OTTAWA // A talking robot assembled from household odds and ends is hitchhiking thousands of kilometres across Canada this summer as part of a social experiment to see if those of its kind can trust humans.
Society is “usually concerned with whether we can trust robots”, said Frauke Zeller, co-creator of the “hitchBot”.
Movies like The Terminator and The Matrix often depict machines as enemies of mankind, according to the assistant professor at Toronto’s Ryerson University.
But, she said, quite the opposite is true of hitchBot.
“This project turns our fear of technology on its head and asks: ‘Can robots trust humans?’
“Our aim is to further discussion in society about our relationship with technology and robots, and notions of safety and trust.”
Ms Zeller and fellow professor David Smith of McMaster University, along with a team of specialists, designed hitchBot to be fully dependent on people.
“It cannot achieve its task of hitchhiking across Canada without the help of people, because it cannot move by itself,” Ms Zeller said.
And hitchBot certainly has what it takes to charm its way into people’s hearts.
It can strike up a conversation and can answer trivia questions by consulting information using its built-in computers.
And it will even tell you when it is tired and in need of recharging from your car’s cigarette lighter.
HitchBot has what has been described by Canadian media as a “yard-sale aesthetic”, built for about US$1,000 (Dh3,670) from parts found in a typical Canadian home or hardware store.
It has an LED-lit smiley face wrapped in a transparent cake saver set atop a plastic beer pail wrapped in a solar panel, with swimming pool noodles for limbs.
Its feet are rubber boots and it wears yellow latex gloves – including one with its thumb extended to show it wants to catch a ride.
The automaton’s design couldn’t be too heavy because it had to be manually lifted into a car.
The robot also had to be small enough to fit into the back seat of a car but still have enough heft so it would not be blown over by a gust of wind while hitchhiking on the side of the road.
It also had to be resistant to chilly temperatures common during Canadian late summer nights.
“It had to be sturdy but also appealing to people,” Ms Zeller said.
“We wanted people to feel like: ‘Yeah, I should stop to help that robot.’”
And that’s exactly what’s been happening.
It began its trip on July 27 in the Atlantic port city of Halifax, after being picked up by an elderly couple in a camper van.
They handed it off after a night in the Canadian outback to three young men from Quebec province.
HitchBot then zipped through eastern Canada to Toronto for a brief check-in with its creators before hitting the road again. It is ultimately headed for the country’s westernmost city of Victoria – more than 6,000 kilometres from its starting point.
The trip is being documented on hitchBot.me, allowing people around the world to connect with the robot.
Less than 24 hours after it began its journey, it had already snapped up 12,000 followers on Twitter, including one fan who posted a photo of a cardboard box lookalike.
By Friday, the number of Twitter followers was nearly 20,000.
“Everyone is rooting for it,” Ms Zeller said.
“It’s an interesting phenomenon – people are developing attachments to the robot, including many who (will) never meet hitchBot, but are following it on social media.”
Once its travels are over, researchers will analyse comments posted on Twitter and Facebook to see what they can surmise about the public’s attitudes concerning robot-human interactions.
With growing use of mechanical humanoids in space, manufacturing and everyday life, “it’s becoming more important to explore our relationship with robots, especially if they come into our households”, Ms Zeller said.
Particularly interesting, she said, is the question of whether robots will be seen as disposable as they age and break down.
“What do we do when they will need to be repaired?” Ms Zeller said, suggesting that some people may become attached to the little humanoids and will “keep and cherish” them.
“Do we repair them, or will they become just another convenient item that we can throw away?” she asked.
“We have to study all of that to ensure it works out right.”
* Agence France-Presse
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
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THE SCORES
Ireland 125 all out
(20 overs; Stirling 72, Mustafa 4-18)
UAE 125 for 5
(17 overs, Mustafa 39, D’Silva 29, Usman 29)
UAE won by five wickets
FA%20Cup%20semi-final%20draw
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Match info
Manchester United 4
(Pogba 5', 33', Rashford 45', Lukaku 72')
Bournemouth 1
(Ake 45 2')
Red card: Eric Bailly (Manchester United)
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
LIVERPOOL%20TOP%20SCORERS
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SEMI-FINAL
Monterrey 1
Funes Mori (14)
Liverpool 2
Keita (11), Firmino (90 1)
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Suggested picnic spots
Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes