AI boffins teach office supplies to predict your next move It was only a matter of time. Having invaded the software world, AI has now fixed its sights on once-benign household objects and desk fodder. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the US city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have built a computer vision system that gives everyday objects the ability to predict what …
Yeah ... reminds me a bit more of skutters though, as you can see with the moving trivets, shaking keycup, and usb-plug zamboni in the lab's 30-second youtube "Towards Unobtrusive Physical AI" and their 4:46 video to the right of that which has the stapler-moving unit near 4:20 (mostly harmless except for the knife shuffling at 3:00 and 3:20 -- suspense!).
It's cool as experimentation imho (research), especially the 30-sec youtube of "Constraint-Driven Robotic Surfaces" (on the same lab page) that has a shape-shifting wall that automatically re-multi-purposes itself in response to perceived intent by whomever is there ... (I'd say it could at least be part of a fun futuristic movie!). Interesting angles imho ...
You remember the fun we had when Windows 3 programs could all see each others HWNDs? And you could hook any messages?
And we only used this for serious things, like debugging our own dialog boxes.
We *never* wrote anything that tracked the mouse and swapped the positions of the "Ok" and "Cancel" buttons whenever the pointer got too close to them.
"Day 1: Introduce objects that move under your hand when you reach for them.
Day 2: System is hacked so that the objects scuttle out of the way every time you try to grab them."
Day 3: employers take control of the system, use it to monitor employee productivity, and those who don't work hard enough find themselves bitten by rabid staplers.
Back when my wife was a teacher, stapling was needed in batches of 30+. And the required automation wasn't the stapler scurrying to the middle of the desk, under the harsh glare of the fluorescent tubes, but doing the actual stapling.
She had a battery-powered motorised stapler, which didn't need an internet connection, or cameras/microphones to stalk, erm, monetise, erm allow the Benevolent AI Overlords to seamlessly assist you for a not-at-all-eyewatering monthly fee (24 month contract terms apply)
You can still get those - where the "smart" functions are a trigger, actuated by paper (or any object!!), and a "almost out of staples" light!
https://www.lomax.dk/kontorartikler/skrivebordstilbehoer/haeftemaskiner/rapid-r5080e-el-haeftemaskine--80-ark--graa-8401124/
It sees the man of the house[1] approaching a half-built bookcase with a screw in one hand: and the hammer runs away, hiding itself under the telly, the flat-head screwdriver follows closely[2], whilst the philips-head screwdriver keeps bumping itself up against his shoe.
[1] not our house, of course, *I* know what I'm doing, ahem[3]
[2] there being no paint tins in view
[3] so, where did I put the gaffer tape? That'll fix it - Oi! Come back here, you little blighter. Ha, got you cornered.
> I own three hammers, and I'll be buggered if I can find one when I need one.
Pencils for me. Wife got me a pack of 20 for Christmas and now the pack is empty and not a pencil to be found.
Until I buy some more, then they will mysteriously re-appear or make their way to where the used biro's go
So while I'm working away at my desk and I go and reach for something whose location I know without looking, instead it won't be there and I'll ahve to interrupt my workflow to look for it "helpfully" somewhere else nearer to me.
Sounds like my mother coming over and "tidying" the kitchen, and me having to spend hours after she leaves put everything back in its place.
> The team argues that people already trust simple, physical tools far more than voice assistants or smart speakers.
We trust simple physical tools _because_ our kitchen knives don't take it on themselves to wave the sharp blade around and the mess on our desk stays exactly where we stuffed it under something.
> We chose to enhance everyday objects because users already trust them. By advancing the objects' capabilities, we hope to increase that trust.
Come here and put your hands out and I'll show you just how advanced I need the capabilities of my cleaver to be. Sheesh! Some people should not be allowed near a keyboard. Voice control you say? I think I have the capability to deal with that too. Now where did it go...
on whatever supplies of hope remain in this forlorn world.*
* As per Douglas Adam's prescient observation. You know the one.**
I was actually put in mind of another Adams reference, the "unlikely principle of defocused temporal perception - a curious system which enables the elevator to be on the right floor to pick you up even before you knew you wanted it, thus eliminating all the tedious chatting, relaxing, and making friends that people were previously forced to do whilst waiting for elevators. Not unnaturally, many lifts imbued with intelligence and precognition became terribly frustrated with the mindless business of going up or down, experimented briefly with the notion of going sideways - as a sort of existential protest - demanded participation in the decision making process, and, finally, took to sulking in basements."1
I can only imagine what damage a psychotic cheese grater could inflict upon its user.
__________________
1 Adams, D.,'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (Fit the Seventh), Scene 6
Trying to find a use for 'AI' in an area that does not need it !!! [Evoking the frustrated exclamation know as 'FFS !!!']
The only use I could find for this is to put things 'back' to the position that they 'should be' when they are moved or borrowed by others !!!
I could also achieve the exact same end-result with lots of high-voltage and/or mini claymore-like devices !!!
[Much more fun and I would bet 'still' cheaper that the 'AI' system.]
Dear God in Heaven ... when is this 'AI' non-sense going to stop ... It is like talking to my Dog when he brings me a 'Leaf' to play with !!!
No matter how often I say that I do not want the 'leaf', my Dog insists that I MUST want it because HE thinks it is a good idea !!!
[Yes I do mean 'Leaf' ... it is his way of playing with something that moves erratically when thrown that is light & fits in his mouth !!!]
My Dog is the 'text Book' definition of persistent ... there is nothing that is MORE persistent that also include limitless 'Dog Spit' :)
P.S.
I love my Dog because he is so 'Dog-like' in manners, temperament and logic, I like Dogs to be Dogs and NOT extensions of peoples egos !!!
:)
To ensure that spying cameras will capture every possible angle, so the serfs can never have any privacy.
Let me guess, unauthorized movements (movements that makes the transcription error) will be forbidden and punished?
I never dreamed that it would be conceived to put a knife on wheels that is remotely operated - that would allow for remote stabbing CVEs...
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