The Triton industrial sabotage malware is a spreading security threat. The code is designed to disable safety systems that are in place to prevent catastrophic industrial accidents. It’s potentially “the world’s most murderous malware...The hackers are targeting companies in North America.”

The startup Quadrobot Inc. will be rolling out its robotic delivery trucks in Detroit, Mich., and China later this year. The QUADROBOT U1 is a four-wheel-drive, autonomous, all-electric vehicle designed for urban environments and neighborhoods to provide “last-mile” delivery service.

A study from the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) documents “a massive recent surge in artificial intelligence-based inventions, with U.S.-based companies IBM and Microsoft leading the pack as AI has moved from the theoretical realm toward the global marketplace.”

Jeff Dean, Google artificial intelligence lead, reviews 17 AI topics, from ethical principles for AI research to applying machine learning to clinical healthcare. Google’s lasting legacy will rest on what it has discovered, developed, and distributed in AI as a source for good in the world.

In the mind of a design engineer, a robot can be a collection of mechanical and digital systems that can install wallboard like a human, or it can be a piece of fabric that has embedded intelligence, or be a shiny plastic puppy. Here are Electionic Engineering Times’s “Top 10 Robots of 2018.”

Takeoff Technologies, the Boston-based robotics company, and Sedano’s, the grocery chain in Miami, Fla., have partnered to create the first in a line of proposed e-groceries. Customers place their orders through an online interface and will save about 100 hours a year shopping this way.

The global analysts at Gartner have released their top 10 strategic technology trends for 2019. The trends are presented in a connected matrix called an “Intelligent Digital Mesh.” Strategic tech trends have big disruptive potential along with attention that encourages widespread adoption.

Large computer concerns are getting serious about replacing passwords with mechanical keys. A recent case for computer pocket keys in the form of USB sticks was announced by Microsoft to its 800+ million users of Office 365, One Drive cloud, Outlook, Bing, Skype, and Xbox Live.

IBM and Red Hat software announced that IBM would acquire Red Hat, the world’s leader in open-source technology, for $34 billion, with plans to “become the world’s number one hybrid cloud provider.” IBM’s interest in the Linux open-source operating system isn’t something new.

China is planning to launch three artificial moon satellites by 2020. These “moons” will light the streets at night in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. These satellites will be made of mirror-like reflective materials, and will be “eight times brighter than the real moon.”

Tesla’s Autopilot system for its cars constantly peers outward in all directions with eight cameras, listens with an ultrasonics system, and then adds additional input from radar. What that looks like has been recreated in a recent YouTube video. Come ride the streets of Paris!

The world’s most popular mobile operating system turned 10 in September 2018. The engine for more than one billion devices is now in its ninth version. Versions for smartwatches and cars have joined the Google Android lineup. The latest smartphone engine is called Android 9 Pie. How sweet it is!

LG Electronics just debuted its first “human-centric wearable robot.” It’s called the SuitBot. It’s a robotic exoskeleton designed to support the legs and augments the capacity of workers who do heavy lifting over long periods of time. How soon will you be managing cyborgs at work?

At London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital, a program called DeepMind Health can now recognize and recommend the correct decision for more than 50 eye diseases with an accuracy of 94%. The program reads and analyzes 3-D retinal images produced by optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans.

For a project called Learning Dexterity, a robotic hand learned how to find a letter on a cube and then manipulated the cube’s position to hold it up to a camera for verification. The hand and the neural network were left to learn on their own and then practice the activity.

WARR Hyperloop, a team of engineering students, won the SpaceX Hyperloop Competition. Their hyperloop pod, a subscale prototype transportation vehicle, had a maximum speed of 290 mph (467 km/h). The world’s fastest train, Japan’s experimental Maglev Train LO Series, has sailed at 375 mph.

A supply ship was launched, carrying cargo for the International Space Station (ISS), including CIMON, an AI-enabled robot. The 11-pound floating sphere will provide a hands-free assistant for the astronauts, serving as a flying camera, and acting as the space station’s voice-controlled database.

Project Natick has submerged its second prototype data center in the North Sea. The steel enclosure contains 864 standard Microsoft data center servers, and is as powerful as several thousand high-end consumer PCs. Microsoft observes: “50% of us live near the coast. Why doesn’t our data?”

The history of photography has spanned almost two centuries. Digital photography has been around for fewer than 50 of those years. Sadly, the multinational Canon Inc. recently said it would no longer sell any film cameras. Film is now no longer part of the company’s future. Will you miss it?

Probably the most spectacular single instance of the world under cyber-siege occurred on December 25, 2015 and was recorded on an online map that tracks cyberattacks (see above). When you check out our examples of active attacks, you may rethink the importance of security for your company.

We have IQ and achievement tests for students, but what about those “smart” speakers from Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft? Are they all relatively the same, or are there posers and geniuses mixed into the same class? A recent study shows which DPAs made the grade.

Roads not only serve as rivers of commerce, but as laboratories where currents and congestion are studied. An optical illusion speed bump in Iceland is being tested. In Sweden, experiments based on conductive technology use an electric rail embedded in the roadway to power and recharge vehicles.

This list offers two significant AI entries: generative adversarial networks which pit AI systems against each other, and cloud-based AI, which makes deep-learning algorithms available to more. Other tech includes 3-D metal printing, language-translation earbuds, and a zero-carbon power plant.

IBM’s conference, Think 2018, presented “technologies that will change the world in the next five years.” Consider two—standard cryptography and quantum computing. The former represents a final line of defense against hackers, and the latter that will reduce conventional crypto to digital du...

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, numerous demonstrations included a concept phone from Vivo called the Apex FullView, a taxi drone which will carry single passengers from Dubai’s airport to high-end hotels, and previews of spectacularly fast 5G connectivity.

A destructive wiper malware named “Olympic Destroyer” announced its presence on Friday, February 9, 2018, by shutting down the official website of the Winter Olympics (www.olympic.org) for hours, interrupting ticket sales and blocking venue information. What were hackers after?

Tesla Inc. has followed through on some of the most diverse technological projects imaginable. Their SpaceX division launched the world’s most powerful rocket, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, which sent a Tesla Roadster (driven by Starman) into orbit. And, look for Tesla kiosks in 800 Home Depots.

Samsung seems to be approaching the official debut of a phone that manages a larger screen by using a foldable design that opens a flexible screen. But the big questions are when will the “Galaxy X” actually happen and what will it look like.

“The Global Stage for Innovation,” aka the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), opened in January 2018, in Las Vegas. This showcase gave a glimpse of what’s next in tech, including Google assistant technology battling Alexa, Contana, and Bixby; plus the next generation of robots, robots, robots.