2024 – stepping deeper in robotics, A.I.

Sophia is a human robot which speaks and is able to express all the emotions which are normally expressed by humans.

The robot even spoke Maltese when she was launched locally in November 2018 at the AI national strategy conference opened by Economy Minister Silvio Schembri.

Dr Ben Goertzel, pictured to the right of Silvio Schembri had developed Sophia’s brain, with a sophisticated combination of science and technology merged with fashion and art. Since 2016, Sophia has become an international celebrity and has appeared on the front cover of scientific, current events and fashion magazines.

Sophia has even been granted citizenship from Saudi Arabia, making her the first robot to have a nationality. It is good news indeed that last year, a Malta-based international company qualified for substantial financial support at the EU levels.

STMicroelectronics (ST) is a global semiconductor company making microchips embedded in a host of advanced products ranging from giant machines used in factories to microchips that augment productivity.

It operates manufacturing sites in several countries, having first set foot in Malta more than 40 years ago. Artificial intelligence (AI) progressed this year as Apple has just announced the launch of its long-awaited headset, which will be christened “Vision Pro”.

Production has been running at full speed for the past several weeks to secure its release next Friday, February 2. This marvel is a revolutionary spatial computer that transforms how people work, collaborate, connect, relive memories, and enjoy entertainment. It seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world and unlocks powerful spatial experiences in visionOS, controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — a user’s eyes, hands, and voice. This headset may cost several thousand dollars.

Featuring a breakthrough ultra-high-resolution display system built on top of Apple silicon, Vision Pro uses micro-OLED technology to pack 23 million pixels into two displays, each the size of a postage stamp, with wide colour and high dynamic range. This technological breakthrough, combined with custom lenses that enable incredible sharpness and clarity, and advanced Spatial Audio, delivers jaw-dropping experiences.

The product features a highperformance eye tracking system that uses high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invisible light patterns onto the user’s eyes for responsive, intuitive input. The partnering with Disney results in a host of experiences to people around the world. The initial market for VR sets, though, is corporate, rather than retail.

Early customers are expected to include organisations that already use VR for training and want to improve the experience: such as medical schools teaching operating techniques to surgeons, for example, estate agents, or workshops that repair jet engines.

Another use might be to permit collaboration between engineers living in different parts of the world. People working on a new car, say, could meet in a virtual laboratory, tinker with virtual components, and pass around virtual copies of their designs. Smartphones, computers and the touchscreens now proliferating in vehicles, fast-food venues and so on could all benefit from a bit of haptic feedback.

One notable example is Aito, a firm based in Amsterdam. It produces haptic systems for laptops and other digital devices. These employ actuators based on piezoelectric materials, which shrink or expand in response to a voltage, producing a slight movement. Dropping the jargon, it simply means piezo materials can be employed both as actuators and as sensors.

Competitors of Apple include Meta and Microsoft. Pico, a headset-maker owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, is doing well in its home market, where Meta is banned. Meta’s virtual reality strategy still revolves around adverts. Apple keeps emphasizing that the Vision Pro isn’t meant to isolate you from the rest of the world, in fact the display on the front of the headset is designed to keep you connected to others.

So, an onlooker would see on that front display when looking at someone wearing the Vision Pro. It’s a bit boxy, but you can see the wearer’s eyes, part of what Apple calls a “persona”. When the demo person blinked, one saw a virtual version of their eyes blink.

When they were looking at an app, a bluish light appeared to indicate their attention was elsewhere. “Apple’s ability to drive adoption is probably unparalleled in the market” says Mark Shmulik of Bernstein, a broker. It will hope to do brisk business in China, giving it an edge over

Meta. The big question is whether headsets can go beyond gamers and professionals, and become a true tech platform rather than just a smart accessory. Today’s augmented reality and virtual reality gear is good at solving “very specific painpoints”, says Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who helped develop the iPhone.

Mr Fadell thinks, headsets will be a bit like smart watches, popular but not revolutionary in the way the smartphone has been. Experts agree that headsets will not fully replace phones, just as phones have not done away with desktop computers. But, computing has become more personal and over thirty years has moved from the mainframe, to the desktop, to the palm of the hand. The next step, he believes, is for computing to be “overlaid on the world around you” by augmented reality.

In this scenario, headsets could be part of a broader ecosystem of wearable technology that draws consumers’ attention, and spending power, away from the smartphones that have monopolized them for the past years. Readers ask, how can Malta as a small country contribute and partake of this technological advance?

Ideally, Malta Enterprise launches more savvy schemes to assist start-ups in the growing artificial intelligence sector. The writing on the wall says as the pangs of pandemic are over, we need to stand up and ratchet our educational nous to be at the top of the curve.

One may admit that retrofitting our education machinery is arduous. It is a plant of slow growth. One augurs that as one of this year’s resolutions, the economy minister Silvio Schembri armed with his innovative venture capital fund, helps attract new tech start-ups that can flourish under the guidance of MDIA in this fascinating and dynamic sector.

“The product features a highperformance eye tracking system that uses high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invisible light patterns onto the user’s eyes for responsive, intuitive input. The partnering with Disney results in a host of experiences to people around the world.”