This week’s list of top data news highlights covers December 7, 2024 to December 13, 2024, and includes articles on using virtual reality to recruit fishers and an AI-powered robotic rat to study the social interactions of lab rats.
1. Transcribing Camera Footage
Axon, an Arizona-based camera manufacturer, has introduced Draft One, a tool that uses AI to transcribe video recordings from police officers’ body-worn cameras to create initial drafts of police reports. The Fresno Police Department has reduced the time that officers spend on writing the reports by deploying the technology for misdemeanor calls.
PTx Trimble, a Colorado-based agricultural technology company, has created a new digital tool to help farmers manage water flow in their fields more efficiently. The system uses precise topographic measurements to map field boundaries and interior points. Algorithms then analyze the data to design efficient field drainage, considering factors like slopes, orientation, and grading preferences, all while minimizing soil disturbance.
Target has launched a new tool that uses generative AI to make customized children’s gift recommendations for shoppers from the list of the retailer’s online offerings by analyzing factors like age, hobbies, favorite brands, and other criteria. The tool, initially focused on toys, can help consumers save the time they spend on picking a meaningful gift.
The Japan Tuna Fisheries Cooperative Association, an organization representing the interests of tuna fishing operators in Japan, is using virtual reality (VR) technology in high school recruitment events to attract young people to the industry. The VR headsets provide students with a 360-degree view of tuna fishing operations and life aboard a ship, increasing interest in fishing careers compared to traditional recruitment methods and changing common misconceptions about the profession.
5. Empowering Quantum Breakthroughs
Google has introduced a new quantum computing chip called Willow, designed to be faster and more reliable than previous chips. Willow significantly reduces errors in quantum computations and excels at processing large-scale tasks. In benchmark tests, Willow completed tasks in under five minutes that would take the fastest supercomputers approximately 47 years to complete.
The Hickman County Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee has implemented AI-enabled dashcams in its rural area of 26,000 residents. The dashcams can detect up to 15 different driving behaviors, such as distracted driving, and provide real-time coaching to drivers, thereby reducing accidents and promoting a culture of safe driving among officers.
Researchers at the University of Virginia have developed a video analysis tool that uses AI to detect and analyze complex human movements from camera footage. One of the models that the researchers developed allows the tool to concentrate on key objects or persons in a scene, while the other helps construct the evolution of a scene by analyzing how those objects or persons interacted and changed over time. The tool can help power more precise detection technologies for use in public safety, motion tracking, and even autonomous vehicle navigation.
8. Streamlining Airport Operations
The Hyderabad International Airport in India has built a digital twin platform for the airport that integrates airside, landside, and terminal operations into a unified digital system to help staff make scenario predictions and simulate various airport operations. The system aggregates data from 40 sensors across the airport and uses AI to analyze and feed the insights into the digital twin.
Researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology in China and the Technical University of Munich in Germany have developed an AI-powered robotic rat called SMEO that can interact socially with real lab rats. The robot uses a deep learning model trained on videos of rat behavior to mimic rat-like movements and social interactions, including aggressive and playful behaviors. Testing showed that real rats accepted and responded to SMEO as if it were another rat, suggesting its potential use as a research tool for studying rat social behavior and modulating their emotional states.
Fiverr, an Israel-based online platform to connect freelancers with available jobs, has launched a tool that uses AI to help businesses refine project descriptions and match them with the most appropriate and qualified freelancers. The tool can help streamline companies hiring freelancers by reducing the time it takes to identify good matches for specific needs and automatically pairing freelancers with available projects to work on.
Image credit: Suganth
