyurethane foam. The device is said to be a commercial model based on Dr Temple Grandin’s invention of the “hug machine.” Dr. Grandin is a world renowned spokesperson for autism, who created the device when she in college. Once the user is inside the OrbisBox, the side plates will start to move in and press against them, mimicking the sense of a hug. The weight of the pressure can be adjusted from 10 kg to 30 kg. The box has built-in speakers to play soothing music. Lighting can also be changed to make the user feel more relaxed. Autism is a complex brain development disorder which, scientists say, likely affects boys five times more than it does girls. Signs of autism may include difficulties in social interaction, strange attachment to objects and unawareness to danger. Due to their hypersensitivity, people with autism are often uncomfortable or unable to seek comfort from other people. Autism is a growing developmental disorder in the US that it currently affects roughly two per cent of teenage boys, or one in 42 boys, according to Autism Speaks. (Reuters)

Danish company creates hugging machine for people with Autism

Phones or watches may be smart enough to detect sound, light, motion, touch, direction, acceleration and even the weather, but they can`t smell. 
 
That`s created a technology bottleneck that companies have spent more than a decade trying to fill. Most have failed. 
 
A powerful portable electronic nose, says Redg Snodgrass, a venture capitalist funding hardware start-ups, would open up new horizons for health, food, personal hygiene and even security. 
 
Imagine, he says, being able to analyse what someone has eaten or drunk based on the chemicals they emit; detect disease early via an app; or smell the fear in a potential terrorist. &quot;Smell,&quot; he says, &quot;is an important piece&quot; of the puzzle. 
 
It`s not through lack of trying. Aborted projects and failed companies litter the aroma-sensing landscape. But that`s not stopping newcomers from trying. 
 
Like Tristan Rousselle`s Grenoble-based Aryballe Technologies, which recently showed off a prototype of NeOse, a hand-held device he says will initially detect up to 50 common odours. &quot;It`s a risky project. There are simpler things to do in life,&quot; he says candidly. 
 
MASS, NOT ENERGY 
 
The problem, says David Edwards, a chemical engineer at Harvard University, is that unlike light and sound, scent is not energy, but mass. &quot;It`s a very different kind of signal,&quot; he says. 
 
That means each smell requires a different kind of sensor, making devices bulky and limited in what they can do. The aroma of coffee, for example, consists of more than 600 components. 
 
France`s Alpha MOS was first to build electronic noses for limited industrial use, but its foray into developing a smaller model that would do more has run aground. Within a year of unveiling a prototype for a device that would allow smartphones to detect and analyse smells, the website of its US-based arm Boyd Sense has gone dark. Neither company responded to emails requesting comment. 
 
The website of Adamant Technologies, which in 2013 promised a device that would wirelessly connect to smartphones and measure a 
user`s health from their breath, has also gone quiet. Its founder didn`t respond to emails seeking comment. 
 
For now, start-ups focus on narrower goals or on industries that don`t care about portability. 
 
California-based Aromyx, for example, is working with major food companies to help them capture a digital profile for every odour, using its EssenceChip. Wave some food across the device and it captures a digital signature that can be manipulated as if it were a sound or image file. 
 
But, despite its name, this is not being done on silicon, says CEO Chris Hanson. Nor is the device something you could carry or wear. &quot;Mobile and wearable are a decade away at least,&quot; he says. 
 
Partly, the problem is that we still don`t understand well how humans and animals detect and interpret smells. The Nobel prize for understanding the principles of olfaction, or smell, was awarded only 12 years ago.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;The biology of olfaction is still a frontier of science, very connected to the frontier of neuroscience,&quot; says Edwards, the Harvard chemical engineer. 
 
MORE PUSH THAN PULL 
 
That leaves start-ups reaching for lower-hanging fruit. 
 
Snodgrass is funding a start-up called Tzoa, a wearable that measures air quality. He says interest in this from polluted China is particularly strong. Another, Nima, raised $9 million last month to build devices that can test food for proteins and substances, including gluten, peanuts and milk. Its first product will be available shortly, the company says. 
 
For now, mobile phones are more likely to deliver smells than detect them. Edwards` Vapor Communications, for example, in April launched Cyrano, a tub-sized cylinder that users can direct to emit scents from a mobile app - in the same way iTunes or Spotify directs a speaker to emit sounds. 
 
Japanese start-up Scentee is revamping its scent-emitting smartphone module, says co-founder Koki Tsubouchi, shifting focus from sending scent messages to controlling the fragrance of a room. 
 
There may be scepticism - history and cinemas are littered with the residue of failed attempts to introduce smell into our lives going back to the 1930s - but companies sniff a revival. 
 
Dutch group Philips filed a recent patent for a device that would influence, or prime, users` behaviour by stimulating their senses, including through smell. Nike filed something similar, pumping scents through a user`s headphones or glasses to improve performance. 
 
The holy grail, though, remains sensing smells.&nbsp; 
 
Samsung Electronics was recently awarded a patent for an olfactory sensor that could be incorporated into any device, from a smartphone to an electronic tattoo. 
 
One day these devices will be commonplace, says Avery Gilbert, an expert on scent and author of a book on the science behind it, gradually embedding specialised applications into our lives.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;I don`t think you`re going to solve it all at once,&quot; he says. 
 
(Reuters)

Aryballe Technologies displayed a prototype of NeOse, a hand-held device that can detect up to 50 common odours

Phones or watches may be smart enough to detect sound, light, motion, touch, direction, acceleration and even the weather, but they can`t smell. That`s created a technology bottleneck that companies have spent more than a decade trying to fill. Most have failed. A powerful portable electronic nose, says Redg Snodgrass, a venture capitalist funding hardware start-ups, would open up new horizons for health, food, personal hygiene and even security. Imagine, he says, being able to analyse what someone has eaten or drunk based on the chemicals they emit; detect disease early via an app; or smell the fear in a potential terrorist. "Smell," he says, "is an important piece" of the puzzle. It`s not through lack of trying. Aborted projects and failed companies litter the aroma-sensing landscape. But that`s not stopping newcomers from trying. Like Tristan Rousselle`s Grenoble-based Aryballe Technologies, which recently showed off a prototype of NeOse, a hand-held device he says will initially detect up to 50 common odours. "It`s a risky project. There are simpler things to do in life," he says candidly. MASS, NOT ENERGY The problem, says David Edwards, a chemical engineer at Harvard University, is that unlike light and sound, scent is not energy, but mass. "It`s a very different kind of signal," he says. That means each smell requires a different kind of sensor, making devices bulky and limited in what they can do. The aroma of coffee, for example, consists of more than 600 components. France`s Alpha MOS was first to build electronic noses for limited industrial use, but its foray into developing a smaller model that would do more has run aground. Within a year of unveiling a prototype for a device that would allow smartphones to detect and analyse smells, the website of its US-based arm Boyd Sense has gone dark. Neither company responded to emails requesting comment. The website of Adamant Technologies, which in 2013 promised a device that would wirelessly connect to smartphones and measure a user`s health from their breath, has also gone quiet. Its founder didn`t respond to emails seeking comment. For now, start-ups focus on narrower goals or on industries that don`t care about portability. California-based Aromyx, for example, is working with major food companies to help them capture a digital profile for every odour, using its EssenceChip. Wave some food across the device and it captures a digital signature that can be manipulated as if it were a sound or image file. But, despite its name, this is not being done on silicon, says CEO Chris Hanson. Nor is the device something you could carry or wear. "Mobile and wearable are a decade away at least," he says. Partly, the problem is that we still don`t understand well how humans and animals detect and interpret smells. The Nobel prize for understanding the principles of olfaction, or smell, was awarded only 12 years ago. "The biology of olfaction is still a frontier of science, very connected to the frontier of neuroscience," says Edwards, the Harvard chemical engineer. MORE PUSH THAN PULL That leaves start-ups reaching for lower-hanging fruit. Snodgrass is funding a start-up called Tzoa, a wearable that measures air quality. He says interest in this from polluted China is particularly strong. Another, Nima, raised $9 million last month to build devices that can test food for proteins and substances, including gluten, peanuts and milk. Its first product will be available shortly, the company says. For now, mobile phones are more likely to deliver smells than detect them. Edwards` Vapor Communications, for example, in April launched Cyrano, a tub-sized cylinder that users can direct to emit scents from a mobile app - in the same way iTunes or Spotify directs a speaker to emit sounds. Japanese start-up Scentee is revamping its scent-emitting smartphone module, says co-founder Koki Tsubouchi, shifting focus from sending scent messages to controlling the fragrance of a room. There may be scepticism - history and cinemas are littered with the residue of failed attempts to introduce smell into our lives going back to the 1930s - but companies sniff a revival. Dutch group Philips filed a recent patent for a device that would influence, or prime, users` behaviour by stimulating their senses, including through smell. Nike filed something similar, pumping scents through a user`s headphones or glasses to improve performance. The holy grail, though, remains sensing smells. Samsung Electronics was recently awarded a patent for an olfactory sensor that could be incorporated into any device, from a smartphone to an electronic tattoo. One day these devices will be commonplace, says Avery Gilbert, an expert on scent and author of a book on the science behind it, gradually embedding specialised applications into our lives. "I don`t think you`re going to solve it all at once," he says. (Reuters)

Portable electronic nose to broaden scope for health industry

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